Hayley Madden

My first agency was SIN, a specialist music agency which handled most of the NME photographers work as they were the only agency dealing with black and white. They had a massive market in Japan who couldn't get enough of the Britpop scene, the more obscure the better. My colour work was going through Rex Features who are more of a news agency but my aim was to get on the books of Redferns, an exclusive music agency who deal with The broadsheets and specialist music press.

I finally got there in 2000 when I was one of the first music photographers to get a digital camera. My partner had bought it for me (with my money) and I hated the sight of it, but he phoned up Redferns to tell them I had a digital camera. I screamed blue murder at him as the camera was still in its box and I had no idea how to use it, but he just replied that I'd better pull my finger out as I was booked for a job with Redferns that night shooting Beck for the Independent.

Since having my son in 2003, I made a decision to try and cut down on the music photography, but it is a drug (addictive and costly) and I haven't managed to give it up yet.