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!!
There are 3 kinds of concert photographers.
1 working photographers, often for the news, sometimes for other clients. People who shoot a 10 different things this week and one happens to be the concert. They’ve proven themselves around town and everyone understands they are there to work and deliver just like they did yesterday. The venue knows they will behave, and that the pics will be published exactly where they expect. They might like the band but showed up for the paycheck.
2 people who want to shoot concerts, they’ll work for free because they want to see the show. They may or may not be good, they may or may not understand how to act at the show, they may do nothing with the photos. There are hundreds of these people who want in to every show.
3 serious concert photographers. There are extremely few of these. They’ve proven themselves over and over and have built strong relationships with certain bands and venues. Yes, these are gatekeepers. They know that #2 doesn’t belong there and makes their job harder.
I’m a #1, had a manager once who was a #3. He was deadly serious about all of it. He’d done hundreds and hundreds of shows. Toured with major bands. If you wanted to shoot your favorite band he would make you earn it by flawlessly shooting a dozen concerts of bands you hated.
Here’s your advice. The photos are the easy part. Someone else decides what is happening, exactly where you are standing and what the lighting is. You learn through practice how to make the most of that.
Bootleg a hundred shows. Build your portfolio. Shoot whatever crappy little bands and venues you can for a couple years. Get to where you always make the best of the situation. Get to where every security guard and stagehand in town know you and knows you are there to do a job that you take seriously. Go out and do a lot of other work.
Understand the business. What it costs the band for you to be there. Who needs photos and why. Have an end use for the pics. The local garage band might want a free photo but taylor swift doesn’t. The major festival doesn’t. They will let you in because you are on assignment from AP or Le Monde or Reuter’s.
Don’t be a fan. You aren’t there for selfies and autographs. Do everything exactly the same no matter who is performing.
Thank you for this great summary! Motivates me to become more serious about it. I do have a good mindset about the rules, business and my work. But i need to get more involved with the people around me. I know that I am too much in the background because i want to stay professional and dont want to come over as a needy photographer who wants to get contacts. If you feel like telling (dm) me your instagram account i would like to see your work!