How Does A Photographer Go On Tour?
For many up-and-coming music photographers, the ultimate dream is to go on tour. It’s an incredibly special job, having the opportunity to be in close quarters with an artist, capturing the show night after night as well as the liminal moments between. Yet the process of becoming a tour photographer can seem opaque from the outside.
The Photo Ladies asked artists and touring photographers to weigh in on the matter, and to tell us about how a photographer ends up on tour. There was one clear consensus among our respondents: personality matters a lot.
Both photographers and artists highlighted the need to be flexible and personable, as well as successfully doing your job with clear communication and fast turnaround. You have to be someone that people are comfortable around, both for the benefit of your photography and the benefit of the overall tour experience. Penelope Martinez, who has toured with MUNA and Marina City, stresses that “Your job as a photographer is one of the most intimate roles in live music and you need to act like it, people need to trust you. Not just the artist, but the crew too.” Treating and seeing the artists as people first came up repeatedly across respondents as an essential. Who do you want to be on the same team as when everything goes wrong?
Creative strategist April Bredael, who has worked as a tour photographer and been responsible for hiring them, emphasises that the first tour you get will be the hardest. It’s a classic employment catch-22, that you need the job to get experience, but you need experience to get the job. As April puts it, “Being on the road is not for everyone, and the only way to find out if it’s for you is to do it. When you’re in the position of needing your tour documented, it’s a risk to hire someone who hasn’t toured, even if their work is great. They can be the best photographer in the world, but might not thrive under touring conditions.”
Heading out on tour is a serious financial strain for many musicians. Gas prices, visa expenses, and other rising prices are not helping. An artist may opt to hire local photographers at each or some of the tour stops, or simply rely on photos from press photographers or newbie photographers shooting for free. The costs of tour also mean that a lot of people you might think of as tour photographers are wearing several other hats. Many photographers are simultaneously videographers, merch managers, tour managers, and/or social media managers. Being willing to adapt and develop additional skills makes someone a more valuable potential addition to the tour.
What about the mechanics of actually getting the gig? Photographers end up on tour through inbound and outbound cold DMs and emails, through friends and connections and referrals, responding to Instagram stories, one-time gigs that turn into tour opportunities, shooting as press and impressing management with their work, applying to a posting on the app NOVA. The most common response regarding how they got on tour was photographers citing personal connections they had made in the industry, whether through bands/artists or management.
Beach Bunny’s Lili Trifilio notes that it’s been her specific request when she’s worked with photographer Athena Merry on tour. Touring musician Hoodie Allen says he mostly finds photographers through seeing their work on Instagram or recommendation from a trusted friend, either another photographer or an artist.
As you build a reputation, people hear about you—” If you are a good hang, word gets around band to band and team to team,” says tour manager and photographer Leigh Ann Rodgers, who has 14 years of experience shooting shows, touring since 2018, and doing it full-time since 2021. When you see the same handful of photographers passed between tours, that might be what’s happening.
It’s also not a matter of meeting and instantly becoming a band’s tour photographer. It can build over time. Photographer Sarah Midkiff, who has worked for labels including Warner Music Group, Sony Music Group, Interscope, RCA Records, and Republic Records, went on her first real tour with a band she’d previously interviewed for a publication. She’d shot them every time they returned to the city and developed a positive reputation with the label. Amy Russell, who tours and manages social media for Bowling For Soup, points out that strengthening relationships allows her to “get a bit more close up and get them more involved with content” when it comes to backstage and promotional photos.
There are many skilled and talented photographers out there, but touring is not a meritocratic contest, and there are myriad considerations that an artist and their team have to take into account when figuring out who’s coming on tour. It’s not an impossible dream, but pragmatism and persistence are mandatory. And, as Australia-based photographer Michelle Grace Hunder observes, “Touring seems to be the goal for so many photographers, but it's seriously not for everyone, for many reasons. I do believe it takes a particular personality type.”
by: Anson Julia Tong