night club photos (NWS)

Does anyone here do concert based photography?
I've kinda grown old and tiresome of NIGHT CLUB shots....Yes im improving fast...and i truelly
want to just be the best one in my city...but at the same time...at least FOR ME, i thought about it and its like where is my END GOAL?...just to be the best?
Over here in LA, promoters just want to go with the cheapest, not all BUT MOST...there doesn't really seem to be a real good "GOAL" or sight down the line.
I thought maybe Concert would offer me something different, change things up a bit.
Anyone have any tips on how to bridge into it? and in the same extent, is the pay even decent enough?

Default this wrote in post #10193512
Does anyone here do concert based photography?
I've kinda grown old and tiresome of NIGHT CLUB shots....Yes im improving fast...and i truelly
want to just be the best one in my city...but at the same time...at least FOR ME, i thought about it and its like where is my END GOAL?...just to be the best?
Over here in LA, promoters just want to go with the cheapest, not all BUT MOST...there doesn't really seem to be a real good "GOAL" or sight down the line.
I thought maybe Concert would offer me something different, change things up a bit.
Anyone have any tips on how to bridge into it? and in the same extent, is the pay even decent enough?

I know that it's tricky to get a lot of access or much at all unless you get a backstage pass/ know the band. I know a kid who does it, and he has to almost buy a ticket every time

Default this wrote in post #10194133

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WHAT GEAR DO YOU USE

I recently cut ties with one of the biggest promoters in town. He's the guy that I was helping out with his "run and gun" site but the pay was not all that great. Besides the pay, I decided to cut ties because I got "bitched" at because I was taking too many photos of the Djs/performers and not the crowds (which I think that it's rubbish but anyways) I am out on my own and free on the weekends but at the same time, I hit a wall and I will not be posting my pics anytime soon. Promoters down here are cheap as all hell and don't want to pay for decent pics. They just hire whatever "run and gun" site there is and that is that.

Has this happened to any of you guys before? How do you go about it on your own? Any advice?

What flash settings do u use on the lumiquest?

I used to manage tilllate in Scotland, which was a total nightmare.

It turned out that most of the clubs I worked for didn't want the tilllate logo on the pics and they wanted their own club logo on them and were willing to pay for it.

I now work totally freelance earning 4x what I was getting with tilllate for 1/4 of the effort

dmcavoy wrote in post #10192592
Hey guys, first of all this thread is incredible! Took me a while to read it, buts its worth it.

I have a question (or 3), I'm looking at getting into club shooting in Edinburgh over the summer (GambitLive you might be able to help out?) and I'm basically wondering about the way you guys conduct yourself with the clubs. Is it quite an informal thing or is it taken seriously? I think I've got something sorted out with one club to become a resident photographer once I get back from Aberdeen where I'm at university. I also have some contacts at another club (the club owner no less) which is about to re-open and I've been thinking about contacting him for some work. Would it be frowned upon to shoot for more than one club? Is that pushing myself for a beginner?

And on a gear note, I'm looking at getting a Yongnuo YN-468 flash for my 400D as I simply cannot afford a canon flash. What do you guys think of it? Heres a link http://cgi.ebay.co.uk …iewItem&item=16​0428174448

Thanks in advance.

hey mate!

I'm sure I could help you out, we are still hiring photographers for summer, as some of our flashers will be going home till september, and im already working 7 nights a week, haha drop me an email with your details and any examples of your work Jason@gambitlive.com

cheers

stuart_hatch wrote in post #10196068
I used to manage tilllate in Scotland, which was a total nightmare.

It turned out that most of the clubs I worked for didn't want the tilllate logo on the pics and they wanted their own club logo on them and were willing to pay for it.

I now work totally freelance earning 4x what I was getting with tilllate for 1/4 of the effort

thats pretty much how we make our money, we have 3 different price levels, standard price is £20p/h which gets the club logos on the photos, then theres £30 per hour, which gets higher res images, and then £40 p/h which is unbranded photos

seems to work well, as we also charge for advertising on the site now too. finally making some dolla!

stuart_hatch wrote in post #10190218
How many peeps on here run their own party site?

I'm considering doing it as the only competition I have here is appalling

It's really the best way to go about it. Very few mass-market sites pay well, if they pay at all.

Weekend stuff.

pod_canon wrote in post #10197527
It's really the best way to go about it. Very few mass-market sites pay well, if they pay at all.

In the uk they are the super powers but dont pay, it doesnt help that alot of the photographers are foreigners who are only here for a few months and want to try and blag as many free nights out as possible.

Amusingly tillate bang on about how good their photographers are etc.. (who work for free) yet theres sites like picture-pal where the guys generally have no artistic flair at all and pics are standard photos but at least they pay people and supply equipment even if theyre not paying people mega ££££

+ a couple from pete tongs wonderland.

Twin Turbo wrote in post #10195920
I recently cut ties with one of the biggest promoters in town. He's the guy that I was helping out with his "run and gun" site but the pay was not all that great. Besides the pay, I decided to cut ties because I got "bitched" at because I was taking too many photos of the Djs/performers and not the crowds (which I think that it's rubbish but anyways) I am out on my own and free on the weekends but at the same time, I hit a wall and I will not be posting my pics anytime soon. Promoters down here are cheap as all hell and don't want to pay for decent pics. They just hire whatever "run and gun" site there is and that is that.

Has this happened to any of you guys before? How do you go about it on your own? Any advice?

Hey - I was just thinking about this - a few photographers seem to have expressed similar sentiment, would it be possible to deliver a product more worthy of the money that you're getting?

that is to say - if you're being paid less than you should for the quality of the photos, can you shoot suitably lower quality photos?

Like take a canon G9/10 into a club with flash, and shoot for an hour-ish, then go out and get coffee, and an hour or 2 later, go back and get the another hour's worth of shots?

That way you're getting paid, but you're not stressing about getting your camera/gear broken for the whole night, and delivering a product better suited to the price bracket that you're being paid for.

is there a volume agreement or a time agreement or what? - my other thoughts are - DJ's won't be paying for photos of themselves off the club's website, - but people do pay for photos of themselves/friends.

my 2 cents.