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!!
I’m not a concert photographer, but recently retired after many years doing commercial photography. Here are some thoughts though.
I went to school with a guy who became the biggest rock photographer in Australia and when we last met he told me his story. I’m not surprised the photographers you contacted didn’t want to share their secrets. It’s a paparazzi type job and competition is fierce.
My friend left school a long time before you were born. He became a cook on a cruise ship. As he was traveling the world, he decided to buy a nice camera to record his travels. He was also very interested in rock music so he took the camera to concerts. I think he must have placed his pictures with an agent, because one day an agent said he had sold a picture. So, he just kept shooting and selling pics. It was so easy then to get access to bands. There were no contracts and none of the bands were bothered about what images he produced. Later, when promoters started demanding photographers sign right of approval and limited access contracts etc. he said he signed them all and just ignored them.
He became very successful, toured the world with top name bands like the rolling stones and shot album covers and publicity. When digital came out, he was able to digitize his library and improve a lot of the previous rejects he had through editing to expand his commercial library even more. He ended up as something of a celebrity himself.
If you asked him the secret of his success he would say being in the right place as the right time, just doing what he loved, and luck. I think his career formed back in an easier time, before social media and less competition.