'A photographer’s dream': Harrow, Ont. woman captures Eras Tour behind the lens

As hundreds of thousands of Swifties descend on Toronto for the second weekend of shows at the Rogers Center, a photographer from Harrow, Ont. is reminiscing on her time shooting Taylor Swift and her Eras tour while in Detroit.

“There's just really nobody who has built a bigger personal brand than Taylor in the last couple of years,” said Vicki Bartel, a personal brand photographer, who specializes in visually capturing the strengths of female entrepreneurs.

Bartel describes herself as an ‘original Swiftie.’

When tour dates were announced she jumped on the opportunity to shoot the mega-star in action.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Bartel, once news broke she received accreditation to photograph a few of Swift’s performances at Ford Field which holds an estimated 50,000 fans.

Vicki Bartel, a personal brand photographer, who specializes in visually capturing the strengths of female entrepreneurs. (Source: Vicki Bartel)

She faced one major difficulty: she had never photographed a concert before.

“I started researching what I needed to do, what gear I needed. I needed a huge 400 mm lens.”

Bartel arrived at the stadium and received a rundown of the show from Swift’s publicist before she took the stage.

“I really wanted to bring an intimate look into these photos,” added Bartel. “I wanted to catch every sparkling jewel in her bodysuit.”

Bartel’s husband was in attendance taking all the behind the scenes show of Bartel while she tuned out a massive stadium filled with Swifties.

“The screaming is deafening,” she recalled. “The energy is just wild. I can't really describe it any other way.”

Bartel has no other issues capturing the biggest star in the world perform at the most well known tour of our time.

“It's hard to take a bad photo. She's so expressive. Her movements are so big,” she said. “You just really want to capture her energy and everything else really falls into place. The set is stunning. It is just a photographer's dream.”

Bartel came home with an impressive amount of social media content to share with her followers.

‘When I posted the photos from the concert on TikTok, it got over 4 million views,” she explained. “I don't know if Taylor actually saw them but maybe she did.”

Bartel wanted another go at it while Swift was in Toronto for the last leg of her tour.

“No luck this time,” said Bartel after she failed to get accreditation. “But my daughter and I took a last minute trip. We bought literally 15 minutes before the show. We had that mother daughter, ultimate Swiftie experience.”

Bartel’s favourite quote from Taylor: ‘If you are lucky enough to find something that you love and you have a shot of being good at it, don't stop. Don't put it down.’

Bartel lives by that every day.