The Atmosphere

There are few venues in London that rival the grandeur of Somerset House, especially during the transition from golden hour to blue hour. For an artist like Hania Rani, whose music exists in the spaces between modern classical and ambient electronic, the open-air courtyard provided the perfect canvas.

My goal for this work was not just to document the event, but to capture the texture of the sound.

Hania’s performance is kinetic. It moves from delicate, whisper-quiet piano passages to frantic, driving synthesizer loops. As a photographer, the challenge is to match that energy—shooting silently during the intimate moments and capturing the raw motion during the crescendos.

The Visual Approach

Shooting the Somerset House Summer Series presents unique challenges. You are battling changing light conditions, a large crowd, and the need to respect the artist's focus.

For this set, I leaned heavily into a cinematic aesthetic.

• Low Light & Silhouette: As the sun set over London, I utilised the stage backlighting to create moody silhouettes that emphasize Hania’s posture and focus.

• The Details: Hania’s setup is a fortress of keyboards and wires. Capturing the details of her hands and her equipment helps tell the story of the machinery behind the magic.

• The Scale: It was essential to pull back and show the architecture of Somerset House, grounding the performance in its iconic London setting.

This series of images is a study in atmosphere, visualizing the haunting, rhythmic complexity of the Ghosts album tour.