Some jobs land in your inbox and you read them twice to check they’re real. This was one of them.
Rock Choir sing beneath Hope the blue whale at the Natural History Museum, London.
Photographing 1,000 Voices Beneath Hope the Blue Whale
On Saturday 17th October 2026, Rock Choir brought 1,000 of its members to London’s Natural History Museum to record What a Wonderful World as a birthday gift for Sir David Attenborough, who turned 100 in May. The idea came from his famous reading of the song in the BBC’s Planet Earth.
A day in two halves
The day started at RHS Lindley Hall, where members split into two choirs of around 500 for vocal workshops, warm-ups and rehearsals. This is the part I love most as an event photographer. The performance is the headline, but rehearsal is where you find the real faces: the nerves, the laughter, the intimate moments among friends.
Once the museum had closed to the public, we moved to Hintze Hall at the National History Museum for two recording sessions of around 500 singers each. Members had travelled from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cheshire, Manchester, Weymouth and across London to be there.
Shooting under Hope
Hintze Hall is a photographer’s dream and headache in equal measure. Hope, the blue whale, soars overhead, 500 singers fill the floor beneath her, and the choir sang by candlelight. That’s a lovely thing to witness, but a challenge to photograph in particularly low light.
With two sessions of 500 people each, there was little room to redo a moment, so you have to anticipate. I watched the conductors and the piano for cues and scanned each row for people who were properly lost in the song.
Founder Caroline Redman Lusher MBE also made a surprise appearance to welcome the choirs. She described the sound as “breathtaking”, and the reaction in the room made for some lovely candid frames. There’s really something special about the acoustics of such an impressive venue.
The impact
A landmark moment. Coverage in the Edinburgh News said it’s believed to be the first time a choir has recorded a performance at the museum, and the first time a choir of this size has performed there.
Where the images went. I provided a handful of images ‘live’ during the event for use in press coverage, including The Times, the Edinburgh News and the Farnham Herald. Rock Choir has used the images on its website and will continue to share them across their social channels and to promote similar events in the future.
Why it matters for Rock Choir. Rock Choir has more than 33,000 members across the UK and Ireland. That reach showed in the coverage, which ran in local papers from Edinburgh to Farnham, where the choir was founded, and Cheshire. For a nationwide community organisation, one landmark night at a world-famous venue gives every local choir something to share, and it shows the scale and ambition of the organisation.
What I’ll remember
When 500 people sing together in a space like that, the sound hits you before anything else. It’s hard to stay objective behind a camera, but that’s when the best pictures come, because you’re feeling it as much as the people you’re photographing.
What made the night work was that nobody was performing at anyone. A thousand people were there because they love singing together, and it showed in every frame. The Rock Choir events team and choir leaders kept everything running smoothly, which let me concentrate on capturing it. The finished recording is on its way to Sir David, which is a lovely thought.
How I work with brands and events
Every event I shoot starts with the same question: what does this need to achieve? For Rock Choir it was scale, atmosphere and emotion, in images strong enough for national press and local papers alike. For other clients it might be brand awareness, an activation, a product launch or a conference.
Planning an event and want it covered properly? Get in touch, I’d love to hear about it.
Thank you to Rock Choir, the events team and every ‘Rockie’ who made me feel so welcome.
