Notice: This post is made out of frustration and you can leave your thoughts and anger here too.

I am 25, female, german and a freelance photographer. Since a year I am trying to get into concert photograpy with pay. The first 10 concerts I did of course for free to build my portfolio but now I reached the point where I want to get real jobs and some respect for my work.

But as many fellows know it is a hard world out there and you have to give 200% effort to get 2% chance on landing a job. So one of my strategies were writing pm‘s to concert photographers on instagram with the question if they could be so kind and spill the tea about experiences in the business.

Guess what? The answers were vague and short or you would get ignored. Further it would stop at telling the simple thing of which lens they used. I get it that everyone has their own style and tries to protect it but you can nit be replaced that quickly by just helping one out with some info.

Can someone tell me about similar experiences? Is there someone who is not afraid of giving informations about this photography sector? I would really like to not feel alone anymore with this behavior.

Thanks guys!

Summary: Freelance photographer trying to get into concert sector but struggles to get paid jobs. Succesfull photographers won‘t have a conversation about their experiences. Hence their the biggest gatekeepers in my opinion!!

  • shootdrawwrite@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Yeah, sorry, you have to grind like they did, like we all did. You just have to.

    While a customer of mine was renting equipment from me for his small gigs, he was sending postcards to travel magazines. When one of their go-to photographers didn’t pick up the phone, he got the call, and now he’s working a lot. That’s how it works.

    A buddy of mine has been shooting California beach lifestyle for years, and still hasn’t gotten a call, as far as I can tell from his portfolio.

    There are no empty seats. You have to stand until someone gets up.

    While you’re up there, build your portfolio, build your industry relationships, and spam everyone who does the thing you like, creatively, respectfully, and consistently. Be ready for that call. And have a backup plan in case this doesn’t work out. You do seem to have some hustle. Most people don’t, and people do notice and remember.