Music gallery.

Six years of standing in the pit with a camera pressed to my face. Club shows, festival main stages and the quiet thirty seconds before a band walks on — shot on digital and film, mostly in the dark.

Most of these frames were shot wide open, exposing for the highlights and letting the shadows fall where they want. A black frame with one perfect rim light beats a flat, safe exposure every time. By the second night of a run you stop reacting and start anticipating — singers return to the same spot at the same lyric, and the best frame often comes long after the other photographers have packed up.

Concert and club photography by James DeSalvo Photography — red-lit singers, drummers, festival crowds and DJ booths. Based in Trenton, New Jersey. Click any image to view full screen.

Featured

A selected frame from the music portfolio.

Selected frames

A selection of concert and club photographs shot on digital and film between 2021 and 2025.

Singer gripping a microphone under a single red spotlight in a smoky Berlin venueFemale singer bathed in red stage light, eyes closed, in a hazy London clubDrummer mid-performance with motion blur on the drumsticks under blue stage lightClose-up of a guitarist's hands on a worn guitar neck with amber stage bokehSea of raised hands and confetti seen from the stage at a Dutch festivalDJ in a dark booth lit by magenta neon with a glowing mixing consoleVocalist leaning into a microphone under hard red light in a hazy Berlin clubDrummer throwing both arms through a fast fill beneath blue and white stage lightsGuitarist in profile beneath an amber spotlight with smoke catching the beamsSinger silhouetted against violet backlight and fog on a festival stageKeyboardist surrounded by cables and warm tungsten light in a dark venueCrowd surging under a bright white strobe with confetti suspended in the airDJ with headphones working a mixer under green and magenta club lightsFemale vocalist turning with a long red coat flowing through crimson stage lightClose-up of a bass player plucking strings against orange stage bokehSinger on a small outdoor stage at blue hour with audience arms reaching upwardPercussionist in profile behind a cymbal with golden flare and motion blurBand member standing alone in a cone of white light on a black stageTwo musicians sharing a microphone beneath saturated orange and blue lightsDrummer seen through transparent cymbals with magenta light and blurred sticksMusician resting against a concrete corridor wall beneath a red emergency lightGuitarist crouched at the edge of the stage with fans inches awayVintage microphone with a singer blurred behind in smoky amber lightFull band in silhouette beneath a wide violet beam with audience heads below