Mika Lorenzo

I'm a comic. I'm also a photographer. For years I produced comedy shows and hired other photographers and videographers to cover them — people whose work is better than mine by a mile — and I was almost always disappointed by how the photos came out or how the audio sounded on my tape.

So I started shooting the shows myself. So far I've learned two things:

1. Comedy shows are hard to shoot. Dark rooms, mixed lighting, weird audio quirks — plenty to trip you up no matter how expensive your gear is. I owe a few of those photo/video guys an apology. (Expensive gear does help, though.)
2. Photographing a comedy show is all about timing. Being a comic myself helps me get in sync with the comedy spirits in the room, whether it's grabbing the deadpan face before you turn a punchline or catching the audience mid-laugh and actually looking like they want to be there (harder than you think).

So I started this as a way to get other comics the kind of content I know we actually want.

Here's what that looks like. Two cameras on your set: a cinema camera shooting 4K video and a second body on stills, running at the same time, so you don't have to choose between the clip and the photo. A separate feed off your mic into its own recorder, with a pair of mics pointed at the crowd, so your voice is clean and the laughs come through. Then I cut your set out of the show and send it with your photos as private download links, within seven days.

You order at the show, while you still think you crushed it.