Laura Marling – folk/indie icon and songwriter extraordinaire. I was keen to shoot this one and said yes straight away when asked. However it wasn’t quite a normal gig…
Disclaimer: I 100% support an artist’s right to creative control, including photography at their shows. What an artist wants to happen is fine by me. This includes banning all photography; I get it!
However on arrival to this gig, the tour manager had an interesting demand.
- Photographers were to stand behind the bar only, not in the photo pit.
- Photos are only to be taken while the crowd applause between songs 1/2, and 2/3.
- The first song is 14 minutes long!
So: an unusual one. Due to the nature of gig photography – and knowing the venue well – I hadn’t brought a very long lens. I was thus restricted to the shots you see which, while they’re not bad, are still pretty far away (as was I!).
What happened?
One photographer left when the requirements were relayed to us, which is fair enough. I was there to do a job so did it, and the photos are fine. But it is an interesting situation – would Laura Marling not rather have just banned photos entirely, rather than making it difficult?
Music photography in general has become devalued recently. Artists are increasingly demanding photo rights (which should not be theirs without payment) just for access. PR’s want editorial assignments before dishing out photo passes. But where does this leave the beginners?
Music photography is one of the best intros to photography in general. There are thousands of gigs nationwide every night and each should be an opportunity for a young photographer to get started. It’s a shame that it’s not particularly treated with the respect it, as an artistic medium and possible career path, deserves.
Hopefully this incident will remain rare.