Melbourne's Laneway Festival 2012: a photographer's perspective

Bobbysix snapper Vinisha Mulani talks us through her experience in the photography pit at Melbourne's Laneway Festival:

St Jerome's Laneway Festival, Melbourne - also known as The Hipsters' Annual Mass Migration to Footscray. The banks of the Maribyrnong River and the Footscray Community Arts Centre were bouncing with sunshine, tattoos and on-trend attendees. A gem of a venue, the Footscray Community Arts Centre had incredible views of the river, lush grassy knolls and even a few graffitti-clad laneways to boot. I had managed to wangle a photopass - despite my camera being approximately two metres shorter than the other photographers' and naked of accessories. Hanging out at the photo pit felt a little bit like a first day at a new school and your skirt being too long. Or not having a Tamagochi.

After getting over my camera's inferiority complex (the festival had everything short of portable counselling sessions - Melbourne's beloved BeatBox Kitchen & Taco Truck both made an appearance), I became a Photography Warrior. Despite being ill-equipped of extra weapons, before I knew it I was dodging and weaving through various jutting lenses and camera bags in the photo pit, shooting (get it?) subjects I've never seen that close before, and did not even bang into anyone's equipment (cough). 

Together, my camera and I developed girl-crushes on the amazing array of strong female performers inclusive of Anna Calvi and the incredible Maddie Follin of The Cults. My view of the audience also changed. Usually in festivals I'm on a constant tip-toe, drowning in a sea of the lucky tall - but from the photo-pit a new perspective emerged. (See image below of two girls crushing on Jonti with ukelele- giggling, hand over mouth, wide-eyed, head tilt). 

Highlights of the festival: Starting the day with Husky, a blue sky and a view of the river - the musical equivalent of having a massage on the beach. Being close to Active Child's harpistry. No long queues. The aforementioned girl crushes. An ice cream break (it was hot). Surviving the photo pit.

Words and pictures by Vinisha Mulani. Check back later in the week for Heidi Pett's full review of Sydney Laneway 2012.

St Jerome's Laneway Festival announces its 2012 line-up

At Bobbysix.com, we've been fans of Laneway since the early days. We were there in 2007, watching The Temper Trap belting out anthemic tunes at Sydney's Circular Quay before most people knew who the hell they were. We saw Daniel Johnston's heartbreaking performance, Mumford & Sons' triumphant display and Florence + The Machine's lung-busting turn in 2010.

So we're excited to bring you the line-up for the 2012 event, which, once again will take place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Auckland and Singapore. Highlights of next year's event include the wonderful Laura Marling (above), Feist, The Horrors, Portugal The Man and Yuck.

So, without further ado, here's who you can see at next year's Laneway: ACTIVE CHILD, ANNA CALVI, AUSTRA, BULLION, CHAIRLIFT, CULTS, DZ DEATHRAYS, EMA, FEIST [except Adelaide], GEOFFREY O'CONNOR, GIRLS, GIVERS [Syd + Melb], GLASSER, HUSKY [Bris, Syd, Melb], JOHN TALABOT, JONTI, LAURA MARLING, M83, ONEMAN, PAJAMA CLUB (feat. Sharon and Neil Finn), PORTUGAL THE MAN [Syd + Melb], SBTRKT (Live), TRIPLE J Unearthed Winners, THE VERY WEST, THE DRUMS, THE HORRORS, THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE PANICS, TORO Y MOI, TOTAL CONTROL, TWIN SHADOW, WASHED OUT, WU LYF, YUCK

Tickets go on sale Wednesday October 19th at 9am (EDST) through Greentix.We said it last year and we'll say it again, if you want to go, you'll need to be on the ball when tickets are made available. If you snooze, you lose.


You can keep up to date with all things Laneway on Facebook and Twitter.