Concert photography was her calling. Now, she’s up for photographer of the year
This Northeastern grad has photographed the likes of Chance the Rapper, Gracie Abrams and the Jonas Brothers.
A photo of British rocker Yungblud by Northeastern alum Samantha Davidson, who is up for an award at this year’s Boston Music Awards. Photo by Samantha Davidson
One of the perks of being a concert photographer is getting to see some of the world’s biggest stars up close — even if it’s from behind a camera lens.
And Samantha Davidson has some stories.
Davidson, who graduated from the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University last year, once found herself backstage with Canadian rapper bbno$, who suggested that she shoot him while he and his opener brushed their teeth before a show.
Another night, she turned around mid-set during a Frankie Grande concert to find Joan Grande, Ariana Grande’s mother, filming her son right beside her. Frankie later followed her on Instagram and shared her photos with his millions of followers.
“It was an amazing experience,” Davidson says.
Now, Davidson’s work has earned her a nomination for Live Music Photographer of the Year at the Boston Music Awards, or BMA. It’s the culmination of several years of sheer dedication, creative growth and an instinctive mix of patience and timing behind the lens.
Michael Kalish, a producer with Following Boston, a media company that produces music-focused content, said that Davidson is one of Boston’s most exciting music journalists.
“Her dedication and passion for the craft have earned her a well-deserved nomination for Live Music Photographer of the Year at the Boston Music Awards,” he says. “We’re thrilled to see her talent gaining the recognition it deserves, both here in Boston and beyond.”
The BMA is one of the longest-running regional music award shows in the U.S., and since 1987 has recognized and celebrated local musicians across all genres, according to information published on its website. Nominees are chosen annually by a committee of members who submit picks across all categories. The 10 names with the most write-ins in each category become that year’s nominees, according to the BMA.
When Davidson first stepped into a concert photo pit, she was a 19-year-old freshman at Northeastern. It was an assignment she landed with Allston Pudding, a publicity blog and website focused on the Boston music scene.
That first assignment, photographing Boston-born pop star Poppy at the Brighton Music Hall in early 2020, was supposed to mark the beginning of a busy season of shows and snaps.
But, as happens, circumstances beyond her control got in the way.
It’s a story familiar to all: weeks later, just as Davidson was getting her sea legs, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, upending daily life for everybody. For an avid concertgoer who’d just embarked on what she envisioned as a career — one that seemed the perfect marriage of hobby and profession — the public health shutdown was earth-shattering.
“I thought I’d never go to a concert again,” she says.
After a nearly three-year hiatus from concert life in which Davidson focused on her coursework, she eventually rediscovered her passion for live music photography through Tastemakers Magazine, Northeastern’s student-run music website. She spotted the group’s table at a campus fair, captivated by the print product: the glossy shots of pop stars in hero pose and long-form accounts of concert performances.
She began covering concerts around Boston for Tastemakers, and through Northeastern’s Council for University Programs, she worked campus shows at Matthews Arena, getting hands-on experience with professional production teams.
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Davidson credits Tastemakers as “the reason that I am back doing this full time.”
“Everyone in Tastemakers had different majors — computer science, engineering, marketing — but we were all unified by the fact that we loved music,” she says. “It reminded me that this was something I could really do out in the world.”
And gigs with off-campus outlets such as Allston Pudding, a Boston-based music publication, Following Boston and Do617, the Boston branch of a national entertainment publication, have helped her become a recognizable name in the city’s music scene.
“Harnessing the marketing skills I learned while working toward my degree at [the D’Amore-McKim School of Business] has been instrumental in gaining visibility in the Boston photography scene,” she says.
Christine Varriale, editor-in-chief of Allston Pudding, said that Davidson joined the publication at a critical time, “when we needed a lot of support to manage our small but eager and growing photo team.”
“Her passion for the local music photography community is palpable and she leads by example with her incredible photo work and drive to support small and growing artists,” she says.
Some of the highlights of Davidson include photographing her favorite band Twenty One Pilots at TD Garden, being hired by Chance the Rapper — the same artist she once camped out in the mud to see as a fan — and covering the Jonas Brothers over the summer at Fenway Park. And she says she’s logged more than 25,000 words in concert reviews.
Davidson has also recently had some of her camera work featured in Rolling Stone magazine. But it wasn’t her photography the magazine wanted: its editors asked her if they could use lightly edited phone video she’d taken at a Gracie Abrams concert this past July.
She says artists are now hiring tech-savvy concertgoers to shoot snippets of the performance on their phones in rough-cut fashion. Many pop stars, such as Sabrina Carpenter, Abrams and Billie Eilish, don’t allow photographers into their shows, so footage from point-and-shoot cameras and smartphones has become the main way fans experience those performances online.
Davidson currently works as a venue photographer for The Wilbur Theatre and Chevalier Theatre.
Anyone looking to cast their ballot for nominees of this year’s Boston Music Awards can do so at: https://bostonmusicawards.com/vote/.
