Photographing Sombr - live in Copenhagen

It's another hot summer's day, black dust is in the air and a crowd of eager music lovers wait in anticipation for the stage to light up.

It's August in Valbyparken, a lush green park with tall trees that's nestled into the southern district of Copenhagen. Crowds are here for Syd for Solen (South of the Sun) music festival which runs for three days and attracts mostly Danish locals who pop along on their bicycles.

On this particular day (a Thursday) it's the US singer/songwriter Sombr they are waiting for. Earlier this year the 21-year-old embarked on a European tour, appeared at the BRITS and walked the steps of the Met Gala, one of the hottest entertainment tickets.

As the lights come up and a video starts to play, we see Sombr (Shane Michael Boose) being helped into a black embellished leather jacket, being handed a guitar and led to the stage before the lights come up and fans shriek in delight at the sight of him appearing front of them.

Standard live music rules for photographers are that you can photograph the first three songs, no flash. For whatever reason, on this particular afternoon the standard rules don't apply. The group of about a dozen photographers are allowed to shoot Sombr's whole set which concludes with him and his band running into the sea (we see this on a video after they have left the stage).

This was the most joyful and fun performance to photograph during my summer of capturing bands and singers at music festivals this year.

Given this rare opportunity to remain in the pit for the whole show meant we got to capture the great rapport between Sombr and his bandmates, witness the conversations with his audience about topics such as body image and ultimately experience the genuine energy and joy that was on display for those 60+ minutes.

As Sombr heads off to embark on a North American tour this Autumn, I'm genuinely excited to see what's next for this bright young star.