Theatres are magical places where wonder and entertainment go hand in hand. The colours, the clothing, the lighting, it all creates a wonderous realm of possibility for all ages.

When TOPS Musical Productions asked me to photograph the dress rehearsal at the Princess Theatre in Torquay I jumped at the chance. There is a real challenge to this kind of photography because it is a lot more difficult to get right, due to the constant lighting changes.

Earlier that day, I was in Cornwall, photographing a ceremony. TOPS made sure I had a parking space at the theatre and I arrived with time to spare, ready for a completely different lighting challenge 😀

There is so much talk and debate about Mirrorless vs DSLR cameras. I shoot mirrorless and having a real-time image of the photo I’m about to take is a game-changer for me. Face and Eye-tracking seal the deal. I love my old DSLR’s but there is too much about Mirrorless I would miss if I ever went back to them.

Theatres are one place where shooting on auto will almost certainly fail. Even in manual, my camera was telling me I was way underexposed, when in fact, the cast and relevant parts of the stage were perfectly lit.

I want to thank TOPS Musical Productions and the Princess Theatre for allowing me to photograph the dress rehearsal. It was a whole lot of fun and I enjoyed every minute of it!

If you’d like me to photograph your event, festival or theatre production please see my event photography page.

The full album for the photos below can be found on my CATS at Princess Theatre Album.