NEWS
Where, when, why, what...

3 July 2009
This is how it's fucking done!

Earlier today the mighty Blur played what was supposed to be their first reunion show! However, due to the phenominal demand for tickets the band was asked to headline Glastonbury last weekend and also added a second London show which - funnily enough - took place yesterday. Blur show rubbish bands like Oasis how it's done - they were fantastic and I would easily describe tonight's show as one of best shows I have shot this year. I have some great photos from tonight's concert and will try to post them here as soon as possible. I'm a little bit behind on editing stuff so you will have to bear with me. Here are three shots from today to shorten the wait for you...



2 July 2009
This and that

It's been a great week and I've done some very interesting jobs over the last few days. Earlier this week I headed to Selfridges department store in central London for a catwalk show presented by [fashion label] William Rast co-founders Trace Ayala & Justin Timberlake. It was interesting covering a fashion show for a change and I will continue doing jobs like that as long as they are offered to me. On Tuesday I shot Spinal Tap at Wembley Arena for the commissioned job I mentioned before (more details to follow soon) and on Wednesday I flew to Athens to photograph desert "rockers" Tinariwen at a festival. To say I have a lot of photos to edit is an understatement...

In other news - today I found out that one of the live shots I took of Tom Jones back in May has been used for his latest tour ad. One of the portraits I took of him back in February was used for the first official tour ad (see earlier blob entry) so it's great to see that one of my live shots has now also been used.



30 June 2009
Horror Show

Time does fly and I can't believe that a month has passed since I shot The Horrors in Barcelona. As readers of this blog may remember, the Barcelona shoot didn't quite go according to plan (nothing to do with me, I should add) and when I get the chance to post some of the live shots I shall tell you the full story. In the meantime, here is my latest tearsheet - The Horrors live review Barcelona/London. I'm really pleased with the shots the magazine picked. The main shot in particular was a definite favourite of mine!


29 June 2009
When in London shoot the Killers, when in Paris shoot Depeche Mode!

I have had an amzing weekend which kicked off super early when I attended the Spinal Tap press conference at Hyde Park on Thursday night to take some snaps of the band. It's part of a really cool (here's hoping) commissioned job, so more details will be revealed on this site soon.

On Friday I headed back to Hyde Park for day 1 of Hard Rock Calling. This had been in the pipeline for over a week after I got a message saying that The we-don't-allow-photographers-to-shoot-our-shows Killers had requested me to shoot their performance at Hard Rock Calling and that I would be the only photographer apart from the band's official tog, a snapper from the NME as well as the official Hard Rock Calling photographer to be given a photo pass for the band's show there. Speechless summed up my reaction to that request. As you would expect the pressure was really on and in a way when there is so much riding on a shoot, it can make things a little but less enjoyable as you really have to deliver. I had been told I would be shooting the band from the side of the stage (just like I had at their Albert Hall gig last year). We were escorted to the very front of the stage 10 minutes before the band came on and I had quite an amazing view from up there...


The first thing I noticed though as I had a look around was the guitarist's microphone stand which was obstructing our view and it became quickly apparent that this was going to be a much trickier shoot than I had anticipated. To cut a long story short, I got some decent shots of the band but that damn microphone stand really ruined things for me - I had to discard countless images because of it. Having said that, everything worked out well in the end and I got a message this morning saying that TWO of my Hard Rock Calling shots (one of The Killers and one of The Kooks) are in today's Guardian. To say I'm chuffed would be an understatement! Stay tuned for some more shots from the day...


With Friday's shoot out of the way, I was ready to focus on my next assignment - shooting the one and only Depeche Mode at the Stade de France in Paris. I have been a Depeche Mode fan for many many years and they've been on my must-shoot list for a while so I couldn't believe it when I was asked to go to Paris to shoot their live show and take a few portraits of them as well. I wish I could post the shots here but you will have to wait a few weeks to see them. I can give you one crowd shot though that I took before the final encore... Stay tuned for another update on the Mode shoot.



24 June 2009
The quiet before the storm. The darkness before the light....

I have been keeping a low profile for the past week, but things are about to get very busy again. Unfortunately, my busy period got off to a dimly lit start last night when I shot Jack White's new super group The Dead Weather at the Boston Arms in north London.

It's official, I am so totally bored with shooting shows where the lighting is beyond shit, that I'd rather stay at home and clean the toilet than waste my time trying to get a few half decent shots. The Dead Weather really took bad lighting to a whole new level - in fact it was so dark that at times I didn't know what I was taking photos of! All I could do was point my camera and shoot - and hope that I'd get a few useable shots. The confirmation email I got from the publicist said "First three, no flash". No flash my arse. I didn't queue for 45 minutes and wait another hour for the band to come on to go home with no shots, so the old speedlight saw a lot of action last night.



18 June 2009
I'm alive

Yes friends, I'm still alive. And what better way to prove it than by posting a few new shots on the site?! Admittedly, this week isn't as busy as it should have been after the pass for a gig I was supposed to shoot on Monday didn't get approved. On Tuesday I then had a portrait shoot fall through, and to top it all off I've also had to say "No" to shooting the Pet Shop Boys tomorrow night as these two "boys" will only let photographers shoot them from the mixing desk - and quite frankly, I can think of more enjoyable things to do than standing by the mixing desk and trying to get some shots with a giant zoom lens.

So, that means this week I've only shot one gig - Jarvis Cocker at the Troxy in east London. The venue was a bit of a pain to get to and once inside I quickly lost what little joy I had left in me as I was told I couldn't go in the pit and had to shoot from the crowd instead. Fucking stupid if you ask me. I got as close as what would've been row 5 (had there been seats) and did my best to get some clear shots of Jarvis - not easy when you have tall people standing in front of you. The lighting was pretty bad too so all in all this was a total non event.



11 June 2009
Walk the (on)line

I've had a really good run of commissioned shoots over the past week starting with the Skint & Demoralised video shoot as well as The Horrors at the Electric Ballroom on Friday, and continuing with Pixie Lott at Sketch on Monday. On Tuesday I headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for a rather special Q Music Club show featuring Mr Hudson and The Noisettes.

Mr Hudson (whose full name has escaped me) has upped his game big time, I have to say. I shot him at the ICA about 2 years ago and he was, er, rather uninspiring. On Tuesday night, however, he was brilliant and I really enjoyed his new stuff. Next up were The Noisettes who were absolutely fantastic to shoot - lead singer Shingai Shoniwa is an incredible performer and really gives it her all. A photographer really couldn't ask for more! The only downside of the evening was one over zealous Hard Rock press person who really got on my tits and kept violently hitting me on the back saying "No flash". She would not have looked out of place in a North Korean labour camp (well, apart from the fact that she wasn't actually Korean). Anyway, I hate flash as much as the next person but when you have the lead singer of a band do yoga excercises on a bass drum you do what you have to in order to get the shot. What's more, as this was a commissioned shoot I was pretty much allowed to do whatever I wanted anyway, so maybe I should have just told her to fuck off. I was later told "You should have done"! Anyway, I got some good shots of both acts and am looking forward to seeing them in print. Check out the collage below for a quick preview (along with a shot from the last Q Club featuring Jamie Cullum).

In other news, my Pixie Lott shots from Monday night seem to be slowly appearing in the press. I had hoped they would be everywhere by now but as usual the papers have decided to print pap shots of her leaving Sketch where she performed on Monday night, instead of using photos from the actual show. Having said that The Sun has finally used one of the live shots! I have also found out that The Daily Star used another one of my Little Boots shots from her performance at this year's Camden Crawl!



9 June 2009
Pixie perfect

A couple of months ago I was hired to take photos at the video shoot for Pixie Lott's first single Mama Do. Pixie is a very talented young lady who is destined to become this year's Duffy! Her single was released on Monday and is currently sitting comfortably at number 1 in the mid week charts. Given its current sales figures I think it's pretty certain the song will be top of the singles chart on Sunday. Yesterday, Pixie performed at the official single release party at super trendy bar/restaurant Sketch in central London and I was back to capture the action. A lot of showbiz type people had been invited to the event and there is bound to be a lot of press coverage over the next few days so I'm hoping to see a lot of my shots in the papers. Speaking of published shots, there is a full page collage of my shots from the video shoot in the July issue of Bliss Magazine.



8 June 2009
No longer demoralised

I've been having auto focus problems with my D3 for a while now and seriously started doubting my skills as a photographer. The funny thing is, it's only because I started using a Nikon D700 as a second body that I realised things weren't quite right with my D3. When you shoot shows, you don't expect every shot to be perfect but it got to a point where my D3 was failing me constantly. Obviously, at first I thought I was to blame. Luckily, my confidence got restored when I started using my D700 and matched my usual "hit" rate.

For the past week I've been in contact with Nikon who initially insisted that it was all down to my settings (yes, the very same settings I've been using successfully for over two years) and pretty much implied that I didn't know what I was doing. Thanks guys. Luckily, one helpful member of Nikon's servce team has finally concluded that "there obviously seems to be something we need to have a look at here". So, my D3 is off to rehab. Let's hope it former self can be restored...

In other news, I've had a busy week. I shot The Gaslight Anthem at the Forum last week (Thursday, I think it was), then was hired to do a bit of reportage photography at a video shoot on Friday, and also shot The Horrors at the Electric Ballroom. The Horrors shoot went well - it was part two of the Barcelona shoot I did with the band a week or so ago. I arrived for the soundcheck, took a few live shots, did a quick portrait shoot with the band and then shot their full live show. I got some really nice shots so keep an eye on the site - I shall post the tearsheet in the not so distant future. This week looks set to be a busy one too and I have some pretty cool stuff lined up. Stay tuned for an update.


1 June 2009
From the Black Crowes to the Counting Crows

A couple of weeks ago I shot the Black Crowes at Brixton Academy. Today I returned to the venue to shoot the Counting Crows. Pretty decent lighting and a solid performance - and that's all I have to say about tonight's show.



31 May 2009
Flash it up

I've been meaning to put up a Flash powered gallery to showcase some of my live and portrait work for a while now. Initially, I put together a selection of shots using the Flash photo gallery template but found the design a bit ugly. Then I remembered that I had downloaded the Banana Album Creator a few months ago and decided to finally give it a go. It's defintely the best free application I have used so far and I like it so much that I may even purchase a licence so that the Banana Album ads don't show up. Anyway, feel free to check out the live and portrait galleries.



30 May 2009
Well, I've been kinda busy...

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking - even though the kicking is somewhat more restraint, of course. So, what have I been up to since I last updated these pages? Well, it was a slow start to the week but on Wednesday things gathered pace. I spent the evening down the Hard Rock Cafe in London to shoot Jamie Cullum who put on a very impressive performance. I've done the last 5 Hard Rock Cafe shows, I believe, and it seems they keep starting earlier everytime. I turned up at 7.40pm just as Jamie Cullum was about to go on stage. Luckily I could shoot the full show so there was plenty of time to get my shots - not that the lighting made the job particularly easy. You can see the shots in the not so distant future - it was a commissioned shoot, you see, so I can't post the shots here yet. Speaking of shots you are allowed to see - my Yeah Yeah Yeahs shots from their Paradiso show in Amsterdam last month have now been printed - see the review below.


On Thursday morning I headed off to sunny Barcelona to shoot The Horrors at the annual Primavera Festival - to say it was an interesting trip would be an understatement. I won't rant too much here but I will say this: they do like to make things complicated in Spain. I'm a no-bullshit kinda guy and I felt people were seriously doing my head in. Everything seems to be an issue in Spain - where you can enter the supermarket, where you can exit the supermarket, collecting your photo pass, entering the festival grounds etc. Ross Halfin would have had a real blast... Anyway, my shoot with The Horrors (well, the members that were present) went well - I took a few portrait shots in the afternoon and then had an 8 hour wait as they didn't take to the stage until 1.45am. Ice Cube once sang "Today was a good day" - I changed that to "Today was a long day". As for using an AK - let's not go there (unless you are familar with the lyrics of the song, this won't mean anything to you)... As this was also a commissioned job you will have to wait for the photos - here is a generic shot from the festival though.


Anyway, I returned to London the following day and headed straight back out again to shoot another show - and this one was real torture. My agency had asked me to shoot Ben's Brother (whoever he is) at the Islington Academy in north London because Joss Stone was expected to join BB on stage. I was surprised that a) Joss Stone would join the band on stage, and b) that my agency was interested in photos of Joss Stone. I mean, she hasn't had a hit here in ages, her last album bombed, and when she presented an award at the Brit Awards a couple of years ago the papers said she had lost the plot due to her weird behaviour. Anyway, Ben's Brother is the sort of band whose music makes me to hurt myself. Each to their own and all that, but as far as I'm concerned Ben's Brother makes James Blunt look like The Prodigy. Yes, they really were that bland. The worst thing was, Joss didn't come on until the very end, so I had to sit through the entire show. It was probably one of the worst evenings of my life!


The rest of the weekend will be quiet unfortunately. I was supposed to shoot Depeche Mode tonight but unfortunately the band had to cancel their London show (plus a string of other dates) due to singer Dave's recent health problems. I'm a huge fan of the band and hope they will be back on the road soon. And tomorrow was supposed to be Amy Winehouse's turn to perform at the final Island Record's 50th Anniversy show, but she too has cancelled due to poor health.


24 May 2009
Ding Dong, it's the Ting Tings

Friday turned out to be a pretty good day - well, for the most part anyway. In the early afternoon I missed out on a job as I was in the wrong place at the wrong time but shit happens, I guess. Luckily things vastly improved in the evening. For starters one of my Ladyhawke shots got printed in the London Lite so that was a nice little surprise. I later headed to Brixton Academy to shoot the Ting Tings and their support acts VV Brown and WE ARE Enfants Terrible. I'm really beginning to like VV Brown and look forward to checking out her album when it is released. Enfants Terrible were pretty good too - they probably had the best lighting of the night and composition wise I got some great shots of them - at one point I was on my knees trying to get a particular shot (see below). Oh, the things I do for my "art". The Ting Tings were good and they certainly have come a long way since I last shot them a year ago.



22 May 2009
Stags and Daggers, Plugs and Hawkes, Everything and Danananana

Yup, that pretty much sums up yesterday evening for me. Here are a few new shots from last night - Ladyhawke at Koko, Plugs at Vibe Bar, Danananacroyd and Everything Everything at 93 Feet East.



19 May 2009
All good things come to those who wait

I always enjoy shooting Maximo Park so when they performed at last year's V-Festival I was determined to get a great jump shot of singer Paul Smith. I accomplished my mission, gave the shot to my agency but didn't think it would be used. Let's face it - most of the time shots that make the national papers aren't much to shout about. Fortunately, I got a very pleasent surprise today when I picked up the latest issue of the NME to see my Maximo Park shot in the magazine - a nice, big full page shot! So, it only took 10 months for the photo to get used...



17 May 2009
Black is the new Crow

It's been a rather interesting and eventful week and I will have a proper update for you soon. In the meantime here are a few shots of the Black Crowes taken at Brixton Academy earlier tonight. Enjoy!



11 May 2009
The original Cornflake Girl

I've been a fan of Tori Amos since the early 90s so it will come as no surprise to hear that I absolutely had to shoot her London show tonight. The gig was supposed to take place about 2 weeks ago but Tori had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. This was a rather interesting shoot as photographers were allowed into the venue before the general public and shoot a special one song performance by Tori. She gave us some great poses, made plenty of eye contact, and what is more the lighting was excellent too. You couldn't really ask for more!
View the 'Tori Amos' gallery



11 May 2009
Kinda special but not really

With all the excitement about the Tom Jones tour shots I forgot to mention that I shot The Specials at Brixton Academy on Thursday. It wasn't the most memorable shoot ever but I got a few shots out of it that I'm fairly happy with. The one posted below is probably my favourite from the set as it's got a bit of a studio feel to it (OK, it's late and I'm clearly talking bollocks now).



10 May 2009
The Noise-ttes and more

The early bird catches the worm so it's time for a 1am update.. I headed to the Roundhouse earlier tonight for the Turning Point Festival. The line-up was OK - unfortunately the same cannot be said for the lighting. I'm getting a bit tired of shooting gigs were there is no useable light on stage. I mean what is the point? Ending up with a noisy underexposed mess and applying a zillion filters in Photoshop to make the images look half-way presentable isn't my idea of photography. The Noisettes were today's main attraction and I got a few OK shots of their lead singer Shingai Shoniwa - but it was definitely a struggle. Despite my earlier statement, I didn't actually apply a zillion Photoshop filters - the full size images have a bit of noise which, for a change, actually looks quite nice. However, weirdly it doesn't look quite as nice once the shots are downsized. Other shots from the Turning Point Festival below include Natty, Rosie Oddie And The Odd Squad, Ebony Bones and VV Brown.



9 May 2009
More Tom Jones

For the past few weeks I have eagerly been waiting for Tom Jones to announce his tour especially after learning that one of the shots I took of him in late February 2009 would be used for the official tour poster and ads. In terms of achievements I'm extremely chuffed to have photographed such a legend and to have my photos used in the press campaign.

The tour ads finally made the papers yesterday and it was great to see them in print. There are several different versions and the one posted below is the ad promoting the entire UK tour later this year. I can now also finally post one of the photos I took of Tom at the promo shoot - this is probably one of my favourite shots from the session.

Thanks to everyone who has got in touch to congratulate me on the Tom Jones photos and tour materials. Your support is really appreciated!



7 May 2009
Tom Jones....Sir Tom Jones!

At the end of February I had the honor to shoot the one and only Tom Jones at his home in London. Tom - who had decided to go grey - was in need of new press shots and I was fortunate enough to be hired for the job.

My team and I made our way to Tom's flat in central London on a sunny Saturday afternoon, set up and waited for him to arrive. The shoot could not have gone better and Tom was an absolute pleasure to work with. The guy is a total pro and a dream to photograph. He certainly knows his angles and how to make subtle changes to his poses.

When I found out the photos would be used for his upcoming press campaign I was over the moon. The first few shots have now been released as part of the tour announcement. One of my shots from the session has also been used for the official tour ad and poster. At this point I should thank my fantastic team - Photoshoot Creative Direction: Gerard Hynes, Lighting Assistants: Jessica Windhorst & Gregory Dearing. Watch this space for more!



2 May 2009
Take me back to the Paradiso City...

Time for an update! I've had a pretty busy week starting with The Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Shepherd's Bush Empire last Sunday and followed by two commissioned jobs - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on Wednesday and The Rumblestrips at the Hard Rock Cafe back in London on Thursday night. Needless to say I can't post any shots from the commissioned live shoots but I can show you some of the ones I took of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on Sunday night.

I treated Sunday's shoot as a dress rehearsal so to speak. I had shot the band at the Camden Crawl a couple of days before but the Shepherd's Bush Empire gig was their own show so I wanted to go along to see what their light show would be like (not fantastic but manageable). The show in Amsterdam was pretty similar. The only major difference was the height of the stage. The Shepherd's Bush Empire is great for shooting bands as the stage is quite low - the Paradiso on the other hand has a very high stage and a narrow pit so you end up shooting at a rather steep angle. Add to that the fact that The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have shitloads of monitors at the front of the stage so getting full length shots of lead singer Karen O was a bit of a challange. Everytime l set up a shot between the monitors she moved and I had to start again. The feedback I've had on the shots is rather good so I'm not complaining. Being back in Amsterdam was great even if I was only there for 16 hours.

In other news, I have finally put up the Camden Crawl galleries. Do check them out...The Virgins, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Holloways, Hockey, VV Brown, Little Boots, Kasabian, The Maccabees, The View, Goldielocks.

To read more check out the ARCHIVE section of the site...