“You know, gear isn’t everything … you can do a lot with what you have,” said McIntyre. (Photo via Creatives 230)
Chris McIntyre, a Rowan University senior radio, television, and film major with a music minor, hosted a music photography workshop as part of the Creatives 230 initiative. McIntyre gave a presentation on what it takes to be the de facto, resident concert photographer for Rowan’s underground music scene.
“Here at Creatives 230, our goal is to connect creativity and entrepreneurship,” said associate faculty member in photography Jenny Drumgoole, the woman in charge of the Creatives 230 program.
Creatives 230 unites students from disparate fields of study — that is, people who are intrinsically creative and those with an entrepreneurial spirit. In this case, it was a fusion of business and photography with a focus on music, much like McIntyre.
“[In] 2022 I got my first camera, and I was mainly just doing street photography and then … event photography,” said McIntyre
He continued his photographic journey with numerous church photography sprees and even a wedding. From there, the sky was the limit. McIntyre dove headfirst into band photography when he attended a concert in 2024 featuring Burning Oakwood.
However, this career path almost never materialized.
“I stopped for a long while, and in the beginning of 2025 is when I started getting really into it, I started with my photo accounts, and I just started posting a lot, like every single weekend,” said McIntyre.
However, the hiatus wasn’t due to boredom — far from it.
“I mainly took a break from it because, for a while, I was involved in a lot of TV productions for the school, and didn’t have the time to pursue it. When TV production gigs slowed down, I was able to get back into photography, and I ended up doing it a lot more once I discovered my passion for concert photography,” said McIntyre
The photographic artist began by taking his photos for free as a marketing strategy to establish his name in the underground sphere. It wasn’t long before he was earning a good day’s pay for his work.
“It’s just me and my mom, she’s really supportive of [the photography]. When it comes to like the free gigs, she’s like ‘Why you always doing all this free stuff,’ and I have to explain to her, it’s for my career, that’s kind of how it goes to keep building myself up,” said McIntyre.
His artistic attributes don’t stop at music photography. Though his talent comes through in his works with bands the likes of Wisp, Softcult, and Esha Tewari, McIntyre spreads the bulk of his abilities across a wealth of media.
“When I was like 14, 15, that’s just when I really got honed into like media creation, like video, photo, everything … I’ve always been curious about everything,” said McIntyre.
The audience grew to a nice size, and the talk began.
McIntyre spoke about all the things that burgeoning artists need to focus on, outside of their art. He taught the audience about being polite, curious, and pushing the boundaries. He also taught them that you don’t need a $10,000 camera to get the job done.
“You know, gear isn’t everything … you can do a lot with what you have,” said McIntyre.
Be that as it may, he does admit that better gear helps in low-light situations.
“I think the most difficult parts [of concert photography] is the lighting, one, and you have to have a really quick turnaround in this industry … being fast and efficient is really important … that’s probably the reason I do lose a lot of sleep … It is rewarding, but … like with any job, if you really want this, you have to put in a lot of work,” said McIntyre.
Far from his childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian, McIntyre just may have found his niche.
By the end, the attendees had become as excited about building an online presence as McIntyre himself.
“I thought the presentation was very well made. Chris automatically has a connection with people in the alternative scene, and he’s well-loved by everybody involved,” said 21-year-old senior, Jack Darischuk, who’s majoring in music education.
“The long-term goal…is to join like a collective of creatives and just continue to do this as long as I can … you know, content creation, photography, videography, and then like a shorter-term goal, I really want to shoot for Lollapalooza one year in Chicago … it’s my dream festival,” said McIntyre.
He also dreams of getting recognized for his work, of course, and traveling the world.
“That’s what’s cool about this industry, it can lead you to so many different places in the creative industry and get so many different backgrounds, and that’s another reason why I really do love it,” said McIntyre.
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