1. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! In addition to focusing on the artists themselves, one of my goals for this site is to also profile the people around the artists, so to speak, who are so integral to the music industry. Would you please introduce yourself for the reader—where you’re from and what you do in broad strokes?

No problem, my name is Lauren Allard. I'm 27 from Manchester and I work mostly within the Manchester area and I am a product photographer during the day but in the evenings I switch to concert photography and club photography, but recently I have branched into weddings thanks to a couple that hired me for a BeyBlade wedding…..

2. In the world of alternative and heavy music, who are some of the major artists and industry figures you’ve captured on film? Are there any experiences that stand out in particular?

Oooooooh, so for me personally my top one was Bullet For My Valentine. I love their music and have done for years so getting that opportunity was incredible, I was so nervous on the day of the gig. Fall Out Boy is also a top contender. That was my first arena show and the entire production of the set, the way they changed the stage design to work with each album, was just amazing. Plus it’s Fall Out Boy, which is just insane. When a smaller band gets my attention, I love that. I photographed Deliah Bon a couple of years ago and now I go to her shows without photographing them because I fell in love with her music, so she stands out to me just for grabbing my attention.

3. What drew you to not just photography as a passion but a career?

I grew up around it, my dad is a Freelance Photographer also based in Manchester. I showed an interest in photography when I was constantly taking pictures on holiday and carrying around a camera during school, so he took me to work with him on wedding shoots so I could get a decent idea of how the industry works. When I was at gigs I found myself focusing on the photographer working the stage, realising I wanted to do what they were doing and I knew despite I loved working weddings this wasn’t the only form of photography I wanted to do, I wanted to be those people with the camera on the stage.

4. Are there some prerequisites for your line of work? What educational background and/or experiences did/do you pull from?

Childhood haha, I did go to college to study Creative Media Production so I covered multiple sectors of media. I still analyse movie posters to see if I can guess the plot without watching the trailer or reading anything on it. I got 3 A*s in Creative Media Production and ended up leaving college a month earlier because of it, and I jumped right into working for a company doing their product photography for 4 years before taking care of a studio for someone else after that, which is where I still am now outside of gigs.

But when I preferred photography out of all forms of media, I was taken to weddings to be a second photographer, which is something that I still help out with now. If he needs a helping hand with a shoot, I step in.

5. What’s some practical advice you have for anyone looking to get into photography as a career path?

Practise. Honestly you just need to practise and find your niche. You don’t have to take the same looking pictures as everyone else, you can make your own work and make them unique to you, make them your style. You won’t even realise that your work is improving, at times it just does, you understand the camera more and you learn new things every single day. Just like everything else in life, you will learn something brand new about photography every now and again. But it's not a race, just take your time. It can take a massive mental toll on you at times because you are your worst critic, but stick to it and don’t give up on it.

6. Maybe this is kind of a softball question given Manchester’s reputation as one of the leading music cities not just in the UK but the world, but I’m curious as to the realities of how being situated there has had a practical impact on not just your work but your musical taste and identity?

Manchester is very known in the indie rock scene, but I am not an indie rock person at all. It's a genre that I never got into. I tried and it just never sat with me. And being from Manchester and not being an Oasis fan is always interesting haha. I’m very much into alternative rock like metal, glam metal and pop punk, which is great in Manchester but it is very indie around here haha.

Manchester is amazing for concert photographers because there's so many venues you don’t even realise exist with gigs going on every single day.

7. What was it that drew you to alternative and heavy music in the first place?

So I grew up with my mum constantly playing Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses in the car and at home constantly, you would walk into the living room and she’s ironing whilst blasting Bon Jovi radio 24/7. My dad was more into The Prodigy, so classic rock is something I always loved but in high school I tried fitting in too much and tried sticking to the norms, but I hung around with the more emo crowd so just the people around me and I went down a rabbit hole of various bands and it never stopped from here. My parents were also relieved that I got into heavier music. They couldn’t stand hearing pop music all the time haha.

8. Outside the world of photography, are there any projects you’re involved in? A podcast, perhaps?

So I have a podcast haha, it’s a True Crime Podcast called True Crime Fridays, which is a weekly episode podcast with zero ads because I don’t feel comfortable making a profit from those cases, so it's completely free with zero sponsors, too, it’s just an interest of mine and my friend Matt, so very different from photography completely. I have to always have multiple hobbies, I read fantasy all the time in fact, if you see me on my phone at the side of a photo pit when I'm working a gig and I'm on my phone I'm probably reading something on my Kindle haha. And I do Aerial Hoop to have something fun.

9. Full transparency I know next to nothing about this, but I am positive there will be readers who want to know: for the “gearheads” out there, what does your kit look like?

So I'm a bit simple, I have a Canon 90D with a few lenses, one that is a 25mm lens that is mostly useful for club photography to keep the aperture on a lower setting and a 70mm lens as well, which is mostly used at gigs. I am after a fish eye lens right now to use for clubs and gigs. I have a Canon Flash Gun you can’t use at concerts, especially bigger venues as you typically have the “3 songs no flash” rule. I’m aiming to update my equipment since I’m getting more wedding work

10. Last question: if you were stranded on a desert island by yourself and could only have five albums with you to listen to, what would they be and why?

Easy question!

-Have a Nice Day - Bon Jovi - Always puts a smile on my face.

-Lost Highway - Bon Jovi - Again it brings on summer vibes for me all the time. It reminds me of driving down country roads in the summer with family.

-The Poison - Bullet For My Valentine - My favourite song is “Hit the Floor” from that album, it’s even what my home bar is called. That album you cannot skip in the slightest.

-Hysteria - Def Leppard - Unskippable! It’s one of the best albums; it’s a classic.

-Kings of The New Age - State Champs - I love some pop punk and State Champs are my favourite of all time. I’m very picky with pop punk, but this album is incredible and would get me in an amazing mood.

All of these albums actually keep me calm on planes, so I can imagine they would keep me calm on a desert island haha.