Say Goodbye to Photographer, Tom Meinen
In November 2006 Tom Meinen wanted to capture some images of
local Denver band, Le Boom, whom he had grown to love.
Knowing absolutely nothing about photography, he set his obsolete
Canon A-60 on automatic, aimed it at the band, and took several
shots. The results were about what you could expect, said
Meinen. “Many were out of focus or cut off or had ugly
splotches all over them.” He used an image editor to fix
whatever photos weren’t complete lost causes and gave them to the
band’s lead singer, Maylyn Martinez. “She was very gracious
and thanked me and put some of the photos on the band’s Myspace
page. I couldn’t believe she was so appreciative of such
clunky photos taken by a total novice.” However, Meinen was
not satisfied with his first effort. He was determined to
learn how to take quality photos of a rock band.
He bought a Canon PowerShot S3 IS, which was the best camera he
could afford at the time, and which was a huge upgrade over the
A-60. He then began studying books about photography and
asking questions on forums on the Internet. He went out to
numerous Denver venues and practiced, improving his skills each
time. In March, 2007, he submitted his first photos to
RockOnColorado.com. They were of a band from Omaha named
Sarah Benck and the Robbers. “I was nervous,” said
Meinen. “I’m a big fan of that band and I wanted to do them
justice.”
Though he knew his photos had improved dramatically over his
first attempt, Meinen realized he had a lot of room for
improvement when he saw the photos of local Denver photographer
Aaron Thackeray. “His work is incredible,” said
Meinen. “He has a knack for capturing the raw energy of a
performance, and his photos are tack sharp and crisp. I knew
if I could become as good as this guy, I would have reached my
goal.” Meinen also realized he could not reach that level of
quality without upgrading his equipment. “For band
photography you simply must use a quality DSLR that does well in
low light, preferably without using a flash.” He researched
DSLRs and scrimped and saved for one that would meet his
needs. He purchased it and a fast low-light lens in June of
2007.
His first shoot with his new gear was on July 6, 2007 at the
Stapleton Mall. It was of Le Boom, the band he had first
photographed. This new gear helped Meinen dramatically
improve the quality of his photos. “I felt I had come full
circle,” he said. “To me there was something very special
about Le Boom and I was driven to somehow capture that in
photos. I think – I hope – I did them justice.”
Meinen became a regular contributor to RockOnColorado,
photographing such acts as Catchwire, Rubber Planet, the
Melismatics, Reckless Red, and many more. “I’m always out to
capture the magic – the energy – of a band. If someone looks
at one of my shots and feels intrigued by what they see and that
they want to check out that band, I’ve done my job.” Soon
people started offering Meinen money to do photography work.
“That made me realize I must be doing something right,” he
said. In November of 2007, Meinen learned that he had
reached another milestone. One of his shots was published in
the December ’07 issue of Guitar Player Magazine.
Meinen’s last photo shoot for RockOnColorado was of Slugworth
at Herman's Hideaway on December 21, 2007. He’s moving to
Omaha, Nebraska where he hopes to continue photographing
bands. “One thing that Denver and Omaha have in common is
they’re both very talent-rich cities,” said Meinen. “It’s my
hope that my photography has served Colorado bands well and will
do the same for Nebraska bands.” Meinen says he will likely
visit Colorado from time to time because he has family here, and
that such a visit would not be complete without photographing some
bands for RockOnColorado.com.
