When 29-year-old Lloyd Wakefield was growing up in Stockport, he didn’t imagine his future behind a camera, and certainly not on tour with one of the biggest pop stars in the world.
“Up until college, my only goal was to be a footballer,” he says.
“I’m not the most academic. I didn’t click with any lessons outside of PE. I’m a hands-on person.”
When football didn’t work out, he took a job at Aldi.
“It took me two years to adjust, to find any kind of direction or purpose outside of football,” he says.
He “caught a bug” for photography through a friend’s film camera, spending their days off going out and taking photos together.
Teaching himself through YouTube and lots of trial and error, Lloyd began messaging agencies and chasing opportunities. That led him to a backstage gig at Fashion Week, and eventually to photographing Harry Styles’ Love On Tour.
“If you told me when I was working in Aldi that I’d be in the music world, on a tour, it was so polar opposite of where I thought I was going to be.”