By the time I left South Africa I had a long list of friends and industry people to contact when I made it to London. I was amazed at how people I’d never spoken to were willing to offer advice and help out wherever possible. One of those people is a fellow South African who now works for Hed Kandi. Now I love dance music as much as snails like salt, so it was unlikely that Rich could help me out on the job front, until I told him that I moonlight as a photographer.

I was invited to take photographs for a Hed Kandi event at Pacha. The opportunity to expand my portfolio was really exciting, and I looked forward to exploring an unfamiliar side of London’s nightlife. I felt like an old man when I was asked to “get there early, around 11pm”. It was great to get looked after with free drinks and VIP access, but I really was out of my element. I focussed on the job I was there to do and spent most of the night wrestling with great lighting that wasn’t directed at any of the subjects I was shooting. The highlight of the event was definitely the live musicians Pav (percussion) and Laura (sax).

I was disappointed with my photos yet they instantly had more views than any of my other images on Flickr. It just goes to show that tagging images as “sexy”, “dancer” and “bikini” gets a lot more attention than “rock”, “concert” and “band”.