Tacoma's Music Photographer: An Interview with Bill Bungard

Rock photography is almost as integral to the genre as the music itself: through a purely visual medium, it allows us to experience the vibrance, movement, character, and attitude of rock, in all its ragged, spotlit glory. Someone with the right eye can take a photo of a concert that will not only make it feel like you were there, but that you've gained some greater insight into the band being photographed.

Tacoma has had its share of iconic rock photographers – particularly the late, great Jini Dellacio – but maybe the best Tacoma rock photographer working today is Bill Bungard. Speaking with Bill, he's got an excitable energy, the kind befitting of a person who has a million stories to tell, though some might be best suited for sharing at a dinner party, away from public consumption. While he's now fully immersed in career taking pictures of rockstars, it wasn't a career he had foreseen for himself.

“I got sober, coming up on 24 years ago, and throughout the process I started hiking,” says Bungard. “I had a little point-and-shoot film camera and got kinda obsessive about it – trading addictions, you know, filling the void. So, I had done that for several years, and I helped another guy get sober who was a professional photographer. When I looked at his work, my stomach knotted up; he had great work, and I suddenly thought that maybe this was what I was supposed to be doing. I was in my 40s, at the time, and thought there had to be more to life.”

Bungard got a digital camera and went all in on nature photography, eventually selling his work to a local hospital for use in a calendar. But, it wasn't long before a friend of his invited him to take some phots of local bands at the dearly departed Sax on 6th. As Bungard says, he felt like a fish out of water taking photos in that context, but it reminded him how much he missed live music.

“I started going around to clubs, places like Louie G's that had some some good lighting,” says Bungard. “I'd get an awesome shot, and that'd be enough to fuel me going forward. Every once in a while, I'd be driving by the Tacoma Dome or Emerald Queen, and I'd think, 'Bet you there's some good lighting in there.'”

Eventually, he decided he needed to take a stab at shooting big concerts. Upon seeing that Peter Frampton would be playing at the Pantages, he turned to friend and Tacoma Weekly editor Matt Nagle to see if he could get in there to take photos for the paper. Nagle responded that Frampton doesn't allow outside photographers, but offered to let Bungard cover the upcoming Van Halen concert – an opportunity that Bungard couldn't pass up.

“I was completely unprepared,” says Bungard. “It was my first big show at the Tacoma Dome, I was just winging it – shooting 40 rows back, I didn't have a step stool, the crowd was standing up. I quickly figured out that there was more of an art to shooting concerts. A couple weeks later, I was asked to shoot the Rammstein show – this big, loud German band with pyrotechnics – and I was in the pit. I barely got out of there with my eyebrows intact, with the pyrotechnics going off.”

Soon, it was off to the races, with Bungard quickly becoming an established and prolific rock photographer, honing an ability to capture little moments in a performance that go by in a flash.

“I've been kinda trained,” Bungard says, “where I don't need to stay through the whole set. You give me three songs, ten minutes, and I can capture the essence of a show.”

That efficiency and ability to get in and out is a big plus in the world of rock photography, where your job frequently centers around being in the middle of a whole lot of action. At times, Bungard says, this can get a little hairy, like when Marilyn Manson chucks foreign objects at you from the stage, or – most harrowing of all – when you're getting in between six-year-old girls and Taylor Swift.

“I probably won't shoot Slayer again, because the crowd-surfers get pushed to the front,” says Bungard. “I was standing there with thousands of dollars' worth of equipment, and suddenly I get kicked in the head by a kid that was crowd-surfing right by.”

Though Bungard gets so tantalizingly close to these amazing musicians, for him it's all about the work.

“People ask me if I ever get to meet these people, and the truth is not very often,” says Bungard. “But there are these moments. I was back by the security at an Aerosmith show, and I hear this voice say to me, 'Hey, how you doing?' I look around and make sure he's talking to me, and then say, 'I'm fine, Steven Tyler, how are you?' But I never want to be known as a groupie; I want to be known for my art.

“After the show's over,” Bungard says, “everyone else is going home after a night of drinking, and I'm at home sorting through pictures and trying to pick which one has the drumstick pointing in the direction that I like.”

A whole treasure trove of amazing photos can be found at billbungard.com, as well as contact info if you want to book him to shoot photos for your wedding or special event.