Ella Eyre at O2 Guildhall Southampton

Just like many of the recent musicians I've had the privilege of photographing I went into the concert without having heard any of Ella Eyre's music.  As I've said before I kinda like it that way.  I have no preconceptions as to what the concert will be like, and I walk into the venue with a very open mind.

Ella kept the audience waiting until she made her appearance at 21:30, but she was well worth the wait.  She leapt onto the stage with a huge amount of energy and dance.  The first three songs went by quickly as the photographers in the pit struggled a bit to keep up with her.

There was so much action that one of my fellow photographers, a chap from the local rag, forgot for a moment pit etiquette and at one point pushed his camera into mine making me miss a shot.   Sorry mister local rag photographer, that's not how pit photography works.  Sometimes you find yourself in the right position to get the shot, sometimes you don't.  I kinda wonder if he'd have treated me the same if I'd have had a full sized DSLR like everyone else and not my much smaller Olympus system....?

While perhaps not quite my taste in music, her performance on stage was quite brilliant.  As with most concert photography gigs I only got to see the first 3 songs, but I assumed she kept up the pace until the end of the gig.   Most excellent.

I'd noticed the balcony at the back of the venue, and after the third song while I probably should have been leaving the venue, I made my way up there and grabbed a couple of shots from the very back row.  I was really rather pleased that I did.   I tweeted one of those shots to @EllaEyre after the gig, and she reshared it.  It went onto get lots of likes and retweets.  Thanks Ella!  

I hope to have the honour of shooting this lady again one day soon.