1. Joey Senft

2. Adam Kelly

3. Dwayne Larson

Joey Senft searches for energy when photographing concerts. Each photo is packed with the dynamic emotion shown in the artists’ faces and limbs swaying with the music.

Senft has come close to being voted first in

the past, with a second-place finish in 2021 and third-place finish in 2022.

“It’s really nice that people voted for me to be first. I work really hard, so it’s nice to get recognized sometimes,” Senft says.

Live music has always featured heavily in Senft’s work, and her first photography experience was capturing memories of her friends’ bands in high school. Her love for live music influences her music tastes, too.

“I’m an odd person,” she says. “I won’t buy an artist’s album unless I’ve seen them live, because if they sound good live, they’ll probably sound good on the album.”

For Senft, the higher a show’s energy, the better. Her favourite concerts to shoot are ones where the artist jumps into the crowd, because she believes it shows they care about their fans.

One example is a photo of the lead singer for Death By Stereo jumping into the crowd, belting into their microphone, with their arm wrapped around fans singing along.

“Those guys are always so much fun to photograph, because I know he’s going to get in the crowd, and the crowd just loves it,” she says.

Senft believes live-music experience adds a depth to an artist’s performance that isn’t there when streaming the music.

“You get (the artist’s) emotion a lot more when they play a live show, and people don’t really understand that sometimes.”

The Foo Fighters top Senft’s photography bucket list. She tried to do everything to make it to the show, but when the band was scheduled to come to Winnipeg, they canceled their concert.

“It’s the one show I want to shoot, and I can die happy after that,” Senft says.

Published in Volume 78, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 30, 2023)