When I first started to tell people about my ideas of starting a blog, the thing that most wanted to know about is how to get accreditation for a concert and being allowed to bring your camera in. So here is how in my experiences it works.
Concert and festival photography is a different kind of monster than doing portraits or nature. Nature is just always there and portraits, well, to get started you can easily do TFP (Time for Photo) basis shootings and build your portfolio. You can ask your friends and family to model for you if necessary.
Concerts however, it is different. Most venues and festivals do not allowed you to bring “professional gear” with you. (Camera’s with replaceable lenses) In these cases you will need approval to get in with your professional camera.
So what are your options to get in?
Being invited to shoot for a band or the venue/festival
Requesting accreditation in name of a publishing platform
Volunteering for the event organization.
In all cases you will need to have a reputation of being a decent photographer, or one of the mentioned entities is a very close friend of yours that you can ask for a favor from.
A lot depends on where you live and in which scene you want to shoot, but in almost all cases you need two or more of the following things.
A portfolio
A network
And trust.
A publishing platform
These four are all interlinked. It’s almost impossible to get an in at a publishing platform without a portfolio, without trust, it is hard to build a network, with that network you will be able to get in easier, but you will not get in if they do not trust you, same goes for the platform.
Building a portfolio is easier said than done in most cases. To build a portfolio you need concerts to shoot, to shoot concerts you need a portfolio. A never ending loop. So, it might be easier to start with the network. For this you will need to invest time and almost always money, to go to concerts, take the time to talk with bands and people of the venue and the scene while there. Make friends, build and strengthen bonds. And stick your neck out to tell them about your desires to learn how to take pictures of concerts and if it would be possible to bring your camera next time.
Also, not all shows/festivals are closed off for visitors bringing professional gear. Where I started in The Netherlands, there are a handful of small festivals and venues where you can bring any camera you like. For me, it was the folk and fantasy scene, but in your area it could be something different, maybe you have a local small venue where they don’t mind you bringing the camera along for when they have a small gig. Or maybe you can bring your camera as a visitor to a festival or fair. I know there are big ass festivals who do not care if you bring your pro-gear as long as you paid for a ticket.
I know that in most cases you do not start at the big name concerts and festivals but it is a start. And honestly, these small events give you two very important things, the chance to develop your skills and the chance to build a network and trust with bands. Starting small is not a punishment (though often the light sucks) but rather a good way to learn, develop and build your name.
Which leads in to building a network. Yes, yes, I know, some people are introverts and making small talk seems like your worst nightmare, but building a network is kinda essential. Whether you shoot for your own platform, or a platform that is run by somebody else, or for bands only, people will need to know your face and name. If they don’t know you exist than they cannot approve of your presence.
Building a network mostly means getting to know people and their passions and letting them to get to know you. Other photographer, writers, musician, band managers, social media creators, festival/concert organizers, and venue managers. Don’t make the mistake of disregarding visitors and fans, the more serious ones do know a lot of people that might be important to you. They might have the network and friendships that you need for your network.
My experience in this is that while you are building your network, the one you need for your passion, you are also building friendships and relationships that might grow beyond the realm of concerts and festivals. For me, some of these friendships, grew into people I invited to my wedding, people I trust my life with and people I would give mine for.
If you hate going into a conversation personally, have problems with small talk, or are just the introvert and socially awkward person, try sending the band, organization, or manager a handful of your best pictures afterwards and maintain that contact online. The next time they play in the neighborhood, just go up to them after the show and introduce yourself and remind them of the shots you send them.
After a few times of sending good quality work, they will remember you and you can ask them if they could approve of you shooting them again in a bigger venue. Or maybe they will approach you with the question of wanting to shoot a show for them.
Slowly you will get the hang of it and build friendships, business relations and all that other shiza you need for your network. Important is, that if building work relationships seem daunting to you that you focus on building solid friendship, they might be easier and less demanding.
The other important thing in this is showing up. Be there when you can be, deliver pictures of high quality asap, be social and friendly, in real life and online. Never demand or expect anything from them, with the exception than the request of allowing to bring your camera.
And with that, you build trust. Bands, platforms, venues and organizers must trust you before they let you in fully. In many cases, friendships are not enough. Especially when you get to the bigger names, friends cannot always be trusted to really be there. Often friends will start to demand special treatment, will spill beans on you, will betray trust in a drunken fit… Building trust goes beyond building friendships. Building trust means, keeping your head down, your mouth shut, never expect special treatment, show up when needed, be there as a friend and support and doing your job.
Being trustworthy is what you need to be by deliver good quality always, be on time for appointments, show, etc. learn the “what happens in the backstage, stays in the backstage” rule by heart, if you hear a special scoop while having a meeting don’t remember it, don’t get overly drunk, stoned or intoxicated in anyway, don’t make advances, don’t get starstruck or behave like an obsessed fan, don’t expect special treatment but work for it, follow the rules of the band/pit and most of all, be of help when necessary.
Bands and managers will not trust you if you go and spill the beans on what happened that night, late, drunk in the backstage. One tiny gossip could break a band’s reputation and yours. If you deliver poor quality it will cost you your reputation… it’s better to deliver five good shots than twenty-five poor ones. Quality over quantity always. If you spend more time at the bar than in front of the stage, people will not like it. All these things can damage the trust bands/organizers have in you.
In the end, reputation, yours, is the most important thing you have. Without a good reputation, you, and your platform will not have the necessary network.
As you see, these things go all hand in hand. It’s a interlinked system in which you can slowly build your way. Somewhere along the line of building a reputation and a portfolio, you can either set up your own publication or ask to join an existing publishing platform Think about online magazines, radiostations, websites that sell to newspapers and prints, or the prints and newspapers themselves, online reviewers, blogs, etc. There are many of these platforms in the world, and often they are short staffed.
I started photographing for Celtcast, a radio station specialized in folk music which has grown into a foundation supporting the folk and fantasy scene with radio, social media, live streams, an official award show and a website with reviews.
Since 2020 I am also photographing for an e-zine Brothers in Raw, and shot 2 concerts for Metalfan. Both platforms I want to continue shooting for once I moved to Sweden as well as growing my own here.
I will write more on the networking, portfolio and trust thing in coming blogs as for me these things are essential to a concert photographer. So let me know your thoughts on this.