Is This The Best Crowd Shot Ever?

We’re inundated with imagery across numerous platforms on a daily basis, so when an image makes you stop for a few minutes for whatever reasons, there’s something special or unique about it.

Jaw-dropping is one way to describe an image that surfaced from Melbourne’s Forum Theatre on Monday, the result of one of the country’s best photographers, Kane Hibberd (affectionately known to some as 'Kanye Lens'), capturing one of Australia’s most energetic live bands, Violent Soho, in their element.

The image was taken from the ceiling of the iconic venue, orchestrated via a camera mounted to a lighting truss, triggered remotely, and captures the band and energy from the crowd.

“It’s just a weird image and you just don’t see a lot of those shots,” Hibberd told The Music.

“People use drones and things like that in video now, but you can’t really use them inside and you don’t really see stills like that. As soon as you see it, you’re kind of like, ‘Wow, what’s going on here?’ and then trying to figure it out.

“You want a photo to be engaging and I think people are so used to flicking through, but when you see something like that and it actually makes people stop and they start looking at it and go, ‘How is this done?’”

Being the gear geek that he is, Hibberd’s system was setup in way that the aerial shot was triggered by a camera he had on the ground, so every time he took a photo, the bird's-eye view also snapped an image; which is why you can see Hibberd taking a photo in the amazing photo – how’s that for meta.

“I’ve got photos from the night before where I got kneed in the head by a stage diver - I just didn’t see it coming. I can zoom in from the overhead camera and see the guy hit me and then me sort of fall back from it, which is kind of cool.”

It’s the not the first time he’s done overhead images like this, having been working with the band since 2010, this is Hibberd’s third aerial Soho shot; it’s just this time, the lighting, room and everything else lined up perfectly.

Get a healthy dose of band photography on a regular basis by following Kane Hibberd on Instagram and checking out his website. You can also get an insight into how he produces such captivating images via this mini-doco, where you’ll go behind the scenes during one of his stints with Violent Soho.

Violent Soho’s WACO album tour continues tonight at Metro City in Perth before hitting Sydney next week.

Head to theGuide for all the info.