by Michelle Watson
Chances are, if you’ve been to a Clear Lake sporting event or any major event that has happened in Clear Lake in the last 15 years, you’ve seen Chris Barragy behind a camera. He has been capturing games and events and sharing them with the public at the Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter. Although Chris is no longer with the newspaper, he’s still putting his photography skills to work, but now in a new area – concerts and music festivals.
Chris’ career in photography started in 2008 when he was a senior at Clear Lake High School. The Mirror-Reporter editor at the time, Marianne Gasaway, spotted some of Chris’ photos at an art show and asked if he’d like to take some sports photos for the newspaper. That was the start of Chris’ 15 year career at the Mirror-Reporter.
“I enjoyed my time at the Mirror-Reporter capturing memories of games and events and saving them for people,” said Chris.
In 2009, Chris covered the Winter Dance Party at the Surf Ballroom for the newspaper.
“In 2010, the Surf asked me if I’d cover concerts for them,” said Chris. “It was like killing two birds with one stone, I shot pictures for the Mirror and for the Surf. Since 2010, I’ve shot 170 concerts at the Surf.”
Most bands require photographers to limit photo taking to the first three songs, they can not use a flash and they have to be in the stage pit or at the front of the house.
“When Bill Cosby performed at the Surf, I had eight seconds from the time he walked on the stage until he sat down to get his picture,” said Chris. “Those were Bill’s rules.”
Chris admitted there was a learning curve to shooting a concert at the Surf. “When I first started, the lighting was hard to adjust to since I couldn’t use a flash. I had to teach myself through trial and error how to adapt.”
Chris said he is grateful that he has been able to shoot so many pictures at the historical Surf Ballroom. He said some artists have requested photos from him over the years.
One of his most memorable experiences shooting at a Winter Dance Party was when Chubby Checker pulled him out of the crowd to dance with him on the stage.
Another memorable experience was photographing Maddie Poppe for her hometown visit in Clarksville when she was a contestant on American Idol.
“Maddie performed her hometown concert at the Butler County Fair Grounds in Allison,” said Chris. “A town of 996, had over 10,000 people at the fairgrounds.”
Chris’ experience at the Surf helped him to get the attention of Tree Town Music Festival.
“I got a hold of the staff with Tree Town to see if I could photograph for them. They used my stuff on social media,” said Chris.
It was while he was shooting at Tree Town that he met Adam Grim, the director of photography for 10 midwest music festivals. Fast forward to 2021, that’s when Grim called Chris and asked him to photograph one day at Winstock Music Festival in Winstead, Minn.
In 2022, Grimm asked Chris back to Winstock and he also asked him to shoot Lakefront Music Festival in Prior Lake, Minn. and the Twin Cities Summer Jam in Shakopee, Minn. Recently he shot at the Twin City Summer Fest at Target Field in Minneapolis.
“It was pretty cool to shoot in a stadium. It was a different venue and a different feel from what I’m used to,” said Chris.
Chris said that shooting music festivals is more about marketing the festival than it is about shooting the performers.
“They want more shots of festival experiences, like crowd shots, the campgrounds, sponsors and vendors,” said Chris. “But of course, we also shoot the artists.”
Being backstage, Chris has had opportunities to meet some artists and even have lunch with them. He said once he met Neil McCoy, who happened to notice Chris was wearing a T-shirt that said “Clear Lake” on it. McCoy said, “Surf Ballroom, right? Tell them they need to have me back.”
Some of the more famous names Chris has photographed include: ZZ Top, Martina McBride, Willie Nelson, BB King, Little Big Town, REO Speedwagon, Whitesnake, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Granger Smith, Gene Simmons, The Band Perry, Rick Springfield, Brad Paisley, Toby Keith, 38 Special, Blake Shelton, Rascal Flats, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, Tim McGraw, Smashmouth, Imagine Dragons, Gabby Barrett and Diamond Rio, just to name a few of the over 160 performances he’s photographed.
When Chris is shooting a festival, he uses two cameras and two lens in order to get different views. Once the festival is over, the work just begins for Chris, who edits all of his own photos.
Chris started his own photography business in 2012, called Lakeview Photography. In addition to concerts and festivals, he also does senior and family photos, marketing photos for businesses and he has shot car races at Britt.
If a photograph is worth a thousand words, Chris Barragy has had a lot to say!
