WHY I STOPPED SHOOTING LIVE SHOWS (MOSTLY)

When I bought my first camera in 2004, it was so I could capture the bands I worked with each night at the Grey Eagle Music Hall in Asheville. The venue was never really busy during the week, and I spent my downtime shooting the bands on stage during their set, learning the in's and out's of my new Nikon camera, navigating the challenges of concert lighting, and everything else involved in taking great live music shots. Having access to live bands every night of the week like that was a music photographer's dream, and soon I was shooting shows in other larger venues around Asheville, and eventually even larger venues around the south. And as a lifelong music fan, being so close to bands like The Beastie Boys, Phish, or Ryan Adams that I could have reached out and touched their shoelaces was undoubtedly a thrill. But as I got deeper into my photography career, I realized that, for several reasons, live music wasn't the best investment in my time or my career, and by taking a slightly different approach to my music photography career, I found a more personally rewarding path. For any young photographers considering the pursuit of music photography, here are a few key points to consider from my two decades of experience shooting live music.

It Can Be a Lot of Effort . . .

Live music photography can be broken into two categories: Shooting local bands in small clubs, where photography rules are essentially non-existent, and shooting the larger touring bands at the big venues and festivals. For photographers just getting started, the small clubs are a great place to cut your chops, as you can pretty much shoot from anywhere throughout the entire show. Hopefully you'll get enough shots from these venues to build the foundation of a working portfolio, but more often than not, the lighting in these places is less than desirable and there will be very little recognition/familiarity of the local performers in your work. If you hope to display an eye-catching portfolio filled with familiar faces that will get you bigger jobs, you'll want to get to the bigger bands and bigger venues asap, and that means acquiring photo passes and being limitations of the industry. And that means dealing with a whole lot of hassle.

Sometimes the band's management would forget to put me on the photo list, and suddenly I found myself fumbling around at the ticket window, trying to pull up email exchanges on my phone or having to ask someone at the venue to locate the band's management to confirm my pass while the line backed up behind me. Even though I'd always get in eventually, this was never a good feeling. 

Then there's standing in line, having your camera bags searched, trying to explain who you are to some security newb who's only been on the job a couple weeks and therefore feels obliged to give you a hard time to display his authority. Once inside, you wait for the band to start, which could be twenty minutes or two hours - who knows? In the pit, you find yourself clamoring around with sometimes upwards of ten other photographers, all vying to get the same killer shot from the one perfect spot in the pit. Some of those photographers I met were amazing people who I've stayed in touch with for years and were extremely talented in their skills behind the camera. Many, many others, however, had oversized egos with undersized talent and were a pain in the ass to share a small space with.  (I saw some of these dudes get thrown out for their lack of professionalism in the photo pit, and I'd be lying if I didn't say there was a little pleasure derived from that ;)  If you're just getting started with live music photography this can all seem like a lot of fun - and I definitely thought it was cool at the time. But my intentions are to share a broader view of how you may feel about this sort of work after many years in the business. 

All That Effort May Not Be Rewarding

I've shot numerous acts that I was excited to see because I enjoyed their music, only to discover that their stage presence, wardrobe, and personal demeanor was seriously lacking and the images from the show were, from both a personal portfolio perspective as well as a media buyer's perspective, worthless. Sadly, you have little way of knowing before hand what you're going to get. I've shot some acts who decided they'd play their entire show lit only by candlelight, while others were entirely backlit by red lights, wreaking havoc on my camera's white balance. And in many of these situations, after spending a few hours on the computer editing my shots from the evening, I determined that I didn't get anything worthwhile from the shoot, and the whole thing was a bust.

Now, from the perspective of both a photo editor and an experienced photographer who has worked for over two decades to build a solid reputation, it's crucial that you only display your very best work. This means that to maintain the quality of your portfolio and reputation, you must be prepared to scrap an entire shoot if you didn't get any good shots. Yet so many music photographers feel compelled to post terrible images on Instagram from the shows they attend, even when they didn't get a good image. One of my biggest pet peeves while curating other music photographer's work is seeing images of performers captured with horrible expressions on their faces, microphones blocking  their heads or some other object obstructing an otherwise-well composed shot. Look; if the best image you came away with depicts the performer's facial expression looking like they're in the midst of a painful shit, scrap the photo. This all leads to the fact that you have

Zero Control Over Anything

When I shoot portrait work for musicians, I know without a doubt that I'm coming away with something usable, both for my personal portfolio and for the band. I have control over posing, lighting, wardrobe, and facial expression. During shows, you can't jump up on stage and move a mic slightly to the left, or ask the drummer to make that expression again because the lights shifted away from him the first time he did it. The secret, of course, is to shoot the most engaging bands possible; those who are under the brightest lights, with the most animated members, dressed in the most colorful, eye-catching wardrobes. It's hard to miss in those situations. As those bands are few and far between these days, I prefer to stick with the situations that allow me to have the most control, so I'm sure I'm coming away with something good. 

The Dreaded Three Song Rule

If you've shot live music photography at any point in your career then you're likely aware of the dreaded three-song rule. But do you know where the three-song rule came from? If not, here's your music history lesson for the day: The three-song rule for concert photographers originated from Bruce Springsteen in the late 1970's, who was being blinded by the constant flashes of the numerous photographers that came out to shoot his legendary concerts which would often extend for upwards of four hours. Bruce, justly frustrated by the situation, asked, "Isn't there anything we can do about these flashes going off all the time?" and along with his management reached a workable conclusion: Flash photography for the first three songs only. This allowed Bruce could go on with the remainder of his performance free of frustration, while the photographers could still fire away without flash. This concept took hold throughout the industry, at first casually, but soon became the standard, then became even more limited by management: Photographers were soon prohibited from using any flash photography whatsoever, and ultimately were prohibited from shooting any of the show after the first three songs in any form (exception: the one photographer working for the band usually has free reign for the duration of the show, as everyone knows that the best photo ops always, always come later in the show ;)

And as if that's not frustrating enough, venue security has taken the measure to laughable extremes. The last live show I shot here in Asheville at the Orange Peel was, for me, the final straw. I had no plans of shooting that day; I was friends with the members of the band, who texted me and asked if I'd like to come down for the show and they'd kick me a photo pass if I wanted. Sure, I said. After the second song I was greeted by venue security with a flash light in the face. "That's three songs," he said, "time to move." It turned out that this individual had counted the band's 20-second tune up as their first song; now I was being hassled out of the photo pit after what was clearly only two songs. I tried to plead my case and stick around for one more song but the individual working security wasn't having it. Did it matter that dozens of my images taken at the Orange Peel were displayed throughout the venue walls for the past ten years? No; this guy didn't know who I was. Sadly, this was not the first time this had happened at this same venue. "Fuck it," I said, and left the pit.

To Be Paid or Not To Be Paid: That Is The Question

When I started shooting live music photography, the majority of my income was made from my job as a bartender at a music venue  working three or four shifts a week. On my nights off, I was excited to go out to the other venues in town and take shots of bands because my bills were already covered, and the amount of time I was devoting to building my skills and my portfolio seemed worthwhile. But as I developed as a photographer, refined my portfolio and finally quit my bartending job, suddenly time was money. I was getting work during the day, and the hours of editing, planning, and shooting added up. Throw into that things like free time, social life, family life, and you have to step back and ask yourself if the time, energy, effort, and pay - if any - involved in shooting live shows are worth it.

Many live music photographers are getting paid a small rate to go out and shoot a show - most by local media outlets, online publications, or even a few remaining print magazines. In my area, that's usually between $100-$200. And should you find yourself in one of these situations, it's certainly not the worst thing in the world: You get to catch some great music, take a few shots - maybe get an image for your portfolio - and at the end of the day, pay your bills. What's not to like about that? If you determine the pay is worth your time, then keep shooting away.  But when you add up the time involved - preparing gear, wear and tear on gear, getting in and out of the venue, waiting for the show to start, and all the editing involved, the amount of pay might not be worth it in the end.

And then there's those photographers who aren't getting paid to shoot the show. Many live music photographers often shoot for free at some point in their careers for access to the show in exchange for providing a few images to the performer. This seems like a fair trade for the band, who can repost the images on social media, keeping that algorithm up to speed. Again; if you're starting out and excited for the opportunity, jump on it! Just know this: There will always be others in your shoes, willing to work for free for access to the show. This, of course, drives down both the value and the demand for live music photographers. The only way you'll be able to support yourself through this style of work is by finding employment from the largest bands or operating in the bigger markets. 

Your Market Determines Your Opportunity for Growth

If you're based in a big entertainment market - NYC, LA, Nashville, Miami, etc., there's plenty of opportunity, connections to be made, and higher-paying jobs. Secondary markets, such as where I live (happily with no desire to relocate to a larger market) offer much less opportunity. Asheville, for example, even with a thriving music scene, has very little industry with very little local opportunity for growth. Yes; you can live in a smaller market and make yourself available for travel, but the truth is, there are countless others already based in those major markets who are readily available, have immediate access to industry events and happenings nightly in their location, and more than likely network first-hand with the people in the positions to offer them jobs. This is something to consider for anyone hoping to build a career in live music photography: Your location absolutely matters.

In the end, I found that I enjoyed focusing on music portraiture over live work. There will always be a demand for the portrait work through album art, press and promotional materials, and it actually pays. Live work, on the other hand, is luck of the draw. Young photographers who get the lucky shot are always happy to share their images with the band for a repost and credit, and that's exactly what it all boils down to: Luck. These days when I go out to shows I leave my camera at home and I get to be exactly who I've always been: A music fan.

I'm an Asheville based photographer and designer with over twenty years of experience creating imagery for hundreds of clients in Western North Carolina and beyond. My studio photography specializes in headshots for business and corporations, law firms, artists, entrepreneurs, models, and actors, as well as stylized theme portrait sessions for personal branding, maternity, local and regional musicians. Photo services are available throughout the south, including Raleigh, Charlotte, Winston Salem, Greenville, Columbia, Spartanburg, Knoxville, and Johnson City. Photo sessions are fun and easy, and consultations are always free, so drop me a line and let's plan something amazing together!