A couple of years ago I was invited to provide the Stills and BTS photographs for a music video to be shot in the Volcano Theatre, Swansea.

The video was for an amazingly talented young singer ~ musician ~ composer; Angharad Jenkins.

Angharad’s on-line biography provides us with a wonderful insight into her background, music study, and exceptional musicality.

Angharad has recently released her recording, so I thought I would commemorate the occasion by publishing my photo-essay of the amazing time I had with Angharad and the crew who captured a breath-taking performance. Angharad’s recording is released through Libertino Records.

The music video was for her song: ‘Outsider’s Map of Wales’, which Angharad described as “basically a surreal song about travelling around Wales, but all the place names in the song are replaced by the commonly mispronounced versions”. She gave a couple of examples, such as: ‘Wauarlwydd’ being pronounced as One Eye Lid, and Llanfihangel ar Arth, in Carmarthenshire, (which I am familiar with from my Rebecca Riots photo project), as, Laughing Angels on Earth.

Angharad stated that there is a “serious side” to her song; she gave examples of a farm in Carmarthenshire, once known as Banc Cornicyll, that has been renamed by new owners as: Hakuna Matata, which unfortunately Ordnance Survey has adopted. She stressed the importance of retaining the original Welsh names and proffered the example of Sian Gwenllian’s rousing article on the topic.

I believe that the video was largely unscripted; the direction however, was determined by Angharad’s song and the amazing choreography, and animated props crafted by Dili and CJ. I have worked with Dili and CJ previously, when they choreographed the lighting for an amazing performance of the Lion King at a SEN school in Neath.

Artists Dili and CJ roles in the proceeding were: Dili costume and prop design, and CJ’s responsibility was movement choreography; Roz focussed on hair and makeup, and Rhian ensured the smooth running of the whole event and kept us all in-line when we were having too much fun. The dogs: Bane and Ella were on sleep duty for the day.

JamieTCPanton was the outstanding videographer who managed to create a dazzling music video despite the frenzied wonderfulness that Angharad had envisaged.

I took about 600 photos during the filming, which proved challenging during post-production editing due to the ‘green screen’: creating a problematic task to colour-match the background. It also took me an age to select a collection of images that would represent the professionalism, energy, and vitality of everyone involved in the production.

Angharad’s infectious dynamism kept us invigorated for the entire shoot. A most compelling and unforgettable day.