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Capturing Coachella from the inside out
I’ve been fortunate enough to take my camera to Coachella for two decades now. An exclusive photo wristband granted me a rare view of the polo field, accessible only to insiders and crew. In 2013, I was put in charge of content for the festival, which included all photography. We hired incredible photographers whose breathtaking work immortalized the Coachella experience for the world to see. However, even on my own, I always looked for rare moments and mundane beauty to capture.
My gear wasn’t special at first—just a small Panasonic point-and-shoot. Eventually, I moved to Nikon and Canon DSLRs. Today, like most festivalgoers, I primarily use my iPhone. But it was never so much about the technology as it was the rare vantage I had silently traversing the grounds, capturing whatever piqued my interest.
In 2011, I caught a marauding Odd Future spraying down fans as a female admirer jumped into Tyler’s arms and kissed him (here I am getting the shot). A decade later, the photos would become part of Tyler’s legend on film.
As performers like The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Massive Attack, Pixies, and Radiohead took the stage, I could access the photo pit between them and the crowd. This area was reserved for press photographers and special guests, but I was somewhere between those roles, almost invisible. Behind me was a crush of diehards desperately holding their sliver of space. In front were their heroes, close enough for me to touch. Protecting us both would be a phalanx of security, occasionally lifting exhausted fans out of the fray to safety.
At quieter moments, I would explore backstage, noticing the details of the festival’s multi-layered production and always marveling at how much work happened behind the scenes. The massive 18-wheelers unloading the headliners show behind the main stage or the impressive layers of police and security silently safeguarding the festival—the mechanics of this enormous operation are unparalleled.
In Coachella’s early days, digital cameras were novel, and the iPhone was still years away. I can imagine how much more we’d have seen from the mystical 2006 Daft Punk performance had it happened a year later as camera phones multiplied. Images from Coachella exploded in the years to follow, much to the chagrin of purists who hated seeing the festival become so Instagramable. Very few angles on the field are missed today, as cameras and coverage are ubiquitous. Twenty-five years after the first Coachella, I’m grateful for my eclectic trove of megapixels and memories.
Good times. I remember back in the day, before Coachella became such a commercial Behemoth, I had a hard time giving all access photo passes away, because the event was so grueling and accommodation so expensive. It's one of the reasons I started picking up the camera, so I'd have the right shots to give full coverage to the event.
Great pics and story Raymond