Summer School of Folk
We are lucky in Glasgow to have an exceptionally good trad music scene, with bands taking things in new directions and new pub sessions cropping up all over the city. I’m not a good enough player to be joining in myself, but sessions sum up what I love about folk music: it’s all about the people and being social.
The summer School of Folk was set up by a handful of Glasgow’s folk stalwarts; Laura-Beth Sauter, Calum MacCrimmon, Adam Sutherland and John Somerville. Over the course of a weekend they take groups individually and share some of their many year’s of experience and skills. I was invited along to photograph their ensemble finale at the end of the weekend, to help them promote the weekend for future years.
There are unique challenges in shooting an event like this. People are arranged around a central focal point, so that they can all see their teacher at any given time - getting clear lines of sight on people can be tricky. You’ve also no control over your background, where a big corporate function will have been stage-managed to be tidy and pristine, this is in a community hall with spare chairs, instrument cases and bags piled against the walls! For your images to be effective, you’ve got to try to compose to make the most of the focus and enjoyment of the players, while trying to keep as clean a shot as possible, or it doesn’t do the event the justice it deserves.
When a shot comes together though, you get some great images of people not just enjoying themselves, but genuinely achieving something. There’s a joy in learning that never really leaves us, and combining that with both the music and the camaraderie from the weekend you can’t really can’t doubt that LB, Calum, Adam and John have put together a great event.
