Echosmith broke through in 2013 with the worldwide hit single 'Cool Kids'. The band consists of siblings Sydney, Noah and Graham Sierota. (Brother Jaime left the band a few years ago) They released their album 'Talking Dreams' in 2013 and an acoustic EP in 2014. Their succes led to a world tour and a prominent place in the landscape of indie/pop music.
I personally became a fan in 2017 when they released their single 'Goodbye'. I had just bought my first guitar then and started covering a lot of their songs. I also made a drawing of the band and got noticed by them a few times!
In the years to follow they released the 'Inside A Dream' EP and a new album called 'Lonely Generation' in 2020. I still followed them closely but since they only toured in the USA there wasn't much engagement from my side. However, in 2023 they released their self-titled album and announced the European 'See You Tonight Tour'. (Finally!) I immediately got tickets and couldn't wait for 17th November.
In that same summer I bought my first decent camera and realised I wanted to do more with it. I made a 'Tour Diary' with friends in Croatia and wondered if I could do stuff like this more often. Personally, I'm a big fan of Andy Deluca who did a lot of art and videos for 5 Seconds of Summer. Just like him I would love to travel, make content, be around music and write my own songs in the meantime. So I started thinking...
Echosmith is a big name but they're also really accessible on social media. I decided to just shoot my shot and send them a message. I asked them if they needed anyone to make tour content for their show in the Netherlands. Time went by and after a few weeks I didn't really expect an answer anymore. Until I got this:
I was so excited and immediately sent an email to this person. She asked if I got a portfolio and luckily I had almost finished this website. It didn't have much photography but at least I had some videos to show. I didn't get an answer for a week and again I thought that it wouldn't work out. Until suddenly I got an email saying ''We'd love to grant you a photo pass for the show!''.
It was so exciting to get that message, but also pretty scary. I basically bluffed myself into concert photography without having any experience. And concert photography is pretty hard because the lights and scenes are constantly changing. So what followed was a week of stress and research about anything photography related. White balances, apertures, ISO, shutter speed, color grading etc. etc.
On friday, the day of the show, I felt pretty confident and made my way to the venue in Utrecht. I got VIP tickets but arrived pretty late because of the traffic. And then I also stood on the wrong side of the building, thinking the doors were closed... Luckily, I could sneak in with some of the staff and told the guys behind the desk that I came to photograph Echosmith. They were very helpful and granted me my VIP pass and a photo pass!
Then after 6 years I finally got to meet Sydney and Noah in person. (Sadly Graham was sick) They're honestly the sweetest persons ever and were kind enough to sign my album cover and talk a bit. After that we went into the venue and waited for the opening act: McKenna Michels
It was fun to shoot McKenna Michel as my first artist ever. Her 18th century based fashion made her very interesting, but it was also a bit intimidating with her own professional photographer around. After McKenna it was finally time for Echosmith!
To be honest, the show went by so fast. It was a lot of fun to shoot Echosmith live and the camera gave me an excuse to move around a lot and make pictures from every side. However, I also took moments to enjoy the show. Especially during the slower acoustic songs it was nice to just listen and I was very moved by hearing the older songs. I was only 15 when I heard those songs for the first time! :')
The show ended with the new version of the song 'Cool Kids' and then it was time to go. I was very eager to edit the pictures but actually had other plans as well. My friends were throwing a party on the other side of the country and I actually wanted to go there too. I connected my camera to my laptop and then transferred all the footage in my car while driving there. The next day I got up early and went to a Universtity Library to edit all the pictures from the night before.
It took me 2 hours to pick all the right photos and then color grade them. But it was totally worth it! I sent them to Echosmith and posted them on my own Instagram as well. It was a bit scary (again) but also really cool to see that they loved the pictures:
They even used the pictures for their own Instagram account and Graham reposted them on his story. It's weird to see your name on the page of your idols but ofcourse very cool as well. I guess I can say that this scary move really paid off. In a way I bluffed myself through it, but it was so much fun to learn and experience so much in a really short time. These are the types of things that make me really happy. Just being creative, being around music and get such cool ending results.
Some of the pictures are down below. But if you would like to see them all then please click here.
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