James Lander is a photographer from the Mid North Coast of NSW.

He’s been carrying a camera around for more than a decade, which has turned out to be a pretty good excuse to end up in places he probably wouldn’t otherwise be.

On stages. Behind them. In crowds. Classrooms. Community halls. Pubs. Festivals. Back streets. Front rows. Occasionally somewhere he’s not entirely sure he has permission to be.

For a long time, James thought he was building a portfolio.

Turns out he was accumulating a place.

The bands matter. So does the bloke watching from side of stage. The headline act gets photographed, but so does the kid playing their first show. Sometimes the interesting thing is happening in the middle of the room. Quite often it isn’t.

That’s mostly how James works.

Turn up. Pay attention. Don’t carry on too much.

Keep coming back.

And people have been remarkably generous about letting him.

Bands have let him backstage. Crowds have forgotten he was there. People have trusted him with their portraits. Schools have opened their doors. Communities have welcomed him in. Young people have let him hang around while they figure things out.

That trust matters.

None of these photographs exist just because James owned a camera and knew where to point it.

Somebody let him be there.

So he tries not to waste the invitation.

He’s still photographing gigs. Still making portraits. Still working with young people. Still wandering off because something happening twenty metres away looks more interesting than whatever he was supposed to be photographing.

Still learning where to stand.

Still coming back.

LANDER WAS THERE.

He still is.