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Underground > Radio & Music >

Sneaking cameras into shows

  
 
Sunny
03:28 / 05.08.03
so how exactly does one go about sneaking a camera into some big venue place that doesn't allow them, and if you're caught whats likely to happen to you?
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
04:28 / 05.08.03
They'll take it off you, and keep it until the end. And probably take the film out of it if it's taken partway through a show.

Easiest hint: keep the flash off. Seriously.
 
 
Sunny
04:39 / 05.08.03
thank you rothkoid, how did you get it in, in the first place?
thanks again.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
11:04 / 05.08.03
Nothing seriously secretive; just kept it in my bag.
 
 
rizla mission
14:25 / 05.08.03
Most shows I've been to in this country have been pretty casual about cameras. I don't know exactly what they're looking for when they search your bag at London gigs - guns or drugs or something I can only assume - but they don't usually seem bothered about cameras.

At ATP in LA though, the security were absolute fuckers - we didn't have anywhere to put our cameras, and they refused to take them off us, so we had to hide them under a bush before we could get in..

..they were the same with food, cigarettes, pretty much anything.. I was eating some biscuits in the queue, and this drill sergeant guy's like "you better eat up quick boy, or you ain't getting' in!" I mean, like, what?, excuse me?, fuck you man, etc.

I don't know whether or not that's common practice at gigs in the US.. I hope not..
 
 
Haus of Mystery
16:57 / 05.08.03
If you have a very small camera inserted into your retina, most bouncers won't notice.
 
 
Sunny
19:51 / 05.08.03
"I don't know whether or not that's common practice at gigs in the US.. I hope not.." sorry rizla, yeah kind of, thats how they are at big venues, they want you to buy their food and their cigarettes and all that. I swear they're fucking greeeedy cunts. I know the troubadour and henry fonda are okay with them though.
 
 
Sunny
22:12 / 26.08.03
anyone ever get a camera or recording device at The Greek?
these are their policies:
-No Bottles, Cans, or Coolers. Only empty or factory-sealed water bottles allowed.
-No Laser pointers, weapons, no outside food and beverage.
-No Baskets, Cameras, or Recording Devices.
-Smoking allowed only in the concourses.
-Everyone Needs A Ticket, including Children and "Babies in Arms"
 
 
HysteriX
05:21 / 28.08.03
dude you can get fuct over pretty bad if you get caught, if they wanna be dicks about it. managers of the kind of bands that play big venues can be pissy and go as far as to stop the show,have you arrested and/or fined, they (security) will always take the tape. you can and probably will get kicked out.
 
 
Sunny
21:14 / 28.08.03
huh. I think I'll just enjoy the show then. thanks.
 
 
suds
13:03 / 29.08.03
i'm in two minds about this. because last week i saw the gossip and was happy i could take some snaps of the band during their set. but there were about seven people standing there filming the whole show and they were just standing there and getting in everyones way. that really bugs me.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
13:18 / 29.08.03
I'm with Suds.

Kathleen Hanna is sooooooo right about this.

Just go to the show and have fun, your memories will be better than any pictures that you might take. Fact: 99.9% of all amateur photos taken at concerts look TERRIBLE. Don't bother unless you know what you're doing and have a press pass.
 
 
Sunny
19:43 / 29.08.03
true, so true, those ones I took at the kills show were fucking atrocious.
 
 
Sunny
08:24 / 10.01.04
what I learned at the greek theater: the stadium like venues are the lamest, if they don't allow cameras stow a relatively small camera in your bathing suit area-I'm sure they don't ever pat you down there, like rothkoid said turn off the flash, or just bring one of those cell phone cameras but I don't know how well those come out with not enough lighting.
but don't be a horrible person like this lady was at this raveonettes show I was at with a digital camera and holding it up in a big "fuck everyone else, I gotta get this perfect picture, boy this auto focus takes a long time" way, I swear that lady was the worst and then she dropped her batteries and lifted a portly ladies skirt up in the process of looking for them.
and then there's also the thing about taking good pictures that you have to sacrifice enjoying that portion of the show if you want to take decent photos otherwise they come out really really bad.
 
 
Deltzer
00:57 / 12.01.04
if you have a small camera and put it in a small purse, most of the time the bouncers don't bother - from what i've experienced. they just take a glance and that's it. i have a small digital and i keep it in a black carry case in my wee purse so most don't really pay attention.

the worst i had happen was one bouncer took the batteries out of it and told me i could have them back at the end of the show. one of my other friends had a spare set of batteries so i still got to take pics. (i'm a visual person and i love taking pictures to remember.) and sure enough at the end of the show i got my batteries back.

the only show i was at where the bouncers were nazis about cameras was at a tori amos show. as soon as the flash went off there were literally four guards tracking the person down and dragging that person outside. but most of the time, no one really bothers much.
 
 
rizla mission
08:03 / 12.01.04
Fact: 99.9% of all amateur photos taken at concerts look TERRIBLE.

Tell me about it.

Although, what with having a singularly unpredictable camera, for every 9 shots that I waste I tend to get one that's absolute genius.

Due to unexpected double exposure I've got a shot of Ian Mackaye climbing across my bookshelf, and the pictures I took of Patti Smith at the Union Chapel look like some kind of UFO visitation..

..plus a lot of the gigs I go to are sufficiently small that I can get close enough to get decent shots without getting in anybody's way.. I've got some utterly psychedelic shots of the band Of Montreal playing in front of a crazy gothic mural, some shots of Cat on Form lunging directly at my head etc.
 
 
Jack Vincennes
10:36 / 12.01.04
cell phone cameras but I don't know how well those come out with not enough lighting

Hardly at all -although I don't have one, from what I've seen of the photos taken on them I'm not sure it'd be possible to make out anything at all apart from the lights behind the band and some grainy silhouettes.

I've always kept my camera at the bottom of my bag, and I've never had a problem taking cameras into venues -except for the obvious ones everyone's mentioned, of all my photos looking really bad (even when I was at the front) and worrying about my camera getting broken when I should have been enjoying the music. So I've stopped even trying to take pictures of shows, having wasted quite a bit of film on them for a couple of years.
 
 
Char Aina
15:07 / 12.01.04
from a phone cam, the t610 model:



and



i have rotated the images through 90degrees, and they are a bit bigger than they would naturally be in the phone, but you get some idea of how dissapointing the shots can be. they're not all bad, just a lot of them.(also, when i resaved them on my computer, it turned them into a lossey file(?) and said that this may alter the images... i have no idea what the infernal machine was on about)
 
 
Sunny
03:46 / 13.01.04
I mean, thats not like that bad, but yeah it's not so great but what do you expect from a phone camera. thanks for the samples toksik.

hey I've got a question: if you're gonna take photos what doyou thinks best, if like you're right up front or say like just behind like four people? because if you're right up front then you can't get the whole band, but then again if you are you get a better close up photo. and if it affects your opinion at all its a yeah yeah yeahs show.

appreciate your thoughts thanks.
 
 
rizla mission
10:08 / 13.01.04
The closer the better I'd say.. presumably a YYYs show is gonna be at quite a big venue - think about the size of a thing in a developed photo compared to looking at it from the same distance firsthand - being too close is NOT gonna be a problem.

If you're at the front you also get to avoid the inevitable half dozen greasy haired audience heads in the lower half of each picture..

..um, not that I'm suggesting the audience are a bunch of bastards who don't deserve a part in the proceedings, just that endless lines of the backs of people's heads don't make for very good photography..
 
 
Sunny
17:26 / 14.01.04
no wait, never mind he'd just say the same thing. rizla is correct that is exactly what you ought to do if you want good photos, you know so you don't get the sweaty backs of the fans heads especially that bastard with the white head he fucked up like two good photos, fuck, why, would you wear a hat to a concert? anyways its either that or somehow immediately get one or two feet taller. but like, digital cameras suck, cause they don't take the picture immediately, you have to wait like two or one second right? and after that the moments already past.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
20:34 / 18.01.04
If you want reasonable photos (at least on digi), get up close (like front row close) and work without a flash. You'll get pretty good colours (so I've found) and won't get a kick in the head from the singer who's being blinded from your flash.

Further back the room don't work, as I've found.
 
  
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