The duo keeping the sound of Baltimore alive, one photo at a time
by Leslie Gray Streeter
Published March 31 in The Baltimore Banner
A decade ago, Micah E. Wood set out with a camera and a deep love of music to follow the beat of the Baltimore scene, wherever he might find it. And it was everywhere — in darkened clubs in the city’s Station North district, posed dramatically in parking garages, perched in trees and staring pensively through windows.
The result of his passionate exploration of this place he calls home is now a book, “Scene Seen: Baltimore Band Portraits 2016-2024,” in which he chronicles 85 different local acts. The collection sheds a warm, rhythmic light on those dedicated to keeping the sound of Baltimore alive.
“We’re inspired by them,” said Wood, who put the book together with longtime friend and designer Christopher Chester. Photos from the collection are currently on display in the Fine Arts and Music Department of the main Enoch Pratt Free Library on Cathedral Street, curated by librarian and photographer Patrick Joust.
The subjects in “Scene Seen” represent every imaginable genre — music makers across cultures, race and age. Each photo, while different, is in its way undeniably Baltimore, making use of the city’s many different flavors of urbanity.
It’s the band Powerwasher, posed in different squares of a Baltimore parking garage in monochromatic outfits that evoke New Wave legends Devo. It’s singer Nan-Ana’s red curls accented by similarly hued falling leaves in Druid Hill Park. It’s Snail Mail’s Lindsay Jordan holding a ghostly string of lights reflected against her white shirt in the dark of Ottobar in Charles Village.
Baltimore is often described as scrappy, particularly in comparison to larger cities like Philadelphia and New York. And as is usually the case, that need to fight the elements against us while finding distinct joy and purpose is part of our charm.
But only some artists are only just recently getting to take in all that we have to offer. Wood believes the music scene changed during the lockdown period of the COVID pandemic, when younger artists had to establish themselves online. “It’s [the city’s] always been eclectic, and now they’re getting out to experience the weirdness of Baltimore,” he said.
A Virginia native, Wood first came to the city to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art, though it took some getting over the similarities between his and the school’s names. “I didn’t want to go and deal with the whole ‘Micah at MICA’ thing,” he said. He eventually ventured into the city, exploring the musical landscape and “fell in love with it.”
Chester also went to MICA, but the two actually met in 2013 at the Apple store at The Mall in Columbia, a place they both say attracts creatives.
“There’s a stereotype of failed artists doing service work, but people want to keep their creating pure, working outside of the arts,” Wood said. ”If you can defuse a situation with a lady who is 78, crashing her computer, you can handle any photoshoot.”
The book and its accompanying display at the library are highly collaborative. Some of the shots from “Scene Seen,” which was released in December 2024, are placed on shelves at the library between music books that Wood and Chester hand-selected. “You can check out the books, and then we have to come back and fill in the space,” Wood said.
Wood believes that being a lifelong musician himself gives him a unique perspective when capturing others because he knows his photos will find their way to posters, flyers and websites. “I understand the context, and I understand the genre, when it [the visuals] are gonna be seen and be used. I think about how the images are going to look degraded on street lamps,” he said. ”I have a rapport with these people, and trust goes both ways.”
Chester said he also felt that responsibility to the integrity of the artists who trusted him and Wood as designers. “We said, ‘We’re going to get this right for you.’ ”
“Scene Seen” is intended to be photographic testimony to the work so many creative souls have done to keep Baltimore alive in the arts. “We’re resetting people’s expectations,” Chester said. “People say, ‘We didn’t realize there were so many bands here.’ ”
This story was republished with permission from The Baltimore Banner. Visit www.thebaltimorebanner.com for more.
