As you know, I take pics at gigs, sometimes professionally (when it happens!) and sometimes for my own souvenir purposes as well as maybe adding to a portfolio of stuff and hopefully generating interest in what I do. This can have a mutual back scratching effect with smaller bands starting out. They get some pics they can use, I get in their good books and maybe a cd or two or guest list or some such and some pics to illustrate my stuff.
I do this with a camera and I've got pretty good at being as discreet as I can about it as I know myself what a pain it can be for other people. Personally, I think using a camera is a little more discreet and less intrusive than using a phone anyway, and definitely less in-the-way than a bloody tablet. You might not agree, which is fair enough. But to me, a camera is in front of my face, not a slab being waved around in the air, possibly spoiling the view for other people. A lot of it depends on the band, the venue and so on. The Deaf Institute is great for photos but the Academy 2 is useless unless you're crushed at the front, which I don't enjoy, or really tall, which I'm most certainly not.
As for the Kate show, well I will have a camera with me on the night, just cos I always do, but even before she made the request, which I'm not surprised at, I had no intention of taking pictures. For a start, I thought from the outset that there would be a clampdown on photos etc even before the 'official' announcement. I'm going with the intention if seeing the gig and enjoying the performance and that's it. It might be cool to have some shots of fans milling about before the show, seeing as it's an EVENT, we shall see.
Having said all that, I would happily see an ocean of phones being waved about if it could guarantee the shutting the fuck up of people talking through gigs which seems to be a real ball ache of a thing these days.
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