The Atmosphere

Brick Lane Jazz Festival has quickly become the heartbeat of London's modern jazz scene. It contrasts the industrial grit of the Truman Brewery with the fluid, genre-bending sounds of the city's best artists.

Bel Cobain is a master of storytelling. Her set wasn't just a performance; it was a conversation. Blending Latin, Jazz, and Drum & Bass influences, she creates a vibe that is distinctively warm and grounded.

The challenge in a festival setting like Brick Lane is focusing the narrative. With multiple stages and shifting crowds, my goal was to isolate the artist from the noise, creating a visual space that felt as intimate as a small club.

The Visual Approach

Bel’s stage presence is fluid and poetic. Standard, frozen "action shots" don't do justice to her style. I needed to capture the movement and the connection.

• Warmth & Color: The lighting design for this set was rich with warm ambers, deep blues, intense reds and sometimes pure warm white. I color-graded this series to retain that heat, reflecting the soulful nature of the music.

• Intimacy in the Crowd: By using tighter focal lengths and shallow depth of field, I separated Bel from the busy festival background, focusing entirely on her expression and her interaction with the band.

• The Candid Moments: In jazz, the magic often happens between the lyrics. I focused on the non-verbal communication between Bel and her musicians, the smiles, the nods, and the shared rhythm.

This gallery serves as a document of London's thriving jazz resurgence and the artists defining it.