‘I show how energetic it can be’: the photographer capturing Britain’s golden age of jazz | Photography

When I converse to Temi Adegbayibi on the cellphone, the 26-year-old photographer is on the transfer. He is travelling throughout London, then operating up the steps to his desk, becoming our dialog into the interstitial areas of a life cut up between freelance images, movie manufacturing and dealing on the Royal Albert Hall.

His glittering portfolio contains images of Jorja Smith, Basement Jaxx, Fireboy DML and Ezra Collective, however like many within the artistic industries, he oscillates between the glamour of the stage and the fact of creating a residing. “I’ve always had day jobs,” he says. “Most photographers back in the day weren’t shooting for money, they were shooting for passion.”

Adegbayibi grew up in Enfield, north London, and first picked up a digicam when his cousin TJ Koleoso – Ezra Collective’s bassist – requested him to {photograph} their church’s worship band earlier than the service. He shot there for a few years earlier than graduating to native gigs, constructing a physique of labor by approaching small artists and asking if he may {photograph} them. “The more I shot, the more confident I felt,” he says. “Then more people reached out to me, based on my Instagram.”

His work with Ezra Collective has been a key a part of that trajectory. In 2022, Adegbayibi went to Lewes’s Love Supreme jazz pageant to observe the band play one among their first main headline reveals. One picture particularly, of TJ leaning again on his bass, and one other of the entire band that was subsequently used on an album sleeve, satisfied him that images may change into greater than a interest: “I was like: ‘Damn, I can actually do something with this.’”

Since then, he has photographed Ezra on tour and at more and more massive reveals, together with their efficiency on the Royal Albert Hall in November 2023. That led to a solo exhibition of his work celebrating British jazz, and finally to his changing into one of many venue’s in-house photographers. Adegbayibi’s freelance work largely focuses on music, and has taken him to gigs and festivals throughout the UK, together with Glastonbury and Recessland, the London pageant celebrating Black music and tradition.

What distinguishes Adegbayibi’s images is its sense of motion, intimacy and pleasure, notably in his photos of Black musicians. “I’ve always loved shooting Black people,” he says. “You’re spoiled for choice with the amount of beautiful smiles flying around.” He is involved in that split-second smile, the discharge in somebody’s face, whether or not that’s on stage or within the crowd. There is a aware resistance behind that method: “Black people and musicians are often portrayed as aggressive, violent or angry,” he says. “I think my photography serves as an example of Black joy and the truth behind Black communities; what we are actually like.”

His curiosity in motion has additionally change into a technical fascination. Inspired by visible artist Kat Anderson, he started experimenting with sluggish shutter speeds, mild and layering to create images that “almost feel like you’re painting with light”. His Albert Hall exhibition explored motion and stillness inside jazz – “how energetic, but also still, jazz moments can be while I’m taking pictures”.

The aggressive nature of images doesn’t escape him. London is filled with gifted photographers, he says, and constant work will be troublesome to safe. But fairly than seeing that as a cause to retreat, he sees the competitors as motivation. “I use it as a driving force,” he says. “Having that community in London is inspiring and pushes me to do more.” He was struck by seeing his work’s wider lineage on the V&A East’s inaugural exhibition The Music Is Black, which options a long time of photos of Black British musicians, and the photographers who documented them. It made him take into consideration the place his personal images may occupy in that archive. “Maybe someday someone can look at an image and think: ‘That’s what jazz gigs were like back then.’ Or: ‘That’s what Black musicians were doing, and how they were dressed,’” he says. “That’s the hope.”

‘We just went for it’: 5 of Temi Adegbayibi’s finest pictures

Ayo Salawu (foremost image)
“This was the main image in my Royal Albert Hall exhibition. I’m always trying to figure out how to capture the energy of a drum solo in a still image; I’d been researching slow shutters, layering and double exposures. We shot it in a blackout studio in Greenwich, set up the drums, ordered some pizza and just went for it.”

David Kayode and Anna Adetiba
“David is leading on saxophone and Anna is supporting him,” says Adegbayibi of this studio shot. “I asked Anna to keep walking back and forth behind David while he played. I used a slow shutter to blur Anna’s movement while keeping David as still and sharp as possible. I wanted the picture to show those two different kinds of movement happening at the same time.”

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Jai Amore and Blu
“These two were basically the energy drivers throughout the show. Their job was to keep everything going. There was a screen effect behind them that delayed their movements and created copies of them. I framed it so it looked like this deliberate doubling effect. It’s one of my favourite pictures because it came from just paying attention to everything happening around me.”

Felix Buxton
“There’s so much going on at a Basement Jaxx gig – dancers, people in monkey costumes, DJs, hype men. At one point Felix was singing by himself, and I was following him when he put his hand up in a way that made him look as if he was floating. I just captured it. The white background is actually a bunch of LED lights that I blew out so it looked like a backdrop.”

CKTRL
“I shot this about two months ago in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall. I love CKTRL as an artist, so when I was asked to shoot him it was an immediate yes. The gig was really dark, which can be difficult for a photographer, so I used a low shutter speed and moved with him to create this softer blur. With some post-processing, it ended up feeling almost like a painting.”