A few weeks ago the guys over at Quint Magazine contacted me about featuring my work in their next issue which would be known as their music issue. I flipped through a few copies of the magazine and really liked what they were doing so I agreed and today the magazine hit the shelves. Currently the magazine is only available in Dubai (stocked in all Virgin Megastores) but is also available to read for free online.
I answered a few questions about what it is like working as a music photographer here in London and you can read all about it from page 56 of issue 12. Read it for free here. The rest of the magazine is very cool too so give it a full read. I feel really grateful for this so “thanks guys”.
I’ve worked with the guys from After The Ordeal quite a few times and on our last shoot I decided to test one of my “new” OLD Yashica’s by shooting off a roll of 120.
Last year I worked with Colin Pollock on a few portraits as well as a few shots of him busy in studio. He’s super talented and I really enjoyed working with him. He’s playing a one-off show at Hoxton Hall that you should definitely check out.
This is the flyer with one of the shots I took in studio.
My good friend Simon and his beautiful wife, Claudia, got married in August and I flew over to South Africa to document their wedding day for them. I don’t sell myself as a wedding photographer but it felt super special to spend so much time with two great people on what ended up being one of my favourite weddings purely because I felt a part of their day.
I have just finished sorting through their images and so I thought I would make this post to show just 3 of the photos from that day (which I converted to black and white) that I feel shows them as the perfect couple and also to wish them all the happiness in the world.
The guys from Does It Offend You, Yeah? worked on a studio project with Macbeth on their own Pendleton shoe which comes out pretty soon. I photographed the campaign and Macbeth have just released a teaser shot of the shoe so I thought I would share it. Amazing band and great company … check them both out.
One of my favourite things is shooting on 120 film but unfortunately the last bunch of scans have been really terrible and it’s put me off completely. I’ve tried a few different stores and all of them say they work only in high res so I send films off, wait a week (or two) and then I pay (a lot) and get home only to find crappy quality low resolution scans. It sucks and in the 3 years I’ve been here I haven’t found one place that actually does it right.
Anyway, I had a shoot with El Wood the other day for Beau & Arrow (will post more later) and I shot off a few 120′s to finish a roll and this reminded me that I need to push to find a proper place to scan these for me in future so I can use it more. Film is rad because you don’t have to edit … I love that.
If anyone has any ideas or recommendations of a place that I should be using then PLEASE do let me know.
I photographed Face to Face playing the Kingston Peel on Tuesday night and the guys over at Banquet Records have used one of the images on their flyers to promote upcoming New Noise evenings that they run. Great band, Great show and amazing Records Store. Check them out. You can also see a few more of my shots from the night HERE.
I honestly feel proud and privileged to live in London city and am sad about what is going on with the riots. I understand peaceful protests against a cause you believe in but people coming outside of our apartment and destroying things we worked hard to make is bullshit. Stealing TV’s, burning down historic buildings, hurting innocent people, destroying shops and vandalism is just taking the piss.
During times like this I always seem to find people / groups that honestly have the biggest hearts and truly care about change. Activism and unity in people for the right cause is amazing and I support that all the way. Please check out http://www.riotcleanup.co.uk/ and help fix our homes and let’s all unite together to keep each other safe.
Youth charged positive change … that’s what makes a difference.
UPDATE: For some reason the guys website has been taken down so please follow their cause on Twitter on http://twitter.com/riotcleanup
I have some really cool people that follow my work and keep me updated by sending me screengrabs / scans of my work and where it’s been featured. I love that. Lately I have gotten a few of bands that I have worked with using my photos on their music player so I thought I would post a few.
These are for After The Ordeal, The Wild Archive, Dear Reader, Band Of King and Just Me Again.
I’ve worked with the boys from What Now a few times now and it’s always a pleasure. Their music is catchy as hell and they work super hard to be tight.
I just got sent another flyer where they used one of my photos. I like it.
My friends in Young Guns have their biggest tour coming up next month and it’s going to be incredible. They just sent me the artwork for their tour poster / flyer featuring the new logo and one of the photos I shot with Gustav when they played at Brixton Academy last time round.
I can’t wait for this. Make sure to get on down. They are explosive live.
I was lucky to work again with the talented, Berlin based, Dear Reader on the promo photos to support the up coming release of Idealistic Animals and as always it was a pleasure.
The cover for the record has just been released so I thought I would share it. I have heard the tracks and cannot wait for this album to get out.
The guys from The Spindle Sect have just relaunched their website and have used a few of the photos that I shot of them recently and I think it looks really cool.
I have a bit of an obsession with camera’s in general and have quite a few ranging from the cheapest plastic piece of junk to pinhole guess-takers to high end digital to medium format and 35mm film cameras new, old and older. I just recently got another Miranda G in amazing condition with such a great bunch of accessories and I am really excited to shoot with her a lot more on personal projects.
Anyway, I loaded a roll of film quick just to get some shots through to test if she has any light leaks and that all is working. I don’t have a battery for the lightmeter yet because it’s still on the way but I used the sunny 16 rule along with some guessing and I’m very happy with how she shoots.
Unfortunately the lab scanned them in the worst quality ever so I am definitely going to need to invest in my own scanner soon and then I don’t have to worry about inconsistencies every time I send a roll for processing.
These are a few of the ones I liked from the roll I shot these last few days. I loaded a PocketWizard on and have been experimenting a bit more so will post a few of those soon. They looking awesome.
You’ve got to love film … think and shoot and if you do it right then no processing.
I have been shooting a lot of personal stuff to keep my mind focused on photography being a hobby that I am passionate about and not just work. Don’t get me wrong … I love photography and everytime I shoot but it is nice to sometimes shoot just for myself and remember what it was that grabbed me about photography. I took this with my iPhone just because I thought it’s funny to share. My old 1960′s baby (Miranda G) with a PocketWizard. Photographers will know this is a good combo.
I just got sent a really cool flyer using one of the photos I shot with the boys from What Now. The flyer is for their tour that they just finished up in May and I love how it came out.
These guys are super nice and their tracks are great. Make the effort to check them out.
I know I have been sucking at updating this blog as days go by but it’s just hard when things are really busy and I am sure that everyone can relate to that at some point.
I thought that it would be cool to post up 2 shots taken while out shooting recently down in Coventry and obviously at Tower Bridge.
These were just shot with my iPhone and posted with Instagram. Check that app out. It’s awesome.
My good friend and fellow photographer, Byron Rode, has been working hard developing an application for mac and I’ve been using it for about a month now and honestly love it.
It’s called medialoadr and it’s basically a simple drag & drop media uploader for WordPress. I’ve created accounts for each of the 9 WordPress sites I have access to and when I update now I just drag the images / files I want from my finder onto the menubar icon and select the relevant account to which the files need to upload to. When I log in next time to that account the images / files are in the media library. So good ….
If you own a mac, use WordPress and have a spare $4.99 make sure to download this App to make your life easier. It’s definitely worth the money.
The guys in Just Me Again have just announced another tour for later in the year and the poster / flyer for it has one of the photos I shot with them in studio. I like the way it came out.
I turned 29 today and it was a good day. Been wanting to shoot a self portrait of myself and push myself in terms of the style of the photo so I thought today would be a good day to try that. It’s dark and distorted but this is the result … I like it lots.
I went on tour with the boys from We Are The Ocean for a few days (London, Bristol and Stoke) to promote the release of their latest album and I photographed and video’d the tour as it went on. The guys are super nice and I love working with them so it was a great time together.
This video is just some of that footage.
The album is called GO NOW AND LIVE and track playing through this video is from the album and it is ‘Overtime Is A Crime’. Make sure to get a copy of it … it’s a cracker.
Some of the photos from the tour can be seen HERE.