1,000 Words: Calder Wilson
Name: Calder Wilson
Hometown: Winter Haven, Florida (about an hour from Orlando)
Occupation: Photographer
On assignment at events in 2016 including: EDC Las Vegas, Electric Forest, Tomorrowland, EDC Orlando, and Creamfields.
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Reminiscing on: EDC20. That’s an event that, year after year, is outdoing itself. If you’ve been to EDC Las Vegas before, you’re not going to experience the same thing again. Insomniac’s constantly raising the bar, and it’s always exciting to see what they’re going to throw at us. Electric Forest was also really cool—there are shots there that you can’t get anywhere else, simply because of the forest venue it’s in.
Looking forward to: EDC Orlando—it’s my hometown festival. I’m also excited for Creamfields. That’ll be my second time shooting a festival in Europe (the first was Tomorrowland, and I really enjoyed seeing how a different culture handles electronic music on such a large scale).
First experience with electronic music: I’ve been listening to electronic music all my life—I was listening to the Orb back when people were listening to the Backstreet Boys in 4th grade. That’s what got me into shooting it. I had friends who were in a jamtronic band, and I started shooting them in my basement. But I’d never been to a music festival before the first time I shot one.
Which happened because: The band I was shooting introduced me to their friends, who were in a bigger band. I shot them at a bar, and they liked my work; I just kept getting introduced to people from there. The first festival I shot was Camp Bisco back in 2011. That was the year Skrillex headlined, and the festival—and electronic music festivals in general—was really blowing up. I really feel like I was in the right place at the right time.
The photo itch started: Way earlier. I took some black & white film classes my freshman year of college, like a lot of freshmen do. I was loosely interested in photography. Soon, I got my first digital camera and started taking pictures whenever I could: after classes, on my weekends. It was something I never wanted to stop doing. I ended up getting a degree in business administration with a minor in photography, and when I left school I knew I wanted to be a photographer for my entire life. I worked for a vineyard for a while, doing photos for them. Then I started working for a virtual reality company as their director of photography.
But now: I actually just quit that job this July to focus entirely on my concert and festival photography company aLIVE Coverage.
Favorite shot: I had the opportunity to go in a helicopter one night at EDC Las Vegas. I managed to get a shot straight over the Speedway. It’s one of those photos that people see, and they ask me if it’s real, which is really cool. One of the reasons I like photographing Insomniac events is because they give me the opportunity to take a photograph that people think is fake when they see it. That’s incredible to me. And Insomniac delivers on it again and again. Plus, it was a huge rush shooting out of a helicopter—it’s really addicting.
Back on the ground: My method is all about teamwork. I cofounded the photography team aLIVE Coverage, and our philosophy has always been to cover everything happening at an event—not just the typical DJ, or stage, or crowd shots. Those are important to have, but we also want to get those great fan moments.
Best festival Instagram tip: Don’t be so focused on getting that mainstage shot. There are literally dozens of people—professionals—at that event taking that photo. (Plus, coming from the photographer’s side, I’m far less likely to take a picture of you if you’re on your phone.) Do take some cool photos of your friends doing things that you can only do at the event.
One of my favorite things to photograph is New York City from above with the helicopter company FlyNYON. This shot is from 8,000 feet on a private doors-off night flight.
Sunsets don’t get much better than catching that last light over Manhattan. Love getting the streetlights to come out while there is still some light in the sky.
You can get the best views of the oasis that is Central Park.
Times Square from above during a high-altitude flight—the “Capital of Capitalism.”
A long shot of lower Manhattan taken while flying over Brooklyn.
Work takes me to some really incredible places. I went to Cape Town this year and was blown away by its natural beauty.
A hidden spot in Cape Town just off the path going up Lion’s Head.
One of my favorite cities in the world is Paris. I’ve been five times and always want to go back.
The Eiffel Tower sparkling at midnight, with the moon passing by overhead.
It’s a city full of history with places like Sainte-Chapelle, an 800-year-old chapel full of stained glass.
I’ve been on a national park kick recently. A few months ago, I made it out to Yosemite for the first time.
Followed that up with a trip to Zion National Park last month. Here’s a panorama from inside the park.
These are some of the best places to catch the Milky Way and a dark sky.
This shot is from the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. I absolutely love shooting astrophotography.
A recent location that stands out is Antelope Canyon in Arizona. The Navajo own this land and call this rock formation “Lady in the Wind.”
I love any opportunity to combine my passions of travel photography and shooting out of helicopters. Here’s a shot hovering a few hundred feet over Thousand Island Lake. To catch the reflection of Banner Peak, you need to get there at sunrise.
Here’s another heli shot of the Minarets and a hidden lake—about 11,000 feet above sea level for this shot.
Here’s an aerial taken right outside of Zion National Park, one of my favorite landscapes to photograph!
Love this shot I got last year of a short film being made at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
When I’m not traveling, I get to enjoy this view from my backyard. I live in Winter Haven, Florida, where there seem to be more lakes than land. I feel very lucky to call this place home, and I probably post a few too many Instagrams of this view.
Sunsets + lightning = awesome.
Pretty cool to live in the lightning capital of the US.
We pulled together a gallery of our favorite photos by Calder. Check it out here.
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