From Fringe Festivals to the Royal Shakespeare Company. My First Year As A UK Theatre Photographer.
21 PROJECTS WITHIN 12 MONTHS. Not bad for a guy with no university training & a Z8. I’m VERY passionate, dedicated & find SO MUCH JOY within theatre & photography.
March 2025 - I got to work behind the scenes for the first time with a great company called John Godber Co. Prior to this id never been backstage ever.
May 2025 - I placed in a local art competition for my theatre photography, i was so proud seeing my work blown up big in the town centre amongst the other entrants.
May 2025 - Brighton Fringe Festival, I gained the most credits id ever had in just one weekend while working with very difficult lighting & spaces plus camera issues ie banding. But it gave me confidence if I could produce good images from that then I could essentially do any venue, any lighting. I also got to work with an actor who i admire and has worked in the industry for 20 years.
July 2025 - I got my first BIG venue credit! The Birmingham Rep Theatre, every month since I started I tried to get into that venue & no one would let me, then one night they did! Having a REP Theatre credit on website & CV helped me leverage the next stage.
August 2025 - I got to work my second Fringe Festival. This time it was Camden Fringe. The first venue was standard of fringe venues but the second had a proper lighting system, extremely bright lights which is just i want i needed, to be able to experience proper lighting system really helped me up my skills & see what my camera could handle for the first time in a fringe setting I was able to get very high shutter speed. I also got my first tip which I was very grateful for.
August 2025 - Prior to this ROYAL SHAKESPEARE CO job I felt like every London Venue that held any weight to its name or big theatre like RSC was highly unattainable until at least 3 years in, it felt like they were gatekept (rightly so) to the photographers who had been doing this 5-30 years & I thought I’d never stand a chance. But then I emailed a production company putting on one production at RSC, they said to contact person A, person A directed me to person B where fate or luck happened to me! The regular photographer had dropped out so they asked me to come the next day, I was very nervous as this was the BIGGEST named THEATRE COMPANY I had ever even set in let alone worked in. I just made sure to be quiet & stick to the back wall & be respectful. They liked my fast turnaround & the pics. Now my day to day life is still the same, still doing retail. I had hoped this would be the catalyst to quit retail but not yet. I am still building my career.
Apparently only 10% of actors & also crew only ever make it and if your going to truly give it up it happens within the first 3 months.
Im 4x that down the line. Some days I do still thinking about giving up but I haven’t invested my time, my money & skills to give up now. Im 9 months in professionally + 3 months non professionally & I want it more than anything. I believe that this is what I was meant to do. I was born to do this. It just took a long time to figure it out.
I want to stand in the bigger rooms with bigger names & show them that I belong there. That I can bring something to the table. Im not here to take away anything from the established photographers just add to their talents.
Lets see what happens within the next year?
Fortune favours the brave.
Kayden Lucas
