I first photographed singer-songwriter Hamish Hawk almost exactly two years ago, in the coal-black car park behind a tiny music venue in York. The butterfly-lit picture here was made – and I swear this is true – by the light of a couple of those little strings of light, hung over a gazebo. I used my SIGMA 105mm F1.8 DG DN Macro| Art, and I couldn’t believe how well both lens and camera, a Sony A7RII coped. That image went on to be used as an EP cover.
Over the last couple of years I’ve worked pretty regularly with Hamish, both on the road and in the studio, on behalf of his management company. And, it’s fair to say that the last two years have been something of a wild ride, as Hamish and his brilliant band have stormed one venue after another, playing on bigger and bigger stages. And just a few days ago Hamish played his biggest headlining gig yet, at the 2,000 capacity Barrowlands in Glasgow. Me and my husband and fellow photographer Richard were tasked with making a record of the show, from sound check to encore.
From my point of view Hamish’s well-deserved ascent has brought one huge benefit to me and Richard: fantastic stage lighting. The Barrowlands show was simply beautifully lit, although that brought its challenges, because we were often shooting straight into enormously bright lights.
As is usually the case Richard and I used different lenses and shot in different positions. Richard prowled ‘the pit’ for the whole show with SIGMA’s 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN | Art super wide zoom, plus the lovely SIGMA 85mm F1.4 DG DN | Art. And just to spice things up he shot with both full frame (a Sony A7RII) and crop (Sony A6000) bodies.
I took more of a roving brief, making sure that we captured the spirit of the night, and the wild enthusiasm of the audience. I shot from the back of the venue, and with an AAA pass even from behind the band, sharing their view of the capacity audience beyond. Working with one body, the Sony A7R IVa and the SIGMA 24-70 F2.8 DG DN | Art gave me the flexibility and quality that I needed as there’s no time to change lenses in such a fast moving show.
The following day, exhausted and exhilarated in equal measure, I finished my edit of the work, and transferred the images to the client. The images have been used extensively on theirs and the lighting company’s social media channels.
Richard was blown away by the versatility and quality of the lenses he used on the night, while I was especially struck by how consistent the colour, contrast and overall look of the images was. Having a such a good range of quality lenses with different focal lengths allowed us to capture the atmosphere and energy of the show with ease; and it’s one gig I won’t forget anytime soon.
I’ve no idea if I’ll be called on to make more pictures of his band in the coming months and years, but if I am something tells me that I’ll be needing (to mis-quote a famous fish hunter) a bigger lens. So it’s a good thing Sigma’s 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Contemporary is sitting in my bag, awaiting its moment in the sun.
Michaela is a commercial and fine art photographer who runs her own photography business. One of her many passions is gig photography, and recently travelled to Glasgow Barrowlands, along with her husband Richard, to photograph singer-songwriter Hamish Hawk on his latest tour.
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