Dust rises as dozens of feet pound the ground. The ferocious sound of Brazilian hardcore band Worst is unleashed from the stage. It is a situation that Gonçalo has been in many times before, and whilst it may seem intimidating to the untrained eye, he takes it all in his stride. “I enjoyed going into the middle of the crowd with my Sony Alpha 7C II, because that is where I feel the biggest emotion - what the crowd is experiencing. For me, it is capturing those crowd moments, that point of view from within, that is just as important as photographing the band itself.”

The series of images was taken at Vagos Metal Festival in Vagos, Portugal, with Gonçalo there to photograph the festival as part of the usual press coverage. “It’s quite funny, actually, although I am a very tall guy, people always try to protect me in the middle of the mosh pit because they know I have a camera, so they are extra careful. I have broken cameras and lenses before, but it is what it is. There is this natural raw energy that you just can’t find anywhere else; everyone is moving together as one, and that really transfers to the photographer.”

Shooting the stage of a music festival is quite standard for Gonçalo. He used a Sony A7C II with the Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens for his shots of Worst. “I used to shoot with a 70-200mm lens - like most concert photographers. But there is a huge difference compared to the 50-150mm, even though the focal lengths are broadly similar. The big advantage is that 50mm is considerably wider - you can almost build an entire body of work from that one lens. The 50-150mm is a real sweet spot. The extra stop of light - f/2 versus f/2.8 - makes everything pop and adds that three-dimensional quality. Being able to shoot in low light at lower ISOs because of that wider aperture is incredible.”

Getting up close and personal with the crowd requires a different set of kit. To make it easy to switch focal lengths, Gonçalo uses a Sony Alpha 9 III with an FE 14mm f/1.8 GM lens mounted on it.

“I really enjoy getting close to the subject. A lot of my shots fill the frame right at the edge of the musician or the crowd, and that gives me the sense of connection I need in my work. The 14mm is a very useful focal length when you have no space, but even when you do, as at an open-air festival, it's wonderful to get even closer. As Robert Capa said, “if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough”. You really have to be close to transpose those emotions into your pictures, and the 14mm is a mind-blowing lens for exactly that.”

Even with a sea of faces in front of him, getting the Sony Alpha 9 III to focus where he wants is straightforward. ‘Shooting the stage, I used the Face Recognition, with Subject Tracking enabled, says Gonçalo. “If the musician starts head-banging, with hair across their face, the camera will still detect an eye, or at least remain locked in focus on the head. However, when I am shooting the crowd, Face Recognition picks up so many faces, so I use Flexible Spot set to the smallest area size to be very precise about where I focus. From my film days, I still always set the focus to the center spot and recompose the frame, knowing that the focus will remain locked. It frees me up creatively. It’s easier for me, easier for the editor - all the images are sharp and can be used.”

Another throwback to shooting on film in this series of images was the choice to shoot in black and white. ‘I truly believe that black and white removes all the confusion of colour, the photographer explains, “It leaves only the emotional part of the image. Things are far more raw in black and white. The pictures need to be extra strong in terms of emotion, in terms of dedication to the image, rather than relying on colour, which can produce different impressions of its own.”

Something that you notice in the images is the small number of people holding up their phones to capture the event, unlike at other music events. “People are focused on experiencing the concert rather than filming. The community wants to feel the moment rather than document it”. Instead, Gonçalo is there with his professional Sony cameras and lenses, feeling safe in the mosh pit, capturing the moment, so the crowd don’t have to.