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 mean, yes there are gatekeepers, but from my experience this is less about gatekeeping and more about availability/motivation to answer questions. I often get PMs asking for feedback, advice, etc, and I try my best to be helpful, but like most people I have a lot on my plate and it takes actual effort to answer in a constructive and helpful way. You’re asking people to give you their time which has value for nothing in return. Like you don’t want to give your time for free shooting concerts, it’s very feasible that these photographers also don’t want to give their time and effort for free.
I see it more as a cost vs benefit for them. What are they getting out of the conversation? Is it even a conversation, or shooting a bunch of questions at them? At that point, you’re asking someone to mentor or teach you without any value for them in return.
My advice? Find someone who is open to taking on an assistant or mentee. Learn from them while also helping them. There’s value in that for both of you. Just hitting someone up in their PMs with a bunch of questions is not really respectful of their time and the time it took them to acquire the knowledge you’re asking them to just feed you.
Thanks for sharing your opinion!
I do see benefits from looking for a photographer to assist them. But I don‘t think its realistic when it come to concert photography. Like what is there to assist or help? I would probably stnad in the way.
About the disrespect aspect: I dont think its disrespectfull of asking questions. Yes, you can just ignore them or answer them. Why does everthing need to be revalued these days? What about just helping someone? We all know how hard the beginning is and then when we get our flow we become these kind of people ourselfs?
That cant be it.
It could be as simple as shadowing a show and then helping with the logistical stuff outside the concert itself. That would be up to the mentor, etc. You could also potentially assist a photographer in a different genre in the events space in order to learn and then transfer those skills to your own concert work.
It’s not disrespectful to ask. It’s disrespectful to label someone as a gatekeeper when they are unable or unwilling to give you what you were expecting, especially if they never set that expectation themself.
I’m not sure what you mean by “revalued.” Do you mean how everything needs to have monetary value? Because I absolutely don’t believe in that. In fact, the commercialization of hobbies is something I actively speak out against. That said, if you’re asking someone to do some work for you (ie: teaching, which is work), they have the right to want something of value in return.
You’re currently speaking to someone who runs multiple educational photography communities for free. I spend at least 20 hours a week supporting new photographers, for no pay. I believe in helping new photographers. That said, I also do it because I enjoy it and get value out of it in my own way. That isn’t the case for everyone. Not everyone should be expected to teach (which is a skill in its own right), nor should they be labeled a gatekeeper because of that.
The main thing here is expectations. You can reach out and ask, but don’t feel slighted when you get basic responses in return. Not everyone is equipped to impart their knowledge, or maybe just don’t want to. That doesn’t make them a gatekeeper.
There are people out there willing and excited to help newcomers. You just have to find them. I know in my communities we have some concert photographers. You’re welcomed to join and have some willing brains to pick. Let me know if that interests you and I’ll share the link to our discord where we are most active.