“Okay. One night, I played a show, drank five cups of coffee, drove to the first exit in Florida, slept for two hours, drove to Ft. Lauderdale, ate some bagels and raisins that I had on me, shot an Interpol/Q and Not U show, slept in my car, drove to St. Petersburg, shot a war protest, shot a second night of Interpol, drove to Orlando and crashed at a friend’s for a bit, drove to Savannah, shot a Des Ark house show, drove back to Richmond and went to work.” Hm. So that’s how it is when you have a really freaking cool job. Granted, PJ Sykes doesn’t roll like that all the time—sometimes he gets to make his leisurely way up to D.C., or just stick around these parts for RVA homeboys like Gull or the occasional sweet show at the National.
 
PJ does his thing a bit differently than most rock photographers, probably because he’s a rocker himself (and just made the trade for a photo-dominated workday rather than hours of band practice). He doesn’t just shoot sweat-slinging, teeth-gritting dudes at the height of a crowd-induced testosterone boost; there’s a distinctively fragile, human feel to what he captures. Notes on his most recent show in D.C.: “I was watching Vic Chesnutt make his way off the stage at the Black Cat, and there’s a little drop there…so Ian MacKaye comes over to him and lifts his wheelchair down. And while he’s coming down, Vic spreads his arms and pretends like he’s flying. People may or may not have been paying attention to this moment, but to me, that was the moment, the real thing. A humble thing.”
 
I was curious about how it works—whether you’re backstage drinking the band’s whiskey and whatnot—when you’re a rock photog. Apparently, PJ has to deal with a lot of press wranglers for bigger bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Mogwai, so he just gets his press pass and goes at it. It’s the smaller shows that present that anything-can-happen possibility. A parking lot below a Lynchburg tattoo parlor was where he got his start, during a magically bloody moment with a certain pre-Amoeba Men guitarist: dude jumps off the deck and lands, flailing, on the gravel below, still playing. PJ didn’t hesitate with his little point-and-shoot, despite the fact that the crowd around him was like, “What the hell are you doing?!” Clearly, he’s a natural.
 
See him amongst 24 other photographers in the Best of 2008 Photo Show at Harrison Street Coffee, Feb. 1-March 1. The opening’s on the 7th, a Saturday, from 6-9 p.m., and DJ Kenny will be throwing down that night for free. Sales of photos benefit Art 180. And if you pick up the Volume II Lovitt Records DVD, you’ll find him there, too. For more, go to pjsykes.com.