Live Music at Dead Head Winery
One of my favorite parts about saying yes to creative opportunities is that I keep ending up in places I probably wouldn't have discovered otherwise. This time, that meant spending a Friday night drinking wine and listening to live music at a winery inside a former funeral home.
Through another collaboration with Relay Pittsburgh, I was invited to visit Dead Head Winery in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, for one of its live music nights. I brought two of my friends along, who also happen to be getting married in September, and naturally, I brought my camera too. Between trying the wine, grabbing food from the food truck, listening to two bands, and getting another opportunity to practice live music photography, it ended up being a really fun way to spend a Friday night.
It was also exactly the kind of experience I've come to enjoy through these collaborations. I got to create content, spend time with friends, practice a different style of photography, and discover somewhere new all at the same time.
A Winery Inside a Former Funeral Home
Dead Head Winery immediately stands out because it isn't exactly your traditional winery. The winery is located inside a renovated former funeral home, which gives the entire place a story before you even get to the wine. Owner and winemaker Michael Kissling transformed the building into a space for wine production, a tasting room, and live music, including an outdoor area that serves as a concert venue.
The Dead Head name also connects to the building's history and the Kissling family. You can read more about the winery's story and how it got its name on the Dead Head Winery website!
I love finding places like this because they're memorable for reasons beyond whatever initially brings you there. It would have been easy to create a standard tasting room, but transforming an old funeral home into a winery and live music venue gives the entire experience a personality of its own. It's unusual, a little unexpected, and definitely not somewhere I would have stumbled across during my normal routine.
Wine, Food, Friends, and Live Music
The three of us decided to try a few different wines throughout the night, which worked out perfectly because we all ended up ordering something different. Between us, we tried the Cabernet Sauvignon, Traminette, and Concord, with each of us having two glasses over the course of the evening. All three were really good, and getting different varieties meant we could try more of what Dead Head had to offer instead of everyone ordering the same thing.
There was also a food truck on site for the show, so tacos and nachos naturally became part of the evening too. The food was great and fit perfectly with the laid-back atmosphere of sitting outside with wine and listening to live music. The crowd was another thing I really enjoyed about the night. There was a decent turnout without the space feeling overwhelmingly packed, and it was a fun mix of people who were clearly there to enjoy the music, the wine, and the atmosphere. The staff were also incredibly nice, which always makes a difference when you're visiting somewhere for the first time.
Having two of my friends there made the collaboration even more enjoyable. With their wedding coming up in September and me standing beside them as a bridesmaid, we've obviously spent a lot of time together lately surrounding wedding-related events. This had absolutely nothing to do with wedding planning, which made it a nice excuse for the three of us to just spend a Friday night together somewhere none of us would normally be.
Live Music at the Winery
The live music was the reason for the night, with Big West opening the show before Rockstead took the stage. The outdoor space ended up being one of my favorite parts of Dead Head Winery. Having a dedicated area for live music gives the winery a completely different atmosphere than somewhere you'd simply stop for a tasting. You can grab a glass of wine, get something to eat, find a place outside, and make an entire evening out of being there.
Big West started the night before Rockstead brought its reggae rock sound to the stage, and having two performances gave me plenty of opportunities to enjoy the show while also experimenting with my camera. The combination of an outdoor venue, a good crowd, food, wine, and live music made the whole experience feel more like a night out than a content assignment, which is exactly what I hoped it would be.
Getting Back Into Concert Photography
One of the biggest reasons I was excited about this collaboration was the opportunity to practice concert photography again. I've dabbled in photographing live music before, but it isn't something I get to do regularly. Concert photography requires me to think differently than I do during a lot of my usual work. Performers aren't posing for me, they're constantly moving, lighting conditions can change from one moment to the next, and if something happens on stage, you have one chance to capture it.
Having two bands perform gave me a lot to work with. I could experiment with compositions, photograph individual musicians, capture wider views of the performances, and pay attention to the little moments happening on stage. It was nice to get back into that environment without the pressure of being the official photographer for the show. I could practice, experiment, and create images that complemented the content I was already there to make.
That's one of my favorite things about photography at this point. Even after doing it for years, there are still so many areas where I feel like I'm learning. Concert photography is definitely one of them, and opportunities like this give me a reason to keep practicing rather than waiting until I feel completely confident before trying it again.
Creating Content Without Missing the Night
Something I've become increasingly conscious of with collaborations is finding the balance between documenting an experience and actually experiencing it. For this collaboration, I needed to create video content and provide horizontal photographs highlighting the experience. I knew going into the night that I wanted images of the venue, wine, food, live music, and overall atmosphere, but I also didn't want to spend the entire evening looking through a camera or my phone. Bringing friends definitely helped with that balance. I could photograph the bands for a while, capture clips for my recap, and then put everything down and sit at the table with a glass of wine. The content came from what we were already doing rather than us spending the night doing things specifically for the content.
That's becoming increasingly important to me as I take on more opportunities like this. I love creating and documenting experiences, but I don't want experiencing them to become secondary to creating something to post afterward.
Exploring Somewhere New Through Relay
One thing I appreciate about working with Relay is discovering places I probably wouldn't find on my own. I'd never been to Monongahela, so my friend's house being halfway there made the drive to Dead Head Winery much easier. That's part of why these collaborations have been so interesting. They're giving me reasons to explore more of southwestern Pennsylvania while also pushing me creatively. Sometimes saying yes leads me to a coffee shop, restaurant, or local business. This time, it led me to a reggae rock concert at a winery inside an old funeral home.
Final Thoughts
Dead Head Winery ended up being exactly the kind of place I love discovering through these collaborations: unique enough that I'll remember it, but relaxed enough that it still felt like a normal Friday night out with friends. The wine was good, the tacos and nachos were good, the staff were welcoming, and there was a great crowd for both Big West and Rockstead. I also loved getting another opportunity to photograph live music and practice a style of photography I don't get to work with nearly as often as I'd like.
More than anything, though, I think this night reinforced why I've enjoyed saying yes to these opportunities. Not every collaboration has to look the same. Sometimes I'm photographing a product, sometimes I'm visiting a business, and sometimes I'm sitting outside with two of my closest friends, drinking a glass of wine while a band plays a few feet away. I probably wouldn't have discovered Dead Head Winery without this collaboration, and that's part of what made the experience worthwhile. I left with new photos, more concert photography practice, another local place to add to my list, and a really fun memory with friends.