Australian Celtic Festival 2026
02/05/26
The Australian Celtic Festival for 2026 has once again come and gone, and this year was quite literally bigger than ever. Glen Innes Council had three photographers covering the event, with Peacock Photography working directly alongside me to capture as much as possible. I had to miss the parade this year in favour of the Haggis Breakfast—the only proper way to kick things off during the Year of Scotland theme. I even tried some myself, and it was incredibly gamey.
The photography experience this year was far more intense than previous years, with more small events running simultaneously than ever before. I usually had about a 10-minute window to photograph what I could before rushing off to the next thing—barely enough time to capture what I wanted, let alone shoot video on top of that. (I did manage to shoot some vertical content for socials, but there’s no cinematic video this year.) To balance out the added stress, the actual shoot day was much shorter, wrapping up at 2:30pm with someone else covering the larger bands and nightlife, compared to the 8pm finish I had last year.
Despite the added time pressure, we had an awesome time. I came away with some beeswax leather balm, as well as some mulled wine I’m saving for a rainy day, and despite the limited time at each event, I still managed to capture some pretty good shots. Here’s to next year!
