A bad concert photograph -- and the vast, vast majority of them are bad -- is little more than a token, useful as a reminder if you were there and not particularly useful for anything if you weren't. But a great one can be the best possible document. It can contain a narrative and visceral impact.
Dallas is rich with great concert photographers. You can find their work in professional outlets like this one and in personal outlets as narrowly targeted as a tumblr. In an effort to get to know some of the finest a little better, we're going to spend the next month or so finding and crowning the best live music photographer in Dallas.
Update, 2/10: Today is your last day to nominate someone. We'll begin sorting through the hundreds (!) of responses tomorrow and pick our finalists from there.
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Here's how it will work: We'll accept your nominations right now -- you can simply put them in the comments below. We'll submit all of those to a panel of experts who won't know the names attached to the work, and that panel will determine a field of ten finalists. The finalists will each be featured on DC9 at Night, and a public vote will determine the winner.
To submit someone: -Write her name in the comments below. -Include a link to (ideally) a personal portfolio or (alternately) an example of his published work. -That's it!
Who is eligible? Anyone who takes pictures at live music events. You can submit yourself. You don't have to be a professional and you don't have to exclusively shoot shows. Danny Fulgencio, for example, took the photo you see at the top of this post of Big Charles Young for our story on R.L.'s Blues Palace #2. The majority of his work isn't concert photography, but if someone would like to nominate him, that person would simply need to point us in the direction of his live music work.
Many of Dallas' best have done work for the Observer and it would be unfair to exclude them -- those people are also eligible. Because the submission process is completely open and the finalists are determined blindly, they are at no particular advantage.
See also: -The Top Ten All Time Best Replacement Lead Singers in Rock and Roll -Songs That Have Hidden Messages When Played in Reverse -The Ten Best Music Videos Banned by MTV
