Jul 20, 2026 | Photography

2026 Golden Guitar Award winners photo studio

Gaffer / Set Build

Lyn Taylor, photographer and creative director, brought me in to build and light a photo studio inside the Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre for this year’s Golden Guitar Awards. As nominees came off the red carpet, they stepped into an intimate music room we’d created—filled with comfortable furnishings, instruments, LPs, and historical artefacts from the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame.

Lyn set the visual vision for the space. My role was to realise that vision by building the set and designing the lighting. The key creative challenge was creating multiple zones throughout the studio where musicians could move freely, interact with the props and furnishings, and feel at home. I needed to light each zone independently so that wherever they stood and whatever they chose to engage with, the light would support the moment.

I built two custom “windows” skinned with 216 full diffusion to push light through. A large window at the back of the set provided beautiful backlight, while a narrow slit window camera right created similar backlighting when musicians moved into that zone. Lyn shot with half black mist pro to take full advantage of these backlights and create gorgeous halation on the subjects.

To supplement this, I hung a soft top light to cover the middle of the studio and positioned a large softbox on a wheeled stand that could be quickly repositioned as key light on faces. This gave Lyn the flexibility to move around the space with each musician while maintaining consistent, flattering light.

It was a privilege to be part of this project—both to create a series of beautiful images, but also to witness the joy of musicians in a unique moment as their creativity was recognised by the community they’re part of.

Here are some of my favourite images and the musicians featured in them.

Check out more of Lyn's work here
https://www.lyntaylor.com

© 2019-26 Nick Payne