A Day To Remember & Photo Pit Magazine

It's been a busy week(ish) since I last updated here. Myself and Penny launched our project 'Photo Pit Magazine' and it's been quite intense getting our site up, sorting out email addresses and trying to organise passes.

Things are slowly starting to fall into place and we are making progress. The website is still a bit rough around the edges but we just wanted to have something up to try and get people aware of what we are doing. I wrote this on the Photo Pit blog which hopefully makes what we are doing a bit clearer:

We are aiming to create a music based art photography magazine. It may not be what people expect but I think we've got a concept which could really grow.

"We want to cover and promote the bands, events, festivals and club nights which we are passionate about as well try and showcase a different side to music photography. I want us to create photographic editorials which will push ourselves to create better images. We love music are going to attempt to convey the whole experience of being at a show and if we can do this you won't need to read a review. The photos should tell you everything you need to know.

We want to be at as many shows as possible and will be blogging about what we are up to along with images a head of the release of each issue."

Last Friday was the day we shot our first shows for this. Penny shot Facedown and I made my way to Brighton for A Day To Remember. I was pretty stressed as it was out first show, having to rush to try and make sure I got down there in time to make all the bands, also stressing incase something went wrong with the passes. I was also worried what would happen if I couldn't deliver on the photos. I got through the support bands (Bayside & Pierce The Veil, who were both amazing in helping to sort out a pass for me) but I was told due to having too many photographers (SEVEN!) that I would only be able to shoot one and a bit songs. When ADTR came on I just tried to shoot as much as possible and I feel like that screwed me up a bit. As I thought I was going to get kicked out any second that my focusing was off a bit and I screwed up a lot of potentially good shots by making simple mistake. The photos overall weren't bad and it was a relief to get the first show out the way.

We are still trying to spread the word about Photo Pit and we've got a long way to go but I feel a bit more positive.

I had a good meeting with Penny at the weekend.

After spending January with nothing to shoot, I'll have shot four things in eight days by the weekend (which may not sound like a lot but with a full time job and having to do editing, it feels like a lot). I photographed Fuel Girls on Saturday and am at MiMi Soya tonight. I've also hopefully got the next London Rollergirls bout this Saturday. Hopefully I'll have news of some other exciting shows soon too. Fingers crossed.

Bayside

ADTR

Click here to see more photos from the show on the Photo Pit Magazine website.

Your Demise - 100 Club

Your Demise played their first headline show since their album came out at a special show at the 100 club. It was nice to see a show there considering the venue is faced with possible closure. The 100 club is a good venue with an amazing history. The only time I have shot a show there was Gallows a few years ago.

I was really impressed with the first band on (While She Sleeps) and they were really fun to shoot. As it was still early there weren't many people down at the front but there was three photographers/people with DSLRs and we all really stood out. It made me feel quite self concious as a photographer.

Obviously as the night went on it got busier and once Your Demise came on the crowd were pretty rowdy. There was a few stage dives and people climbing on the crowd. I tried to stick to the sides to avoid getting battered. My camera was a bit better than it has been but something is still not right. I'm going to have to get it serviced soon.

I like the photos of Your Demise but I think my photos of While She Sleeps are definitely the best ones I took that night.

A friends band was playing tonight and I was pretty excited about shooting them. Sadly I had a bit of massive gig fail, I ended up turning up to the venue and finding out they'd already been on. Whoops. Sorry Sarah!

It's been a busy few days, I've got some shots from a burlesque show and I'm shooting another one on Sunday. I'm also shooting a couple of signings tomorrow (Simon Pegg and Bryan Hitch).

I feel a bit directionless at the moment and although it's good that I'm out taking photos, I wish I was working on/towards something.

Hang The Bastard

While She Sleeps

Your Demise

The Hang The Bastard photos are here.

The While She Sleeps photos are here.

The other Your Demise photos are here.

Architects - Koko

I shot my first gig in well over a month on Friday. I managed to get a pass for Architects at Koko with support from Lower Than Atlantis, Devil Sold His Soul and Norma Jean through Livethescene.com.

The gig had pretty early doors so I had to dash from work and just managed to scrape in for the start of Lower Than Atlantis, they are fast becoming a band I love seeing live. Devil Sold His Soul were pretty average whereas Norma Jean were amazing. They were so heavy. Architects were sooo good. They were pretty flawless from start to finish and I'm definitely making sure I see them again. I got to hang out with some friends too which is always a bonus!

I loved that it was at Koko, I shot there once before and remembered that they had great lighting and the venue was really on top for for this gig. A lot of people don't like it there or say the sounds shit but I really like the place. As the lighting was so good and as I was shooting for someone I decided to shoot the majority of it in colour and I'm really glad I did. Despite having some camera problems (where it would focus but it wouldn't actually take the shot) I'm really proud of these photos (especially the Architects ones.

I almost had some major problems. When I got my pass they gave me a wristband too which I just assumed was an after party thing or something like that so left it in my bag. Architects had a film crew so the photographers weren't allowed to shoot the first three songs like normal, we had to shoot songs four to six. I tried to get into the pit for the fourth song but was told I needed the wristband to shoot. I had to run from one side of the venue to the other, through the crowd to grab the wristband and then run back. I also managed to lose my photopass on the way back through the crowd as it wasn't very sticky and pretty much hanging off my leg anyway. Thankfully the security were only bothered about the wristband and didn't notice the pass missing. The lighting Architects was a little weird as they had lights under risers for them to stand. When they were on them I really struggled to get the shots exposed right and felt like I missed an oppertunity there.

I felt really good being back out taking photos at a gig, especially with a pass. I just hope the camera problems don't continue.

Lower Than Atlantis

Devil Sold His Soul

Norma Jean

Architects

The Lower Than Atlantis photos are here.

The Devil Sold His Soul photos are here.

The other Norma Jean photos are here.

The rest of the Architects photos are here.

Gallows - The Horn

The last two times I shot Gallows I thought my photos were pretty poor and really wasn't expecting much from the shots I wanted to take when I saw them on Thursday.

I went out to see them at The Horn in St Albans and they had Spy Catcher and Feed The Rhino supporting. Spy Catcher are good and I've seen them before but Feed The Rhino were a band I was really looking forward to seeing after their set at Hevy and they were a great band to photograph. The singer spent most of the set jumping in and out of the crowd and most of the band ended up joining him for the last song.

Gallows were great as usual and they had a pretty rowdy crowd. I got totally battered at the front and really struggled to take photos between getting pushed onto the stage and my camera steaming up. I ended up moving to the side of the stage for half the set and on stage by Steph for the 'Orchestra Of Wolves'.

I had a great time and the band seemed to really enjoy it.

The photos were better than I was expecting but still aren't anything special but at least I'm not unsatisfied with them.

The rest of the Spy Catcher photos are here.

The Feed The Rhino photos are here.

The other Gallows photos are here.

Sick Of It All - The Borderline

After I left Underage Festival on Sunday I went straight to The Borderline to see Trash Talk, Polar Bear Club and Gallows supporting Sick Of It All. I wasn't sure what to expect from the show, whether I'd be able to get my camera, how packed it would be and how crazy the crowd would get. I'd also heard many stories about Trash Talk and how wild they could be. I'm sure one of these days that something bad will happen to me and/or my camera and I was pretty sure it was going to be at this gig.

Thankfully I managed to survive Trash Talks set despite the singer trying to suck/bite my throat. I'd heard a lot of good things about Polar Bear Club and they were really good and I'm definitely going to check them out again. Things started getting a bit more hectic when Gallows came on. One of the problems I have with The Borderline is that because of the shape of the venue and the way it's laid out, the crowd doesn't really get packed together tight enough to stop everyone falling about when a pit starts. Between struggling to stay on my feet, the pit and stage divers, I decided to move to the sides and even then I still got hit about a bit. It got a million times worse when Sick Of It All came on and I gave up trying to take photos after the first song or so.

I really struggled with photos at this gig, I just couldn't get to grips with the lighting (what little of it there was) and my flash gun seemed to be playing up and nothing really seemed to be working out. It's a shame really because this was a bit of a once in a life time gig.

I have to mention Paul who is Lee's (from Gallows) dad. He battled it out at the front and put me to shame. He also put in a pretty impressive stage dive too!

I feel really at odds with my photography as I feel like one day I'll be taking photos that I think are some of my best and then the next day I'm taking photos that I think are pretty disapointing. I don't really think I'm consistant with my shots. I'm not sure what to do or how to sort it out. I guess I need to find a photographer I trust to help me out so I can learn a bit more.

Trash Talk

Polar Bear Club

Gallows

Lee's Dad stage diving

Sick Of It All

The Trash Talk photos are here.

The photos of Polar Bear Club photo can be seen here.

The other Gallows photos are here.

The rest of the Sick Of It All photos are here.

Hearts Under Fire - Kingston Act Theatre

I meant to write this blog before I went away but I didn't really get much of a chance. I went to see Hearts Under Fire supporting Don Broco at the Kingston Act Theatre. I'd never been to this venue before and it Kingston College's drama theatre so it was more of a makeshift venue. It had a very low stage and really beautiful side lighting rigs but the sound wasn't great. It looked more like a film set for a music video than a venue.

The security were insanely strict but that was mostly because it was an all ages event. Lecarla were also playing which was cool as I'd seen them play with HUF before.

Hearts Under Fire killed it as usual and I like the shots I got. Thanks to the size and spacing of the stage and venue, I got to try and take some shots fitting in all the members of HUF in one shot.

Lecarla

Don Broco

Hearts Under Fire

Lecarla photos can be seen here.

The rest of the Don Broco photos are here.

The HUF photos are here.

Gallows - Brixton Academy

I managed to get a photopass for Gallows who were supporting Cypress Hill at Brixton Academy thanks to the band. I was really looking forward to shooting in a big venue which I don't get to do too often and especially seeing Gallows there. One of the things I like about Brixton is the fact it has a really spacious photo pit and a big barrier which I normally am hopping on and off to go round other photographers and security. In big photo pits I feel so much more relaxed as I don't really have to worry about getting hit by the crowd or worry that my camera is going to get damaged. Also Brixton has a massive stage which means the band have more room to move about and aren't confined at all. It also made such a change to the small venue shows like The Fighting Cocks gig.

The one downside to Brixton (and especially when shooting support bands) is that the lighting can be really bad. It's normally one colour and all back lit with no front lighting which makes it hard to shoot. Needless to say it was like this and I was all set to have to pick my moments more than normal but halfway through the first song the lighting suddenly got bright and colourful. It was a dream to shoot in. It meant I could crank the shutter speed up and grab some cool shots.

The band were amazing and I think this is probably some of my favourite shots of Gallows. Big stages and big venues just give you so much more freedom to shoot and get different angles and cover the whole band.

I really like to think about what and where I'm going to shoot when taking shots of a band, like to plan a lot and anticipate as much as possible. Sometimes though luck really plays a massive part and it's about being in the right place at the right time. During the second song Frank jumped into the crowd and was one someones shoulders, I tried shooting with flash but he was too far away and they weren't brilliant. I decided to turn the flash off and shoot and hope to catch a stray bit of light or someones flash going off. I managed to get this shot which I love...

I've mentioned before that jump shot photos are like the holy grail of gig photography for me, I keep trying and I've got some that I like but there's always something like it's a bit blurred or someones foot/hand/guitar are cut off but I really think I nailed the shot of Frank jumping.

Needless to say the band were superb for what I saw. I had to shoot off straight after the three songs but it seemed like it was going to be a cracking set. I'm really proud of these photos.

The other Gallows photos are here.

Gallows - The Fighting Cocks & Bizarre Ball

Today's a big day for Gallows. They were supporting RATM at Finsbury Park and I'm pretty sure this is the largest crowd/highest profile show they've played. It's a really exciting time for the band (from an on looker's point of view). They are playing some great festivals over Europe and have some quite big support slots coming up too.

As a warm up for the RATM show and a few other ones coming up, they put on a secret last minute show at The Fighting Cocks in Kingston. It sold out in minutes.

The Fighting Cocks venue is basically the side room of a pub. The stage is quite low to the ground and this had me kinda worried as at least with a decent size stage it stops you from falling on it if the crowd is crazy.

This show was insane. It's quite possibly the hotest sweatiest show I've ever been to. I don't actually remember much of the last two songs as I think I was pretty close to passing out. Holding off the crowd at the front was so hard because I was having to put my foot on the stage to push back off but the stage was slippery. I ended up sitting on the side of a speaker by the stage.

The band sounded great and really seemed to enjoy the show. My camera kept steaming up and it was so hard clearing the lens when all my clothes were soaking, it fogged up a chunk of photos which was a shame but I think I did well considering.

I was thinking about it and this was the ninth time I've properly shot a Gallows gig which I think is pretty cool (I think I'm getting pretty close to having photographed them live more than anyone else except for maybe Craig Burton and Tiffany Mink. I could totally be wrong though haha). The last few times and including this show I've shot from the right hand side of the stage (when there's not been a barrier) so I think next time I'm going to have to switch sides as my photos of Lags and Stu aren't brilliant.

The support band, 33, put on a decent show too and they had Frank throwing himself around during a couple of songs.

After the gig I got home as quick as possible and went straight back out to Facedown for the Riot Girls (mentioned in the last update). This is one half of why I'm shattered.

One of my photos from Gallows' gig at The Peel was used for the poster of the gig too!

33

Gallows

The 33 photos are here.

The other Gallows photos are here.

After having very very little sleep, running around town all day and seeing Banbury Cross, I went to see Gallows play at the Bizarre Ball. I've been to the Bizarre Ball once before and it was quite a laugh. This year was a lot different. I don't know whether it was because I was tired or what but there was a very weird atmosphere there (a hell of a lot different to a burlesque show or something similar). I just didn't enjoy the night and was really glad to get home.

Gallows for the second day running were great and the runway that was connected to the stage gave Lags (especially) and frank a lot more room to throw themselves about and run about on.

One thing that put a downer on the night before I'd even got there was the fact I feel like I was pissed about by a load of the people involved. I reallly wanted to shoot this show as it was a mix of burlesque acts and Gallows. I emailed well in advance and emailed everyone I could (the venue, the magazine and the promotors) and no one bothered to get back to me I chased and only got a response a day or so before the event. The response I got was pretty much "we are up to our allocation on photographers". This is so frustrating especially as I emailed early but got no reply. Really felt like it put me in my place and reminded me how much of a nobody I am.

I took my Lomo Fisheye in and took some shots on that but they aren't great.

Other than Gallows, one highlight was the fact I said hello to Andrew Kendall and told him I've been a fan of his work (like a total dork).

The other fisheye shots are here.

Rolo Tomassi & Hearts Under Fire

So somehow this week I've ended up at four shows. It's been good a I've had pretty different experiences at all of them.

I found out pretty last minute that Rolo Tomassi were playing at Rough Trade on Thursday night, I raced over there from work to make sure I could get a wristband and it was totally worth it.

Rolo Tomassi really are great live and are like a whirlwind when they play. The thing I loved about seeing them at Rough Trade was the fact that because the stage is quite small it meant that James and Joseph had to play on the floor which just gave them more space to throw themselves about. Before they came on the lighting was quite decent but as they started RT dropped the lights a bit which was a shame. It was a lot different to a normal show as they were taking request for songs to play.

Pretty happy with the photos as a set and I managed to get a kinda cool jump shot as well.

The other Rolo Tomassi photos are here.

Yesterday I went to see Hearts Under Fire at The Garage. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love this band. They were on first but on quite late time-wise for a support. I got to hang with them for a chunk of time before they went on and had a long chat with Lexi when they were done. It really is impossible not to be smiling and laughing when I'm around those girls. They are probably the band I'd love to tour with the most, I reckon it would be so much fun. A dream would be to tour with them on Warped.

The photos themselves aren't brilliant. There was pretty much no lighting for them other than a faint hint of red and green and the stage it pretty small. The one good thing about the small stage is you can get down the sides.

Needless to say another superb performance.

The photos from the Hearts Under Fire show are here.