Pooneh Ghana

“I try to approach music photography in the mindset of a superfan,” says Pooneh Ghana. 

Born to Iranian immigrants, Ghana grew up in San Antonio, Texas and went to concerts in Austin in middle and high school. “It started with me going to shows and wanting to get a photo with the artists. Then I thought: ‘What if I eliminate myself from the photo and just shoot them?’” She started sharing her images on Flickr for fun. (The Guardian)

Now based The Los Angeles-based photographer's specialty is capturing musicians on stage in front of sweaty faces pouring over stage barriers – and also intimate candids of them on the road between shows. It is more interesting that way, she says.

She has gone on tour with some of the biggest names in indie rock – Fontaines DC, Idles, Cage the Elephant, Courtney Barnett, Spoon,King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Pond, Sunflower Bean and Shame as well as 2021’s breakout pop star Olivia Rodrigo. She’s shot Travis Scott, Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa, to name just a few.

When her early Polaroids of Kings of Leon blew up on Flickr, Ghana got her first taste of going viral. Now, she often shares her vibrant, energetic images to her multitude of followers on Instagram. “Ultimately I want people to feel like they’re there,” she says.

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