May 2009

Things start to change!!! Because of the crowded state of the photo pit and the many amateurs and/or semi-professionals shooting there, changes began to appear. The most significant change was the idea that after the first three songs, all photographers had to leave. A few bands started doing that to stem the tide of photographers shooting off flashes in their faces throughout the entire show. That was one reason. The second reason was this: MTV. When MTV came along, everyone looked perfect for their 3 minute video. If someone photographed the entire show, actual sweat would appear on the artists faces (and their hair wouldn’t stay perfect). Never mind that all photographers were now missing the best part of the show! Remember, when a band writes out a set list. This started as a gradual thing, one or two bands tried it, and it soon became the industry norm, resulting in venue security at most venues kicking everyone out after three songs, whether the band wanted it to happen or not.
In the spring of 1994, a Chicago band called Jesus Lizard came over to my house for a photo shoot for the cover of Magnet magazine. After the shoot, with the bonus of free beer, the band and I sat around talking. In the course of the conversation, David Yow, the singer jumped up and said “You are a concert photographer- tell me why every night just at the point that our show is getting really exciting, all the photographers pack up and leave?” I explained what was going on and suggested a solution: The band and their management always have the right to control access to the media. All he had to do was have his road manager meet with the head of venue security before the show and explain that all accredited photographers would be allowed to stay for the whole show! About a month later, the band went out on that years Lallapalooza traveling tour. When the tour hit Chicago, I went to the show. Included with my photo pass was a note that said: “The rules of the tour state that all photographers are allowed to only shoot the first 3 songs of each band. The exception is Jesus Lizard, who has requested that all photographers shoot their entire set.
Final footnote for this week:
When the tour hit New York City, a friend of mine was assigned to photograph for the New York Times. I had told her the Jesus Lizard story, and she arrived early to make sure to shoot their set. During their last song, David dove into the crowd and sang the last song while being carried around the audience on his back. When the Times ran their revue, guess what the lead photo was? Yes, Jesus Lizard.
By the way, Stevie Wonder allows people to photograph the FIRST MINUTE of his show only. I will talk about that next week!

In the late 1970’s, the music business exploded. Musicians became ROCK STARS, and magazines started covering them more closely. These included Rolling Stone, Circus, Hit Parader Teen Beat, and the best of them –CREEM. These magazines had an insatiable need for photographs, and more and more photographers leaped into the fray to supply them with their images. Among them were west coasters Neil Zlozower and Jeffrey Mayer, east coasters Ebet Roberts, Lynn Goldsmith Roberta Bayley and Laura Levine and Midwesterners Bob Alford and Ross Marino and too many more to mention. (And, oh yes, I include myself in the last group). Over in England, Ross Halfin, Michael Putland, Robert Ellis and Jill Furmanovsky, among many others took to the task overseas. When new bands would come along, one or more of us would befriend them and “grow” with them as they became well known. We built up a trust that could only be broken if we sold a “Bad” photograph to a publication. So we didn’t do that!! Publicists were our friends- they knew that if they gave us access, whether it was a photo pass to shoot the whole show or a posed photo shoot, our pictures would make the band look good, and make a two page story into potentially a four page story. It was our job to make the artist look good. It would also help these many magazines put together special photo issues, which would help publicize the band even more.
As the 70’s became the 80’s many more magazines started covering popular music, from People and US Weekly, to Newsweek and Time. The rock magazines, especially Circus, started demanding a certain kind of photography (Circus publisher Gerry Rothberg stated that all photos in his magazine had to be taken with a flash, so that skin tones would be normal.) This opened the door for amateurs who knew very little about photography to soon have the same access as professionals. At times the photo editors of the magazine would obtain a photo pass for a friend, load a roll of film into a camera, set all the settings and tape them into place, and send the friend to a concert with a small lesson in focusing and advancing the film. When the roll of film was finished, the “Photographer” would sit back and enjoy the show. When he brought the camera back to the office, the editor would unload the film, have it processed, and usually end up with three or four usable shots. The added bonus for him was that the “Photographer” didn’t know anything about copyright or ownership. So the magazine would have three or four photos that they could use many times free of charge. (Circus also had the policy in place to “Buy” one or two rolls from a photographer for $100, which, after processing, would yield many usable photos that could also be used over and over).
Soon, every photo pit became a rugby scrum, especially on the coasts, as more and more people became photographers. Something had to give and the rules had to change.
Next chapter: Restrictions and rules began to appear!!