The all-important photo pass: the Golden Ticket of concerts. What it is, what you can can do with it, and who gets them.
Hi Todd,
What is a photo pass, and what does it allow me to do exactly? Also, do you get photo credentials from all the bands on a bill, or does approval from the headliner cover for all the bands?
Thanks,
Mike
Anyone who has attended a performance by a touring national act is probably familiar with a ban on “professional” cameras at these events. More often than not, special authorization is needed to photograph the performances under these conditions. The physical form of this permission is a “photo pass.”
What is a Photo Pass?
A photo pass is a credential that identifies an individual to security and event staff as an approved photographer for an event. Photo “passes” most often take the form of a fabric sticker, but they also come as wristbands, laminates, or pieces of paper.
Ultimately, the main goal of photo pass is to generate images for use as editorial content, which can in turn generate publicity for a tour or relevant album.
Who Gets a Pass?
By virtue of their purpose, photo passes are intended largely for media outlets, ranging from newspapers and magazines to online sources like webzines and blogs.
The process of approval may depend on several factors, including the size of the publication one is shooting for and personal relationships with those controlling the media list.
What Does It Do?
In most instances, this photo pass simply allows you to shoot for the allotted limit for a concert. Three-songs is a common limit for many national acts, while some performers may dictate shorter or longer shooting times for concert photographers.
If there is a designated area for photographers to shoot from, such as in front of a barricade at the front of the stage, a photo pass will grant access to these spaces.
Contrary to the popular belief of adolescent girls in the front row, a photo pass doesn’t get you backstage or onto the band’s tour bus.
Individual Approval?
Whether individual approval is needed for each band on a concert bill may depend on the acts performing and/or the venue policy. For some tours, approval from the headlining band may grant access to shoot the supporting bands. For other acts, individual approval is necessary. Ultimately, honoring a photo pass secured through one band is up to the venue and the management of the other bands performing.
Do you have a question about concert photography? Please submit a letter via the Concert Photography Q&A form! A copy of this form may also be found at the bottom of the right sidebar.
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 7:39 pm and is filed under Letters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
http://snurl.com/ecx5d Everything you wanted to know about photo passes, except who to contact for that Jonas Bros credential.
RT @toddowyoung http://snurl.com/ecx5d Everything you wanted to know about photo passes.
In the meantime, you can read about the mythical Photo Pass here: http://snurl.com/ecx5d – Who it’s for, what it does, and why you want it.
[...] Under most circumstances, the photo pass is a credential that is intended for photographers providing editorial coverage of a concert. For more info on the photo pass, please see that intro article here. [...]
Welcome to ishootshows.com, the premier site for music photography featuring daily concert coverage, portrait features, and photo advice from professional music photographer Todd Owyoung.
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My name is Todd, and I love the rock show. My work has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, the New York Times, Alternative Press, Metal Hammer, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard Magazine. I'm available for worldwide travel for editorial and commercial assignments.
Todd, great info on the photo pass. I’ve always considered my Nikon D70s a semi-pro camera so I always argue through security check that my camera is not professional.
What do you think constitutes a ‘professional’ camera? And don’t you think smaller cameras with video capabilities are more damaging to the event?
Hey Amy,
Glad to hear you found this post interesting. DSLRs in general pose a “grey” area of sorts in terms of professional gear. The D70s might not be very “threatening” from a photographer’s point of view, but most security define “pro” gear as a camera with detachable lenses. I’ve also heard the designation apply to lenses over 200mm in focal length, but this is more rare.
At the Andrew Bird concert I just photographed, they were banning DSLRs in the audience, but there were a dozen P&S cameras in the front row, not to mention someone who had brought in a Polaroid camera.
Video is something that may start to change attitudes toward cameras as a group – everything from a 5Dmk2 shooting HD video to compacts like the Panasonic LX3.
by the way, this is the set I did at the World Pop ‘Festival’ that included the Backstreet Boys.
This is my favorite shot from that set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/siutou_amy/3313695350/
Hi Todd,
Great info. Photo passes is indeed the key before entering any concerts that we want to shoot. But some of the photo passes were made to shoot at the backstage as well and some are not. Where the media have some limitations to shoot but cannot shoot at the backstage and so on.
I was not aware that the international standards for shooting a concert is the first three songs until yesterday when I shoot SUNBURST KL09 concert in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The highlight was KORN. We only have the chance to shoot for 3 first songs. You can have a look at my FLICKR. Music/Concert Photography is my passion.
Shooting backstage (or from the sidestage, more accurately) for many performances requires additional permission, and it always varies between events. I’ve had this “approval” written in Sharpie on my photo pass in once instance, but it’s more common just to have a separate all access pass.
Yet another nice one, Todd. Requesting for photo passes can be a pain when you’re working for a local press and want to shoot a concert overseas. Any tip on that?
ND, the three song-limit have been around in KL for quite some time (IF any international act actually stops by). Last year’s Sunburst had it too.
Hey Ili,
It’s always tricky requesting passes for events that aren’t close to the base of your publication’s readership. Generally speaking, publicists want to get the biggest return on the finite number of passes they have to issue. This means either big publications capable of the greatest reach, or at least media that have good traction in the market of the event.
If the publication you’re shooting for doesn’t offer the band either of these things, it’s going to be a tough sell. Building a relationship between yourself/your editor and the publicist or producer of an event is one way to work up to larger events.
As an example (though not involving an overseas event), there was a time I was shooting a huge festival for a street press. The publication used to be a magazine and had since gone web-only, but they still had great relationships with publicists. Long story short, I was approved to shoot the festival’s headliner on a short list of photogs when people from papers and much larger media were denied access. The reason? Relationships.
Thanks Todd,
This is very similar to Motorsports photography which I did for a couple of years.
You needed passes, sometimes you could get a hot pit pass, sometimes just trackside etc.
You had to work for a publication etc.
Good info to know just in case I want to move up from the baby club circuit sometime.
Hey Rene, thanks for the comment.
Yes, it’s all about access – and shooting for a publication is the best way to secure credentials.
This one’s a great read. And what a huge collection of photo passes you got there. Very nice!
The local band scene here in the Philippines doesn’t have any restrictions when it comes to photographers… you can shoot from the pit, or as long as you have a VIP, artist, or staff ID, you can shoot throughout the show inside the barricade, or most of the time, even on-stage. Lucky for us. So we just respect the artists by not firing the flash. I guess the only advantage of the photo pass here is that you get to go inside the barricade and shoot near or on the stage.
I currently work for a certain band right now. It’s so cool… but i still envy your variety of artists to choose from. Keep up the good work =)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboo_live
Roxanne, thanks for sharing about your experiences in the Philippines with regard to photo passes and shooting concerts. Sounds like a nice set up if local bands have barricades set up. Access and mobility go a long way toward making great shots.
“Contrary to the popular belief of adolescent girls in the front row, a photo pass doesn’t get you backstage or onto the band’s tour bus.” — That is CLASS! I love it.
It’s the truth.
DANG! Those are a lot of photo passes! I need to get my website up and running so I have a legit excuse for wanting one..
Hey Charlie, thanks for the comment. Yeah, last year was a lot of fun, we’ll see how this year stacks up.
Hey Todd, great FAQ on this.
I only have one question.
Do you have any tips on scoring an internship or job at a publication so that you’d be able to obtain a photo pass at shows?
I’ve found a couple of ones down here in South Florida but I can never go about getting their approval.
And there are a lot of good concerts that I’d like to take photos at down here but the venues don’t allow the “professional” cameras.
Thanks for the info Todd,
But I do have a few questions. Though I am just now going to school for photography and I still have ALOT to learn. Live photography is something I want to pursue. I get turned away at the door ALL THE TIME and always end up using my little point and shoot at shows. The only shows I’m ever allowed into with my DSLR are shows that The Human Abstract play only because they are friends of mine and they put me on the list for a photo pass. But what I was wondering was when emailing a publicist about obtaining a photo pass for a show what do you tell them? And what information do you need to give them for the pass? I recently saw Disturbed and Lacuna Coil live and I tried emailing their management about a photo pass and never got a response. I guess telling them that I was a student photographer and wanting to expand my portfolio signed me up for a big D-E-N-I-E-D stamp lol
Hey Krista,
You’re right — I think that saying that you’re a student photographer did not help you. Quite simply, having a photographer expand their portfolio is of zero value to a manager or publicist. The images don’t do “work” that helps promote the band.
All things being equal, and the number of passes being finite, it’s in a band’s interest to give preference to photographers on assignment where the images can be used to promote the tour.
The two pieces of information that publicists need to know when you request a pass:
1) What show you want to cover
2) Who you’re shooting for
With regard to the second item, they really want to hear that the images are going to be put to work.
Nice collection Todd…are the triangular passes all from the Pageant when the band doesn’t have a pass of their own? Most of the shows I shoot are like that. I only have 5 or 6 band-issued passes. What band/event is the pass with Jack Nicholson’s photo on it?
To get in with a publication you will need a portfolio. For those looking to shoot more shows to build a portfolio, I would suggest a couple more options: 1) Talk to promotion companies that have blogs. See if they would be able to get you into venues in exchange for posting some shots on their blog after the show. 2) Look for venues that don’t restrict cameras. The bigger places with bigger acts will have restrictions…the smaller ones might not.
I was just wondering if maybe you would be able to help me out, like who would allow me to get a photo pass or who can help convince the people at MSO to give me a photo pass for Warped Tour because I am completely bummed out that I can’t bring my Nikon D90. Its just a camera and I really want to bring it because this will be my very first Warped Tour.
Jen- my sister got a photopass and the lax security guard let me go in the photo pit with her.. to shoot UNDEROATH! IT WAS THE BEST CONCERT EXPERIENCE IVE EVER HAD.
to get a photo pass.. you have to have proof that you are part of a newspaper .. like i guess you have to apply somewhere on their website.. then they’ll ask you to mail a copy of the newspaper.. to show that you are a part of it…
then they;ll provide you with a free ticket and a photopass which is good for the first 3 songs of any band.
I’m in high school and i’m in love with music photography. I want to have a career in show photography. How could I personally get photo passes for shows, and somehow get in that career? Your photography is amazing
I do have one question for you Todd…I’m a relatively new photographer and my main question is, if I don’t work for a media outlet or any type of publication, would I still be able to obtain a photo pass?
Hey Anthony,
Thanks for the comment. The short answer is that yes, you can still get photo passes without a publication. The longer answer is more complication, but still goes back to the fact that the images produced from the show need to do work for the band and their publicists.
– You know what I struggle with? Contacting the right publicist in a timely manner, for concerts or any entertainment news. That is a big battle almost every time. I am represented by two worldwide agencies and usually have no problems IF I can get a relevant response from my potential subjects’ publicist. Any suggestions on this front, Todd?
“Contrary to the popular belief of adolescent girls in the front row, a photo pass doesn’t get you backstage or onto the band’s tour bus.”
Although I am a teen myself, and I still have a lot to learn, that made me laugh. It is very true. Some people seem to treat artists like they’re superior to everyone else and will be drooling at their feet, trying to get backstage and on the tour bus etc. From just the way I think and see people, and from meeting a few artists I understand that artists are usually just ordinary people. The artist is more likely to like you if you treat them like a human – and they’re more likely to help you get a photo pass in the future.
This is a really helpful article.
Hi!
I was just wondering, do we need to buy tickets to the show in order to obtain a photopass?