Nightlife
Meet the photographer who wants to change Australian music venues
Stairing Through The Lens, a new project from photographer Brittany Long, seeks to raise awareness about accessibility and inclusivity in music spaces.
Brittany Long has one goal with her photographs: “I want the audience to be able to feel the passion of the artist on stage. If they were at the show, I want them to relive that moment. Or if they weren’t there, I want them to feel like they were. For me, it’s all about capturing that feeling, that moment, that passion.”
Long has been working as a photographer since 2017, with a focus on music and nightlife photography since 2019. At just 21-years-old, she’s already become one of Australia’s most in-demand music photographers. And she’s done it all in a wheelchair.
Photographer Brittany Long, shot by Pat Stevenson.
© Pat Stevenson
Over the past two years, between shooting festivals and gigs, Long has been hard at work on a personal project. Stairing Through The Lens is a series of over 140 portraits of Australian musicians posed on stairs at music venues, which Long is now ready to begin sharing publicly. There’s Mallrat perched on steps up to the stage at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. Jack River posed on the stairs of The Forum Theatre. All Day at Festival Hall. Even iconic double act The Veronicas backstage at Beyond the Valley.
The aim of the project, Long says, is to raise awareness about accessibility and inclusivity in Australian music venues.
“Obviously being in a wheelchair, stairs for me are typically an obstacle or a barrier. So the project is all about taking back the power, showcasing artists from a different perspective -- that of me in a wheelchair -- and trying to raise awareness,” she says.
Music venues in Australia often aren’t the most accessible spaces, especially for someone who’s there to work.
Rapper All Day at Festival Hall.
© Brittany Long
“There are a lot of venues that only have stairs to get in. You get to know the bands you’re working for really quickly when they’re carrying you up and down stairs,” Long laughs.
But making spaces accessible to everyone is about “more than just having a ramp for the exit,” she says. The photo pit needs to be wide enough to fit a wheelchair. The accreditation pick-up point at festivals has to be close to the accessible parking. And accessible viewing platforms should be placed in a spot that actually affords a view of the stage.
“Because once people in the crowd are up on each other’s shoulders, you can’t see anything,” Long explains. “I shot at a festival once where there was a pole smack bang in the middle of where the artist was, so you couldn’t see anything. [The platform] just became obsolete. I’m trying to raise awareness about things like that.”
Eventually, Long plans to turn Stairing Through The Lens into a book. For now, a selection of the portraits can be seen on her website.
Mallrat at the Corner Hotel for Stairing Through The Lens.
© Brittany Long
Long’s own path into photography began as a teenager when she used money saved from waitressing jobs to buy her first DSLR camera. In 2018 she snuck a camera into a gig and shot photos from the crowd.
“I basically fell in love with the crowd, with the passion, the atmosphere, the unity,” she recalls. “Everyone in that room was there to see that one artist. They were from all walks of life and all ages but in that one moment, everyone was united as one.”
“The rest is history. I fell head over heels in love with it and now I can’t imagine my life without it.”
Today, she says gigs are her “happy place”. But as well as the joy of capturing a perfect moment, Long says it’s the human element of music photography that keeps her coming back: the relationships she gets to build with artists and fans.
“I love shooting the crowd and chatting with a crowd before the show,” she says. “Because the people at the front row are the ones that have been there, lining up, for hours. Getting to hear their stories about how many times they’ve seen the artist, or how excited the people seeing the artist the first time are, it’s really special.”
The Veronicas at Beyond the Valley 2019 for Stairing Through The Lens.
© Brittany Long
