Exile on Sesame Street

Here's a YouTube video that just HAS to be shared with the world..



Speaking of extreme music, my wednesday evening was spent in the company of the immense Dillinger Escape Plan down at birmingham's Academy 2. You can see my review on BIRMINGHAM LIVE! but I can honestly say it was one of the best gigs I've ever witnessed. And after seeing several hundred gigs over the years, that's quite a statement. Here's a few photos from the night...



Last night Evelyne and I enjoyed a rare night off and plonked ourselves down on the couch with a glass of wine and some Mistresses. Not quite as sordid as it sounds but it was a treat to have some down-time after being out every night.

Jimmy Eat World

It's great being out every night photographing bands but I do miss having a night in front of the telly occasionally. This week I only have Thursday night free and Terrorizer wanted me to go down to London to shoot Mayhem despite the fact they're playing Birmingham next week! I declined and will be photographing them in Birmingham instead! :)

Last night I went to the Academy where Jimmy Eat World were playing a sold out show before 3000 people. Surprisingly I was the only photographer there. Also surprisingly I enjoyed the gig far more than I expected to after listening to their new album. I've reviewed it for Birmingham Live! HERE




I've done a few pre-wed shoots recently and it's good fun getting pictures of couples as they normally are before photographing them all dressed up on their wedding day. Many couples have never had a professional photograph taken and it's a great way to show them that it's not the awkward, scary thing they may have imagined. All couples enjoy the shoot and we get some great images from it. Here are a few of my recent favourites..





Also this week I made the effort to meet up with a group of fellow bloggers from the Midlands. I know how nerdy that sounds and that's exactly why I nearly never went. I'm happy to report however that it wasn't nerdy or geeky at all and I got to meet some genuinely nice and interesting people who are all out there making things happen rather than hiding in their bedrooms behind their monitors. A few people were genuinely interested in the Birmingham Live! idea which was great and others had their own forward-thinking projects in the pipeline. Watch this... and their... space!

Rock Photographers

I know a lot of people read this blog for the band photos so i thought you might like to know about Rock-Photographers.com where you can find interviews with some of the most successful music photographers out there as well as links to dozens of other rock photographers sites.

<<<<< - By the way, for those that want to, you can now subscribe to this blog in the box to the left.

Shooting The Chiefs

Friday night Evelyne and I managed to blag our way into an invite-only gig at the Barfly where Kaiser Chiefs were playing to around 500 people. It's always good to see huge bands play in intimate venues and, although I'm not a big fan, the Kaisers put on a great performance, with Ricky Wilson obviously loving playing to such a small crowd. I've reviewed the gig for BIRMINGHAM LIVE! and here's some of my fave photos from the gig..






On Saturday it was off to Somerford Hall near Stafford to shoot the wedding of Susan & Neil, a lovely couple who had a very relaxed, fun day with a great group of friends and family. My good friend Lisa Gault helped me out on photographic duties as Evelyne was looking after Elliott, and between us we got a fantastic selection of images for the couple. I had so many nice comments from people about how we worked at the wedding too which is always good. No weddings now til March 8th but plenty of gigs to shoot, including Jimmy Eat World, Megadeth and one of my favourite bands, the Dillinger Escape Plan all coming up this week.

Irena

Lithuanian pop singer, Irena, contacted me about having some photos done and, although she originally wanted to do them all inside, it was such a lovely day I convinced her to have some outdoors as well and we got her a great variety of images all in the space of about an hour.

Icons and Anniversaries

My "to-do" list has been steadily getting more and more out of control of late. It's a good thing really. Work is busier than ever and we're getting regular bookings for the year ahead, with wedding bookings confirmed up to August next year already.

On the music photography side I have a few projects on the go as well as regular gigs for mags like Rock Sound and Terrorizer. Shooting Despised Icon in Nottingham last week was a particular highlight for me. A fantastic small venue and a rowdy crowd for some extreme metal shenanigans. Despised Icon were amazing live - one of those bands that you have to witness on stage to truly appreciate. They're from Montreal like Evelyne and we had a quick chat about the scene over there. Who knows.. I may even end up moving there some day.. Here's a few pics from the gig:



Another gig last week was Bullet For My Valentine in Wolverhampton which I was reviewing and shooting for Rock Sound. Not my favourite band by any means but they had 2 good supports in the form of Skindred and Still Remains. My friend Lee Allen and I were the only photographers there and had plenty of opportunity for good shots.



I've spent some time this week setting up a new blog especially for reviewing local gigs. I've named it BIRMINGHAM LIVE! and added a few recent gigs just to flesh it out for now but I'm trying to encourage photographers and writers in the Midlands to get involved. A lot of people ask me how they can get into shooting gigs and it can be tricky getting photo passes for gigs unless you can show that the pictures will be out there for people to see. Hopefully this site will help people get their work seen, help them get passes for gigs, support local music and let people see images and reviews from gigs they may have been to. You can see the work-in-progress site at www.brumlive.com. There's also a FACEBOOK GROUP

Being so busy with everything means I need to make a proper effort to schedule in some days off. Sunday was Evelyne and my first wedding anniversary (from the first registry office wedding for those that are keeping up!) so the computer was switched off and we headed out to Wales on what was a gorgeous sunny day with my newly dark-haired wife, our boy Elliott, our 2 dogs and, of course, my camera. We stopped off for a picnic by the canal and made it to Aberystwyth beach just in time for sunset...