Jonathan Dadds Photography / Videography

Colchester Based Photographer and Videographer specialising in Live Music, Theatre, Sport, Events and Weddings

Specialising in live music photography and videography and with experience shooting theatre, weddings, sport and events, Jonathan Dadds has been capturing live music for over fifteen years, having taken pictures of over 2500 bands everywhere from the smallest DIY venue to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage.

Jonathan has in-house festival experience, working with the ArcTanGent media team for five years, as well as being the in house photographer for Colchester Fringe Festival.

Jonathan is based in Colchester, Essex but is happy to travel, mostly covering London but also shooting gigs and festivals across the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.

Jonathan has worked with The Scene, Media Junkbox, ArcTanGent Festival, Colchester Fringe Festival, DIY Magazine, Gigwise, Independent Venue Week, Three Wise Monkeys and more.

He has worked with numerous bands to produce galleries and videos, including , Rad Pitt, The Meffs, Pet Needs, Wilswood Buoys and Fraser Morgan, to name just a few.

He has also worked as part of a team to film videos for Cardiacs, Mclusky, Vennart, Future of the Left and Johnny Foreigner, some of which have had physical releases.
Jonathan has produced music videos for the likes of The Meffs, Pet Needs, Rad Pitt and Animal Noise . He works closely with bands through all steps of the process to help bring their vision to life.

He also produces live and session videos, with the ability to film with multiple angles, record multiple channels of audio and complete all post-production including mixing, editing and grading.

He is currently able to film up to five angles multiple Canon mirrorless/DSLR cameras and a Go Pro with two extra Sony compact cameras for shorter shoots. He can also record, mix and master live audio where available in the venue, with a smaller setup for session work. Mixing and editing is done in Cubase using plugins from Universal Audio, SSL and more with Focal monitors.

Jonathan is available for one-off gigs, in-house festival roles, editorial shoots and touring.

With extensive experience in post-production he can turn around photos at a fast pace to suit your needs. At festivals, he is able to create photographic content for social media in near real time, editing select shots on the go during the performance and quickly editing full sets the same day.

Previous Awards:

Event Photography Awards 2025 - Winner, Sporting Events (Maldon Mud Race)

PAGB Inter-Club Print Competition 2024 - Rod Wheelans Mono Cup & Gold Medal, Mono Print (Jewish Museum, Berlin)

Essex Photography Prize 2021 - Winner, Colchester Category (Sleep Token - Colchester Arts Centre)