My Thoughts on the Favourite Tour Photographer Award

Happy Wednesday! I had a different blog post planned to write and post on Friday but this morning I woke up inspired to say something different.

This morning myself and many other music photographers woke up to find that our profession is getting its own award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. I can’t speak for other photographers but this was something that has me feeling more inspired than I have felt in a while. To my knowledge this is the first major music award show that has an award for music photographers (if I’m wrong, do let me know! I’d love to hear about another!). Here’s why that’s important.

The year is 2019 and there are people still don’t think good music photographers are worth the investment. It was just last week that the music photography community was speaking out against a musician on Twitter that said music photographers just take photos to get into shows for free. Not true, by the way.  Now this week? We have a Favourite Tour Photographer award in a major music award show? It just feels so nice for our job to start to be recognized. It also feels like now music photographers can have this as something that they want to work towards trying to achieve. Ya know how when an artist gets their first major award show nomination (or even win) and they talk about how they’ve been watching the show for years just waiting to be nominated? We now have an award show we can watch and dream about maybe being nominated (and winning) the award.

What I don’t think is important is who is nominated. Let me explain. Of course the names nominated are important and deserve that recognition. But no matter who got nominated, the community should take this as a win for music photography. The names on the nominee list are incredible and every one on that list deserves a win. But I think even without being awarded the award they still win because of the nomination. We all win because of their nomination. This opens up the conversation for maybe this award to become an award for more award shows meaning more of us could get recognized. Think about it this way: eight photographers were nominated this morning. That’s eight more than last year. And by next year? That number could be even higher and the one award show with the award could turn into multiple award shows with the award.

If you have yet to see who’s nominated and vote on who you think should win make sure you go do so. There were a few names on that list that I hadn’t even heard of yet, so I’ll be going to research the names and see everyone’s photos. Here’s to 2019 being the year of music photographers.

Music Photographer's Guide: Email Tips

If you’re reading this you’re most likely a music photographer (like me) looking to make your photo pass request emails better. Over the past two years of my music photography career I’ve sent a large amount of emails for photo passes. Which means I needed to make sure they were information filled (without being too long), professional, and polite.

When I was first starting out my emails were drastically different than they were now. With time I’ve learned things from my peers and from trial and error on ways to make my emails the best they can be.

I compiled a list of things I think can help you become more confident with your emails. Enjoy!

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First things first, subject lines:

Something that can really hinder whether or not someone gives your email a read is the subject line. A lot of publicists that you deal with for photo passes will want to know exactly what your email will entail without having to read the entire thing right that minute.

Here is what I suggest: Photo Pass - Insert Band Name Here - City and date here

I find the date important so that a busy publicist can quickly look at the subject line of your email and know what the time sensitivity is. If the date is that week of then maybe they’ll look at your email right then. If the date is in a few weeks that gives them a chance to deal with something a little more time sensitive first and then read your full request.

For example: Photo Pass - All Time Low - Milwaukee December 22nd

The start of the email:

I think how we address someone in a business email should be very different than how we address our friends via text message. “Hello” is always the one that I start with. Especially when it’s a new publicist or manager that I’m dealing with. Usually once I have a bit of a relationship with the person I’ll switch to a simple Hey or Hi. Most publicists are pretty casual and will probably answer your first hello with a hey anyway. I go for “Hello *insert name here*, and then next sentence will be a “Hope your *insert day here* is going well! Just to start it off smooth and friendly.

For example: Hello Matt,
Hope your Friday is going well!

The information part:

This is where you want to make sure you get all your information in and make it as clear as possible. Here’s what’s important: Who you are, who you’re shooting for, what band you want to shoot, what venue the show is at, what day, and the type of coverage you can offer them. If you’re just doing photos then usually you’ll be doing a photo gallery. But for those of you that also write reviews then maybe you’d be doing a photo gallery and a written review. Let the publicist know so that they can properly determine if the coverage you’re offering will be good for their artist.

What also is important here is being sure to be clear with what you need from them. Do you just need a photo pass? Or do you need a photo pass and ticket. You’ll need a ticket for most club/theatre level shows to get into the venue. For larger area shows you can usually avoid it because someone on their team will escort you out of the venue once the shooting time is up. So if you’re going to review the show you’ll need to make sure you have a ticket for arena sized shows or else you won’t be able to watch the show you review.

For example: I usually say something along the lines of “I would need a photo pass and ticket to make this happen.” Can drop the ticket part if you already have one.

The end of the email:

I always like to end my emails with a message that lets them know you’re thankful they read the email and that you’re looking forward to working with them.

For example: Let me know if you have any questions. Looking forward to working with you! Thanks, Maggie.

Before you send:

I can’t say this one enough: RE READ YOUR EMAILS! It’s so important. We’ve all been there before where you hit send and them immediately notice you’ve spelt the name wrong of the recipient of your email. Do a quick double (and maybe triple) read of your email before pressing the little send button. Once it’s gone you can’t get it back.

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To end this blog I wanted to just fully copy and paste a template that shows you exactly what I’d send in an email for a photo pass request. Feel free to copy it and fill in the blanks to use for your own requests. This is something I would’ve loved when I was starting out (thankfully for me I had some friends that sent me their emails for reference). Let me be your friend and share with you my template:

Hello (insert name here),

Hope your (insert day here) is going well so far! I’m looking to set up coverage for (artist name here) show in (city, state/province) on (date here). I’m looking to send myself, photographer (your name here), to photograph the show at (venue name here) for (insert publication name here)(Also add a link to your publications website for them to look at). I’d require (a ticket or photo pass or both) and we can do a (gallery or review / whatever coverage your editor has told you to ask for). Let me know if you have any questions.

Looking forward to setting something up!

Thank you,

(insert your name here)

Hopefully all this information was helpful. Please reach out if you have any further questions I can help you with!

18 Photos of 2018

It’s the time of year where the end of year lists start to come out. The time between Christmas and New Years is a time where folks like to reflect. You’ll see people talking about their favourite movies of the year, favourite albums of the year, memories from this past year, and many more things.

As a photographer I tend to start thinking about my favourite photographs I’ve taken this past year. Since my main focus is in concert photography I focused this list on the concert photos I’ve taken in 2018.

Enjoy!

John O’Callaghan of The Maine at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI on December 22nd

This was my fourth time photographing The Maine over the years. It happens to now be my favourite time as well. I got some of my favourite shots I’ve ever gotten of The Maine. As well as they ended up retweeting this photo (also two others) which got a mind boggling number of people seeing and responding to it. Might have been the best response to a set of photos I’ve had all year. Making this show even more memorable.

Lindsey Ell at Ascend Amphitheatre for CMA Fest in Nashville, TN on June 7th

If you’re unaware of Lindsey and her music then you need to know one thing: she can shred on a guitar better than most people I’ve gotten the chance to watch. I hope to get to see her preform again and have another opportunity to have her in front of my camera in 2019.

Dierks Bentley at Nissan Stadium for CMA Fest in Nashville, TN on June 10th

This so far is still the biggest show I have ever had the opportunity to photograph. I had never done a stadium show before and there is a certain energy that comes with photographing in a stadium of 69 thousand people. A type of energy I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain. Hoping I get a chance to experience it once more next year.

Zack Merrick of All Time Low at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit, MI on August 7th

A few days before this was taken I had written a tweet requesting more bands use confetti in the first three songs. In music photography there are certain rules to follow and one is that we can only use our cameras for the first three songs. Meaning that when a band uses confetti at the end of their show, we never get to photograph it. So here we were a few days later and All Time Low used confetti in the time I was allowed to use my camera. Which allowed me to get not only one of my favourite photos of this year, but probably one of my favourite photos of all time.

Morgan Evans at Ascend Amphitheatre for CMA Fest in Nashville, TN on June 9th

Morgan is one of my favourite new comers on the country scene this year. I saw him play in 2017 at CMA Fest and I was hooked. But it was this year that he really started to take off. Can’t wait to see what the next year brings for him.

Bebe Rexha at Nissan Stadium for CMA Fest in Nashville, TN on June 10th

The biggest weekend of country music was even a big weekend for Bebe Rexha. First she preformed her duet Meant To Be with Florida Georgia Line on the CMT Music Awards, then they received a number one plaque for the song, and then they preformed it together at Nissan Stadium (which is where this shot was taken). Seeing as she never toured with Florida Georgia Line, there isn’t a ton of times to see them play this song together live. I was glad to have seen (and photographed) it. Plus I’m here for this rhinestone cowboy hat look she’s got going on.

Brian Littrell at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN for CMA Fest on June 10th

As well as having Bebe Rexha as a guest during their set Florida Georgia Line also brought up the guys from the Backstreet Boys. They preformed their song ‘God, Your Mama, and Me’ together. This was exciting for me since I remember listening to the Backstreet Boy album called Millennium on repeat at a time in my life. Still trying to process the fact they were in front of my camera this year.

Dierks Bentley at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Detroit, MI on June 1st

This was my first Amphitheatre show and my first time photographing Dierks. I’ve been a fan of Dierks’ for years. Even liking his stage name so much that my dog is now also named Dierks. Dierks is always spending time interacting with his fans at his shows and I love this shot of him doing just that.

Rian Dawson and Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI on December 22nd

Drummers are always hard to photograph. They usually are the farthest back on the stage which means sometimes the lights never hit them. Whenever I have to leave a show not getting a good photo of the drummer I’m bummed out. Luckily I got this shot at this specific show. Plus even someone that isn’t a major All Time Low fan said that this was one of their favourite photos I’ve ever taken. High compliment!

Naomi Cooke of Runaway June at Ascend Amphitheatre for CMA Fest in Nashville, TN on June 8th

Runaway June is an all woman trio and I’m here for it. Got to hear their current single ‘Buy My Own Drinks’ at this show before it was out yet. Now it’s out and I’m still obsessed with it.

Maddie Marlow of Maddie & Tae at Ascend Amphitheatre for CMA Fest in Nashville, TN on June 8th

First we had an all woman trio and then now we have an lady duo. I’m all here for any girl power we can get in country music. I’ve been a fan of Maddie and Tae’s work for a few years now and I was pumped to get them in front of my camera. Hoping to do that again in 2019.

Lee Brice at Ascend Amphitheatre in Nashville, TN for CMA Fest on June 9th

I’m a sucker for a nice purple in my photos. Made this one an easy favourite when I was editing them. Lee put on a great set this night.

Brett Eldredge at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN for CMA Fest on June 10th

Brett always brings his A game whenever I’ve seen him preform live. He always has a ton of energy and I felt like I really captured that with this photo of him. Hopefully you can look at this and hear him hitting the high note he was singing.

John O’Callaghan of The Maine at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI on December 22nd

Couldn’t help but put another photo from their set into this list. Sometimes you leave a show not having even one photo you love and sometimes (like this show) you end up leaving with a million favourites. Couldn’t just post one from this one in here. If you haven’t heard of The Maine before maybe take this as a chance to check them out. One of the best bands and their live show is always incredible.

Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN for CMA Fest on June 10th

Sometimes red lights can be the worst thing to ever happen to a music photographer. They’re cursed in our community. So whenever you can get good shots out of red lights its an automatic win. These ones happened to be really nice and I was able to grab this shot of Tyler that I loved the second I took it.

Thomas Rhett at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN for CMA Fest on June 10th

Thomas wasn’t supposed to preform at this show until the morning of. He had been doing hosting duties for the shows all weekend so he took the opportunity on the last night to jump up for a couple songs. Glad he did! Always fun to watch and he was even more fun to have in front of my camera.

Michael Ray at Ascend Amphitheatre in Nashville, TN for CMA Fest on June 9th

I think Michael gets more and more popular in the country scene every year. Such a fan of his music and the energy he brings to a live show. Also a sucker for the purple lights in this shot, too.

Luke Bryan at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN for CMA Fest on June 10th

Photographing someone as big as Luke Bryan was definitely a highlight for me. He was the last act this night and ended up playing almost an hour longer than he was supposed to. It was a great set and the red lights were nice to me yet again for this shot.

wall city, usa.

In April I was in Orlando, Florida. One of the things I love about Florida is how colourful every building is. Despite my almost entirely black wardrobe I actually love bright colourful things a whole lot more. Especially in my photos.

One photo of a colourful wall suddenly turned into more than that, and the next thing I knew I had over ten to choose from when posting a multiple picture post on Instagram. What I didn't really expect though was that people would love the colourful walls as much as I did.

So I continued to do ten photo posts a day of colourful walls I would find on each individual day. Then I continued it (not as daily but I tried) in Nashville, Tennessee in June.

Here is some of my favourite ones.