Ill-informed diatribe against male gig photographers

[RobEW]

Did anyone pick up on this rather opinion-heavy and fact-light piece? She even singles out Olympus users!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/may/27/the-worst-gig-goers-arent-phone-wielding-teens-its-creepy-blokes-zooming-in-on-female-musicians

(P.S. For info, I don't do this sort of photography or even listen to that kind of music myself. I'm not personally affronted, but feel a journalist should try and research and report some facts rather than subjective impressions. Perhaps start by talking to gig photographers and performers of both genders. )

[blu-by-u]

But she didn't photograph that photographer?

[RobEW]

I think she was making broad generalisations, not talking about just one guy.

What the truth of the matter is I'm not sure. Perhaps some guys videoing are partly motivated by titillation. Knowing a bit about photographers, I suspect some might just be a bit anoraky about getting the very best images or clips they possibly can, and might stalk and photograph wildlife equally obsessively with their camera (equipped with those large and slightly phallic-looking telephoto lenses :-) ).

A more journalistic approach to this phenomenon might include observing or seeking out facts about whether this sort of videoing is more common behaviour with male photographers than female ones, (and that would need to take into account the proportion of photographers who are female, not lazily based on observations at a gig), and also whether it's more common with female performers than male ones. Her generalisations about the age of photographers need also to be qualified by an insight into the general age range of hobby photographers. Maybe there are lots of middle aged men taking photos at gigs, and also lots of middle aged men doing architecture photography or landscapes or macro or food photography or 101 different genres. She might ask to see footage and find out whether it focussed more on the singer as singer or on specific parts of her anatomy. To be fair she seems to have done this to some extent, perhaps by looking at the camera rear screen. She might interview performers and see whether they feel "surveilled" (what a non-word for a supposed journalist) or stalked in any way, or whether they perhaps feel that they have chosen to be on show and actually want people to watch and images to be taken and shared. She might try being some kind of ethnographer of different photographic communities and find out what motivates them. Perhaps event photographers at celeb gigs are hoping for that one iconic image which gets loads of LIKEs or goes viral or sells to the media. But maybe Snapes doesn't want to do loads of journalistic research. Maybe she prefers to be a polemicist and make prejudiced unfounded accusations. Or maybe she simply doesn't have time to do serious journalist work and has to spend more time at the keyboard churning out clickbaity opinion-based copy than in actually seeking out facts in an unbiased way.

I hope I'm not being unfair or unduly harsh on her ...

[Tram]

I don't understand anyone going to a gig then watching it through a camera or phone.
Yes there are some creepy dudes out there, you only have to witness them at the photo show with the female models.

Not sure about a man feeling afraid of going, I've been to see Evanescence and Within Temptation on my own.
I like both bands music, they are very good live and just happen to have female vocalists.

The other thing that surprises me is how someone got a camera in with the increased security searches since Manchester.
Went to one gig where I had been out photographing the city beforehand and checked my Fuji X-E2 and small lens in at the cloakroom.

Last point is this bloke sounds like he was actually just an audience member.with a camera
Proper gig photographers get the first three songs at the front and then leave to make room for the audience.

[blu-by-u]

Oops, I am guilty I have been watching gigs thru the lens.

[RobEW]

blu-by-u : Do you tend to focus specifically on female performers? Do you think Snapes' article is justified?

[blu-by-u]

@ RobEW, I do a reporting. So it's all.

[MJ224]

Just some wannabe reporter trying to make a mountain out of a molehill................

[blackfox]

I’ll put it more bluntly. Just a silly woman making a mountain out of a molehill .. very akin to the like of a woman who reported me to the ranger at a local NR because I was wandering around with a camera with a huge lens ,would love to have seen the look on the silly cows face when the ranger told her I was taking photos for her website by invitation.
it happens women are weird creatures

[LadyG]

Careful... there's a lot of us (women) about. I'm not defending the woman who wrote the article in any way and don't go to that kind of gig, not my scene, but I have covered burlesque and then you do get the creepy guys.

[blackfox]

but i'm a expert on the breed got the marriage and divorce certificates to prove it ... LOL.plus 4 daughters and god knows how many granddaughters I could write a book about PMT moods LOL

[LadyG]

As a (mostly retired) female music photographer, we've all met that type of guy, not necessarily Olympus/OM carrying. Nowadays you can't get in to a ticketed gig with any type of camera larger than a compact (although I used to cheat occasionally and take in my first mirrorless, a Canon EOS-M mark 1 with a 22mm f2 lens on - so no zooming in there!) More on the compact - they're usually stood at the bar at the front of the stage (we're talking medium sized venues here) with their compact, flash on and annoying the performers - and obviously not confined to the 3-song rule. It's amazing how many times you're told as you go into a photo pit "no flash allowed" - excuse me mate, we've either got full frame cameras or pretty whizzy ones which don't have a flash built in!

You do get the creepy guys, some of them even get a bigger camera and make it into the photo pit but if they're just there to take obsessive close ups then they won't last long. For one thing, everyone in a photo pit is pretty constantly moving so anyone who's obsessing over a female performer or dancer will soon be gently (or otherwise) moved on. I can't say I've noticed the female equivalent at the gigs I've gone to. There again the females I go to see are usually blues rather than pop based, or, unlike Kylie, don't have dancers (thinking of ones I've photographed: Belinda Carlisle, Kim Wilde, Beth Hart, Chantel McGregor, Elles Bailey, Kim Jennet - you've got a mix of pop, rock/metal and blues there).

[RobEW]

Thanks for well-informed insights. Seems to support some claims in the article and not others.