1. Hiya, what's your preferred name and pronouns, and whose country do you live on?
Thanks for having me! I'm Pat Bowden, he / him, currently living on Gadigal lands.
2. What's your rig rundown?
For film shooting I use a Canon EOS 5000 with a Sigma 17-70mm lens for most of the live music stuff, otherwise I've used a Fuji STX-2 with a 50mm prime lens and also various cheap plastic point-and-shoot or polaroid cameras for other film stuff. For digital and video I use an Olympus EM-1 mirrorless with a 12-40mm lens.
3. How did you get in to shooting live music?
I've always been a music nerd for as long as I could remember, and my partner Bonni was into photography for a long time and inspired me to learn the basics and start working with film cameras, so I put those two things together and started shooting local shows around 2012 or 2013. I was also a videographer for Retro Rehash, a Blue Mountains based radio show with weekly live performances and interviews, where I met loads of local and touring musicians as well as artists, organisers, activists and other community members. I took a bit of a break from music photography around 2019 to 2022, but aside from that I've taken my camera to as many local and DIY shows as possible to try and document that part of the music scene, and to make a few live music photography zines!
4. What/who are some of your influences in photography?
When I started out I was really inspired by Adam Scarf and Sam Shepherd, mountains photographers who did both live music and film photography, as well as my partner Bonni as mentioned before. Nowadays I'd say Valerie Joy, Dougal Gorman, Stef Luhrs and Darsh Shah are my favourite photographers, and for the zine making side of things I'm always inspired by hardcore or punk kind of stuff - More Than Ever zine, Noise Levels, Barely Human, etc.
5. Do you have a favourite show that you've photographed, or a favourite memory from a gig you've shot? Or maybe a particular favourite photograph that you've taken?
This is a broad answer but pretty much every single DIY show I've shot I've really loved, it just feels like the purest essence of community and it's always a fun challenge to shoot bands playing in a non-traditional venue. If I had to pick I'd say Carb on Carb at the Pari Gallery carpark in Parramatta early last year, which I used a shot for as the cover of my most recent zine because I was so happy with that one shot and the whole show in general.
A few others would be Rapid Dye at Fatamorgana, where there were a ridiculous amount of people inside the venue and out on the street and I used some really grainy Kodak TMAX 3200 film, The Typical Grrrls at a house show in Newtown in a backyard where a hills hoist was in the way in all the photos (in the best way) or Dead Mall and Goethe at a house show in Westmead, which was hot and sweaty as fuck but such a good time otherwise. Also Ecca Vandal's free show at the Duke of Enmore mid last year - she fucking rips.
6. What else do you like to photograph outside of live music?
I did a fair bit of landscape and nature photography while growing up in the Blue Mountains, on Dharug and Gundungurra country - obviously the scenery of that area makes that kind of photography pretty accessible to do! Aside from the odd photoshoot for friends or a band I've done a few other zines which I guess are in a more outdoorsy or street photography style.
7. How can folks reach out to you if they'd like to get in touch?
Instagram
