Ciel Lanchester: Who I Am & My Inspiration
I was Atlanta-born and Chicago-raised. I'm a multi-genre photographer who specializes in concerts and events. I started showing interest in photography with landscape, capturing flowers and parks on my phone in middle school. I started attending concerts frequently since 2023 and would strive for barricade to capture artists close-up on my phone. These photos made me realize my dream in concert photography and the desire to someday go on tour with my favorite bands.
In my senior year of high school, I obtained a loan to purchase my first camera—the Canon EOS RP—which I continue to use to this day. I had my first experience with event photography when my camera arrived the morning of prom, where I took my camera and learned to use it through tips from the school photographer. Holding my first camera and trying out post-production started opening my eyes to the massive world of photography, and the vast amount of creativity that can be represented in each moment captured in a frame.
I am currently a 3rd year photography and marketing student at Columbia College Chicago, with concentrations in fashion and social media. I desire to learn how to market myself as a freelance photographer and build my own business. I started building this portfolio last year, showcasing some of my concert work, events, and portraits.
© Ashley Osborn
A photographer that has really inspired me is Ashley Osborn, a full-time LA based photographer born in Minneapolis, MN who focuses mostly on music (press photos, behind the scenes, touring) and documentary photography. Her intent in her photos is to capture the most genuine forms of emotion.
Ashley first got into photography when she was a kid, believing she fell in love with photography when she held the vintage photos her family took. “I had such a fascination with images and photo books when I was younger because to me they were physical objects that represented places in time. Every photo I take is a real interaction or moment I experienced and to me that is so beautiful. As much as my job is about documenting other people, to me it is still documenting my own life as well.”
Ashley also attended Columbia College Chicago back in 2023, majoring in Marketing Communications, before dropping out to become a full-time photographer and began touring on the road with many known bands such as Twenty One Pilots and Pierce the Veil. She also had the opportunity to document some of the most influential women in music such as Beyonce, Selena Gomez, Olivia Rodrigo, Kesha, and Billie Eilish.
Her biggest influences as a photographer are the people she meets and their energy, every single bit of nature, the places she gets to experience, her 132 house plants, the creatives who have been vulnerable enough with her to have their photo taken and most importantly music. But at the end of the day, even with or without motivation or worries, Ashley’s biggest piece of advice is to JUST DO IT. She’s had hesitant moments diving into different types of camera gear due to expense and risk, but still allowed herself to make the purchases and experiment. Now her favorite works are with 35mm, the very film she was afraid of going into in the first place.
It’s important to her that as a photographer and videographer, you allow yourself to play around and have fun, and to not take photography so seriously.
Ashley has always felt that her purpose was to heal and empower people through the arts. In her years of being a photographer and videographer, she’s done portraits, group photos, and performance photos of all sorts of bands and solo artists from the smallest artists to the most influential artists of today. On her website, she also displayers her work as a creative director and as a director for music videos. You will also find her behind the scenes work on her site.
As a concert and entertainment photographer myself, Ashley’s work truly inspires and motivates me because her photography feels so empowering to me. I myself was hesitant of stepping into the music industry originally and I was afraid of taking my camera anywhere until I personally met Ashley at Lollapalooza while working for guest services in 2023. Although she was busy documenting the festival, she gave her time to me to give me advice and let me know that I don’t have to be afraid. She gave me tips on how to start, such as reaching out to artists and obtaining photo passes. She also told me to reach out to fellow photographers, be it online or in the pit together, to better understand my camera and how to work in concert lighting. It has also been very useful making connections with these photographers as they give me future opportunities within the industry.
Since meeting Ashley, I’ve started frequenting concerts and listening to my heart that’s screaming, “concert photography is my passion.” Before 2023, I only went to one concert a year, if even that. I didn’t know much about live performances as I wasn’t taken to concerts by family growing up. The first concert I went to was in 2019 when I went to see Icon For Hire at the Subterranean, who at the time was a really prominent band in my life as their music related to my mental health struggles, and still do to this day. Seeing their stage presence and the way they poured their heart out into their performance inspired me.
At the time, I wanted to follow the artist path and find myself on stage performing with a band. But I realized my physical health issues, such as my asthma, wouldn’t allow me to stand on the same stage the same way as performers. I idolized these performers and looked down on myself, thinking I wouldn’t be able to get any closer to these performers than behind the barricade. I didn’t know how to separate idolization and self-deprecation and my judgement became cloudy. It wasn’t until I unboxed my camera the morning of prom that I realized that there may be a different opportunity to share the stage.
As I went to more concerts, I started observing the touring photographers more. I saw the way they ran around the pit and on the stage, experiencing and capturing moments to be held in a still-life image. Seeing all the emotion and storytelling behind each photo motivated me to want to learn how to get in front of the barricade and run around on the stage.
The first time I brought my camera to a venue was April 2024, when I was going to Cobra Lounge to see The Funeral Portrait open for Dead On A Sunday. This venue did not require a media pass, which allowed me to break in to concert photography with my actual camera and not my phone. This was the first time I learned the common rule with concert photography that non-touring photographers only get to photograph the first 3 songs of each set, so I had to make it worth it. My first time experiencing photographing in concert lighting was stressful, realizing it’s hard for my camera to focus when the lights are changing every few milliseconds. Of course, not every artist has their lights set up like this, but it made me open my eyes that I would have to put in the right effort to get these photos to work.
During that same week, I reached out to the opening bands for Citizen Soldier, being Icon For Hire and Halocene, and introduced myself as a student photographer seeking a photo pass. The lead singer of Halocene got back to me and added my name to the media pass guest list, which I learned as I arrived at Bottom Lounge would grant me access to the photo pit for the first 3 songs of each set, including the headliner, which I did not expect. This was a great opportunity.
I’ve learned through my time photographing concerts to attend shows of artists I’m not familiar with and get to know them post-performance in order to network with smaller artists and gain photographing opportunities for future shows. I learned to start small so that I can go big. One has to know how to be humble so they can start and walk along the path of success.
I’m very grateful to have met Ashley as she helped me understand the entertainment industry and gave me inspiration for doing what I love. I didn’t know where to go with my career before meeting her, and Ashley helped me feel comfortable in the industry I truly want to be in. She taught me not to give up on hope and to not be hard on myself for having my own style of photography. She helped me accept my unique style and identity. Music is truly my passion and I want to be able to document all of my experiences, and perhaps someday I can tour on the road.