Whenever I’m speaking about my photo work, I always stress the importance of personal relationships, as you never know where it may lead.

In 2011, I was a staff shooter for the Wakarusa Music Festival in Ozark, Arkansas– one of the major benefits of which, was essentially having unlimited access to shoot anywhere.  Mumford & Sons happened to be one of the festival’s headliners, right as their debut album was peaking, and I was lucky enough to shoot them on-stage…

I made a smart move, in that I went backstage right after the show, and introduced myself to Ted Dwane, the bass player, who happened to be hanging out.  I had some good photos (above), showed them to him on my camera’s LCD, and he loved them.  He wanted to use them on his Facebook or the band’s website, so we exchanged info, and we finally touched base a few months later.

Come two years later, they’re one of the biggest bands in the world, and happened to be headlining two New York City shows, at Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center.  I dropped Ted an email, not thinking he’d remember me, or even respond.  To my surprise, he did remember, and even recalled the photos I shot two years back.  Though he couldn’t accommodate the candid portrait request I threw out there (always worth a shot, right?), he did put me on the list for a photo pass at their second Barclay’s show– which happened to be their very first performance since picking up their Album of the Year Grammy, two nights earlier.

Though Rolling Stone had covered their last Barclay’s show the week before, I asked if they’d be interested in further coverage, and they were happy for me to submit for consideration.

RollingStone.com ended up not being able to use them, but passed them on to the print division, and a week later, became my first published photo in Rolling Stone Magazine (the current March 14th, 2013 issue).

Very happy they chose the image that they did, and hopefully it will lead to more work with the magazine.