Photo passes: how to say yes to photographers

At some point a photographer — ours or anyone's — will ask to shoot your set. If you've never dealt with a photo pass before, the request can read as more formal and more complicated than it is. It isn't. Here's the artist side of it.

What a photo pass is

A photo pass is permission, agreed before the show, for a photographer to shoot your set — usually from the area in front of the stage (the pit, if the room has one) or from the floor in a smaller room. It typically covers the whole bill for that night and often comes with an informal rule set: the classic is first three songs, no flash, though small Vancouver rooms are usually looser than that.

The pass isn't a contract and it isn't a payment arrangement. It's the show's organizer — venue, promoter, or you — saying "yes, this person is working tonight, let them do their job."

Why saying yes helps you

• You get real live photos. Phone shots from the crowd don't survive stage lighting. A photographer who works shows does. Those images end up on your artist page here and in our galleries — see what published coverage looks like.
• It costs you nothing. The photographer isn't asking for a fee, a guarantee, or a guest-list spot for their friends. They're asking to stand somewhere useful with a camera.
• Coverage compounds. A shot gallery makes a review more likely; a good set of photos is the difference between "we were listed" and "we were covered." Bookers and festival programmers look at that stuff.
• You keep your say. A pass can come with your conditions — no flash during the quiet song, skip the first number while you settle, whatever matters to you. Saying yes doesn't mean giving up control of how you're shot.

Who actually grants it

Depends on the show:

• Venue-run or promoter-run shows: the venue or promoter handles passes. The photographer usually never needs to talk to the band at all — but if they contact you first, forwarding them to the right person is helping.
• DIY and self-promoted shows: you're the promoter, so you're the pass. A reply that says "yes, come shoot, doors at 8, we're on at 10" is the entire process.

How it works with us

When we want to shoot your show, the request comes ahead of time through the show's organizer — the routes and lead times live on Press & Coverage. We ask for around three weeks' notice on our side, so if you get our request two weeks out, that's us cutting it fine, not being casual.

If you want us there, don't wait to be asked: invite coverage through Press & Coverage and mention that photo access is easy to arrange. "Passes are no problem" removes the single most common blocker on our side of the decision.

What happens to the photos

Published photos land in a gallery on our site, credited to the photographer, linked from your artist page. If you want to use the shots yourself — socials, press kits — ask the photographer; most are happy to sort something out, and the polite version of that ask takes one message.