I think alot of the more interesting band photos have an um...intriguing mysticism to them. Not necessarily in a gimmicky way, but in a way that just makes you wonder about the band, or just individual members. The people in them typically exude a confidence that isn't pretentious or egocentric, but only sure.
And they have to feel in the moment, if they look rehearsed like the band got corralled into some spot and put your hand here and tilt your chin up or whatever, then the organic feel is lost and just looks lame. High school pictures would look alot better if they didn't do that.
Good photos I think tell stories, and not just one story of here's this band next to a tree and here they are. But a microcosm of stories about a number of things. Like the guitar player has a hole through his plaid shirt, and the drummer is smoking a cigarette with a bandaid on his finger while laughing with the bass player. What're they laughing about? I dunno, makes me wonder though. And the singer has a bit of a bruise on his jaw and his hair is messed up, how'd that happen?
Things like that.
