Minneapolis-based lifestyle and portrait photographer Jamey Guy loves photography and bluegrass music. As a matter of fact, he says they are quite similar in that there is a certain freedom and individuality that comes with both:
Most bluegrass players only play by ear, and translate their interpretation of the melody through their break. Like a photographer finds a picture in a scene, a musician finds the music in the song, creating an individual style to their sound which is unique and distinguishable to an appreciator. I really like that.
Recently, Jamey combined these two loves when he went on tour with the popular Minnesota-based bluegrass band Monroe Crossing. Every winter, the band escapes the cold temperatures with their Anywhere but Minnesota tour. This year, they had a nine-day loop from Atlanta through Alabama, Florida, the Bahamas, and back.
One of the main challenges Jamey faced was the busy schedule and lack of space:
Being on the road packed into an already packed van was a challenge in and of itself. Their schedule was amazing— drive 6 hours, unpack, perform an energy packed show, meet and greet after the performance, repack, drive a couple of hours, find a place to stay, unpack into the hotel room, wake-up, repack, and do it all over again. Spending that much time traveling in the same space became a challenge photographically because there was only so much you could shoot to tell “the riding in a van” element of the story. The main thing I had to overcome was myself. I loaded up in the van with a lot of preconceived ideas about what I hoped to get, and realized shortly there after it was completely out of my control. Like John Candy said in Planes Trains, and Automobiles, “You just go with the flow- Like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream”. I changed my approach, and focused on light gear, and keeping up.
Jamey thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and the band plans to put the images into a coffee table-style book for their product table.