Photography team management, Boomtown, August 2025
Running the Photography Team at Boomtown
Boomtown is a festival built like a city. Districts, stages and venues spread across the Matterley Estate in Hampshire, a site you need a map and a radio to cross. For its run, Mark ran the photography team’s office: the point where the shooting schedule, the shot lists and the marketing team’s needs all met and got sorted. He is back to run it again for the 2026 festival.
The Brief
The festival needed its photography handled as an operation, not left to chance. Someone had to hold the whole picture: what needed shooting, who was free to shoot it, where it was happening and when, and what the marketing team needed back to keep the festival’s channels running through the weekend. That coordination was the job. Mark took the photography team’s office manager role and ran it across the event.
The Production Office
The work had a home. A desk, two screens, a laptop, the site maps pinned up within reach, radios lined up and charging. From there the day was planned and tracked. Call times set, locations confirmed, changes passed on as the site shifted around them. When a photographer needed to know where to be, the answer came from that room.
Schedules and Shot Lists
Each photographer started the day with a schedule and a shot list. The schedule kept the team spread across the site so nothing important went uncovered. The shot list said what the festival actually needed back: the stages, the crowds, the details, the moments marketing had already earmarked. Set daily, adjusted as the weekend moved. A festival this size does not photograph itself, and it does not wait.
Working with the Marketing Team
The photography only mattered if it reached the people who needed it. Mark worked closely with the marketing team throughout the weekend, taking what they needed and turning it into instructions the shooters could act on. Priorities in, images out, fast enough to keep the festival’s channels fed while it was still happening. That loop ran for the length of the event.
Logistics Across the Site
Boomtown is large, and moving a team around it takes planning. Accreditation, kit, transport across the site, radios, knowing which district was which and how to get there. The small things that decide whether a team spends the day working or spends it lost. Holding those together, so the photographers could concentrate on shooting, was a large part of the role.
Doing It Again
The role worked, and Mark is running it again for the 2026 festival. It is the kind of work he is looking to do more of: managing photography and content teams on the ground at festivals and large events, so the people commissioning the coverage get it handled end to end.
Commission a Similar Project
If you are running a festival or a large event and need the photography or content team managed on site, this is work Mark takes on. Shot lists, daily scheduling, marketing liaison and the logistics of keeping a team productive across a big, moving site.
Get in touch early, while you are still planning how the event will be covered.
Questions
What did Moderate Studio do at Boomtown?
Mark Jermyn ran the photography team’s office. He set the photographers’ daily schedules and shot lists, handled the team’s logistics across the site, and worked with the marketing team to get the images the festival needed through the weekend.
What does a festival photography team manager do?
They plan and run the coverage: who shoots what, where and when. That means daily schedules, shot lists built from what marketing needs, accreditation and kit, moving the team around the site, and keeping images flowing to the people using them.
Is this a photography service or a management role?
A management role. This is about running the team and the operation behind the photography, not being the sole photographer. It suits organisers who have the shooters but need someone to coordinate them.
Does Mark take on this kind of work for other events?
Yes. He is looking to manage photography and content teams at other festivals and large events. Contact him at jermyn@moderate.studio.