Albert Lamontagne is our most recent photographic addition, rounding out a core team of five of us behind the scenes of Depth Magazine. Albert is a get-stuck-into-it kind of photographer, who loves being in the thick of a mosh with camera in hand, and clearly loves what he does.
Albert grew up as a “punk rock/pop punk kind of kid”, listening to lots of Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, AC/DC, and Powderfinger. “I remember as a young kid my friend showing me really early Bring Me The Horizon and Slipknot but we kinda just moshed around for a laugh and never really listened to them seriously.”
It was The Amity Affliction that kicked off a real love for music though, with Albert noticing the intense album art of Chasing Ghosts around the age of 12-13, inspiring a listen which changed everything. “The Amity Affliction was my bread and butter throughout highschool, being that kid in the corner of the room paying absolutely no attention, just pumping some tunes that everyone thought made me weird!” Stemming from there, Albert’s love for The Amity Affliction inspired his discovery of many other bands and an ongoing love of music.
By way of photography, it was BMX that got him into the craft. “I used to be an avid BMX rider. Just 24/7 at the skate park with my mates having a laugh. At one point my parents bought a Canon camera to bring on a holiday, and I started using it at the skate park. Just for a bit of fun, to take some photos and make a few videos.” Once Albert started going to heavy music shows, noticing bands’ photographers and realising that these people “were just their friends who would go on tour with them and have a sick time while making content for the band”, he began to combine two loves and more focusedly explore music photography. He credits The Amity Affliction’s photographer Pees/Jamie Lehman as a big part of opening his eyes to this.
As someone who “shrivels up at the thought of working a regular 9-to-5 job”, Albert is inspired to work hard to make it work in an industry he’s passionate about. “The prospect of working in the live music industry for artists who have inspired me my whole life is just crazy, but its kind of happening. Not only is the industry so cool but the work itself is so sick. When I get home from a show that I’ve been shooting at, I cant wait to wake up and edit the photos as the first thing I do when I leave bed.” Albert loves what he does as well as seeing the finished product, and getting to meet amazing people at shows.
By way of goals, Albert just wants to be a freelance photographer. “I would love to expand into other areas of photography as well as music, like working for National Geographic. That would be a dream, the amount of travel and incredible things on this earth you would see and experience would be insane!”
Albert found it tough to pick a favourite or stand-out gig, but decided that there’s a formula for what is an incredible show for him to shoot: “You need an awesome band at a sold out intimate show with decent lighting. That will almost guarantee a good show to shoot. But if I had to choose I would say either Better Half’s Maybe I Was Wrong EP release show or Pridelands’ Any Colour You Desire EP release show or Trophy Eyes’ final intimate show in Melbourne.”
“There’s no harm in trying!”
For others aspiring to get into live music photography, or even a new field that you’re trying to break into, Albert’s advice is to “try something that may seem insignificant or not relevant to what you’re trying to do”. He says that “One crazy thing about how I started out is that just about every contact I’ve made in this industry stemmed from getting a coffee with a friend of my mum who’s a sports photographer. Pretty crazy when I think about it!”
When it comes to Depth Magazine, Albert says “Depth is the best because we are a team of five people who constantly communicate about how we can create genuine content that stands out from the standard shitty little review that just talks about how the band is on tour and all that crap. When Depth reviews an album or a show, you read a small poetic story that vividly describes the vibe of what it was like. I to this day am so impressed at how good Kel and Josh are at describing music and shows. And I can’t speak for myself, but Rowan and Liam are some absolutely AMAZING photographers. I’m constantly messaging Liam for technical photography advice.”
Check out Albert’s photography and video via Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/albertlamontagne/
