London MCM Expo

A friend of mine produces some small press comics and had a table at the London MCM Expo and someone that was meant to be sharing it with her pulled out so I volunteered to help her out.

Here's the second frustrating photography moment of the week. I left my camera battery at home. School boy error. It was so annoying as I had been invited by Ivy Paige to shoot one of her shows. It turned out to be a pretty good day in the end, hanging out with Julia was really nice and I got to see some of the comics people I haven't seen in ages and some i've always wanted to meet.

Went back on the sunday so I could grab some photos. Not overly happy with the photos. I was trying something and it didn't really work properly. I wanted to shoot more like how I shot the street photos in New York but it was too packed and enclosed for it to work properly.

Photos from the Expo can be seen here.

Check out Julia's work.

The Devil Wears Prada

I got to shoot The Devil Wears Prada this week, they played a headlining show after they had finished the UK Enter Shikari tour.

I shot them when I went to Warped and was really impressed. The Garage has only really just opened and I remember they used to be so harsh on photography and had no barrier. Now it's reopened they have a barrier and the security are actually friendly and helpful.

Was told I could use flash which is a bonus and I decided to only shoot in colour. I just wanted to see if I could do it as I've really not felt comfortable with flash since upgrading my camera.

I am really happy with my shots and managed to nail something i've been dying to do for ages, a jump shot. They are quite hard to get right and to say i'm pleased that I finally got one right is an understatment.

Photos of the support band Your Demise

More Your Demise photos can be seen here.

More TDWP photos can be seen here.

Burlesque against breast cancer

What a frustrating and mixed week or so for photography this has been. There's some good and some bad things.

I got to go down and shoot a great night at Dirty Dicks in Liverpool Street. It's run by a guy called Mark Farley and it's called 'Burlesque against breast cancer'. He runs these nights for charity.

It was a really good line up including Ivy Paige (hosting) Hotcake Kitty and Ruby Fortune, I've seen them before and they are great. There was also some speakers/writers doing readings in between which added a nice break from the norm into the evening. It was really nice and chilled.

My hat goes off to Sophia Rose who's music failed as she was about to perform but carried on any way (with the help of Ivy's pianist). She did very well considering things going wrong.

The only downside is that because it was in a pub the lighting was terrible and i'm really frustrated with the shots. I know I can do and have done better. I was shooting F1.8 iso1600 and around 1/80 and they were still massively under exposed. I'm happy with some of them but it was frustrating.

Burlesque against breast cancer facebook group

More photos from the night can be seen here.

Next year

I don't have anything new photos to blog about at the moment but I will do soon. I have some things coming up soon which I'm excited about. I'm shooting a burlesque charity show which has an amazing line up including Ruby Fortune and Ivy paige, TDWP on friday at the garage (a little anxious as I've never shot there before), IWRESTLEDABEARONCE at the Electric Ballroom, Gallows and Blessthefall are some examples.

This year hasn't been a brilliant year for me apart from a few things that have happened. I spend a lot of my time thinking about whats a head and how things will turn out and unfold. Easily one of the biggest and most important things to happen to me this year was New York (which I mentioned in my second post on here). I know I keep banging on about New York but I achieved something I never dreamed I'd ever get round to doing. I went to Warped Tour, not only did I go but I got to shoot it.

I have a list of life goals and ambitions which I honestly thought would stay untouched. Shooting/going to Warped was one of them. It may not seem like much to some people but considering the things that have happened to me this year and the fact i had actually given up photography last summer, it was a big turn around.

Next year I'd love to go one further and I want to be part of the tour. I want to travel with it across America photographing the places and the people. Ideally I'd want to travel with a band I loved.

At the moment it seems highly unlikely but so did going this year.

A guy can dream right?

Baddies - Borderline

Got to go and see Baddies at the borderline the other night. I've vaguely known Mike for years from his days in Engerica and when Baddies got together something always got in the way of me seeing them. I've managed to catch them a couple of times now and they are a superb band and a nice bunch of guys.

Borderline is one of those venues that doesn't have a barrier and never normally care about cameras but for whatever reason they wouldn't let me in with my camera without a pass on this occasion. Thankfully I bumped into Mike as I was talking to the security guard and he sorted it out for me.

Borderline is quite a horrible venue to photograph in as it has terrible lighting but a curved stage means you can get some good angles on the band, especially the drummer!

More Baddies photos can be seen here.

Check out Baddies on myspace.

Glitter Room Oct 09

I took this photo on the way back from a night out, I always see it and thought it would be a great intro to this entry.

Someone I've been fortunate enough to get to know and work with is Keith Suave. Keith is a DJ and burlesque promoter and puts on a monthly night in Croydon called the Glitter Room. Going to Croydon for a burlesque night is quite a step away from seedy/glamourous Soho and Camden (depending on how you look at it) but he really puts on a great night. I think he's doing a lot to support the scene and help upcoming performers. It would be great if more people within the scene came out and supported this show as it has a good crowd, it's in a nice venue and the Glitter Room deserves to be a high profile night in the London calander. I try and shoot this most months. This month I decided after a couple of the acts to shoot the rest of the night in black and white. I regret this a little as looking back now i really liked how some of the colours came out.

Tempest Rose is the Hostess of the night and she's superb every time.

Couple of other shots of a few of the performers...

If you find the Glitter Room/Keith Suave on facebook there are always more photos on there.

More from the night can be seen here.

Check out Suave Promotions on myspace.

London Tattoo Convention

London Tattoo Convention was a few weeks ago. I like going to the tattoo conventions, I have a big interest in tattoos/tattooing and the culture that surrounds it. In the same way I love watching artists paint or draw, I love watching tattoo artists working on people. I also like watching people that are having work done, a lot of the time they are either quite blank and still, in pain or laughing about and it's nice to try and capture that. Its always a good was as well for me to meet up with friends I don't see often.

One of the cool things about the weekend was I got to catch a little bit of Vince Ray playing with his band.

The weird thing at the moment is I'm shooting more and more in black and white and less in colour. I enjoy black and white and maybe one day I'll only shoot in black and white but who knows. I don't like the idea of only shooting in one style, it feels quite constricting but i don't get as much out of colour. The thing i worry about is that it will all be too samey. If you look back over this blog so far it's 90% black and white. mixed feelings.

More LTC photos can be seen here.

More Vince Ray photos can be seen here too.

Kevin Smith

One more post about signings at work. Tuesday we had Kevin Smith signing. Kevin Smith shouldn't really need any introduction and needless to say I am a huge fan. Kevin Smith is someone I never dreamed I would get to meet. All the way up to the signing i was worried that my images of this great guy would be shattered if he wasn't a nice person but really he is nicer than you can imagine.

First people in the queue. They had been there since about 10am.

Kevin's wife Jennifer was also over too and she was unbelievably friendly too.

Obviously meeting him was superb but the highlight for me was after the signing being able to walk round the store with him and talk about comics and graphic novels. It was just a great experience and something I'll never forget.

More Kevin Smith photos can be seen here.

Steve Austin & Howard Chaykin

Ok so if you don't already know my day job is for a company called Forbidden Planet and one of the perks of the job is that we have a lot of signings, ranging from new up and coming authors and artists to some quite big named people.

This week has been a great week at work for signings. This week we've had former wrestling superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin signing...

Steve Austin was such a nice guy, he signed for about 3 hours and made sure everyone got seen, took his time with everyone and had a great laugh.

we also had a comics legend, Howard Chaykin signing as well...

Taking photos at signing is a bit weird, it's quite hard to do something different and interesting with someone stood/sat in one place talking and signing for people but i always try and get a range of shots.

The thing i like about shooting them even if they are quite similar is the fact that I'm getting to photograph people I'd never have to chance to in any other situation.

More Stone Cold photos (and larger versions) can be seen here.

Larger versions of the Howard Chaykin photos can be seen here.

Facedown

Just before I left Facedown on friday, the lights were really nicely lighting up the crowd but before I could get any decent shots the light changed and it went really dark again. Just as i was about to give up, there was a couple that posed as someone took a photo of them. It's not a great photo but I like it.

I'm shooting at a burlesque show in Croydon today called the Glitter room. Keith Suave runs the night and he's a great guy and has helped me out a lot.

I still need to put up an entry about the London Tattoo Convention (I took some photos of people being tattooed but I also took some photos of Vince Ray playing with his band which i still need to sort through).

Mob girls

As well as shooting Hearts Under Fire at Facedown i also got to shoot the Mob girls performing. I've seen photos of them performing taken my the awesome Abbi London and it made me want to shoot them. They are quite energetic and tend to get quite messy. They stuck with just water last night but it was so much fun to shoot. The lighting was good in places but for the most part it was really hazy, photos aren't as good as they could have been but i'm pleased with how some of the water shots came out. Shooting something like this is quite a lot different to shooting traditional burleque which i'm kinda used to.

Mob girl's Myspace page

More photos from their set can be seen here

Hearts Under Fire - Facedown

Last night I went to Facedown club at the Scala in Kings Cross to see a band i love, Hearts Under Fire, play their last gig with their singer Sian. Hearts Under Fire are a great band and they have so much energy and fight in their music and gigs. I'm actually quite gutted Sian is leaving the band, she has an amazing voice and presence and it will be missed. The band are still carrying on with the bass player (Mary) taking over vocal duties. As much as i'm sad to see Sian leave, i'm excited to see where this band goes.

Please check them out...
Hearts Under Fire's Myspace page

More photos from their set can be seen here

Miss Led

This post and the next post will be going over some photos that aren't exactly new and have been on my flickr/around for a while but i should have some new photos to post and write about over the weekend. Going to the Facedown club tonight to shoot Hearts under fire and the MOB girls. I'll also be at the Glitter room burlesque show in Croydon on sunday.

I got the opertunity to go to a London fashion week event called "Red bull fashion factory" to see an artist i'm a fan. Miss Led is a superb artist and she has done quite a few live art events and for whatever reason I've never been able to make it to one. I love watching artists painting and drawing but I'm always more interested in them and what they do than the artwork they are creating. I love the outcomes but the processes fascinate me.

Please check out her art...
www.flickr.com/photos/miss_joanna_h
www.missled.co.uk/

More photos from the event can be seen here