Send me your nudes!
CONTIBUTING AUTHOR Brieghanna Maye
That's right, I had a front of house/tour manager ask me for my nudes. Gross, right?… Okay, so when I say nudes I don't mean naked pictures of myself. But, I do mean my RAW, naked images of the band.
I had reached out to a band recently to try for a press pass for one of their shows, but sadly did not receive a follow up email to find out if I had been placed on the press list. But I had high hopes, and it was a headlining band I really wanted to see and shoot, so I decided to get a little ballsy and buy a ticket, bring my camera, and hope for the best. I knew that this was a smaller, more intimate venue, so my chances to get in with a camera were a little higher, as these types of venues aren't exactly checking bags and scanning you with metal detectors. Still, I wanted to do my best to remain a professional, so I entered the venue, got my wrist band, and made my way to the front of house to find someone to speak with. I decided it would still be in my best interest to clear my camera with someone from the band's crew rather than to just assume it would be fine, end up getting kicked out, and risk getting myself or my publication blacklisted from working with that band or label in the future.
It didn’t take long for me to find someone working at the sound board so I politely waved them down, and asked if they knew if there was a front of house guy or tour manager I could speak with, and he quickly replied that he was and asked what I needed. I explained to him that I worked for a publication, and that we had sent in a request for a press pass, and were told we would get confirmation a week ago, but never heard back so I wasn’t sure if I was on the press list or not, and if I wasn’t, would it be ok if I took pictures, as I had brought my camera gear anyways, just in case. He quickly agreed saying he worked for the touring supporter and that he gave me clearance, and if anyone questioned it or gave me any problems to have them come and speak to him. I thanked him, and quickly found a place to start getting my gear ready for the show. I spent the next 4 hours fighting my way through the throng of people in the venue as there was no press pit, and it was a SMALL venue to be working in. I made sure to take time networking with the bands after their sets, and doing everything that I could to ensure I got the best shots possible.
After the last supporting band made their way off of the stage, I found my way back to the sound board to again thank the man for giving me the go-ahead to photograph the bands, and try to exchange information for future events/shows I may be at. It was then that things got…weird. He started off by saying of course and he hoped that I enjoyed myself, and had a good time capturing the show. I agreed enthusiastically, because I did. I love doing this, I can't think of a better way to spend my time. He quickly followed it by instructing me to chat with one of the band members at the merchandise table, and that they would take my SD card, and copy the RAW photos from the night so that they could select the “best ones”, and edit them. He told me that their socials do pretty well, so they would post them and be sure to tag/credit me.
This instantly did not sit right with me, but I smiled and nodded politely while he continued to restate the plan in various ways, suggesting, without overtly saying, that they would get my photos in exchange for exposure via their social media platforms. When the conversation ended, I walked away feeling an overwhelming sense of unease and general… ick. I quickly reached out to some fellow music photographers via Discord, asking them if they had ever encountered a situation like this, and would they do it. The consensus was a resounding NO. While I am still considered new to the business of music/concert photography, I do value my work and despite my struggle with imposter syndrome, I know my work is good. I decided to mostly brush it off, and never went back over to the merchandise table to relinquish my photos.
I made it back to my hotel room after the show and spent the next few hours culling and editing the photos from the night. The next morning I posted a few highlights from each band, and it was in no time at all that my notifications were blowing up from likes, shares, comments, and messages from the touring support band. Wow, I thought, they really like the photos. That's awesome, I did my job well. But then the comment came through, “Love the photos!! Can you please send us a download link?” I chose to ignore it, because well, no, I’m not going to just hand over the hours worth of work I just did for free. Within minutes, my phone goes off again, a message this time from the band “Heck yes!! Can you please send us a download link?” I hesitated to reply, because why are they just expecting me to hand over my work? Again I reached out to my fellow professional music photographers because, well I don’t want to burn a bridge with a potential client, but I also don't want to devalue myself, my work, or the profession by giving handouts. And if I have learned anything from this discord and other people in the business it’s that you HAVE to set forth your boundaries and value your work and your profession, because if you don't, then no one will.
After some advice and thought, I replied back with the following message:
“Hi! Glad you’re liking the photos!
If you’re interested I have 2 different packages, a partial gallery at $75, and a full gallery at $150!
I still have some of your photos to get through, but I am currently traveling back to my home base, so I do not have a full gallery ready at this point in time.
If you’re interested, please let me know how you would like to proceed.”
And to be honest, on afterthought, even the prices that I originally offered were low-balling myself; like I said, I’m still new to this, but this band isn't. With almost 60k followers on their social media, they should understand and know the value photographers in this scene have, and know how the process of obtaining your photos works. The band read the message within minutes of me sending it, and I waited, and waited, and waited for a reply that never came.
So what is the point of this long story? Well there are a few, because it really got to me, and a handful of the other photographers I spoke to about this situation. Would they have expected free work from me if I were a man? I mean, maybe? But I didn’t see them asking the male photographer at the show to hand over their SD card. I also just have a hard time picturing a man asking another man in the scene to hand over their work, telling them that they will cull through the images and edit the photos themselves, and then try to give credit back to the photographer. Because that is just wrong on so many levels. For one, the editing of photos is just as important to a photographer's individual style as the capturing of the photo itself, if not more important. You can give the same image to 5 different photographers, and the end results will be vastly different. And secondly, you should never expect a photographer to hand over RAW images without offering a very hefty compensation in return.
This entire situation rubbed me the wrong way and made me feel very violated, as if I was being puppeted to benefit these men at my expense. It felt as though they saw a young, female photographer, who was nervous about overstepping boundaries by bringing her camera without a press pass, and thought, oh yes…we can pull those strings and benefit from this. But little did they know, that this awkward little puppet snipped her strings long ago, and with the support of her friends and community of amazing photographers, would not be taken advantage of.
I'm curious to know how many other, if there are any other, photographers have run into similar situations?
