Bournemouth 7s 2026 was a proper reminder of why I love covering live events and sport. Across the May Bank Holiday weekend at Chapel Gate, the festival brought together around 30,000 people, 100 plus live acts and DJs, multiple stages, rugby, sport, music and a huge amount of atmosphere, with names on the line up including Rudimental, Hedex, Morgan Seatree, Badger, Bakey, Basslayerz, Belters Only, Lens and Mozey. As a Bournemouth based music, event and sports photographer with over 15 years behind the lens, weekends like this are exactly what I enjoy documenting, the movement, the chaos, the heat, the crowds, the small moments and the bigger story of the event. A huge thank you to the Bournemouth 7s team, especially Dodge and Matt Hall, for the hospitality onsite during a very hot weekend in May. It was a pleasure to be back, capturing the energy of a festival that continues to bring sport, music and people together in such a strong way.

SXM Festival 2026 feels like one of those rare trips where everything just lines up. The setting is unreal, but what stays with you is the people. Everyone shows up with the same mindset, open, friendly, and just happy to be there. It makes it easy to connect, whether you are deep in the crowd or off to the side taking it all in. That shared energy is what really defines SXM Festival and keeps people coming back.

A few moments really stood out. Elderbrook at the Panorama Party was something special, the kind of set where the whole space feels in sync and you lose track of time. Then Carl Cox took it through to sunrise, which felt like a proper full circle moment with the light coming up over the island. Massive credit to the team behind it all, especially Julian Prince and Krystel Arbia for making it happen the way it did.

Music Festival photography has been a passion of mine for the past 15 years, working to capture all the necessary content that brands and festivals need to promote small, medium and large events for the next year. With that said, everyone needs to start somewhere. I did many years ago and I can say with confidence even as a seasoned professional, its never been harder to get paid work in the music festival space in 2026. So where do you start?

In 2026, when I rebuilt my website, I realised I had left out something that shaped a big part of that journey. The landscapes. The quiet moments in between the noise. The places that grounded everything else. Those frames matter just as much as the stages and the crowds because they show where it all exists, not just what happens there. This is me putting that back where it belongs. Not as an afterthought, but as part of the story people can come and sit with. Travel and music have always been tied together in my work, and sometimes the strongest images come when everything slows down and you’re left with nothing but the place itself.

During the summer of 2025 I had a small window of time off where I wasn’t due to shoot anything — absolute bliss. With that in mind I got myself a press pass to what I’d call the little cousin of Download Festival, held not far from Donington Park. I’d never been to this festival before and had heard so many great things. I was there just for the day (Sunday); here are a few of the acts I caught. It was great to explore in a way that wasn’t driven by the need to get content for anyone but myself.