Celtic Connections 2024

Documenting the 2024 Celtic Connections Festival

Well, this January flew by for a change, thanks to Celtic Connections, the world-renowned folk, roots and world music festival. Glasgow Life approached me late last year asking if I’d be interested in documenting the 2024 outing of the annual winter event and I was, like, hmm, I need to think about it. I’m kidding, obviously, I jumped at the opportunity!

This year’s festival run from January 18th to February 4th, with over 300 events involving 1,200 artists across 25 of the city’s venues. I’m not superhuman and was able to photograph only a portion of that, but hopefully what you see below is a good representation of the 2024 Celtic Connections. I had a blast and am looking forward to the 2025 edition if they have me back. Enjoy a selection of my favourite shots from the past 3 weeks:

Dreamers' Circus, The Royal Concert Hall

Talisk, Barrowland Ballroom

Saint Luke's

Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro), The Royal Concert Hall

Heidi Talbot, The Old Fruitmarket

Behind The Scenes

Chris Thile, The Royal Concert Hall

Hamish Hawk, The Royal Concert Hall

The Royal Concert Hall

Allison Russell, Òran Mór

Lankum, The Barrowland Ballroom

Behind The Scenes

Roddy Hart, The Royal Concert Hall

Skerryvore, The Royal Concert Hall

Fatoumata Diawara, The Old Fruitmarket

SWG3

Valtos, SWG3

Adwaith, CCA

Rachel Sermanni, The Royal Concert Hall

Justin Currie (Del Amitri), The Royal Concert Hall

Behind The Scenes

Eddi Reader, The Royal Concert Hall

King Creosote, The Old Fruitmarket

The Bothy Band, The Royal Concert Hall

Talisk, The Barrowland Ballroom

Mec Lir, Saint Luke's

Ceilidh, The Old Fruitmarket

Behind The Scenes

Su-a Lee, City Halls

Dougie MacLean, The Royal Concert Hall

Heisk, Tramway

Behind The Scenes

The Royal Concert Hall

Josie Duncan, Tramway

Skipinnish, The Royal Concert Hall

The Royal Concert Hall

GEAR
Nikon D850 x 2
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikkor 35mm f1.8
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filters

Remembering Rab Noakes

Rab Noakes 1947 - 2022

It’s truly surreal and heartbreaking to write a heading like this. Only a few weeks ago I was in a recording studio with Rab where he was working on a new album with Brooks Williams. He was in great form, cracking jokes, and his voice sounded great. And yet here we are. I got a message from a friend on Friday asking whether I’d heard the news about Rab. I did not and my heart sank.

I met Rab Noakes through Jill Jackson, his close friend and a frequent collaborator, who enrolled me to take some promotional images for their upcoming tour. Rab and I got on very well, he liked the images and would get me to photograph him for his following projects with Barbara Dickson, Brooks Williams as well as solo. I loved taking pictures of him, he was one the most impeccably dressed men I’ve ever encountered and his charisma and charm were a joy to capture. While we didn’t always see eye to eye (Rab thought ABBA was nothing special and Ella Fitzgerald was overrated - gasp!) we always had a great time together and he was incredibly supportive of my work, kept recommending me to other artists and attended my exhibitions.

I leave you with some of my favourite images I took of Rab throughout the years.

He’s greatly missed.

Rab Noakes with Jill Jackson

Rab Noakes with Jill Jackson

Rab Noakes with Jill Jackson

Rab Noakes with Barbara Dickson

Rab Noakes with Brooks Williams

Bare Knuckle

"Bare Knuckle" is the title of Chris Stout & Catriona McKay's new album. It was released last December to unanimous critical acclaim and the duo has just been nominated for BBC Radio 2 Folk Award 2018 (Best Duo category). I've worked with Chris and Catriona for many years but "Bare Knuckle" was definitely the first time I was involved in their project to such extent - from promotional photoshoot to album artwork and promo posters, from filming the title track's music video to covering the album launch at Queen's Hall in Edinburgh. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to my work so being able to oversee every aspect of this album's rollout (creatively speaking at least) was truly rewarding. It's also been an absolute pleasure, sometimes a challenge (I'd never done a music video before) but above all a genuine privilege to work with artists of this calibre who also happen to be really decent human beings. 

ALBUM PROMO

ALBUM COVER

LIVE AT QUEEN'S HALL

CELTIC CONNECTIONS PROMO

Celtic Orbit

Celtic Orbit is a musical collaboration between acclaimed pianist Barry Douglas and Eimear McGeown (Flute), Catriona McKay (Harp) and Chris Stout (Fiddle). I photographed and filmed part of their rehearsal process at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall earlier this year, have a look below:

Ceol's Craic

Established in 2004, Ceòl's Craic is a year-round programme of the best in contemporary Gaelic culture. I've had the pleasure of working with them for a few years now, photographing various events, from plays and book launches to music showcases at CCA. It's fun, sometimes challenging and often educational (who knew there was so much brilliant electronica in Gaelic?). Here's a collection of some of my favourite images for Ceòl's Craic: