How To Break Into Concert Photography w/ Graham W. Bell

On this episode of The J-Card Podcast, we have Graham W. Bell. Graham is a photographer, writer, and musician. He’s the founder of Focus Group Photo, which is a photography collective geared towards creating access to shows for up-and-coming photographers. Graham also runs the Rue Defense label, where he has helped release music from Elly Swope, Simple Shapes, Committeemen, and more.

The J-Card is presented by Rue Defense Tape Club, a quarterly, mail-order cassette compilation and DIY audio project. Hosted by Alexei Shishkin, each episode is part music discovery, part oral history, part hangout show. We ask artists, musicians, filmmakers, and other music-minded folks to build us their own personal mixtape and talk about the moments and memories that inspired it.

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⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:59 - Welcome, Graham!

01:55 - What’s Been Stuck In Your Head Lately?

06:03 - Playing in Committeemen + Houston DIY Music

18:16 - Treefort + Starting Focus Group Photo

22:32 - Photographer/Band Relationships & Getting Paid

28:37 - Rue Defense + Releasing Tapes

33:36 - Starting the Tape Club Project

36:44 - Mixtape Segment Begins

38:27 - “Restless and Tired” by Lawn

41:00 - “What Color Is Blood” by Parquet Courts

44:06 - “Vanity” by Porcelain

45:49 - “Dope Cloud” by Protomartyr

49:15 - “Last Draw” by Grocery Bag

52:36 - “Old Rope” by Committeemen

56:06 - “I Want You (Fever)” by Momma

59:16 - “Cross The Street” by Junior Varsity

61:13 - “Dirty Crockpot” by The Phlegms

63:48 - “Stupid” by Trembler

67:43 - Dream Band Game

77:01 - Wrap-Up + Where to Find Graham

80:04 - Final Message + Thanks

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