Kraig Geiger
Kraig Steven Geiger was born on July 14th, 1963, and raised in North Miami Beach, Florida. On October 7th, 1978, at the age of fifteen, Kraig borrowed his father’s Pentax K-1000 camera to photograph the very first rock n’ roll concert he ever attended. That watershed moment was the impetus for what went on to become a lifelong career, working as a professional concert photographer. Over the past 37 years, Kraig has photographed more than 4,000 of the world’s greatest solo musicians, bands, groups, orchestras, and recording artists of all types at more than 1,200 concert and festivals, including the Woodstock 1994 and 1999 Music and Art Fairs.
On January 4th, 1994, the new word division of “Merriam Webster’s Dictionary”, and on February 14th, 2014, the new word division of “The Oxford Dictionary” officially recognized Mr. Kraig Geiger (by letters of file citation) for coining the word Contographer ®/i.e. concert photographer.
In 1996, the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded Mr. Geiger an official trademark to use the word Contographer ®/ in commerce worldwide. While credited for naming an industry with no prior professional moniker, through his unique trademark, Kraig has also found the key to successfully distinguishing himself, along with his photographic works of art from all other photographers and concert photographers worldwide.
During the Woodstock ’94 Music and Art Fair, in Saugerties, New York, Kraig took a dramatic photograph of a young woman sitting all alone, in a metal foldout chair, twelve hours after the festival ended. Entitled “The Girl in the Field” the photograph was first published in November of 1995 by XS magazine, (a subsidiary of the Fort Lauderdale, Sun-Sentinel newspaper) and nominated for a photographic Pulitzer Prize by the Editor-In-Chief, of XS magazine.
True, Kraig Geiger is ‘NOT A PAPARAZZO’, and he doesn’t like being referred to as one! Unlike the Paparazzi, who hide between the bumpers of cars waiting to invade the privacy of famous athletes, movie stars and celebrities of all types, Kraig prefers to be just inches from the front edge of a concert stage, capturing the raw emotions of the world’s greatest musicians during some of their most vulnerable moments, only on 35mm film.
Although, concert photography has always been his top priority, Kraig’s photographic library also contains countless images of the world’s best-known television celebrities, sports icons, fashion models, politicians, dignitaries and stars of the silver screen. With a broad range of diversified images in his personal archive, Kraig has amassed a photographic library that includes: Hall of Fame jockey Willie Shoemaker, inventor of the electric guitar Les Paul, infamous ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, International ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov, The Dalai Lama, Opera Tenor Luciano Pavarotti, and the greatest of all-time Muhammed Ali.
In 2005, the A&E channel interviewed Kraig for a television documentary special called ‘The Biography of Johnny Depp’. During the mid-80s, while sharpening his skills as a concert photographer, Kraig used to photograph rock n’ roll bands in a nightclub called “The Button South”, located in Hallandale Beach, Florida. In those days, Johnny Depp was a rhythm/ slide guitarist in a local band named, ‘The Kids’.
In 2009, Nikon ®/ Inc. featured Kraig’s concert photography images on their website, at www.nikonlive.com, along with a four-minute podcast. Kraig’s story about how he became a concert photographer was also profiled in the 2009 January/ February issue of American Photo Magazine.
From 1999 to 2013, Kraig was as a senior entertainment photographer/ contributor for the world’s second largest photo agency, Corbis ®, owned by Bill Gates. During that same period of time, from 2002-2005, Kraig had a monthly concert/ entertainment page in Florida International Magazine. In 2006, Kraig moved his concert/ entertainment page over to Boca Raton Magazine, where his images continued to appear until 2008.
From 1994 to 2015, after working for nearly twenty-two years to complete a 270-page, autobiography/ pictorial anthology, on August 1st, 2016, Waldorf Publishing will release Author Kraig Geiger/ Contographer ®/ concert photographer’s first written book entitled, “Peace, Love n’ Mud”, and can be purchased online at amazon.com for $24.95, per copy. With the Woodstock ’94 Music and Art Fair, held on Winston Farm in Saugerties, New York, plays the backdrop to Kraig’s amazing story, and in addition, while leaving Winston Farm, Kraig made a promise to himself and to the future readers of his book, not to cut the back of his hair off, until his book “Peace Love n’ Mud” was finally published. Since making that promise, on August 15th, 1994, twenty-two years ago, Kraig has grown a long ponytail that he wants CBS Late Night talk show host Steven Cobert to cut off, just before the worldwide release of his book “Peace Love n’ Mud”, on August 1st, 2016.
Other career highlights and achievements
Ten years after he started photographing concerts and special events, Kraig’s first big break outside the world of concert photography came on January 28th, 1989, when legendary South Florida news anchorman, Ralph Renick, chose Kraig to be the official photographer for the ‘Challenger-Seven Memorial Dedication Ceremony’, held in downtown Miami, Florida, at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater.
In 1996, Kraig photographed the XXVI Summer Olympic Games, in Atlanta, Georgia. Littered with dozens of American flags, and cordoned off by metal barracks, Kraig photographed the spot where a bomb went off killing one woman and injuring 111 others in the Global Olympic Village, but the games continued without interruption. At those Olympic games in Atlanta, Kraig also photographed a basketball game played between China and Brazil. A baseball game in the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium played between the U.S.A. and Canada, the Olympic Village, Olympic-Centennial Park, and the iconic Olympic torch.
In 1999, two weeks after the Woodstock ’99 Music and Art Fair, held in Rome, New York, Kraig flew from Miami, Florida to Manchester, Tennessee to work as the official photographer for a five day long music festival called “Itchycoo Park ‘99”.
In 2001, a heavenly honor came Kraig’s way after receiving a letter from Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, written on behalf of Pope John Paul II, thanking Mr. Geiger for the beautiful photographs he’d taken of a holy ceremony, and forwarded to the Vatican. The holy ceremony, held at Temple Emmanu-El, on Miami Beach, Florida, was held to honor Rabbi Irving Lerman, who was given the ‘Pontifical Medal Benemerenti’. It was the first time in history that a Jewish person was awarded the ‘Pontifical Medal Benemerenti’. Over the past 700 years, the honor had only been reserved for Catholics.
In 2001, Woodstock Ventures Inc., founder/ promoter of the 1969, 1994 and 1999 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, John Roberts wrote the official preface for Kraig’s book entitled “Peace, Love n’ Mud”.
In 2001, three nights before the attack on the World Trade Center, Kraig photographed Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor on the red carpet before Michael Jackson’s 30th anniversary concert/ event, held in Madison Square Garden, New York. On the morning of September 11, 2001, a.k.a., 9/11, at exactly 8:46 a.m., in a taxicab, and on his way to the airport to fly back home to Miami, Kraig was only six blocks from the World Trade Center when the first airplane hit WTC #1, or the North Tower. Until they could hear his voice, everyone in his family, including some of his closest friends who knew Kraig was in New York City on a photographic assignment, thought he might have perished in the attack.
In 2002, Kraig was in the right place at the right time to be the official photographer for ‘Lindsay Lohan’s Sweet Sixteen’ birthday party, held at Billboard live, on South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida.
In 2003, a concert photograph taken by Kraig of “Aerosmith” lead singer Steven Tyler and lead guitarist Joe Perry, was chosen to represent the band in a special edition book released by ‘VH-1/ People Magazine’ naming the group one of the ‘Top 200 greatest music icons of all-time’.
In 2003, during a Q&A session at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, Kraig had the honor of photographing The Dalai Lama with actor/ activist Richard Gere.
In 2014, a book entitled “Inside the Godfather”, written by Darly Brown, the son of James Brown (The Godfather of Soul) was published and released by Waldorf publishing, featured one of Kraig’s giclees taken of James Brown on the front cover of the book.
In August of 2016, Kraig’s first written book entitled “Peace, Love n’ Mud” is being published by Waldorf Publishing with a worldwide release on August 1st, 2016. In 2017, Kraig’s second book entitled, “A Coffee Table Book of the World’s Greatest Rock n’ Roll Giclees” featuring 350 of his greatest concert images, that have been turned into amazing giclees, by Kraig, is also being published by Waldorf Publishing, with a worldwide release on August 1st, 2017.
Kraig’s current website – www.contographer.com
Kraig’s website – www.peacelovenmud.com
Kraig’s twitter account – KraigGeiger(@contographerksg)
Kraig’s Instagram account – peace, love n’ mud
Kraig’s Facebook Page – Kraig Geiger
Kraig’s Facebook Page – peace, love n’ mud