Nobody gives you a photo pass because your portfolio is good. They give you a photo pass because they know you, or someone they trust knows you. That's just how it works.

My first real gig came from DMing a student org on Instagram. No website, no media outlet, just a message that said something like "hey, I shoot concerts, can I come photograph your next show?" They said yes. The photos were fine — not great, not terrible. But I posted them, tagged the artists, tagged the venue, and someone from another event saw them and reached out.

That's the loop. Shoot → post → tag → connect → repeat. There's no shortcut. The people booking photographers for bigger shows aren't scrolling through portfolios at 2am. They're asking their network "who do you know that shoots?" You want to be the name that comes up.

A few things that actually helped me:

• Bringing a second shooter to a gig and splitting the work built trust fast

• Always delivering photos within 48 hours — speed matters more than perfection early on

• Showing up to shows even when I wasn't shooting, just to be in the room and meet people