From singers with out of key voices and musicians with off-pitched instruments, Katherine LaFata is drawn to any band that puts on a good show. Instead of shelling out lots of money for a front row seat, she plans on seeing performances through a different perspective: a camera lens. "There's so much energy between the fans and the performers, and I want to be right in the middle of all of it," she said.
LaFata, 21, plans on becoming a photojournalist after she graduates from Boston University in January, focusing on music and documentary photography. From Bob Dylan to Tom Petty, she loves music and the liveliness that can be captured during a performance.
She was born in Staten Island, N.Y., and moved to Edison, N.J., at the age of 7, where she attended public school. The first friend she made in New Jersey, Samantha Baime, would later introduce her to photography.
"I met her because she was the only other person in my gated community under the age of 75," LaFata joked.
While visiting Samantha in Boston two years ago, LaFata borrowed her camera and realized that she could pursue photography as a career.
Quickly teaching herself techniques and flipping through issues of National Geographic and Rolling Stone, LaFata transferred to BU from the University of Delaware to study photojournalism.
"Her passion is great," said Rani Kokkinis, LaFata's former roommate and classmate at BU. "She's witty, sarcastic and original."
She added that LaFata loves taking photographs and making sense of everything around her.
"She'll find the solution in the chaos that is her life," Kokkinis said.
LaFata aspires to start a "behind the scenes" magazine that would focus on other factors beyond a performance, such as backstage descriptions, interviews with venue owners, bus drivers and a taste of life on the road.
After receiving her diploma a semester early, she plans to travel through India for six weeks and photograph everything in sight. Not knowing whether or not she will return to the United States, LaFata said she was excited to learn and document as much as possible on her upcoming adventure.
"I just want to live my life and learn from my mistakes," she said. "I'm really impatient."