Thoughts

I entered a competition through the British Music Experience at the o2 and won a pair of tickets to a Ross Halfin master class. Ross Halfin was one of the first music photographers I liked and it was a good chance to here a big name photographer talk about their work. It was pretty much him talking about his career then going through examples of his work and talking through what it was like and how he got the shot. Ross has been in the music industry for a long time now and had quite a cynical and jaded view of the music industry which I guess for him and the things he's seen/done/been through it's understandable but I guess I still have a little bit of a rose tinted view of the music industry. I know it's not perfect but I choose to think that there are still people in the industry that aren't only looking out for themselves and aren't all about money.

There were some things he said which really struck a chord with me. He said that he would love to shoot nothing but black and white on film and that he tries to always shoot without flash. Also that he shoots how and what he wants. I really related to this is pretty much exactly how I feel and what I'm currently trying to do.

He talked as well about doing photo shoots and that you shouldn't be intimidated in the situation. You need to disarm them and break down the barriers to make the subject relaxed and that way you get the best shots. He also tries to capture what the people are really like and sides of them that people don't see. His work has a lovely natural look to it. The talk of relaxing the subject is something I'm thinking a lot about.

I'm always really shit scarred when it comes to shoots. I always get flustered and think that the other person is expecting more than I can give. I lack practice and don't really know what I'm doing and think my uncertainty and nerves is passed onto the model. I want to work on this.

All in all it was a really good night and I feel pretty lucky to have been there.

The last few weeks have been really hard and my self esteem and mental state have been really low. I'm tired and fed up of struggling. My friends and family help keep my head above water but it's been photography over the last three months that has given me an extra boost.

April is going to be a busy month but the being busy starts on the 31st. I'm seeing Emery at the Barfly followed by Carly and Ned's wedding the following day. I'm not shooting the official photos at the wedding but I'm doing some bits like taking photos of Carly and the bridesmaids and more. It's going to be a lovely day.

After the wedding, I'm going to go down to Brighton to do a shoot with my friend Kirsty. She is amazing. We are shooting a Suicide Girls set and then hopefully doing some latex/fetish pin ups which I've been dying to do ever since the shoot I did for Rockworld TV where they were using Jane Doe clothes.

I've also got seven events in eleven days. I have Hearts under fire, Alesana (probably not shooting as I doubt I'll get a pass), Melissa Auf Der Maur, the return of the Glitter Room and three of the London Burlesque Week. I can't wait but I think I'll be shattered by may.

I'll obviously write more about all these things afterwards.

I didn't realise that my blog was set up so people couldn't comment unless they had a google account or something like that. It's now set up so that anyone can comment. I really am thankful for the support you give.

I'm going to write at some point about my 'dream' projects/subjects which I'd kill to shoot. I can't really believe we are almost a quarter of the way through the year already. I'm sure there was something else I wanted to write about but I can't think for now.

Here's a photo from the last roll of 35mm I shot on my Lomo Fisheye. It's from quite a while back but I never posted it here.

Kick Ass signing

I would say I have three main passions in my life. Music, photography and comics. My day job has been working in comic shops for about 10 years now and comics, the art and the industry mean a hell of a lot to me.

On Sunday, through my job I got to meet and photograph two people who are quite big in the comics industry. Mark Millar who has written some great stories and John Romita JR, who to me is an absolute legend.

We had them in the FP London store to sign copies of Kick Ass and getting to hang out, talk comics with and photograph these people is an experience that is hard to top.

One of the things I love about shooting signings being able to shoot some natural shots and i'm photographing people I normally would never get the chance to.

There's a few more photos here.

Fistful of Rollers

After shooting the last London Rollergirls bout I got the bug and really wanted to shoot some more.

The Texas Hustlers team were coming over and they, along with the London Rollergirls were hosting a two day bootcamp and bout in the Excel London. I really wanted to shoot the bootcamp/training days as I thought that would be really interesting and it would be really interesting to see and photograph another side to the roller derby. Unfortunatly there were other photographers shooting it so I couldn't go but I got to go to the bouts in the evening.

This was a lot different to the first one I shot, the venue was a lot bigger (obviously), there were two shorter bouts and there were 1200 people there. They had specific zones for photographers and as there were a lot of us I decided to stick it out in one area and just safe guard a spot.

The bouts were superb, I think because of the occasion and the crowd there was a lot more enery and speed to the skating. It was such a good night. I'm still feeling quite limited to the photos of the bouts I can get as I don't have a long enough zoom lens but i'm happy with some of the photos.

I went to the after party too which was great phone. It's such an open and welcoming community. It's definitely something i'd like to be more of a part of.

London Brawl Saints vs Glasgow Irn Bruisers

London Brawling vs Texas Hustlers

Some extra shots

More Brawl Saints/Bruisers photos are here.

More Brawling/Hustlers photos are here.

Other photos from the night are here.

Fuel Girls - Cafe de Paris

I thought about writing about some frustrations and low moods i've had in the last week or so with my photography but decided to just write about last night.

After shooting a lot of burlesque shows and the MOB girls at Facedown i've been dying to photograph the Fuel Girls perform. In my opinion they are the best alternative dance troupe around and it's a nice contrast to burlesque.

A friend has been dancing with them for some time now and she very kindly allowed me to come down and take some photos of them performing at Cafe de Paris, a venue i very much love. I really wasn't sure what to expect, didn't know what type of club night it would be, what the crowd would be like or what the Fuel Girls performance would be like. It really wasn't my kinda club/scene but I had a good time shooting none the less. There were some pretty cool podium dancers on beforehand as well. One of the things I like about photographing performers and bands is the fact that they don't really acknowledge photographers and I think that helps the shots come across a lot less contrived or staged but sometimes knowing someone's taking a photo can be fun. There was one of the dancers who several times saw me taking photos and held poses or dancied into the camera with a cool smile that made a nice change (so thank you to her!).

Club lighting is quite dim so I found it a little hard to shoot at times as I had to have a pretty slow shutter speed but the Fuel Girls came out a did a fire routine which allowed me to shoot faster.

I really enjoyed their performance and I got covered in kerosene (or whatever fuel they use) and Champagne but it was worth it. It wasn't always easy covering the stage with 2-3 girls on the stage with a couple more on podiums at the side but i'm quite pleased with the shots.

I shot pretty much the whole time in black and white and I know it's not the best way to capture fire but I think it's show the shape of the flames pretty well and might be something different to a lot of the other Fuel Girl photos.

I definitely want to shoot them again. Knowing what their performance is like I think I might be able to do a better job next time. So thank you Fuel Girls for last night!

The podium dancers

Fuel Girls

Some other photos from the night are here.

More of the Fuel Girls photos are here.

Scott C

Ok, so the bad has definitely out weighed the good this week and it's been tough but there's a little glimmer of hope. There's some opportunities that seem to be slowly opening up and i'm trying not to get my hopes up but things seem to be clicking into place for photography. If/when any of these things actually happen i'll deifinitely be writing about them.

Last summer one of my favourite artists was over from America to do an exhibit with another artist. It was a really awesome show and I got to hang out with them a little and take some photos of them doing a live art. It was my first experience of doing this and it got me hooked. Scott C who was the other artist is over at the moment doing a solo show called 'Everybody, all the time' with London Miles gallery in East London. It's really nice to get to see such a large collection of his paintings. I really wanted to shoot his opening but I didn't really get the chance but he was doing a comic book workshop which I asked if I could come down and shoot.

Saying Scott is one of the nicest people i've met would be a huge fucking understatement. I don't think i've met many people more relaxed and as excited about art, comics and just people in general. It's been a pleasure spending time with him again. Tina who is overseeing every thing for London Miles breaks seems like one of the few 'good guys' in the art world and is doing a great job at finding exciting people to exhibit.

Photographing the workshop made me realise how much I want to move a lot more into documentary style shooting especially when it comes to artists.

More photos here.

You can see Scott's work here.

Also check out the London Miles gallery.