Tom Martin

I know I've posted about Kendal Calling before but big congratulations are in order of late as the festival won the award for Best Small Festival at the Independent UK Festival Awards. I always go on to people about how much I have loved working at Kendal over the last two years, but I guess it's kind of like Glastonbury or something in that until you actually go there you won't really understand what the atmosphere is like. Speaking of which Kendal Calling favourite, soul DJ and Red Dwarf legend Craig Charles once described the festival as 'A mini Glastonbury in the Lakes'. Pretty accurate in my opinion apart from Glastonbury there isn't really a UK festival that I've been to that I've enjoyed more. Soooo I though I'd do a bit of a photo blog to celebrate them winning the award and pick out some of my favourite shots from Kendal 2010....

As well as these you can see a gallery of some of my best bits on NME.com...  HERE

And the official 200+ gallery of images, by Bart Pettman, Emily Claire Smith, Rob Swain and myself... HERE 

(L-R; Ben, Julie, Denny, Phil and Si)

These are some of the main KC team who are responsible for Kendal Calling taking place, they work on site for weeks before and in the office all year round to ensure the festival is amazing. I took this shot late on the Sunday afternoon of KC 2010, it was the first time all weekend that any of them had had time to take a break and grab a well deserved beer. Congratulations on the award guys!!!

The 30 Minute Skiffle Hour and The Spirit Of John playing a lakeside collaboration outside the KC Green Room. This was a pretty magical moment, two bands jamming on the jetty next to some lake district scenery. This kind of thing would simply not happen at one of the big festivals.

Definitely one of the most 'Now' bands of the summer, Pulled Apart By Horses relaxing outside the guest area green room before their afternoon set. Kendal plays host to a fairly wide spectrum of musical genre's so you can go and see loons like these throwing guitars and each other to some fruity fruity jazz to some funky house DJ within a 5 minute stroll across the sight. The variety is definitely something I relish at KC, it's not just Indie, Indie, Pop, Indie like a lot of the other fests.

Erm yes. This was from the Thursday evening warm up entertainment from the 'Freakeasy' performance group. Loads of stuff went on that night from circusy type stuff to Comedy to Burlesque, even some man lifting weights with his eyelids and sticking spikes through his neck - which I totally wussed out of shooting and got one of the other staff photographers to cover (aaaah sometimes being in charge does have its perks..).

And finally... I really love this picture. In fact I think I loved the experience of getting to take this shot more. Kendal is situated on the Lowther Park Deer Estate so you've got the most stunning scenery all around the site. Early one morning my girlfriend Charlotte and I went on a bit of a nature trail and we very, very sneakily managed to get close enough to the deer to take this. A couple of seconds later they were on to us and plowed away into the distance in a big herd. Ace. Basically you can't compare a site like this to any of the big festivals where your surrounded with billboards advertising lager, a sea of empty paper cups and people pissing on fences.

Have I sold this enough yet? I love this frickin' festival! Go if you get the chance you won't regret it!!!