Festa Major of Sant Just Desvern, photographing the whole street party

The Festa Major of Sant Just Desvern isn’t one event: it’s dozens. The opening speech, gegants, sardanas, havaneres, correfoc, fireworks, concerts until the small hours, the elders’ afternoon tea, a zip line for the kids and football matches in full sun. Back to back, across different days and different corners of town.

The council needed it properly documented. Not one token photo per event: full coverage, material usable the same day for press and social, and an archive that holds up over the years. We’ve done it for several editions now.

We planned the coverage around the programme. Before touching a camera: which events, at what time, where, and which ones can’t be missed. Routes between stages, light hours and priorities, so no event goes unphotographed because of a clash in the schedule.

We shot the whole festival. From the opening speech to the last concert: gegants and colles, sardanas, havaneres, correfoc, fireworks, the kids’ disco, the zip line, football, the elders’ tea, the literary walk and the late-night parties. Wide for the crowd, long for the face, and always looking for the people before the stage.

We edited and delivered event by event. Selection, developing and retouching with consistent colour across the whole Festa Major, and delivery organised by event, so the comms team can find any photo without opening three thousand files.

Material built to be published. Framing that works horizontally for the website and the press, with enough room to crop vertically for stories. No choosing between archiving and publishing.

At a Festa Major the good photo is almost never on stage: it’s three rows back, on the face of someone who’s been waiting for this all year. We cover the programme, but we photograph the town.