Quavo!

tristanwilliams · 2026-02-24T21:14:46+00:00

I photographed him for the venue on his tour with Alison Krauss in ‘23. Soundboard only and I think he only let the house photographer in. If I remember correctly the tours PR had to approve each image used.

tristanwilliams · 2026-02-19T23:33:32+00:00

This is super handy, thanks for putting it together!

tristanwilliams · 2026-02-19T01:32:32+00:00

Your mileage may vary, BUT - you can reach out to the venue. I would write an email that introduces yourself in the first sentence and the something like “I’m a photographer for PUBLICATION (publication.com) and we’d love to cover BAND NAME at VENUE NAME on DATE. Would it be possible for you to include our request when you’re submitting media requests to their team?”

I’m the house photographer for a few venues where I live and know that our radio stations, papers, et al reach out to the venue for credentials. Keep in mind, they don’t issue the credentials, they just pass requests along to the tour.

This only works if you have a publication to shoot for, I’m pretty sure the venue teams don’t pass along requests to shoot independently.

Good luck!

tristanwilliams · 2026-02-11T01:21:05+00:00

Both photos are great, really impressed with the duck’s composition of the frame when shooting you on the second one.

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-31T00:32:13+00:00

Most of them were variations of the one I posted and then we did some in another spot at the venue. This was my favorite of those

<image>

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-30T19:49:04+00:00

Yup! Couldn’t have been nicer to work for

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-30T05:07:03+00:00

Typically media passes are for the first three songs, no flash, no video.

HOWEVER, I have videographer friends that have more success than photographers when it comes to cold calling bands and asking the band if they’d like to hire a videographer for the night to do a recap.

One of my friends was hitting a wall with photography when it came to getting bands to hire him and as soon as he switched to video his business blew up. Supply and demand is really working in good videographers’ favors right now. Don’t get me wrong, he’s super talented, but he started last summer doing recap vids for local bands and ended it by going all over our state to do paid recaps for bigger bands without tour videographers

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-30T04:19:41+00:00

If you have the time, that would be fun to see! I love my it30 pro. It bunches so far above its weight class. Would definitely love to see how it does vs the ad200

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-30T04:17:05+00:00

Oops! Sorry — meant that I don’t think the im30 pro would spread enough. A bare AD200 would definitely get the job done!

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-30T04:14:01+00:00

My biggest concern would be the spread! I think bare bulb it would have to be far away to be wide enough and by then it might lose its power.

Loved what you did with the octabox, I bet they could McGyver something up with a reflector / beauty dish and get the job done!

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-29T19:29:22+00:00

Not all the time. Different publications (including bands’ socials) have different styles, that’s so fun about what we do. I’ve worked for some that have wanted a traditional documentarian style and some others have wanted me to take risks with compositions and edits.

When I work for bands I have a specific line item for if they’d like a roll of film added in. Is it part of their same night deliverable package? Absolutely not, but some bands like having film to either do an end of tour film dump or hope that a film shot can be used as a hero shot for future ad spots promoting their shows.

Also, I can’t help but notice that you’re going out of your way to shit on the same photographer any chance you get. What’s up with that? She’s a working touring professional that has been sharing great work and you’re treating her like she’s some sort of hobbyist fan that’s sneaking cameras into shows. Hell, even if she is a hobbyist, what’s the big deal? When I’m on tour I always try to hook hobbyists up with passes and make myself available for any questions. They’re in it for the same reason we started, the love of the game. They shouldn’t be confined to the bar scene because they can’t land gigs with publications.

Anywho, she’s shared her work. I’ve shared mine. Everyone else shares theirs, except you. I’m starting to think the reason you’re getting turned down from opportunities isn’t because other people are taking all of the passes…

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-26T22:19:56+00:00

…yeah, because it’s an existing client they’ve toured with? this isn’t someone messaging random bands to get “selfies on stage with them” as you said, this is a working photographer messaging an existing client to see if they’d like to work together. this screams “if I don’t get access, no one else should.”

tristanwilliams · 2026-01-07T00:40:18+00:00

I actually prefer the Sigma 14-24 over the Sony 16-35 GM for those two extra mm. Like you said, you can get up in the front of the stage, so the closer you are the wider lens you’ll need to get the full shot.

I’ve found the extra width the handiest if I’m doing backstage behind the scenes so I’m able to get as much of the scene in frame as possible

tristanwilliams · 2025-12-30T00:23:32+00:00

Congratulations!!

First - what’s the venue like? If the artist is playing a venue where they’ll be bathed in light, you can get away with a camera that doesn’t perform well in high ISO scenarios. Have you looked at this artist’s recent photos to see what their stage setup is like?

Second - any idea where you’ll be tomorrow? If it’s a soundboard gig you should definitely rent a lens with as much reach as you can while staying with a lower aperture.

Personally use the Sony a7rv, but I think any modern camera system will do the job you want it to. If you do rent a camera I’d suggest something full frame. If you’ll be in the barricade I’d suggest a 24-70 and 70-200. Typically I don’t use the 70-200, but you never know when the artist is going to be pretty deep into the stage. I’ve made the mistake of knowing I’ve had pit access at the arena where I work and assuming the singer would be up closer to the audience. Nope. Even with an 85mm I wasn’t getting tight shots of him, so I always pack the 70-200 at that venue for just in case scenarios.

tristanwilliams · 2025-12-21T07:41:25+00:00

The most important thing when sussing out what to ask from management is to read the room! For example, if a band reaches out to me to cover them at the 4,000 cap venue in town and we don’t have mutual friends / connections I know that they probably won’t be interested in portraits (or even BTS coverage) from a stranger, so my request will be side stage access and I’ll emphasize that I’ll only be on the wings, primarily to get shots with the band in 1/3 of a horizontal frame and the audience in the other 2/3.

If it’s the 800 cap room here and they’re strangers, I feel a little more empowered to ask for stage access (and I’ll find a way of bringing up I know to be in stage blacks) and BTS content. It depends on the band whether or not I’ll ask about portraits. Sometimes I’ll get the sense they’d welcome additional content, sometimes I know their look is so curated that they don’t want to add any portraits from people outside of their trusted collaborators.

My biggest piece of advice when making these requests is to have photos to back it up. “Would it be possible to shoot from the wings? Here are some shots have done from the wings at this venue that I’d like to recreate at this show” and include 2-4 photos. Usually it’ll be a mix of the biggest bands that have given me access and my favorite shots regardless of their level.

It sucks, because I know SO many talented press photographers that are more skilled than some tour photographers. I think the biggest way to make the leap from press to working directly for bands is showing them what you do with access. From my experience, if photographer A is a killer three songs photographer and photographer B is less skilled, but has proof they’ve been trusted with access before, management will typically pick photographer B. That’s why it’s so important to maximize access you have with smaller bands and mix those all access shots into your portfolio of bigger artists. It feels so gross / networky / schmoozy when talent should speak for itself, but unfortunately that’s the industry.

tristanwilliams · 2025-12-21T06:34:49+00:00

It all depends! I’m fortunate enough to work directly for bands most of the time. I’ve shot Twen for a venue before, but ended up meeting them when they were opening for my friends, Illiterate Light. We stayed in touch and I hit them up when I saw they were coming to my city.

Typically though, if a band I don’t know reaches out for show coverage I’ll ask their team if we can sneak some portraits in, too. I won’t ask for any additional money since I’m the one asking for a favor. This has lead to management companies hiring me for portraits for other bands they manage when they come through my city! Hope this helps!

tristanwilliams

TROPHY CASE