Need advice on making money with concert photography

EnjoyPhotoSfl · Feb 19, 2012

Hey everyone

I have a question for those in the world of concert photography (hence title)

I don't shoot cocerts for money but after looking at the amounts of artist/tours iv covered and my job sucking iv been looking into it as a career. Live music is a passion of mine and it happens that iv been blessed to cover a ton of artist in my first year. Now despite all my experiences, i'm still ignorant as to ways to make this into cash flow. I have been lucky to not deal with contracts and i have sold a few photos to my old magazine. again i own all photos of all the shows iv done other then the photos i'v sold sold to my last publisher who are ****ing evil. anyhow i would like advice/ideas/experiences and can provide photos/information if needed

Thank you

imagemaker46 · Feb 19, 2012

Not a chance, if you sold to your last publisher and don't want to deal with contracts, buy tickets enjoy the band and quit pretending to be a photographer that shoots concerts for free. Your chances of increasing your negative cash flow will not change with the attitude that you have. Post some pictures, prove me wrong that you may have some skills to even begin to think about working a professional concert photographer.

And you're welcome.

EnjoyPhotoSfl · Feb 19, 2012

imagemaker46 said:
Not a chance, if you sold to your last publisher and don't want to deal with contracts, buy tickets enjoy the band and quit pretending to be a photographer that shoots concerts for free. Your chances of increasing your negative cash flow will not change with the attitude that you have. Post some pictures, prove me wrong that you may have some skills to even begin to think about working a professional concert photographer.

And you're welcome.

1.I'm sorry i didn't read anywhere where it said i don't want to deal with contracts did you? I SAID IV BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO DO ALL MY SHOWS WITHOUT SIGNING ONE.
2.Pretending? have you seen my work? or even now me to accuse me of pretending? For all i know your just some one online that replied to a post just for the hell of having fun on a "Noob" clearly i stated i have no issue showing my work
3.My attitude? What about the one your wearing as a crown...
4.I'll prove you wrong, just don't accuse me of pretending before you ask for proof....I think it works better the other way around.

I'm not going to put up with a nose up attitude...especially when your first words are ,NOT A CHANCE.....Thanks -_-

Also it's not allowing me to post any images, not sure why. It may have to do with my post count.

Kerbouchard · Feb 19, 2012

EnjoyPhotoSfl said:
Also it's not allowing me to post any images, not sure why. It may have to do with my post count.

It is not your post count...

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...forum-functions-pictoral-guide-using-tpf.html

cgipson1 · Feb 19, 2012

Yea, bro! Post some shots! Want a Rock Star job, gotta pay them dues!

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...forum-functions-pictoral-guide-using-tpf.html

EnjoyPhotoSfl · Feb 19, 2012

Well i searched around and im not sure why there is an upload option if its not usable ):. Here is a link to my Flickr page
Be warned, It has not been updated in months

Flickr: enjoyphotos' Photostream

EnjoyPhotoSfl · Feb 19, 2012

Thank you ker and cgi, I just noticed your post, It's been a few years since iv been here, msp1488 ;D

Kerbouchard · Feb 19, 2012

I looked at your flickr feed, but most won't. Clicking on outside links is generally something most people won't do.

In any case, I wasn't blown away.

Irregardless, making money doing what you are doing isn't going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. There are too many people who will shoot it for free just for a photo pass. Newspapers have layed off most of their photography staff and the big magazines have so many options, it drives the price down considerably.

Best way I could think of making money at something like this, is to get in with a band, and do album covers/inserts/photos for their promotional materials.

I just didn't see anything on your flickr page that jumped out to me as a photo a magazine just had to have. Just my .02

EnjoyPhotoSfl · Feb 19, 2012

Kerbouchard said:
I looked at your flickr feed, but most won't. Clicking on outside links is generally something most people won't do.

In any case, I wasn't blown away.

Irregardless, making money doing what you are doing isn't going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. There are too many people who will shoot it for free just for a photo pass. Newspapers have layed off most of their photography staff and the big magazines have so many options, it drives the price down considerably.

Best way I could think of making money at something like this, is to get in with a band, and do album covers/inserts/photos for their promotional materials.

I just didn't see anything on your flickr page that jumped out to me as a photo a magazine just had to have. Just my .02

I agree, Most of the photos are not the best considering my tools i use a d3100 and these were some of my first shows 7 shows or so iv covered a good 50 more artist after the last update on the show so i did gain some experience but im still cleaning and sorting on my portfolio site

. If it matters i do every thing manually its pretty much glued in that mode. I have more shows that iv covered after that, I'm more Proud of my megadeth set and the sets floating around that set. But thank you iv considered doing what you recommended, i should consider it even more now. Any one have experiences in that?

cgipson1 · Feb 19, 2012

If you want to do this professionally.. you really need better equipment. The D3100 is not known for it low light / high ISO capabilities.... especially when compared to D700 / D3 capability! Don't know what lenses your are using, but I doubt that they are top end. Going up against pros that have those tools.. you don't stand a chance unless you can compete on an even playing ground.

I checked out your shots also.... not quite where you need to be to really make it in a business that is very hard to break into! Start small.. local bands.... get to know the business from the ground up. Maybe you will get lucky (but keep your day job until that happens!)

EnjoyPhotoSfl · Feb 19, 2012

cgipson1 said:
If you want to do this professionally.. you really need better equipment. The D3100 is not known for it low light / high ISO capabilities.... especially when compared to D700 / D3 capability! Don't know what lenses your are using, but I doubt that they are top end. Going up against pros that have those tools.. you don't stand a chance unless you can compete on an even playing ground.

I checked out your shots also.... not quite where you need to be to really make it in a business that is very hard to break into! Start small.. local bands.... get to know the business from the ground up. Maybe you will get lucky (but keep your day job until that happens!)

Yes sadly im not in the best spot financial wise, the first blue photo was taken with a D3000 and was my first concert. so i saw slight potential with a D3100. That's why i taught myself the in and out of my camera its my Love i only use a kit and my fav 1.8. for what i use i feel proud of my work. But i wont deny that in situations like this a higher end Dslr will be better (depending on the user aswell). Thank you for your input cgi its appreciated greatly

EnjoyPhotoSfl · Feb 23, 2012

Bump for updates

trukey · Feb 23, 2012

Yap. good to read .

KmH · Feb 23, 2012

EnjoyPhotoSfl said:
Bump for updates

You bet!

EnjoyPhotoSfl said:
1.......... I SAID IV BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO DO ALL MY SHOWS WITHOUT SIGNING ONE.

You're clueless. Not signing a contract is exactly the opposite of being lucky. You're lucky you haven't been dragged into court. Yet. You still could be, since you didn't sigh any contracts.
Photographers that have only a modicum of business savvy know it's better to have your own contract that the client has to sign, than to sign the client's contract.

Did you get model releases signed by the band members? Did you license the photos you made, or make then available to a stock agency so you could have ongoing income from them?

I agree with imagemaker 46, your attitude will pretty much kill any chance you have of actually making money doing concert photography.

Wow!

Thank you ker and cgi,.....

I don't even need to look at any of your photos. Your lack of attention to the details when you typed your post tells me you're probably even more inconsistant at doing the much more detail oriented task of photography.

I wouldn't quit the day job, and hope you can avoid being fired from it.

No doubt, the attitude can be changed and you can learn that to be in business for yourself attention to the details is a primary requirement to success.

Here's hoping you're able to do so. Good luck :thumbup: