Photographing lockdown

In a normal year, freelance photographers James Bellorini and Sam Stephenson would be documenting all aspects of Glyndebourne life, training their lenses on rehearsals, the audience in the gardens, food in the restaurants and education projects.

2020 was different. When the national lockdown was announced in March, the staff of Glyndebourne were sent home, and the site lay empty. James was able to work on some product photography in his home studio, while Sam was photographing the work of a local NHS trust.

Then, in May we invited James and Sam back on site, but instead of snapping the packed opening night of the Festival, James and Sam found themselves roaming a deserted Glyndebourne…

One of the benefits of being alone was the chance to fulfil an ambition – ‘I’m no singer’ says Sam, ‘but I did do a bit of a “lalala” just to say I’d sung on the stage at Glyndebourne! After that I sat on the stage and just looked out for a moment. Everything felt so still. Like a movie scene.’

James and Sam were among the few people who got to see our preparations for the cancelled Festival. James was able to explore the backstage dock, where the sets are stored when they are not in use. ‘It was a bit like a strange candy store’ he recalls, ‘All these amazing things were ready to go on stage. I recognised L’elisir d’amore as I’d been in the production a few years ago, but there were all the new sets as well’.

Audiences shouldn’t despair though – all of the productions created for 2020 will eventually be seen on the Festival stage in the next few years.

‘Photographically it was quite magical’ says James, ‘I went to the production hub, to capture the sense that things had just been put down. People had been working one minute and asked to stop the next, so there were tools on the side and props halfway through being made.’

‘There was still thread in the sewing machines, caught in the sunlight. It was unusual and poetic, ghostly in a way. I was expecting people to come in and start again.’

Things weren’t so quiet when the photographers moved outside, ‘there was so much noise from the wildlife, the sheep and the birds.’ says Sam, ‘The sheep kept looking at me strangely because they hadn’t seen people for so long!’.

James recalls, ‘It was almost like a normal shoot in the gardens, but that sense of “where is everyone”, so once again I focused on the places that people could have just left.’

It was in the gardens that James captured one of his favourite images from the shoot of the sculpture at the end of the lake – ‘She’s got her hand up and it looks like she’s reaching for the sun’ he says, ‘It felt the statue was saying there’s still hope and life to be had, a positive future’.

‘I’ve been hugely grateful and thankful that Glyndebourne has been able to give me work’ says James. ‘The photography from Glyndebourne has been a lifeline, and it’s been interesting as a photographer to respond to the challenge of a different Glyndebourne, creatively.’

Sam agrees, adding that ‘it was a real privilege to shoot at Glyndebourne during lockdown. In a way, I felt the weight of history. In years to come people might be looking back at these photos too see what Glyndebourne was like in lockdown.’