Greg Noire
American concert photographer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gregory Ehiabhi Oribhabor,[1] known as Greg Noire, is an American concert and portrait photographer based in Houston, Texas.[2] Noire has shot for Drake, Travis Scott, Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Demi Lovato, among others.
Greg Noire | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gregory Ehiabhi Oribhabor Granbury, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Concert photographer |
| Years active | 2009–present |
Biography
Noire has Nigerian ancestry and was born in Granbury, Texas.[3][1] He is based in Houston, Texas.[3]
Noire attended Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas,[4] with a major in corporate communications.[1] He discovered photography while working at the photo department of Sam's Club.[4][3] Inspired by customers' film rolls, he bought a Fujifilm FinePix camera and began taking around 500 pictures a day.[4] Noire also took a photography class which he said "changed [his] life".[1] Later, he got access to a DSLR camera through working at Lamar's University Press newspaper as a photojournalist.[3][4] He used this camera to enter contests and shoot local events.[4]
In 2009, Noire was invited to shoot the rap group The Clipse, because he knew members of the opening act, The Nice Guys.[3][1] Noire said "I fell in love immediately, even though I initially had absolutely no idea what I was doing".[3] In 2014, Noire shot for the music festival Lollapalooza, which was Noire's first gig that paid highly.[4] Noire quit his job and became a full-time concert photographer in 2015.[4] Begun in 2017, he runs a podcast, The Greg Noire Show, that documents experiences in his career.[4]
In 2019, Complex described Noire as "one of the most sought after concert photographers in the industry".[1] Some artists Noire has shot for include Drake, Travis Scott, Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, and Demi Lovato.[3][4] As well, he has shot the music festivals Coachella, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Astroworld Festival, and the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience.[4][3]
Style and influences
Part of Noire's pseudonym originated from the film noir genre.[1] The genre, especially Citizen Kane, influenced him to use black and white photography for capturing emotion.[1] Noire's biggest photographer influence is Chi Modu, while others include Gordon Parks, Gilles Bensimon, Neal Preston, Dana Scruggs, Joshua Kissi, and Devin Allen.[3] While photographing concerts, Noire treats it as a studio session to create "intimate and vulnerable" photos.[3] He aims to "de-concert [his] concert photography".[3] Noire prefers to wait for specific moments instead of shooting in volume.[5]