Long Road Festival
The Long Road Festival 2025
“Working Together to Keep the Long Road Festival Safe”
The Festival
The Long Road Festival is one of the UK’s biggest celebrations of country and Americana music, held every year at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire. It’s more than just a music event—it’s a community. From cowboy hats and denim jackets to campfires and headline acts, the festival has become a home-from-home for fans of country spirit in the UK.
My Role
This year I worked as a security supervisor with FGH Security, overseeing campsites and helping with team deployment. My role was to make sure festival-goers were safe from the moment they arrived until the moment they left. That meant working closely with teams on the ground, guiding people, and making sure everything ran smoothly behind the scenes.
Festivals only work when everyone pulls together—security, stewards, organisers, medics, volunteers, and the crowd itself. Everyone plays a part in keeping the energy positive and the environment safe.
Photography Behind the Scenes
Alongside my role, I carried my camera with me. In between supervising and looking after people, I was capturing the story of the festival. A supervisor in a cowboy hat at the gates, a silhouette in the crowd watching James Bay, staff supporting festival-goers with a smile, and wide shots of the site alive with energy—every photo told its own story.
For me, it was a balance between responsibility and creativity: protecting people while documenting the heart of the festival.
Teamwork in Action
One thing that stood out was the mix of worlds—cowboy hats and hi-vis jackets. That image summed up what the Long Road Festival is all about: different people, different roles, but one shared goal of making sure everyone could relax and enjoy the music.
The teamwork between FGH Security, festival organisers, and all the other companies involved showed how much effort goes into creating an experience like this. It’s not just about standing at a gate—it’s about people working together, side by side, to create something bigger than themselves.
“This event reminded me why I love picking up my camera. It’s not just about photos, it’s about people, stories, and moments that mean something. Having my family there with me made it hit even harder.”
Closing Thoughts
The Long Road Festival isn’t just about the music—it’s about the people, the community, and the shared moments that make it special. Being there as both a security supervisor and a photographer gave me a unique perspective: keeping people safe while also capturing the moments that showed the true spirit of the festival.
That’s what Long Road is all about.
A family. A community. A reminder of what can happen when people come together. For me, this is why I do what I do. Photography isn’t just about pressing a button—it’s about documenting value, showing people the parts of a story they might not see, and freezing moments that carry meaning long after the music stops.
At Long Road, I wasn’t just a supervisor or just a photographer—I was both. Balancing responsibility with creativity, safety with storytelling.
The value in this kind of work is bigger than me. It’s about people feeling safe, cared for, and remembered. It’s about showing the world that behind every festival, every crowd, every headline act, there’s a team working together to make it all possible. And through my lens, I get to honor that.
This is why I love photography—because it connects people, celebrates community, and leaves a mark that outlives the moment. Long Road reminded me that the real story is never just the music or the lights—it’s the people who make it all happen.
That’s the story I want to keep telling.
Because every picture tells a story, and every story deserves to be remembered.
hy JTSnapsPhotography
