* Glastonbury Festival Special *
Welcome to “Big Shots” – which we launched in January 2024. The title refers not only to the extremely talented music photographers we feature each time, but also to the six photographs each photographer chooses to showcase their skills.
We invite amazing camera creatives from around the world – from veteran guys and gals whose images of iconic famous bands and artists have been seen globally for decades, to new and exciting young professionals who are star snappers of the future.
We also showcase the best of today’s most respected names in music photography – who choose half a dozen shots from their own archive, and tell us the backstory to their images and maybe why they chose each picture.
The photographs they choose can be live concert and/or festival shots, portraits and/or candid backstage images. We also offer a brief bio of each photographer.
- The latest photographer in the “Big Shots” spotlight is Stone aka Royston Naylor…
BIO
Stone was 11 when his grandad let him use his Voigtländer camera, rather than the cheap Kodak Instamatic 110 that the lad bought with his pocket money. He left school into an apprenticeship as a maintenance fitter for Birds Eye, so work and college meant no time for photography. After redundancy in 1983, Stone rediscovered photography and went freelance, and has been a pro’ for 40 years.
He approached a local music promoter in Grimsby about taking photos at his gigs; and soon photos to be used as album covers and posters to local and national artists and bands. he went to his first Glastonbury in 1990 as a ticket holder and “was totally blown away by the psychedelic visual cornucopia I experienced, so I kept going back.”
He eventually sent a bunch of prints he took at the festival to Michael Eavis, and his wife Jean Eavis wrote back and suggested Stone apply for a press pass, which he did. 1998 was the turning point; being allowed into the press pit and backstage areas:” I was like a big kid let loose in the world’s biggest and best sweet shop.”
Stone’s first book, “Stonefree: a photographic trip through 10 years of Glastonbury Festival” got published and he took copies to the official Glastonbury ‘web team,’ based in an old 52-seater coach backstage at the Pyramid stage,and they promoted it on the festival’s website. He ended up working with them as one of their official photographers until 2010 when it was disbanded.
Stone has attended Glastonbury 25 times. Six years as a punter [1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996] and 19 years with an official press pass: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023. An award-winning photographer who may well have shot that festival officially, more times than any other photographer?
He has a fascinating archive. [Sadly, he has no shots from 1994, because someone at Glastonbury stole his bag with all his cameras/lenses and the rolls of film he had shot at that year’s festival.]
- Last year (2023), some of Stone’s 1990 Glastonbury images were minted as NFTs – believe to be a first for photographs from the festival in it’s 50+ year history.
Stone has chosen images of: Jarvis Cocker, Roger Daltrey, Amyl & The Sniffers, Johnny Marr and Pyramid Stage tree @ Glastonbury festival
Roger Daltrey, The Who, 2007
Synchronicity often plays an important part in my work, but meeting and having a cuppa with one of the heroes of my youth was a perfect example of the impossible happening. I’d been photographing Zoe & Nick from Alabama 3 up at ‘Strummerville’, and completely forgotten I was meant to be at the Pyramid Stage to photograph The Who. I set off just 12 minutes before they were due on stage; walking, jogging and squeezing through endless crowds of people going in the opposite direction.
When I got to Pyramid backstage, it was eerily quiet and there was nobody around. I turned a dark corner and a dressing room door opened. There was Roger Daltrey, silhouetted in the doorway, cuppa in hand. I held up my camera and pointed at it, breathless. “Sure, fancy a brew lad?” he said. “Seems we’re running just a wee bit late!” I didn’t need asking twice, so he poured me a mug of tea and we chatted until the intercom announced they were ready to go on. “See you out there lad” he said. “Be lucky!” I was very lucky that night.
Fucked Up, 2009
This wild Toronto-based punk band, fronted by Damian ‘Pink Eyes’ Abraham, played the John Peel Stage in 2009. As well as crowd-surfing over 100m to the sound desk at the rear of the huge marquee, this huge chap also climbed 30m up the lighting gantry, wearing just wellies and shorts. I sought him out after the gig and was surprised to find that he was actually an incredibly gentle, softly-spoken ‘giant’, in total contrast to his stage persona.
Jarvis Cocker, 2009
I’ve always had a deep respect and admiration for this fellow Northerner, who never lost touch with his roots and drew on his experiences of unemployment and social struggle. His gangly stature and explosive energy made for some odd shapes when capturing his live performances. I’ve chosen a rather insightful and emotional image, because he seemed to feel deeply for the plight of ordinary, empathic souls like me.
Johnny Marr, 2013
I was never very keen on Morrisey’s voice and lyrics, so I never listened to much of The Smiths. Then I caught Johnny Marr playing with The Cribs around 2008, and it was clear he was versatile and talented. So I was more than happy to catch his solo gig on the John Peel Stage in 2013.
He really got my Mojo going and I was dancing like a loon whilst shooting his set. After the gig, I was in the backstage restaurant when in walks Johnny with his beautiful wife. He came straight over to our table, grinning, looked me right in the eyes and said: “I saw you groovin’ away out there with your camera – you inspired me man!” I was gobsmacked.
Amy Taylor, Amyl and the Sniffers, 2022
I loved Amy’s energy right from the first few bars; punk reincarnated, but with loving lyrics about being guided by angels, so it creates this exciting kind of cognitive dissonance that really got me going. If you manage to find the BBC coverage of this set, you’ll see me living up to the nickname I was given by bands in the early 90s: “Dances with Cameras”. It’s explosive energy, anarchic but switched on, so I tried to capture some of the dynamic movement without it getting too blurry.
Tree and fans at the Pyramid Stage – 1995 – b&w & colour versions
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More “Big Shots” coming very soon…
Festival crowd from the ‘big wheel’ photo [top of page] credit: Katja Ogrin
