When I was in Chicago last weekend I spent the bulk of my time photographing the Cobra Fest after parties, but since they were after parties for the Pitchfork Music Festival I figured I would check that out as well. I got my media pass and decided to give it a go on Friday but it was pouring rain so I decided not to. A little bit later it cleared up and I realized I could make it down in time to see A$AP Rocky so I did that, but then it started raining again and I got soaked, which was kinda fun.  I went over and shot Big K.R.I.T. and then the Dirty Projectors and Japandroids before it was time to head to Cobra Fest. I had to shoot Exxxotica on Saturday but I figured I would come back on Sunday and really put in work and try to cover the fest properly.

On my way back from Exxxotica I was early for Cobra Fest thanks to a ride from a friend and I decided to stop by Pitchfork for about 30 minutes. I shot one song of Hot Chip and then ran over to the stage with Danny Brown because I really wanted to shoot him. Unfortunately he didn’t end up going on stage until 8pm and I had to be at Cobra Fest at 8 so I shot one half a song and then ran over to Cobra Lounge.

Sunday I looked at the schedule and realized I didn’t really want to see any of the bands and I would rather sleep and edit photos from the weekend so I skipped Pitchfork all together. In total I photographed six bands and got a handful of crowd shots and managed to bring to you the most half assed festival coverage of all time. But I guess that’s what happens when it’s raining and I am not really getting paid (Although the Village Voice did end up buying the pictures).

The one thing Pitchfork did do was inspire me to write an article about how much festivals suck for Photographers because their media set up was impressively unimpressive and I had to fight with kids with iPhones who have no business being in a photo pit.  Sigh. The highlight of the festival might have been watching kids try to sneak into what someone described as “the easiest festival to sneak into in the country”. I saw a ton of kids sneak in and get away, but just as many get tackled by security. Good times.

Anyway, enjoy the photos from Pitchfork that I did manage to take. I like some of the rain shots and the A$AP Rocky photos are good if you are fans of A$AP Mob and not Rocky himself because he didn’t come out until song four right as they kicked all the photographers out of the pit.

Click here to see all my photos from the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago, IL.

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