Echo Lake
I am not so good at writing, even less in English.
I can take pictures, though, and I can read.
After reading the message (below) from the London band, Echo Lake, which has been circulated on their internet pages, I was left speachless.
I can’t cope easily with the idea of people dying young, who can?
To make the tragic news even more cruel, Echo Lake have just released the debut album, Wild Peace, this week.
Only 4 days after Peter Hayes, their drummer passed away at 25.
They also had a headline show scheduled at the Lexington planned for next week to launch the album that has been cancelled.
Who’s to decide that Peter Hayes and the rest of the band doesn’t deserve to enjoy this glorious moment in any musician’s life is an answer my atheistic soul can’t find.
Within the drama, there is always nice people showing their genuine soul.
Friends at The Line of Best Fit started a page at Just Giving to raise funds in support of the British Heart Foundation, in memory of Peter Hayes. The page has reached its target in about 4 days, but anyone can still contribute to it here.
I photographed Echo Lake about a year ago at 1234 Shoreditch festival, where this gallery belongs. It is mostly unpublished apart from a single picture in a couple of websites.
This is for you, Peter.
We are so sad to say that our close friend and brilliant drummer Peter Hayes passed away on Thursday morning at the age of 25.
I can’t believe I’m actually typing these words, we’re all completely devastated and shocked.
If you knew Pete, then you’ll know what an amazing person he was.
If you didn’t know Pete then all I can say is that he was a total one off.
Always caring, always giving, always straight up and always with such a positive outlook on life. That was the thing with Pete, he just got on with it. Even in his last few weeks he would be sitting up in his hospital bed smiling and having a laugh with me.
It was this outlook on life that made me perhaps take advantage of our time spent together. This situation never seemed possible because he never ever stopped being positive and joyful. He never moaned, or acted ill and was an incredibly hard worker. It’s a really rare thing to find all of these qualities in someone and he deserved more time to live his life to the full, which he always did.
If you ever saw us play live then you’ll know what a great drummer he was.
I’ve been in 4 different bands over the past 10 years and while the line ups changed around us, me and Pete were always playing together. It was such a privilege to play music with him.
I’ll always remember in our first band me, Kier and Steve lying to promoters that we were over 18 and that we were old enough to play in pubs. We were 16 and Pete was even younger than us! I remember sneaking Pete in the venue hoping nobody would ask any questions and after the gig Pete’s dad Antony would pick him up and take him home because he had his year 10 GCSE exam later that week! I still can’t believe we got away with it really. He was like a younger brother to us and we always had a lot of fun.
I’m really glad that the four of us moved to London, met Linda and formed Echo Lake. I know he was really excited about the album finally coming out and the possibilities that lay ahead of us. I can’t believe that he won’t be around anymore to see them out with us.
I could go on writing about him and the amazing memories forever, but another part of me is struggling to find the words to do him justice. So I’ll just say that he put everything into Echo Lake and always played his heart and soul out. I’ll always appreciate that and will always owe him so much for helping us get as far as we have in the past 2 years.
Finally, I’d just like to send all my love to Pete’s family, who I am lucky to have gotten to know well over the years. When we were kids, your place was a home away from home for me (as it was for all of our friends who just loved being there so much!)
And to Pete’s girlfriend Caroline. I’m so glad that you guys met each other, you made him incredibly happy.
All the love Pete, we’ll all miss you so much.
Rest in peace and thanks for everything man, it’s been awesome!
♥ ♥ ♥ Echo Lake
Echo Lake are on the web here [website][facebook][twitter]
Photo tip
There is a story behind these images.
Festivals are a nice opportunity to do something different. With many bands on the same day, to take similar photos is a bit dull, and photos would be boring too.
Whatever is your assignment unless you are shooting for a single band, it is rare to use more than a couple of frames for each band. It means that, once you’re satisfied to have those couple of frames, there is room to experiment, to try different techniques, to define your style.
The 1234 Shoreditch stage where Echo Lake were playing had this nice side access which allowed me to stand very close to the main guitarist and shoot the show from a different position.
A position that included the band taken from aside, the audience and, due to the elevation, the nice blue of the tent roof.
After few more traditional shots, I have noticed that I could portray the entire band (but Peter) through the legs of the guitarist. I mounted my ultrawide-angle zoom trying to catch the right moment in several images.
I was fulfilling my statement reading at the top of this blog “constantly looking for new perspectives in concert photography”.
I never thought to use as many images as I did here, Iwould have never wanted to use Echo Lake images for such a tragic news.
I was actually waiting for Echo Lake to tour the debut album and to catch them live, again, soon.
Live on 35mm - by Valerio Berdini 