June 2009

In August of 1987, Roger Waters was about to embark on a solo tour, announcing that he was going to play Pink Floyd songs along with his solo stuff. Lot’s of controversy!! His publicist called me and asked if I would like to shoot the show (First three songs only, of course.) I weighed the 80 mile, 3 hour round trip and decided it would be worth doing. Then she asked, as an afterthought “ What magazine are you shooting for? Because you can only sell photos to one magazine.”
Remember last weeks post, when I discussed the cost of a show like this! So I innocently asked, “ Can I put down a number of magazines?” She replied, “ Make a list of any magazine you might sell a photo to, and attached it to the contract when you get there.”
So….. I started compiling a list of every publication I had ever sold a picture to! This was back before the days of computers, so 2 hours later and a lot of Whiteout my trusty typewriter spewed out a 2 page, two column, single spaced list the included everything from Rolling Stone to Popular Mechanics (You never know!) When I got to the venue, I had the people in the box office staple my list to the contract, and went in to shoot 3 really boring songs of Roger Waters.
I failed to mention that this took place at my favorite all time venue, the Poplar Creek Music Theater, where I knew everyone on the staff. At the end of the concert season, I walked up to the box office to pick up a pass for the last show of the year, and the box office manager motioned me to the side, and said, “Hang on a second, I have something that I thing might be yours. When we were cleaning up for the end of the season, I found this pile of Roger Waters contracts. Obviously, his people never came to pick them up!”
So all the discussion and listmaking was a total waste of time!
Also a waste of time was shooting the show in the first place. As far as I can remember, I have never sold any publication a picture of Roger Waters!

Shortly after the three song rules started coming into play, more rules started cropping up. Prime among them was a contract that appeared in an envelope with the photo pass, which had to be signed before the photo pass could be used. Some of them were fairly innocuous, such as a clause stating that the photos could only be used for editorial purposes, and not for merchandising. Since that was what we were already doing, it was easy to sign. The clause that caused a big problem was “You can only sell a photograph to one magazine” which you had to designate on the contract.
Let’s dissect that for a second. I have spent my entire adult life perfecting my craft (Still haven’t gotten there yet.) I have spent many thousands of dollars purchasing the best equipment money can buy to pursue my chosen profession. When the bands who were providing these contracts were started out, they wanted me to get my photos in as many publications as possible, to help further their career. As soon as they get to the point where their pictures would be saleable the restrictions started.
Let’s talk about the monetary equation. I walk out of my house with about $20,000.00 worth of equipment. Another $10,000.00 worth of computer equipment waits for me at home. (Back in the days of film, I would have about 30 rolls of film in my bag- with processing costs, and shipping to magazines, it would cost me about $250.00 minimum to shoot three songs of a major band.) Most publications pay in the range of $50.00 to $250.00 per photo. So let’s do the math- even today in the era of digital photography, factoring in gas and tolls, I could probably expect to make about $150.00 for about seven hours of my time (Travel time, getting to the show an hour before the start time to beat traffic, waiting at the box office for a pass that is not always there, and travel home after- a few hours of computer time at home to edit and archive and email out). That comes to a little more than what the hourly wage is for a fast food worker- and they don’t have to purchase $30,000 worth of equipment to serve burgers!
Another part of this problem is the history angle. Over my career, I have photographed about 3900 artists. Although I don’t shoot much anymore, I make my living, such as it is, by selling archival images to magazines television and especially record companies for repackaging of their product. Too bad they won’t have much of a choice of images 10 years down the road, due to the fact that everyone is shooting the same three songs, and are not allowed to sell them those images!!
Some examples coming next week!

In 1999, I  was asked to be Brian Wilson’s tour manager. During rehearsals for the tour, I got a phone call from his manager (who was also his publicist), a wonderful woman by the name of Ronnie Lippin, who has since passed away. Ronnie was one of the great publicists in rock and roll history, and a very smart lady. She laughingly asked me, “What are we going to do about photographers on this tour,” knowing my answer before she asked the question. I, of course said, “Everyone with a photo pass gets to shoot anything they want!” She agreed and we hit the road.
The first night of the tour was at the State Theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan. During sound check, I met with the head of security for the venue to discuss security arrangements. During the course of the conversation, I said, “By the way, our photo police is that all photo passes allow the person to shoot the whole show, with no flash.” His reply was “Sorry, we can’t allow that.” My reply to him was “Sorry, you have to- it is our decision, not yours.” We went back and forth for a few moments, getting nowhere, and I finally asked him to call the theater manager. When the manager arrived, the security guy said “This guy is trying to tell me that all photographers are allowed to shoot the whole show!” The manager replied “OK with me- it’s his show.”
In two years on the road, that same type of conversation happened about once every three venues. I always won the argument, but the argument never should have been needed in the first place!

A few short stories about why the rule sucks:

July 4th, 2007.

John Mayer was playing at a large free festival in downtown Chicago. I helped his people contact Buddy Guy, and make arrangements for Buddy to come down and play some songs with John. Because John and I are friends he always allows me to shoot the whole show. There were about 30 photographers in the photo pit, including both daily papers. They were all asked to leave after 3 songs, leaving me alone in the pit. Of course, Buddy came on for the encores, when all the photographers were home watching TV or back at their offices!

September 8th, 2006. John Mayer again (Don’t worry John, I am not picking on you)

John and Sheryl Crow were touring together, Sheryl playing first and John closing the show. Each night during Sheryl’s set, John would come out and do a song with her. On this night, it happened to be the 4th song of Sheryl’s set, so not only were all the photographers except for me kicked out after three songs, but they were still in the pit packing up their stuff when this took place about 5 feet from them! They begged the local promoter rep in the pit to let them shoot, but she was so programmed to consider anything after 3 songs to be off limits that she hurried them all out of the pit before any one could unpack their gear and get a shot. Knowing Sheryl and John as well as I do, I feel fairly certain that neither of them would have minded everyone staying one more song, but it wasn’t to be. Talking to the production people after the show, I found out that that song usually was the 3rd song of the set, but was changed just that night!

ONE MORE!!!

Summer of 1998.

Liz Phair was playing on the Lilith Fair tour. Every day during one of the last songs of her set, all the other headliners from the show would come out and sing a song with her (Sarah McLachlin, Natalie Merchant and Bonnie Raitt, if I remember correctly) Of course all the photographers were safely away from the stage when that took place and no pictures were taken of that event. When I suggested that they bring all the photographers back for that song, people said “OH, great idea, but too much trouble.”

In November of 2007, Stevie Wonder played a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. His press rules are as follows:

PRESS RULES:        STEVIE WONDER – “A WONDER AUTUMN NIGHT TOUR”
Photographers shooting time:
•         First 5-10 seconds of the entrance
•         After first 5-10 seconds refrain from shooting until the first song starts
•         Ok to shoot first 60 seconds of the first song, then publicist will escort from pit
area and exit through security
***All photographers and crews will be escorted from concert after photos and video***
PHOTO & VIDEO RELEASES MUST BE SIGNED BY ALL THE DAY OF THE SHOW
All photographers/crews must be able to present written proof of assignment from an approved
media outlet or wire service
The way Stevie is situated on stage, there is a very small opening between his two banks of keyboards, which allows a photographer from the pit to see most of his face and nothing else. I can only imagine a large group of NY photographers lined up in a row shooting over each others heads to try to all capture the same boring photo for one minute.

The New York Times printed all fifteen of the frames that their photographer captured (all the same and really boring!) in a grid to accompany the review. In a separate article, the following was discussed:

Capturing the Moment With Fewer Minutes
By FELICIA R. LEE  Published: November 19, 2007
Pop stars have kept photojournalists in check for a long time now, having them restricted to pens or escorted from concert halls after only a few songs. But lately some leashes have been especially short. At Stevie Wonder’s concert at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, photographers were told they could shoot only the first 5 to 10 seconds of Mr. Wonder’s entrance and the first 60 seconds of his first song. Then they had to leave.

Further along in the article:

“It’s harder for me to find that amazing shot,” Michele Romero, a photo editor at Entertainment Weekly, said of shooting only the beginning of a show. “If something happens, it happens at an encore or halfway through a concert. Imagine if Jimi Hendrix burned his guitar and no one saw it. That kind of photography doesn’t happen anymore.”

Accompanying that quote was the famous photograph that Jim Marshall took at the Monterrey Pop Festival in the late 1960’s, showing Jimi Hendrix on his knees with his guitar on stage in front of him in flames.

The article concluded with a quote from Stevie’s publicist:

LaTanya Marble, the publicist for Mr. Wonder’s tour, said that photographers are getting what they need. The 5-to-10-second shooting time is “more than enough,” she said, to capture his entrance. After that, photographers are asked to wait until the first song so that Mr. Wonder has time to get situated at his piano.We’ve been on the road since August, and we’ve had no problems,” Ms. Marble said. “This is not new at all. It’s just been our rule.”

What the article failed to mention was that later in the set Prince joined Stevie on stage for a song, as did Tony Bennett. Too bad no pictures were taken of those moments!
There are many more examples of this craziness. It seems that the first three songs, which used to be a huge problem, is now a luxury!
Last summer, I asked for photo access to Taylor Swift, at a free city sponsored concert in downtown Chicago. I was told that that was no problem, although the restrictions would probably keep me from bothering. When I asked what they were, I was told that I could shoot the first 30 seconds of the show. If that wasn’t bad enough, I would have to shoot those 30 seconds from the sound board, about 50 yards away. Luckily, there was a good football game on television that afternoon, that could much better occupy my time! (Beyonce also has that 30 seconds from the soundboard rule!)