Last Updated on March 27, 2022, 9:05 PM | Published: March 27, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — Photographer and journalist Nathan Poppe’s artist reception and show at Lively Beerworks Friday night was as informal and busy as the concerts he shoots.
Family and friends, plus people who really only know him by his photography, had the opportunity to talk in the active, noisy taproom with the event organized by Rally OKC. For those who didn’t already know him, it might have been a new experience since pro photography at Poppe’s level is often a strangely detached process of careful observation.
Over a decade, he has grown into a master of the high-energy concert shot, and mostly at venues right here in Oklahoma.
His tool of choice is the wide-angle lens used masterfully at the edge of the stage. But, equally impressive telephoto shots make it into his portfolio, too.
Fans were excited to come and talk with him about some of his more stellar shots in print up on the walls. I talked to a few and asked about the qualities they liked in Poppe’s photography.
“It looks like I want to be there it’s not just, “oh, I took a picture of a big crowd,” said Tony Lesure, a hip-hop artist who goes by “LTZ.”
“When the light is on you and the light’s hitting you perfectly or when you’re doing a dance and you don’t look silly, I mean just everything’s perfect.”
“It’s the energy. You can see the excitement in his photographs.”
Full career
Poppe talked to me about his photography career which started with a concert video company in Stillwater when he was at OSU, graduating in 2011.
“I started a live music video show with a couple of friends that worked at The O’Collegian [campus newspaper] and it was called ‘On.’ And it was just literally about, you know, things that were going on. We started shooting these live music videos of bands that came through and played in Stillwater often.”
To see his still photography work now it’s hard to believe, but Poppe said that he “had never thought” to pick up a pro camera. “They were heavy and expensive. I thought I was going to break something.”
“Thankfully, I had some spectacularly talented friends,” he said. “And they got me to pick up a camera. So, I started documenting things in and around Stillwater which led me to my internship at The Oklahoman. So I started shooting more music and more concerts, and it just kind of snowballed from there.”
His freelancing continued, and his work as an entertainment reporter at The Oklahoman gave him access to 200 to 250 concert sets per year. “I saw that as like, the most wonderful excuse for me to have a camera at your concert.”
Now, Poppe is the Editor of The Curbside Chronicle, Oklahoma City’s international-award-winning street paper that provides a creative outlet and income for people without homes.
He said that going back and covering the same groups multiple times over the years has helped him develop better ideas about how to shoot particular groups the best way.
But, it never gets routine.
“Nothing prepares you, though, for the adrenaline rush of balloons being thrown into the crowd and a confetti cannon being blasted right next to your ear,” he said of the multiple Flaming Lips concerts he’s shot. “You could shoot 100 Flaming Lips shows but nothing prepares you for what that does to your body.”
“It’s chaos, beautiful, beautiful chaos. Their shows are unlike anything I’ve ever shot before.”
“And, literally, one of my goals — like it’s on my bucket list — is to shoot a Flaming Lips concert. And, I got to do that in college. And, then I’m like, oh, now what?”
But, from what he’s done so far in his life and career, I’m confident he’ll find more to do.
Feature photo courtesy of Dylan Johnson showing Nathan Poppe at work at the edge of the stage.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
