As someone who watches live music most days of the week, getting into music photography seemed obvious. I was given my first camera in my first year of university (a Fuji Bridge camera – that was a challenge!) and I used to take it along to gigs, learning through trial and error how to get the best live shots possible. Eventually, when I started working for the music section of my university’s paper, I started shooting bigger shows and festivals, using a borrowed Olympus camera and then, eventually, my first DSLR, a Canon 450d.
After leaving university I started writing for (and subsequently shooting for) 7BitArcade, which saw me photographing more gigs nationally as well as moving into video to produce live sessions. As someone who’s played in bands and who has experience with recording, I’ve always been happy combining these skills to create session videos that both look and sound good. Since the end of 7BitArcade, I’ve been a freelance photographer, shooting gigs and festivals for DIY and Gigwise magazines among others, as well as being part of the in-house team for ArcTanGent Festival and being the in-house photographer for Colchester Fringe Festival. I’ve also built up some experience shooting both sport and fundraising events for charities, covering the London Marathon and Ride London multiple times for MS UK, as well as events for Autism Anglia.
Most of my work is digital but I do enjoy experimenting with other formats. I can often be seen at festivals with my medium format camera or my Polaroid, trying to create something a bit different. I’m unfazed by stages small or large, I feel at home in cramped DIY venues right through to large festival stages. I pride myself on my fast turnaround times – I like to have photos edited and available to post online/in print as soon as possible. With wifi enabled cameras and Photoshop Mobile, I can edit select images for social media in near real time, and my standard editing workflow is quick enough to turn around most sets as fast as required.
