Chloe Weir on Photographing Her Dad and Dead & Company at the Sphere
Don’t compare Chloe Weir to a fly on the wall when she’s photographing live music. “Maybe a little mouse on the ground,” she says with a laugh. “I love hiding and shrinking down to get everyone in their element.”
Regardless of the animal, Weir has been a sharp observer of Dead & Company’s residency at the Sphere, capturing her dad, Bob Weir, with his band, along with the many Deadheads who’ve flocked to Las Vegas this summer to experience some psychedelic magic. “I love to document incredible Deadheads doing what they do,” Weir says over Zoom. “Which is being really cool.”
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Dressed in all-black attire — usually leggings and a t-shirt — with a photo belt and double harness, Weir spends the entire set capturing the experience on her Sony A7 III (she also shares a Sony A7R5 with her dad). She then spends six to seven hours editing, going through roughly 4,000 photos. During the sets, she doesn’t miss a single song. “I am out the entire time,” she says. “I love to soak up every minute.”
Weir got her first camera — a Polaroid — when she was seven, and she’d often bring it on tour with her dad. “Today I’m doing a slightly more upscale version of that,” she jokes. She shot the cover of Bob’s 2016 album Blue Mountain when she was 14, then took a photography class in high school. Currently, media studies is one of her double majors in college (alongside anthropology). “I fell in love with film and being in the dark room,” she says. “I love it more than anything.”
Weir became Dead & Company’s official photographer during the pandemic. “They needed a photographer for the livestreams, but because of the bubble, they couldn’t bring anyone in,” she says. “So I was like, ‘I’ll do it!’” She began photographing Bob’s concerts, including his June 2021 shows at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre. “My dad’s really supportive and loves that I get to do what I love, alongside him doing what he loves,” she says. “We get to be, at the end of the day, working together.”
Weir credits veteran Dead photographer Jay Blakesberg with teaching her how to shoot digitally. “There aren’t even words to describe how grateful I am for Jay, to have him in my life and to be able to learn from the best,” she says. “He’s not only such an incredible mentor for photography, but he’s also a really hilarious person.” Weir and Blakesberg’s photography — as well as drummer Mickey Hart’s artwork — is currently on display at the Venetian resort’s Dead Forever Experience.
In the gallery above, Weir walked us through some of her favorite photographs from Dead & Co’s Sphere residency. “What’s amazing is there’s so many visuals that are dedicated both to the historical moments and to specific song references,” she says. “You’re full of a room of glowing scarlet begonias, or you’re at the historic venues of the Fillmore, Madison Square Garden, Red Rocks, Cornell, and more. My photos only scratch the surface of what it’s like to be at this incredible place. This is only the beginning.”
Launch Gallery: Chloe Weir Walks Us Through Her Dead and Company Photographs at the Sphere
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