I just had the most hilarious slash ridiculous EMAIL (not text, important to note) exchange with someone wanting a photo pass. This person stated online they would be shooting a certain show but I'd never gotten a request from them. So I introduced myself and asked how he had made arrangements. The full EMAIL exchange went something like this, over the course of an hour:
Photog: I have not been in touch with the venue other than I a quick email a couple weeks ago.
Me: To whom did you speak and what did they say?
Photog: I did not get a name unfortunately.
Me: Okay. What did they say?
Photog: They said for me to get permission from the individual artist's management.
Me: That's me.
Photog: right!!?
That's when I just had to laugh. Remember, this was not a text exchange but actual emails from our respective professional email addresses.
So I said, let me get this straight: you want to take pictures, you contacted the venue, asked for permission, they told you to contact management, you didn't do that but did post on social media that you would be taking pictures, is that right? I then clued him in on the right way to make a request for a photo pass.
To his credit, he did so. And I granted him permission.
The moral of this story is, being affiliated with a blog doesn't make you a professional journalist or photographer.
Being professional does.