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Top Shot: Follow The Leader

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Journeys through rain and across the grouse moors of Scotland. 

On the Road with Music Photographer Grizzlee Martin

To see more of Grizzlee’s music photography, check out @grizzleemartin on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.

Before photographer Chris Lee Martin, better known as Grizzlee (@grizzleemartin), toured with bands like Sleeping With Sirens, even before he started taking pictures, he was a touring musician himself.

“I was in a few different bands,” he says. “But it kind of transitioned. Through the years, there were a lot of things that happened — some ups and downs, and I ended up taking a break from music.”

By then, Grizzlee was working at a screen printing company. That’s where he noticed his co-workers taking photos. Wanting to join in on the fun, he sold his guitar amp, bought his first DSLR and started shooting local concerts. “I put a website up, and then a few months in, people started contacting me saying, ‘Hey, what do you charge for this?’” says Grizzlee. “And I was like, ‘Wait, I can make money from this?’”

Eventually, he found himself back on tour, this time, armed with a camera instead of a guitar. In many ways, Grizzlee lives the life of an ultimate fan. He spends day after day following Sleeping With Sirens, one of his favorite bands. He stands in the front row at concerts and sings along to some of his favorite songs. Of course, he learns about the band because he lives on their tour bus. And when he sings along, he’s taking hundreds of stunning photos instead of waving his iPhone’s flashlight back and forth. “It’s a cool and fun experience, because you get to travel around and see different sights,” he says. “But it can be difficult at times, just because it’s a lot more work than a lot of people think. It’s basically like being in a summer camp, where you’re in a cabin with a bunch of people, except it’s a moving cabin. There’s twelve people on a bus together, so you have to be able to get along with everybody.”

For Grizzlee, getting along also means finding a way to make the artists feel relaxed.

“I get to not only hang out with bands that are some of my favorite artists, but I also consider some of them my best friends as well,” explains Grizzlee, who has also photographed Paramore and the Vans Warped Tour. “You’ve got to be able to be chill and make sure that you’re kind of like, from a photographer’s perspective, a fly on the wall, but you’ve also gotta be buddies with the band. Otherwise, they’re not going to be comfortable and they’re not going to be able to give you what you need to get photo-wise.”

While it might be the natural fan response to become starstruck when meeting a favorite musician, Grizzlee says it’s important to treat them like regular people. “You’ve just gotta realize that these people are just people that are producing music, even if it’s some of your favorite music,” he says. “If you treat them like people, they’re gonna respect that.”