This Fife teen is photographing huge names in music at just 18

The National

20-05-2025

Despite being fresh out of secondary school, Dunfermline-born Kyle Horne has gone from the photo pit in venues like King Tuts and PJ Molloys to shooting gigs for artists such as Teddy Swims, Raye and KT Tunstall in just over a year.
Horne explained that he started taking the medium seriously in S6 after studying photography as a subject for 'fun' and being encouraged by his teacher to create a music project.
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He told The National: 'I'd studied music from first year all the way through to sixth and [my teacher] said to me 'why not do a music project?'
'It all built up from there. I'd done all these gigs while I was in school for my portfolio, and when I started out I was just DMing artists on Instagram and asking if I could come to their concert and photograph it.'
Beginning as a contributor for different online music publications, Horne has since co-founded his own magazine titled ADRENALINE.
Horne's impressive CV includes Grammy-nominated singer Teddy Swims, pictured above (Image: Kyle Horne) Brit-award-winning RAYE (Image: Kyle Horne) The photographer said that, whilst volunteering for other outlets was 'great', he wanted to set up his own to have more freedom over the gigs he was shooting.
He said: 'I decided 'I'm just going to go for this' and build my name up with these PRs who had only heard of me through whoever was asking for a photo pass at these other magazines.
'I set up an Instagram, created a logo, set up the website, and I just put out an open call and said, 'Does anyone want to be part of this?'.
'We got about 50 applicants at first, which is a lot, but we've got 25 contributors now and I'd say it's going well.'
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James Bay (Image: Kyle Horne) Since moving to Cambridge for university, Horne has been able to photograph artists in monumental venues like Wembley Arena, but the youngster stressed that moving to London isn't the be-all and end-all for Scottish creatives looking to begin their careers.
He said: 'Of course moving down here has helped me get into these big events and meet people working for the likes of Getty and these massive music magazines, but not everyone has to do the same.
'I don't think Scotland is restrictive, it's just smaller in terms of the number of venues and gigs on at one time. Not everyone has to move here to make it."
The photographer advised other creative youngsters to 'just go for it', saying: 'I know it's cliché, but just start — email managers, DM artists, use the free bus travel to your advantage.
'The worst anyone can do is say no, and if they do then you just move on to the next one.'