The best of Solfest 2022 (part 1!)

Here are the people of Solfest!

Jo and her Hubby

Hannah and Mike

Give us a wave!

The ‘sound guys’ in the Bar Stage tent

Ethan and the Hive Bar crew

The Melodrome boogie baby

This intergalactic couple of creatures

Palais de Phoenix ravers

The people who make it all happen, the crew who can do!

Solfest Steve (the Scott) and pals

Solfest Steve (the Scott) showing his gorgeous wife the goods

There’s more where these came from! Keep an eye out for my next post, and you might see your crew living it large.

Thanks for stopping by :) x

PS. If you love your photos and want to buy me a coffee, here’s my paypal link: paypal.me/lucylamb91

Cheers!

Girls Can @ More Music

More Music is a music education charity based in the West End of Morecambe.  

With community projects for all ages and abilities, regular gigs, festivals and it’s own recording studios, More Music is a well known organisation who are very much a part of the local landscape, and I know many a ‘muso’ who have come up through their programmes or performed with their events.  

Girls Can is More Music’s campaign to address the imbalance of women’s representation in music, celebrate young women’s achievements and provide opportunities to explore areas of music and technology, where barriers often exist.  

The programme 

From the 10th – 12th Dec 2021, five young women from Lancashire took part in the programme to develop their musical, technical and performance skills, with the guidance and support of inspiring professionals to 

* Construct their ‘sound’ collaborating with musicians and producers 

* Write and record tracks 

* Explore the process of releasing music 

* Master the art of rehearsal & performance preparation 

* Develop their profile as an artist, technician & musician 

* Develop sound tech and lighting skills 

The crew

Rachel Parsons: Youth Programmes Manager and Music Leader at More Music, Music Lecturer at Lancaster and Morecambe College. 

Heather North, Sound Engineer 

Sarah Angel, Musician, Model and Stylist 

IORA (AKA Holly Phelps) Musician 

Rachel Parsons counting the band in

Introducing Rachel Parsons

During her 25 years experience as a recording and touring drummer, Rachel saw first hand, the underrepresentation of women in the music industry;

never, in my 25 years of playing in a band, did I ever encounter a female sound engineer whilst touring and that all the albums I had recorded over the years had been engineered by men. Not to say there aren’t any women working as sound engineers or producers, but recent statistics show us that only 2% of producers are known to be working within the music industry are women. 2%!!!!!???

Girls Can at More Music

Likewise - in my 10 years of working in music and events photography, visiting venues up and down the country and covering some of the largest festivals in the UK - I have only ever worked with 1 female sound engineer, back in 2019 at Comedy Feast in Lincoln. This being said, artists usually [need to] develop their own skills around sound engineering, and setting up their tech and everyone has to start somewhere right?

Introducing Harriet North

Harriet was pretty sound. She was incredibly knowledgeable and super helpful; she was happy to explain her lighting set up to me, and even make little tweaks to help me get the best lighting for my shots.

As a photographer, I always try to say hello and introduce myself to the tech folks if I get the chance. Engineers spend ages setting up stages with cables and equipment, so they’ll know the layout of the venue, the best access points and where not to go (essential if you don’t want to piss anyone off) and also who’s who.

Harriet North enjoying a brew behind her sound desk

Harriet North (right) checking microphone set up with artist Sarah Angel (left).

Alongside Rachel and Harriet, the development sessions were facilitated by musicians Sarah Angel and Holly Phelps who are both singer/songwriters and recording artists.

Introducing Sarah Angel

Bolton born soul-child, SingerSongwriter and Model Sarah Angel has been flaunting her experimental-soul sound over the past year in her hometown and beyond.

'I survive from the art I make' - Sarah Angel

Sarah was a fantastic assistant on my portrait shoot, spotting locations and showing the girls how to own the space. She also led a warm up activity where we all became waves - vert apt for our seaside location!

Introducing IORA

IORA is an Electronica Pop/folk Artist based in Manchester and has been named as a resident artist at the Roundhouse in London. IORA's music is a combination of vocal and instrumental harmonies, marries with electronic sample and sounds, intriguing the audience with its originality.

Follow IORA on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter

Holly had some great ideas to explore lyrical techniques; when discussing metaphors, it became apparent that most of us in the room were wearing Dr Martens boots which lent its self well to ‘walking in each others shoes’.

Rachel, Holly and Sarah led the group of girls through weekend of self discovery, learning and celebration. The power of women uplifting other women proved to be transformative, as the girls began to form connections, make friends, and really come into their strides as artists.

The camaraderie in this space was inspiring, and went to show that when we work together and support one another, everyone wins.

One of the key moments for me was photographing the girls as they recorded and mastered their tracks, they had achieved so much over 72 hours, and realised their previously undiscovered potential.

The programme finished off with a playback party, where the girls’ parents were invited to listen to the final tracks. Although some parents couldn’t be there, the sense of togetherness and pride in the room was deeply moving.

Hello and welcome!

Now then, beautiful people!

I write this blog post with great excitement to share the news that I am restarting and re-boosting my photo adventures. After a few years of establishing my career within Higher Education, I am thrilled to announce the return to my love of visual storytelling, and would love to share this with you.

To celebrate my return to business, I am launching a super special giveaway! Simply follow my new page @lucylambphoto and tag a friend in one of my photos, OR follow my page and or share my ‘story’ with all your friends to be in with a chance to win a free photoshoot with me. So go and give me a follow and a like, and share those good vibes. You’ll see regular posts of bright, vibrant, beautiful and wholesome imagery to brighten up your day.

• By sharing my photos with your friends, you’ll help to connect them with the photographer they’ve been looking for.

• I offer all sorts of visual storytelling solutions, whether this be social media images for small businesses, family portraits, confidence-boosting and body-positive boudior portraits, event and venue marketing photography.

• I offer reasonable rates to suit all budgets, without compromising on quality.

Terms and conditions of the photo giveaway

The free photoshoot will last no longer than one hour, and clients will get 5 images.

This offer is available in Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham only. Clients may travel from other locations for the photoshoot to be carried out in the three locations mentioned, but travel costs are the responsibility of the client.

The location of the shoot can be outdoors (weather permitting) or at an indoor location on agreement of the venue owner (to be arranged by the client)