Jessie Reyez at Paradiso – captured from the photo pit

There are nights in the photo pit where adrenaline takes over and every frame feels like striking gold in midair. Jessie Reyez at Paradiso was one of those nights.

The crowd is buzzing, packed shoulder to shoulder, waiting for something to happen. The lights dim. Silence. And then—suddenly—she’s there. Out of nowhere. Sunglasses on, stance cool and unapologetic, She owns the room from moment one. The audience erupts, and Paradiso shakes to its core.

From the pit, the perspective is different. You feel the roar of the crowd behind you, but your focus is locked on the stage. Two cameras hanging around my neck, two lenses ready to go. Wide-angle for the chaos and the crowd, telephoto for the details in her expression. Jessie moves effortlessly—sometimes subtle, sometimes explosive. Every second is a chance to freeze that energy in time.

What struck me most was her balance of strength and vulnerability. Her voice cuts through the air like a blade, raw and fierce, yet her movements carry emotion, honesty. She leans toward the crowd, presence undeniable. Hands reach out, voices rise—it’s a surge of energy that somehow still feels personal. At one point, a girl behind me even leaned over, passing flowers above my head straight into Jessie’s hands.

Shooting a show like this is pure sprinting with a camera. Light shifts constantly, angles disappear in a flash, and you’ve got fractions of a second to react. Miss it, and it’s gone forever. Catch it, and you’ve frozen a piece of magic. That’s the thrill: knowing every frame could be the shot.

And these are the shots. A collection of moments from a night where Jessie Reyez turned Paradiso upside down and inside out. Looking back, it doesn’t feel like I just took photos—I captured a surge of energy that belonged to everyone in that room.

Walking out of the pit, I carried the energy with me—and remembered why I do this. This is why I photograph.