Josh Pyke @ The Gov, March ’09

After I has got my upfront-to-the-stage pics for this gig I went to the back of the room as I like to shoot long with my 70-200 from just above the crowd. I often ask the sound guy if I can jump in behind him as the sound desk area is raised a few feet up. More often than not it’s cool.

Tonight the touring sound guy for Josh Pyke flat out said no, then he demanded that I stop shooting and put my camera away, saying further that I am not allowed to shoot. I showed him my accreditation (hanging around my neck) but he still demanded I put the camera away. I could see I was getting nowhere with this tool, so I asked him again politely if he could do me a favour and let me shoot from the sound board. I’m authorised to shoot, now will you do me a favour and let me up there or not? He continued to tell me to stop shooting, etc etc. By now I was jack of arguing with this idiot, so I walked off, located a chair, brought it back to next to the sound board, stood on it and got my long shots. I looked over at him (we were now at the same eye level), gave him a thumbs up and smiled.

I grabbed a few more shots, then went to side of the stage for more angles.