Bagpipes, biceps and a 68kg log: photographing the Harpenden Lions Highland Gathering
Sporting event photography in Hertfordshire at the largest Highland Games in the UK outside Scotland
There are some events you photograph because they're on the calendar. And there are some you photograph because they genuinely mean something to you.
The Harpenden Lions Highland Gathering falls firmly into the second category.
I'm Scottish. I grew up near Helensburgh on the west coast, a short drive from Loch Lomond and not far from the kind of landscape these traditions were born in. I've been attending Highland Games for over a decade now, and there's something about the sound of a pipe band carrying across an open field that lands differently when it's woven into your own history. When that sound comes from Harpenden Common on a summer afternoon, it feels like catching up with an old friend.
What the Harpenden Lions Highland Gathering actually is
The Harpenden Lions Highland Gathering takes place every summer on Harpenden Common in Hertfordshire and holds the remarkable distinction of being the largest Highland Games in the UK outside Scotland. It is organised by the Harpenden Lions Club, and the proceeds go to local and international charities.
For a family event in a Hertfordshire market town, the scale and ambition of it are genuinely impressive. Pipe bands march in full regalia. Heavy athletes from across the UK compete in traditional throwing events. Archery, falconry displays, live music, ferret racing, haggis hurling and an enormous amount of tartan fill every corner of the common from mid-morning to late afternoon.
This year's gathering was the 29th edition. The weather was kind: blue skies, puffy clouds and just enough of a breeze to keep the competitors from overheating and to catch kilts mid-swing and flags in full flight. As any event photographer will tell you, that kind of light and movement is a gift.
The heavy events: where the photography gets serious
I'll be honest: the heavy events are why I keep coming back.
Putting the stone. Weight over the bar. Weight for distance. Tossing the caber. These are the events that have the greatest visual drama, the greatest human intensity and the greatest demand on a photographer. You get one chance at each moment. The caber either lands or it doesn't. The weight clears the bar or it doesn't. You are either in position with the right settings at the right instant, or you have a photograph of a very large man standing in a field.
What I'm after, every time, is the moment just before. The breath held. The coiled stillness before the explosive release. Muscles at maximum effort, veins visible, expression somewhere between concentration and something approaching controlled fury. And then, when it goes well, the look. The steely, determined, unstoppable look that an athlete gets when they know, before the caber has even landed, that they've nailed it.
That is what makes sporting event photography genuinely difficult and genuinely rewarding. You are not documenting what happened. You are trying to freeze something that exists for a fraction of a second and carry the emotional weight of the entire effort.
This year there were eight competitors aged from 19 to 52, which was wonderful to see. The tossing the caber event was as dramatic as ever. A 68kg, 18-foot pole needs to be lifted vertically, carried at a run, and then flipped end over end so that it lands at the twelve o'clock position relative to the thrower. Watching it done cleanly is remarkable. After a few shaky early attempts, several athletes pulled off exactly that in their final throws. The relief and pride on their faces in the moment it landed right was one of the clearest expressions I photographed all day.
The rest of the day: why community events make for great photography
Away from the arena, the gathering has everything a photographer with an eye for human moments could want.
Pipe bands marching in precise formation, tartans bright against the green of the common. A falconer's bird returning to the glove at speed. Children trying archery for the first time, faces creased in concentration. The haggis hurling competition, which manages to be both genuinely competitive and completely ridiculous, which is, I would argue, the ideal combination. Families on picnic blankets, seniors in camp chairs watching the heavy events with the quiet authority of people who have been coming for years.
These are the images that tell the fuller story of a day. The wide shot of the arena with competitors and crowd together establishes scale and context. The close portrait of a child watching a pipe band with complete absorption tells you what the event actually feels like from the inside. Good event photography needs both, and the Harpenden gathering provides endless opportunity for each.
What this event means as a photographer
I've covered a wide range of events over the years, from corporate conferences and awards evenings to large-scale sporting occasions. The Harpenden Highland Gathering occupies a specific and valuable place in that range because it combines genuine athletic competition with a warm community atmosphere and a strong visual identity that gives a photographer immediate material to work with.
The tartan, the pipe bands, the physical drama of the heavy events, the families making a day of it: these things create a natural visual language that makes the photography feel coherent even across a long day and a wide range of subjects. When you look at the images together they feel like a set, not a collection of disconnected moments, and that coherence is what makes event photography genuinely useful for the organisations behind the events.
The Harpenden Lions use these images to document and promote the gathering year on year. That is exactly what good event photography should do: build an asset that serves not just this year's audience, but next year's prospective attendees as well.
If you're organising a community or sporting event in Hertfordshire
The Harpenden Lions Highland Gathering is a reminder of just how much a well-run community event can achieve. Events like this deserve photography that reflects the care and effort that goes into them, and that gives the organising team something lasting to show for the day.
I photograph community events, sporting occasions, charity fundraisers, award ceremonies, corporate events and family celebrations across Hertfordshire, St Albans, Harpenden and London. If you have an event coming up and want photography that captures the atmosphere and energy of the day properly, I would love to hear from you.
Get in touch with your date, venue and a brief outline of what you need, and I will come back to you with how I would approach it.