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.