Heavy Music Awards Nomination

On Monday the 20th of January 2020 I woke up after a long night of traveling home, from London after photographing a band I love, to an email I thought I’d honestly never get.

I was nominated as one of the Heavy Music Awards Young Photographer Of The Year Awards. This has been one of my goals for the past 3 years as I’ve entered each year since I started university but never got through until now.

I’m alongside 5 other fantastic photographers, some of which I’ve looked up for a while and others who are new discoveries for me. I always draw inspiration from fellow photographers so the competition has given me more connections within my work.

I have just under 2 weeks to pull in as many votes as possible, and the prize if I win is a studio session mentored by the legendary Paul Harries, who is the Kerrang! photographer and one of my biggest inspirations to this day.

Knowing that Paul actually looked at my photograph and thought it was good enough to make it to the final 6 photographs is an honour within itself. The photo that was chosen is CJ (Dreamstate) performing at Burn It Down Festival in Torquay last year. It was my highlight of the year as during the festival I suffered an injury to my wrist during a heavy band, so when I came to the front to photograph Dreamstate they actually pulled me to the stage to shoot their set as they say the injury and didn’t want me in the crowd, so their kindness made this shot possible and I’m forever grateful to be able to work with such amazing bands like Dreamstate.

I’m truly blown away with the response I’ve had via social media since the nomination was announced, feeling the love for sure!

83475371_2780176382072238_3374666575968731136_o.jpg

If you’d like to take a moment out of your day to vote for me (no sign up required) you can do so below.

Link To Vote For Me

Thank you for your support throughout this experience, good luck to everyone who’s been nominated and I can’t wait for the event in London in May this year.

Here’s to 2020

Top 5 bands at Burn It Down Festival 2019

I was asked back to photograph the second instalment of Burn It Down Festival in Torquay. Last years event Was brilliant. I got the chance to photograph bands like Mallory Knox, Dream State and Arcane Roots.

The line-up this year had some fantastic bands like Basement, Loathe, Haggard Cat, Black Peaks, Dream State loads of which I’ve had the pleasure of photographing before and a few new bands for me to photograph.

The event had three stages across three venues. The Signature Stage which was at The Apple & Parrot. The The main stage was the Jägermeister Stage which was at The Foundry.

I photographed over 15 bands over the day, varying from rock to hardcore to emo.

My top 5 favourite bands at Burn It Down are -

  • Black Peaks

  • Dream State

  • Mother Vulture

  • Haggard Cat

  • RXPTRS

After what can only be described as a highly successful second year for the South West festival, I am really looking forward to seeing what this festival had in store for the coming years.

Burn It Down Festival Preview!

Burn It Down Festival in Torquay, is the perfect closing event for the festival season this year. The day festival takes place over 3 venues in the quaint seaside town, The Foundry, The Apple & Parrot and The Attic. This is my second year photographing the festival so I’m hyped to be back again. The line-up is stacked with a wide variety of bands to feast your ears on. Below are a few of the acts that I’ve had the pleasure of photographing before and a few new ones to check out!

The Experimental - Apple & Parrot 12.00

The Experimental - Apple & Parrot 12.00

Crooked Little Sons - Apple & Parrot 12.35

Crooked Little Sons - Apple & Parrot 12.35

Puppy - Foundry 17.00

Puppy - Foundry 17.00

Holding Absence - Foundry 18.00

Holding Absence - Foundry 18.00

Hypophora - Apple & Parrot 18.30

Hypophora - Apple & Parrot 18.30

Black Orchid Empire - Apple & Parrot 19.30

Black Orchid Empire - Apple & Parrot 19.30

Dream State - Foundry 20.00

Dream State - Foundry 20.00

Black Peaks - Foundry 21.00

Black Peaks - Foundry 21.00

Haggard Cat - Apple & Parrot 21.30

Haggard Cat - Apple & Parrot 21.30

New bands that I’ll be checking out - Pitcher, Phoxjaw, Loathe (who I’ve seen live twice but I’m yet to photograph them), The City Is Ours, Borders, Mother Vultures and RXPTRS.

Festival Info -

Facebook event page - Burn It Down Festival

BUY TICKETS HERE!!!

Teddy Rocks Festival - Friday 3.05.19

Festival number two of the season was the fantastic Teddy Rocks Festival. As a tog I love photographing charity based festivals and events. Below is how the festival started -

Teddy Rocks Festival started with a small gig in 2011 to raise money for Teddy20, a children's cancer charity founded by Tom Newton and his family after he lost his 10 year old brother Ted to a very rare bone cancer.

The gig was put on by Tom's friends and family in the restaurant of The Greyhound pub in Blandford and raised £400. This was used to fund the very first Teddy Rocks event at The Corn Exchange in 2012, which raised £2,500. Teddy Rocks Story

This was my first time attending Teddy Rocks Festival, I found that as a complete newbie, I instantly felt comfortable and at ease locating my way around the site.

All the members of staff were brilliantly helpful and happy to answer any questions or queries I had.

I got accredited to the festival via the Mike James Rock Show who I worked along side during Teddy Rocks, photographing the bands playing live which they later interviewed. I also helped contribute to their Instagram accounts during the weekend, by adding to their stories with photos from the pit.

I had such a brilliant time shooting day one at Teddy Rocks. The music on offer varied an awful lot from the unique sound of The Lounge Kittens to the brutally metalcore that is Our Hollow Our Home.

From stage to stage the lighting and sound was fabulous and fitted in with the artist playing. Day one at Teddy Rocks was a marvellous experience all in all.

PS. I also got my first ever jump shot!!!