The pseudorapidity distributions of inclusive photons are compared with charged-particle measurements at midrapidity by ALICE  in pp collisions (a) and both ALICE  and CMS  in p$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV (b). Mirrored data points of pp and Pb$-$p results and predictions from various MC models are superimposed.