A
Anonymous07/30/26, 22:00No.4520435
Is it worth to get into concert photography? I'm big into metal music and there are weekly shows in my town big and small. Also huge festivals nearby in summer. Instead of sitting on my ass at home lurking on 4chan or flickr.. should I give it a try? I have no portfolio yet so it might be best to start with smaller local bands and ask if they want some free photos. If I search for photographers in that area, they all are really mediocre, especially the post editing. I wanna become the Greg Williams of metal music. My main goal isn't money, though that would be a nice addition later on. What would suck though is if this is as oversaturated as soemthing like wedding photography. What do ya think? Anyone with experience? is it fun?
20
Replies
A
Anon07/31/26, 09:18No.4520485
Man what can someone else tell you about whether it is worth it to get into an art or hobby. It's for you to decide.
A
Anon07/31/26, 16:16No.4520512
Generally not worth it unless you want to work for free and use it as practice/network.I started out doing live music botos so i could move on to band editorial stuff and album covers to flex creative muscles.
Try to make friends with the bands otherwise its gonna be a very transactional one sided relationship if you decide to follow a band around (which is normal)
A
Anon07/31/26, 19:08No.4520540
i agree with
A
Anon07/31/26, 20:18No.4520548
I agree with the two anons above - it usually eats away a lot of the enjoyment of the music and you will be doing it for free probably forever. Getting on a guestlist means you became a big shot lol.
If you wanna start with smaller local bands, be ready that the photos will be very boring - you need good/interesting light, and a lot of the smaller venues just dont care; if you even consider using flash, know that everybody is gonna silently hate you (or that it might be/get you banned), or... you just really need to know what youre doing in low light situations (camera/equipment AND post processing wise).
But on the other hand - it is a geniunely good pastime when the bands on the bill arent that interesting and youre waiting for your favorite band to start playing lol, it makes the nights shorter.
A
Anon08/01/26, 17:41No.4520686
Your not going to be able to bring anything resembling a real camera into big venues these days
A
Anon08/02/26, 04:25No.4520742
>I wanna become the Greg Williams of metal music.
Just looked this guy up and I think you've got it a bit backwards. If you just take concert photos you won't be like this photographer. In order to be like that photographer you need to be able to meet up with the metal musicians outside of the concert and create compelling editorial portraits.
And doing random concert photos isn't really as much of a bridge into that work as you might think. Most of the time you'll just get more concert opportunities.
You'd be better off learning who the local bands are, seeing a show, then finding a way to do a shoot with them and then be invited to their next show to come backstage and do something creative that's outside of the typical concert format. Then use those interesting portraits to convince someone a bit more famous to do a shoot with you. And so on.
A
Anon08/18/26, 21:08No.4523840
I literally can't think of anything gayer than photographing other men