Shooting CASA: Sunshine, House Music and a Second Day at Rodney Parade
Twenty four hours after the techno and hard dance of UNDERCOVER, I was back at Rodney Parade with my camera for something with a completely different feel. CASA brought Ibiza style house music to Newport for a full day to night experience, and after the darkness and lasers of the night before, shooting a festival that started in broad daylight was a brilliant change of pace. Same venue, same volunteer role, but a whole new mood to capture.
Where UNDERCOVER was all red light and intensity, CASA was feel good energy from the first beat. The house sound gives a festival a warmth that you can almost see in people's faces, and with the sun still up for the early sets, the whole site had a relaxed, holiday atmosphere. The food trucks, the merch stalls with their piles of slogan bucket hats, and the groups posing on the grass in the late afternoon light gave me a completely different set of frames to work with before the sky went dark.
The music leaned into that classic house feeling all day, building from sunlit grooves into a proper day to night party. From a photographer's point of view, the production was a gift. The stage design threw everything from clean grid tunnel visuals to warm city backdrops behind the booth, and the lighting shifted from soft daylight tones into deep blues and reds as the evening set in. Catching a DJ mid mix with those visuals wrapping around them, or timing a wide frame for a confetti drop over the crowd, made for some of my favourite shots of the whole weekend.
Shooting in daylight also meant I could get closer to the artists and capture the smaller moments that get lost in the dark. The behind the booth handshakes, the headphones round the neck, the quiet concentration before a drop. Those in between frames often tell the story of a set better than the big peak moments do, and having natural light to work with early on let me lean into that.
As always, though, the crowd was the real story. CASA drew a colourful, up for it audience, and the house vibe brought out a genuinely happy energy that is a joy to photograph. Sunglasses and slogan bucket hats everywhere, hands in the air, cocktails in the sun, and that easy festival feeling where everyone is glad to have their photo taken. Shooting from the pit looking back into a sea of smiling faces, with confetti coming down and the light going golden, is exactly why I love doing this.
Two festivals in two days at the same venue taught me more than I expected. UNDERCOVER pushed me to work fast in difficult low light, and CASA challenged me to make the most of changing daylight and a softer, brighter palette. Back to back, they showed me how much the music itself shapes the photos, and how a photographer has to shift their whole approach to match the energy in the room.
Huge thanks again to the team for having me across both days, and to everyone at CASA who threw a pose, pulled a face or just let me grab the moment. Some of the images of the day in the gallery below.
