Bob Singleton

Northampton based freelance photographer.


I first picked up a camera (a Kodak 127 'Box Brownie') when I was eight and had learnt how to develop b&w film by the time I was ten. My first SLR was a second-hand Praktika TL when I was about 13/14. Over the years I learnt how to develop and print in colour and had a full colour darkroom at home until 2004 when I switched to digital (two Nikon D1x cameras).

In the late 70s and early 80s I was booking bands, some well known, some not so. The first band I ever booked was The Boomtown Rats in 1977 for Esher College's first ever Sixth Form Conference. At the time I booked them nobody had heard of them, but by the time they appeared at the school "Looking After Number One" had got into the top 20 and the Rats had made their first TOTP appearance. I later booked acts such as The Jam, The Police, Squeeze, Black Roots, The Pretenders, The Gang of Four, Punishment of Luxury, Aswad, Fischer Z, Sad Cafe, Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Tourists, Paul Young & The Q Tips, Lene Lovitch, Blondie, Hawkwind, Talking Heads, OMD, Motorhead, Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Teardrop Explodes etc. alongside the late Nick Rayns for the Student's Union at the University of East Anglia from 1978-81.

As a keen photographer, I therefore had the opportunity to also photograph the bands for the university’s student paper The Phoenix as well as supplying images to the Eastern Daily Press. From those small steps, I was pointed toward Redferns by the then picture editor, and worked on a freelance basis covering gigs around eastern England and London. I’ve shot everyone from unknown bands in dingy pub basements to major acts at festivals such as Glastonbury, Isle of Wight, Donnington Monsters of Rock etc. Later, I branched out to start covering fashion shows, business to business events and general news.


Current equipment:
2 x Nikon D810 bodies + 2 x MB-D12 battery packs
Nikon 24mm f3.5 PC (Tilt/Shift)
Nikon 105mm f2 DC (De-focus Control)
Nikon 14-24mm f2.8
Nikon 17-35mm f2.8
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8
Nikon 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 (Macro)
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8
Nikon 200-500mm f5.6
Sigma 85mm f1.4 ART
Sigma 120-300mm f2.8



Published in The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Star (Johannesburg), The Straits Times (Singapore), South London Press, Surrey Comet, Eastern Daily Press, BBC website, New Society, Rolling Stone, Sounds, Melody Maker, ZigZag, Artrocker, The Face, NME, Music Week/Music & Video Week, Metal Hammer, Rhythm, Classic Rock, Q, Time Out, Prima, Grazia, Photography Monthly and elsewhere. Former contributor to Redferns, Corbis & Getty. Current contributor to Rex Features/Shutterstock

+44 777 352 4262