Beyonce Shuts Press Photographers Out of World Tour

Press photographers need not enter. That's basically the message organizers of megastar Beyonce Knowles' ongoing "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour" have reportedly told the media.

According to photography blog Fstoppers, Beyonce's tour guidelines for photographers stated: "There are no photo credentials for this show." Instead, media was directed to use pre-approved images for their editorial coverage.

This closed access is likely the result of the "Unflattering Beyonce" memes that spread earlier this year, as explained in the video above.

Following the singer's highly-acclaimed performance at this year's Super Bowl, BuzzFeed published images of the "33 fiercest moments" from the halftime show—some of which were certainly awkward moments. Beyonce's publicist was reportedly not happy with some of those awkward photos and asked BuzzFeed to take them down.

Despite the professional photography ban for this tour, one wonders: what about the fans who attend shows with their camera-enabled iPhone and Android smartphones? It may be difficult to really stop them from distributing or selling those phone pics to the public and media.

Beyonce's tour organizers are not the first to implement such restrictions: According to Poynter, The Killers have not allowed outside photographers at a concert, and Lady Gaga has asked some photographers to sign photo release forms with certain stipulations.