Live performance photographer Susan Moss remembered as fixture of Montreal’s music scene

Montreal’s music scene is mourning the lack of live performance photographer Susan Moss, who died on Friday at 58 years previous. 

She used medical help in dying, in response to those that knew her, a month after being identified with stage 4 pancreatic most cancers.

A well-recognized sight at Montreal music occasions, Moss was well-known by fellow live performance photographers and musicians alike. Many took to social media over the weekend to mourn her, with tributes pouring in from Montreal-born bands like The Barr Brothers and Nobro.

Photographer Gage Shereck stated his work typically introduced him to most of the similar venues as Moss. He met her round 2017 at a live performance photograph pit.

“I don’t think you could think of Montreal show photography … and the show industry in general without Susan,” he stated. “Her presence was just so powerful and strong.”

Moss stated she obtained her begin whereas bartending at Bar Bifteck, the place she was launched to members of the Montreal Mirror and Hour journal, two publications that coated the town’s various music and humanities scenes.

She started capturing for these publications and was later employed as a photographer by a number of the bands she coated. More just lately, she was the home photographer for the Montreal occasion firm Evenko.  

Fellow Montreal-based live performance photographer Tim Snow described Moss’s model as clear and crisp. She mastered black and white pictures and appreciated capturing huge angles, he stated, typically attempting to incorporate the entire stage in her shot.

“She wanted whoever was on stage to look their absolute best,” Snow stated.

Over the course of her profession she met Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana, and even photographed her all-time favorite artist Prince at MTelus in 2011, in response to one pal. 

‘One of the most badass people’

Shereck stated Moss’s frankness stood out to him the primary time they met again in 2017. 

“She came up to me, she’s like, ‘So what’s your deal?’” he stated.

“She had a very straight face, maybe was smoking a cigarette. But then when you just get to know her, she’s super bubbly.”

He stated it was uncommon for photographers to be as open with their information and connections as Moss was, given the business’s competitiveness. But regardless of her exhausting exterior she was extremely supportive of latest shooters, he added. 

Ashley Bellam, a Montreal photographer who began capturing live shows full time in 2025, stated she at all times welcomed Moss’s presence on the reveals she coated.

“Every time I would get a pass at the venue she worked at, I’d be like, ‘I’m okay,’” stated Bellam. “‘I’m not nervous anymore.’” 

She stated one factor she’ll bear in mind is Moss’s sense of humour. Moss’s favorite tongue-in-cheek option to present her pals love was to present them the center finger, Bellam stated.

The final time Bellam noticed her, a couple of week in the past, she was handled to Moss’s calling card.

“We were leaving and she goes, ‘Hey guys, you dropped something.’ And she gives us the middle finger,” she stated. “And it was such a funny, funny thing. It was always laughter with her.” 

For Montreal live performance photographer Sarah Evangelista, it’s Moss’s hugs that she is going to bear in mind.

“She was just very, very welcoming and very motherly,” she stated. “They were warm and they lasted a good while and you genuinely felt the love through her hug.” 

Moss’s passing marks the lack of certainly one of Montreal’s final true “punk rockers,” Shereck stated.

“She was one of the most badass people I’ve ever met in my life,” he stated. “Be open to people, be nice to people. I think that’s really what I’ll remember”. 

Moss shot her final present on July 16, capturing the band Bloc Party at MTelus.