Photography at Gigs

[rhythmaning]

There's a debate about photography at jazz gigs over on LondonJazz. A lot of people don't like it - understandably. It is a topic that has been on my list to write about for a while...

Here was my comment:

It is not professional v amateur photographers: it is people who show consideration to others in the audience against those who believe they have a right to disturb others.

I frequently take photographs at gigs. I believe I am sufficiently sensitive to the music to minimise disturbance to those around me: my camera's screen is switched off so there is no light pollution, the autofocus aid is switched off so there are no red dots illuminating musicians, I don't hold my camera above my head to get in the way of those behind me, nor do I stand (unless it's a standing gig!).

I don't take photographs in quiet passages with my SLR, I NEVER use flash (musicians hate it - it momentarily blinds them, dreadful if they are reading the music), I try to time my photograph to the beat and, most importantly, if I feel I will disturb anyone, I don't take don't take the picture. If it is apparent I am disturbing those around me, I stop.

If possible (ie small gigs!), I ask the musicians if they mind me taking pictures - I have only once been asked not to, because the musician in question wanted to control copyright of his image, and I happily complied.

Several musicians have told me how much they appreciate the photos I have taken: several have used them on their websites or CD covers.

I have frequently been disturbed at gigs by those given official sanction to take photographs - you may call them professional, but their attitude to the audience is one of disdain: they move around during numbers, get in people's way and make a lot of noise. They often appear uninterested in the music.

I could - maybe should - have added that if anyone asks me to stop, I do. It has only happened once. Years ago, using my old (non-digital, heavy, loud) SLR, I was taking pictures at a gig. The stranger next to me asked if I was actually going to take any - I had taken about 30, but she hadn't been aware of the shutter at all.

There is a certain hypocrisy about venues asking people not to take pictures and then letting "professional" photographers wander around taking pictures.

Comments

[coughingbear]

I don't know about jazz, obviously, but agree that professional photographers at events can be as annoying or more than any amateur (when at least you feel you can ask someone to stop) - obviously part of the problem may be that their customer is not the audience or even necessarily the performers, but the person who wants the pictures. We were once at a Neil Gaiman event, and he was reading a chapter from the Graveyard Book, doing his considerable best to generate a creepy and mysterious atmosphere. A photographer was wandering around at the front constantly taking photographs, which given that Gaiman was sitting in a chair and not moving very much, began to seem rather excessive, and noisily intrusive on the reading, and then really exceptionally irritating. I presume he had been booked by the publisher. Eventually Gaiman got as irritated as the audience and told him to stop.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

It did occur to me after I'd written the comment that makes up the bulk of this post that photography is pretty much of a no-no at classical concerts, although a very few people take pictures on their phones (apparent tourists during the Proms, I'd say!) - even I would baulk at taking pictures during a classical concert. (It had occurred to me to ask to take photos during rehearsals, but I have never actually done so!)

But with everyone armed with a mobile phone - and so a camera - it is also something that can be hard to stop.

[coughingbear]

I don't think I've ever seen even professional photographs being taken during a classical concert - before or after, or at rehearsal, but while the music is being played (or the ballet danced, or the opera sung) it would be absolutely forbidden. The BBC set-up at the Proms when they are filming can be a little visually obtrusive, but is of course silent.

I suppose promming feels a lot more informal, especially up in the gallery, so I can see that people might take pictures - I've taken some of the Hall, but only when the music wasn't playing!