music photography manners

thebaz

being doing the music photography a couple of years , keep threatening to retire (broke) - but a few years ago there used to be unwritten rules , pay other snappers a little (small) bit of respect - but this year at electric Picnic , noticed this new habit emerged of raising the camera stretched above head at front of the stage and staying there, a basic feck off to all other photographers - spoke to a few other photographers (ones i respect and good too) and they too are rightly pissed off - is my anger going to over react again ? or just move on ?

pearljamfan

id be pissed off too, how do they get decent photos doing that tho???

magicbastarder

i was at rammstein a few months back, and at one point they sprayed the audience from a hose.
it was the best part of the night, because all the smartphones and compact cameras immediately disappeared.

Borderfox

Doesnt suprise me Barry.

Splinters

thebaz wrote: »

being doing the music photography a couple of years , keep threatening to retire (broke) - but a few years ago there used to be unwritten rules , pay other snappers a little (small) bit of respect - but this year at electric Picnic , noticed this new habit emerged of raising the camera stretched above head at front of the stage and staying there, a basic feck off to all other photographers - spoke to a few other photographers (ones i respect and good too) and they too are rightly pissed off - is my anger going to over react again ? or just move on ?

Do you mean from the photography pit or the crowd?

cyberspider

Hi Barry,

I was down at EP shooting this year as well, must have said hi to you at some stage. I have not been around for the last few years and I really have to agree with you. There were alot more photographers in the Pit and I was amazed to see some were even using flash!!!

The number of them lifting as you said was incredible. Some people were holding there camera in the air for teh full three songs. Not only were they blocking people behind but how could they have gotten good shots. This was mostly at the main stage but I also saw it on the smaller stages where they were effectively pushing a camera lens into the face of the lead singer!!! I saw some people doing this with Flash which mush surely have annoyed the band.

I know that alot more people are taking photos for websites and this may have been their first gig. Perhaps this could partially explain things.

Kenny Logins

Why not mention it to them? If it was their first gig maybe they'd appreciate the guidance?

Paulw

Ok, I don't shoot gigs at all, but I know in the sport area, if someone is continuously getting in the way, or doing something inappropriate, someone will say something to them.

I've told other photographers to get out of my way a few times. Sure, get in, get your shots, then move out to let another photographer in.

Some people need to learn manners the hard way ... a tap of a monopod across the ankles, the smack of a 70-200mm lens on the back of the head ... or similar. :-) Happened to me too when I started.

cyberspider

On occasion I did nudge some people out of the way, hoping they would get the hint.

I always try and have a chat with other photographers during the day and most are extremely friendly but I did notice that a number of the photographers this year were not as chatty as in the past. Perhaps some of them may have been intimidated with so many other photographers around and did not want to give the impression that they did not belong. They probably would have gotten alot more out of the weekend if they had asked a few questions and maybe a bit of C&C.

That being said I do remember a few years ago there were "Press photographers" at Oxegen and EP using iPhones, I guess that may have upgraded to iPads now :-)

thebaz

Splinters wrote: »

Do you mean from the photography pit or the crowd?

it was the pit - there was one guy in particular that was bad , I have seen him doing more & more recently - does it again , words will definitly be exchanged

thebaz

cyberspider wrote: »

That being said I do remember a few years ago there were "Press photographers" at Oxegen and EP using iPhones, I guess that may have upgraded to iPads now :-)

I tried taking a few with an iphone from the pit as an experiment, and they came out disasterously

Splinters

thebaz wrote: »

it was the pit - there was one guy in particular that was bad , I have seen him doing more & more recently - does it again , words will definitly be exchanged

Thats pretty bad form alright. Maybe as Im relatively new to getting press/media passes (only the last 12 months or so) but because I was so nervous about treading on anybodys toes or appearing out of place I made a point of reading up on the do's and dont's of pit etiquette. To be fair its mostly cop on and common courtesy and for anything beyond that theres all manner of articles, blogs etc that explain it all. Very unfortunate to hear people arent sticking to it.

homerun_homer

cyberspider wrote: »

I know that alot more people are taking photos for websites and this may have been their first gig. Perhaps this could partially explain things.

I dabbled with getting a few photo passes the last 2 years (applied very few and far between) and sorta found the whole thing frustrating by how cramped and cliquey people in pits could be so it put me off wanting to progress from getting the shots you tend to see me post online from busy crowds.

At events like EP it's a pity that photo passes aren't limited to competent togs with a good repertoire*. I'm would love to do a festival like EP but I love being a punter at that festival too much so I won't put my name in the hat if I get the chance. But seeing people with the passes submitting and having work online that is out of focus while using top end kit has me banging my head off the wall in frustration. I saw some people in pits over the weekend who I wouldn't rate much or think they are worthy of the pass.

*I'm not trying to say I consider myself a competent photographer worthy of a pass with that line.

Innisfallen

thebaz wrote: »

it was the pit - there was one guy in particular that was bad , I have seen him doing more & more recently - does it again , words will definitly be exchanged

Two people were doing it a lot, I (and at least one other photographer) asked one of them politely more than once to stop...if someone is getting in your way (especially with the camera over their head rubbish), say something to them.

People are supposed to be aware about what is going on around them, don't get in other peoples shots, move around, don't get in security's way, and don't wreck things for those who paid in.

thebaz

Innisfallen wrote: »

People are supposed to be aware about what is going on around them, don't get in other peoples shots, move around, don't get in security's way, and don't wreck things for those who paid in.

agree 100 % - does it again , if I do it again [ words will be exchanged for sure