After getting all hyped up and inspired and jumping back on the blog yesterday i realized i needed something to do, somewhere to “go”. As per usual I have a huge list of things that are supposed to get done.. client contacts to book jobs, follow ups, general marketing stuff, site updates, tweaks to ongoing projects, the list goes on. I had plenty to do, much more than I could accomplish in a day or week or month.. but it wasn’t enough, or more accurately it wasn’t what I wanted to do. And that’s the whole point of working for yourself right? so you can do what you want?

So while i did spend some time on the mundane day to day tasks that it takes to run a small business I also found something that would make me happy, something that would keep me excited and inspired. And the best part is that it was sitting right in front of me. I launched my live music catalog and dove into the images from last years Coachella festival. For those of you that are unaware, or haven’t browsed backwards 3 or 4 posts, I have been shooting the Coachella Music and Arts festival for the last 5 years. I am one of a hand full of photographers that shoots directly for the Producers of the event which gives me complete unadulterated access to the show and allows for some great images. My main task while there is to produce a Virtual Tour full of 360 degree Interactive Panoramas to show off the event. It is used as a promotional tool both for attendees to look back at the previous years, and to help build excitement for the upcoming festival. It is a blast to shoot and also a challenge, I love doing it.

However, in addition to shooting the panoramas I shoot a TON of still shots (almost impossible not to with access like that). I shoot 4 to 5 thousand still images over the course of the 3 day festival. But because my first priority (or rather what i am paid to do) is the Virtual Tour, my time after the festival is completely consumed with running post production on the ~50 panoramas I select from for the final tour. By the time I am done with these I have had my fill of festival images and I have to move on to other projects, so my stills get tucked away and sit quietly and patiently on a hard drive (or three).

So…. short story long… this leads me to my night last night. Up till 3am editing the first days images from last years Coachella. And super stoked on it. Usually I would have thrown in the towel on the work day long before that, but I was having fun. I was excited and inspired. Not just cause I was finding some cool images that hadn’t seen the light of day, but because I was re-living one of the best weekends I have each year. If you haven’t experienced Coachella I highly recommend going. The level of production is phenomenal. The incredible main stage musical line up is just part of the weekend. There is installation artwork scattered around the polo fields that deserve a festival (or museum) of its own. There are the side stages that feature some relatively unknown artists that will be HUGE next year. The ability of the folks who put this thing on to continually book “the next big thing” year after year simply amazes me, they have an incredible accurate finger on the pulse of the music scene. On top of that you have the incredible location, beautiful weather, and thousands and thousands of great people having an amazing time, some of who are sure to be your best friends either before, during, or after the festival.

By digging up some old images that I had never seen I was able to relive this amazing experience. It excited me about my work, inspired me to do more fun shoots and to get to work booking as many music festivals as possible this summer. I guess the moral of the story is that once you get going, and you’re looking for where to go next that sometimes it helps to look back on great times and that the past can help propel you forward.

Below is one select from the bunch I went through last night. I have tons of band shots that I will share over the following days/weeks but this shot really sums up the feeling I get at Coachella.

Click here for a bunch of images from Coachella 2010