Aussie Music Photographers Are The Darlings Of The Print World Right Now

A pair of acclaimed Australian music photographers are making individual pushes into the print market (dead, eh? Shows what you know) by launching a book and a new zine, and we couldn't be happier.

Sydney-bred snapper Nic Bezzina has been turning in world-class music photography for nigh a decade now, and in that time he's ticked off a laundry list of impressive places and people that have populated his pictures. 

After a successful crowdfunding effort, Bezzina is readying himself to launch Release The Crowd, a new book featuring more than 100 hand-picked black-and-white prints selected from across the multi-award-winning photographer's oeuvre. Turning the typical set-up for the genre on its head, the book features an array of photos not focused on the widely visible artists on stage but rather the eclectic individuals that always populate the pits at shows, no matter where on the planet he happens to be.

Now splitting his time between his home town and London, Bezzina will be back in Sydney, as well as Melbourne, for a pair of upcoming exhibitions and launch shows next month, set to be held at Goodspace Gallery on Saturday 10 December and BSIDE Gallery on Sunday 18 December.

With a history that has taken him to headline and festival events all around the world — and a catalogue of works that has been plundered for displays at the State Library of NSW, the City Of Sydney Archives and the National Museum Of Australia, it's no stretch to say that Nic Bezzina is one of Australia's best-regarded music photographers — and photography exports in general — and Release The Crowd is likely to stand as a must-have for any aficionado of the live-music-capture art form.

Another name such aficionados should be well familiar with is that of Kane Hibberd, frequent The Music photographer and all-around Australian music-industry legend.

Renowned for the extra lengths to which he goes to ensure his work is always a cut above the masses, Hibberd is launching a new behind-the-scenes tour zine, to be titled Versus, in collaboration with Melbourne Bitter. 

The first issue showcases Hibberd's work on the road with Tassie punks Luca Brasi, who the snapper joined for their sold-out national album tour earlier this year, an experience that he sees as being "pivotal" for the band and an unmissable one for himself.

"Luca Brasi have written one of my favourite albums of 2016 and I think I got so lucky with them being the first edition," Hibberd said in a statement. "Their sold-out tour is definitely a pivotal moment in their career so far and I’m so grateful that I got to document it." 

Having already dipped his toes in the print waters with his acclaimed book Kanye Lens Vs Soundwave, Hibberd says Versus was born more from his desire to "tell the story how I photographed it".

"A lot of the time when I document an artist, the images aren't used to tell a story as a whole; they are shown fragmented in different mediums," he said.

The free zine will be available from a range of outlets across several cities, including stalwart locales such as Poison City (Melbourne), Tyms Guitars (Brisbane), Red Eye Records (Sydney), Beatdisc (Parramatta), Clarity (Adelaide), Landspeed (Canberra), Music Farmers (Wollongong), Jack Rabbit Slims (Perth) and tonnes of others.

See Versus' website for more information.

Nic Bezzina — Release The Crowd

(Click images to enlarge)