About

“You all know the feeling. That moment when you’re at a concert, you’ve forgotten everything else in the world, all of a sudden the band starts playing your favorite song, and then you hear that one line. That single lyric that means everything. And for that moment, all is right with the world. That feeling that is almost indescribable. Simply put, I wouldn’t be where I am today without music. As a long-time music fan and avid concert-goer, I wanted to do something to capture how much the music means to all of us. Combing my two passions in life, photography and music, I launched Fan Portraits.”

Tanya’s first concert was Pearl Jam, 3/3/1995 in Singapore. Only knowing a handful of songs at the time, it wasn’t until Yield was released when her world completely changed. She saw the band again in 1998 in Cleveland and instantly became a fan for life. With starting to travel around the country to see the band in 2000, she began to meet fellow fans and dove deep into the touring fan culture. She soon started to follow other bands all over the country, including My Morning Jacket. It’s been inspiring to meet so many fans from all over the world and hear their stories of how certain bands’ music and lyrics have influenced and helped them through the good and the bad – literally changing people’s lives. With just about 100 Pearl Jam shows and hundreds of other concerts under her belt, Tanya is honored to be able to capture this meaningfulness and connection between fans and the music through photography.

As a photographer, Tanya started out using a 35mm with black and white film and spending endless hours in the darkroom. Switching to digital, she dove into travel photography during her year abroad in Japan and throughout her international travels (including backpacking through Southeast Asia). Since then she has done wedding, portrait, event, and concert photography.