How many Photographers are also Musicians.

I was a Musician before becoming a Photographer. I took pretty good snapshots as a kid & used to draw (people mostly) a lot, especially during a dull class.

Pat Warfield

I played guitar since I was 13. I took on photography at 26. I am now 30.

I played guitar long before I took up photography. Today, I do both with equal passion and dedication.

However, having a voice somewhat akin to that of a frog who has had one to many, I reserve singing for nights alone by the campfire. It's a lot of fun to sing in two-part harmony with a coyote

-PB

I started playing guitar when I was 13, before that I played trombone. Been playing for 36 years now, and have pretty much always had a band in some form ( played last night, and playing again tonight actually...). I'll sing too, but the more you drink the better I sound.

There seems to be a guitar theme. I played a little acoustic growing up, but I actually got an electric guitar a few years ago when I was 32. Fortunately, I take better photographs than I play guitar.

I grew up playing piano, played it and tuba through junior high and high school, took up electric guitar in college, and got an acoustic guitar last Christmas. I'm 31 now and mainly play acoustic guitar and piano, and I think my photography ability may have overtaken my guitar playing ability but is still short of my piano, even though I hardly play piano anymore. I guess I'm saying I'm not a very good guitar player or photographer.

I guess the question should be "How many photographers are also guitar players?"

I started messing around with photography when I was a kid, probably because my father was an amateur photographer. I also played clarinet. When I was about 15 I started playing guitar, and spent a lot more effort in music than photography for many years. At 36 the dream of being a rock star has passed, but that gives me a lot more time for photography!

i picked up an old acoustic guitar from my grandma's closet when I was a teenager. what i really wanted to do was shred like Metallica but my mom never let me buy an electric. when i was 21, I ended up buying my first. didn't take long to realize I'd never be able to play that fast. I've had a keyboard since high school, that I used to write music with.

as mentioned in your other post, I was a jazz band sax player at the university level. one reason why I gave it up is that even with ear plugs, I'd get ringing in my ears from all the high notes I played. wasn't worth it anymore at a certain point.

I've sung in a choir for the past 27 years. Good singing is a lot like photography. It requires a good composition to work with. Control of detail is all important. And you have to be sharply focused!

Interesting topic. I grew up playing the piano and organ. I always wanted to be a Jazz musician but was stongly dicouraged by fundamentalist family. Became interested in photography after reading a story about Gordon Parks who was also a very fine musician and writer.I now make my living as a Photojournalist but wish I was a great jazz musician!

I am a classically trained pianist & organist. I wanted to become a concert pianist for much of my life and I held a position as church organist for 14 years which I gave up prior to my big trip to Europe in 2005 when I picked up photography which seems to have replaced music to a large degree. Instead of hours spent in practice each day I now process my photos on my laptop!

I was always interested in actively playing music. I "played" keyboard as a kid, however I was always too hyperactive to sit down and study and probably my parents did not "force" me too much. So I never learned an instrument. There was an unfulfilled desire going on all the years and a few years ago I finally picked up the guitar and started with self-study. I can now play very simple songs and I am planning to get some lessons otherwise there will not be much improvement.

I was a choir singer for many years, though not anymore. I also write song lyrics and collaborate with a good friend/songwriter. It's no surprise so many photographers find creative outlets in other ways (not just music). The compulsion to express ourselves flows through many channels and will not be denied.

Guitar, piano, flute, hammered dulcimer... I played Jimi back when Jimi played Jimi...

Steve wrote: "The compulsion to express ourselves flows through many channels and will not be denied. "

You nailed it, Steve! We get only one chance on this trip, so we have to be sure to make the most of it, make ourselves happy and be fullfilled.

-PB

I have a degree in music from Indiana University and played professionally until 1990. I truly believe, because of the need to create is why I am so passionate about photography.

F8 & Be Bop!
JG

Interesting topic. I grew up playing the piano and organ and wanted to become a Jazz muscician. However, I was strongly discouraged by my fundalmentalist family. ( Musicians had a rather unsavory reputation back then) I became interested in photography after reading and article about Gordon Parks who was an incredible photographer, musician, screen writer, and painter. I now earn my living as a photojounalist but still wish I was a professional musician.

From a young child I studied piano. From there I learned to play the organ, keyboard, guitar, and tried the banjo, but that I never mastered as I threw myself into photography. I will ocassionally sit down at my professional keyboard, and ocassionally play and sing for residents as care facilities. I still love music, but love photography more. Both help express strong feelings about our past and present ties with the universe.

I took beginning piano at several times in my life. Got a piano as an adult, and my daughter took lots of lessons and plays well. I still love to play, but just don't practice enough! (SMILE) I also played cello for many years in elementary and high school orchestras. I sang in church choirs, school choirs and madrigal groups in high school and college. I love music and minored in it for my bachelor degree - Majored in biology, my first love! Now I seem to only sing once a year at the local Sing-it-yourself Messiah - I try not to ever miss it and have sung in it maybe 22 or 23 times over the last 28 years! I think I love Christmas and Classical music best of all.... MERRY CHRISMAS! (SMILE)

Hey Pat,

I've been a musician (guitarist) since leaving high school. This last 12 months is the first time in many years I haven't played for my living. I doubt I'll ever leave it behind. Acoustic/electric, jazz, blues, reggae, rock, bluegrass, R&B, etc .. much to my dad's chagrin I never played a lot of classical.

Guitar is definitely WAY cooler than piano.

Cheers

Carl

Utterly amazing question . . . And I have been waiting for it for many many years -

Two passions have, innately I think, consumed my life (Now of 65 years) Music and Photography . . .

I played drums professionally (Name drop alert) for . . . Wait for it . . . Elvis - Recorded w the Bill Black Combo played w Scotty More after he left Presly - Played for "Harold Jenkins" (he changed his name to Conway Twitty - Played with Jackie Wilson - Eddie Cash - Recorded w Dickie Lee (Patches) - Carl Perkins - Jerry Lee - [NOTE its a Memphis Music thing] Recorded at "old and New Sun Studios . . . My first set of Drums (traps) was Slingerland Yellow Pearl from O K Houck Music downtown Memphis - My Last were Black Gretch . . . Play Guitar now . . .

Rather strangely - I was the photographer selected by "The Presley people" as the "Official Photographer" at Graceland after Elvis death - and yes I saw him in the coffin - DEAD . . .

Dewey

Wow, what an amazing thread!
Steve, I agree, you really nailed it when you creativity will not be denied.
I played classical guitar in college but dropped it (sadly) because I was not able to practice enough to keep the experience pleasurable to my ear. I've been learning to play the harp since this September and so far am loving it.
Thanks for asking. I've enjoyed reading all the responses.
My goodness, we're in fine company! Dewey, that's some resume!

On a slightly different note, I find music to have many parallels to photography and I suspect my approach to both have similarities. Doesn't matter how many people play the Moonlight Sonata, everyone plays it differently, just like the way people interpret the same scene in photography, and improvise.

On a slightly different note, I find music to have many parallels to photography and I suspect my approach to both have similarities. Doesn't matter how many people play the Moonlight Sonata, everyone plays it differently, just like the way people interpret the same scene in photography, and improvise.

Played piano for years, sang quite a bit, some for money. I keep toying with getting a keyboard as my current house is pretty small and I sold my Yamaha grand piano before moving here 7 years ago. Now my passions are photography and competitive canine events.

Music has always been a part of my life... mainly for enjoyment, listening. I went the piano route, have a keyboard in the back room, played trombone in HS, have three recorders from soprano to tenor. Sang in a choir.

My SO is a professional drummer and my computer room backs up his practice room. I often work to all sorts of rhythms. I find it mentally stimulating.

For some reason the chords and scales that I detested in my youth, I enjoy playing when tired or frustrated now.

I suppose if I were a musician, I wouldn't worry that this is posted in the digital imaging forum.
Alas, I am not a musician. I'm music fan though. I'm an particular fan of guitar, so maybe you won't disown me...

Pete D.



I was listening to Danny Gatton's "88 Elmira St." when I read this post and your replies.

Hi Gang, My what a nice response to my question.
When I am 'in my zone' in a nature shoot I find myself moving in a sort of rhythm - up a little, down a little over a little - all very smoothly as if not to disturb the scene. I called it my 'Dance' & thought it was my own little term. Then I saw a film about a hunter of waterfowl who gradually shifted to photography. He called it his 'Dance'. Funny thing, after he left the guns home & hunted with cameras, he said he could get much closer to the animals.

I have known more guitarist/photographers than other musicians, probably because I specialized in guitar along with singing. Probably people who are artists in one field like visual arts will probably study or perform in a musical field, or maybe dance or in the art of woodworking. Most of all, I think that 'we' are 'hands-on' people, not content to listen but to 'play it', not content just to see life, but to capture it. I think we are curious people with some degree of mechanical ability mixed with artistic talent. Some of us lean more to the mechanical or technical aspects & some of us more to the artistic creation. That is what is wonderful about photography, each person can find personal saticfaction.

Happy Holidays Everyone, thanks for responding,
Pat Warfield

Interesting question...

I've been a keyboard player since I was very young, sang semi-pro, picked up clarinet, and am now getting into playing Irish/Celtic music.

Music and photography have a lot in common, I think. They both have strong ties to math as well as the arts. They can both cost a fortune. You can dream of making a lot of money in both...

Happy holidays!

I am currently a working musician playing acoustic guitar as a solo act. I have been playing guitar professionally for 40 years. I only dabble in wildlife photography, mostly avian. Still learning by hanging around this website.

Wow...this is quite the list. I played trumpet for 15 years and have a degree in Music from Whitman College. I also went to grad school at Western Michigan for a couple years in conducting...but got burned out. I think others have said this...but I think if you have a creative instinct and are creative in one way and that loses it's appeal (though still love music) you fill it in with another creative outlet.

Cynthia Spence
www.geolightphoto.com

My grandmother, who is a awesome piano player, gave me piano lessons when I was about 5 or 6 years old. However I soon lost interest in piano and went a while without playing any anything. Then when I was in 4th grade, I started to learn the Saxophone. I took lessons for about a year then self taught myself for another year.
Then when I was about 11 or 12 I started out playing the Trumpet. Same thing with the sax..I took lessons for about a year then self taught myself for another year or so.
So 3 years ago, when I was 15, I took interest in drums and started lessons that lasted about 2 years. I am still trying to learn all there is to know about them, but after 3 years I think that I am fairly good (better than my photography).
Now about a little more than a year ago, I started to play the piano again. This time I really enjoyed it and I picked up on it really fast. I can only play by ear and chord, but I am trying to learn to play by notes too. I have played at my church a couple of time when our piano player was sick or out of town. I also play drums at my church almost every service.
Just in the last month, I was given a bass guitar and I have been trying to self teach myself. I was told that because I know how to play the piano, I would be able to pick up on it really fast, and so far so good. So at 18 years old I know how to play 4 instruments and am working on by 5th one right now!
I don't think that I can say that I like music more that photography, or via versa, because I absolutely love both!

I've been playing mandolin for about two years now! It was a gift to myself when I separated from my wife, now divorced! Best two things that I've done it my life! The mando kept me for going crazy.

I now own a 1964 Gibson two-point Florentine and a custom Ratliff R-5. I love picking and hanging out at the live shows. Just went to a special event at my favorite place the other night. We had a special guest show up and pick with the group, any of you guys ever heard of Tony Rice? Yeap, myself and about 30 people had a great suprise!

After taking a music "test" in school I was offered to learn how to play sax,drums or trumpet I picked trumpet. We were cutting edge playing the theme from "Star Wars".
Many moons later my husband is the one who plays guitar. He has accelerated from acoustic to electric acoustic and now electric and a beginners mandolin. He has mentioned upgrading to a $700.00-800.00 electric guitar and that is when I will upgrade to an "L" zoom lens and not feel selfish. I fully support music for my own agenda.

I played the clarinette from grade school until high school, and switched to flute in college. I was in the ancient instruments ensemble at University of Kansas playing the recorders. I also played the piano for awhile, mostly church hymns. I still play the recorder some with my youngest kid. While I now mostly just "do" photography, I mostly listen to music. Generally I listen to classical music but I like many other different kinds, from Louis Armstrong & Fats Waller to blue grass.


Kent in SD

I have two degrees in music, having played organ and harpsichord as my major instruments. I also played trombone and still sing in a semi-professional choir. I completed the first year of a PhD in music theory before switching over to the more practical and lucrative career of computer programmer. My main interest is early music, and I rarely listen to anything written past 1750.