Gallows - Two Shows/One Day

Gallows announced a while ago that they were going to play Grey Britain in full at the Electric Ballrooom (and they also announced shortly after that they were going to do Orchestra Of Wolves in full at the Dingwalls on the same day). I was looking forward to the show and the more I thought about it, the more it felt like an incredibly important show/day.

The band have been through it all since the release of Grey Britain ranging from parting ways with their label to playing some of the biggest shows they've ever played (supporting RATM) and I felt like these shows (especially the Grey Britain one) was the end of an era. There had been a lot of rumors and talk about them splitting up and I was thinking that if they were going to split, this would be a good time to do it or it would end up being a statement that they aren't going anywhere. One of the other special things about the GB show was the fact they would be playing with a string section.

I've always wanted to try and shoot the whole experience of a show and shoot more than just the live performance and I desperatley wanted to try it for this. I emailed the guys and pitched it too them and they seemed happy to let me come down which I was over the moon about.

On the day I joined them pretty early on for their first soundcheck and tried to shoot as much as possible. I didn't really feel comfortable shooting backstage in their dressing room as this was really the first time I've properly spoken to most of the band and didn't want to push things too far. The day must have been quite stressful and tiring for them and I didn't want to shove a camera in their face while they were trying to relax and calm down. That was a pretty big regret for me.

I found the Dingwalls show pretty hard to shoot. There was no barrier and the crowd were going apeshit. I got stuck on one side of the stage (by Steph) and didn't feel I could get over to the otherside to cover Lags and Stu so I don't feel there's as much variaty as I would have like. The show was superb though.

The Electric Ballroom was going to give me a lot more freedom to shoot as there was a barrier and I could move about a lot more. In my head I had a lot of things I wanted to try and do as well as places/angles I wanted to shoot from. The show seemed to fly by and I tried to do the things I thought about but it wasn't as easy as I had hoped and I didn't feel like I was nailing the live stuff as easily as I have in that venue before. I missed a few things like Richard Carter coming onstage for 'Black Eyes'.

They had said all day they wouldn't be doing encores and I was at the back of the stage as they were finishing 'Crucifucks' and Steph mentioned they had decided to do 'Orchesta Of Wolves' but would I take a photo of the five of them onstage before they played again. I was absolutely shitting myself. I was panicing about the photos not coming out and having blown a massive moment for them. I got up on Lee's drum stool and just shot as much as I could hoping SOMETHING would come out ok.

While I was taking the shot I just had a realisation that this is what I've always wanted to do and this was what I had dreamed about doing. It also felt like I was part of something great. I went back into the pit to shoot the last song and felt incredibly overwhelmed and emotional. If you'd have told me six months ago that I would have been in this situation I'd have laugh at you. The GB show was truely stunning and the band over the day were amazing to be around. They've all been incredibly supportive and I still feel on a bit of a high.

It may seem silly to some people and shit loads of other photographers are in this situation all the time but this sort of thing doesn't happen to me. The band, the music and taking those photos meant the world to me and it was one of the best things that's ever happened to me.

As a whole I love a lot of the photos I took but I do think I could have done better and I could have done more but I'm hoping from this I'll get the chance to do this again and it could be the start of something good.

I really want to thank Frank, Steph, Lee, Lags and Stu along with Clare, Paul and all of the Gallows crew. I know I've done this a million times already.

The photos from the pre/post show and sound check photos are here.

The rest of the photos from the Dingwalls show are here.

The other Electric Ballroom shows are here.

The photos are also up on Frank's website (frankxcarter.com) and (twice as many photos) are on the Gallows Facebook page.

Quick post about the Gallows shows

I spent Friday photographing Gallows’ two album shows in Camden. I’m waiting to see what happens with the photos before I put a full set online but I uploaded this one.

Friday is a day I’ll never forget. I’ll write about it properly soon.

Also everyone should be reading Frank's blog anyway but there's a few of my photos from both Gallows shows on there now if anyone is interested.

Frankxcarter.com

Gallows - Back To The Dives Tour

It's been a while since I've photographed the Gallows live and I know I get nervous before shooting a lot of shows (especially before shows that might be pretty crazy or that doesn't have a barrier). This time I was more nervous after everything that went on with Banquet Records last time I photographed Gallows in Kingston.

Despite taking my camera with me I wasn't 100% sure if I was actually going to take photos but once I got there I decided that there was no way I couldn't take photos.

I'd read that the first band was meant to be Feed The Rhino but it turned out to be a band called Polar who were ok! They set up their pedal boards and microphones on the floort and played their set there which was pretty cool. I felt like I couldn't quite get the angles on the shots. TRC were the second band and it took me a while to get my settings right so the photos are a bit hit and miss but they are always interesting to watch.

I managed to get a spot at the front for Gallows and decided that this time I'd try and not stay in one place for the set. I stayed for most of the set in the middle but then moved to the edges to try and shoot Steph and Lags some more. It was a great show and I think the pictures came out alright.

Fingers crossed I'll get to be shooting their album shows and I can't wait.

Polar

TRC

Gallows

The rest of the photos of Polar are here.

The rest of the photos of TRC are here.

The rest of the photos of Gallows are here.

Banquet Records & photo usage

Before I get started with explaining whats happened between myself and Banquet Records, I would like to say that I know I'm not the first person this sort of thing has happened to and I won't be the last. I'm sure this won't even be the last time this happens to me.

The second thing I'd like to say is if you don't know me or haven't had any dealings with me when it comes to photos and photography but I hope this is something that comes across in my blog. I love taking photos, I love going to gigs and I'm not in this to get paid. I do it because of how it makes me feel. I don't watermark my photos and I try not to be too protective over them. I want people to see my images. I happily give bands, performers and venues my photos if they ask for them. It means a lot when someone wants to use my photos. I've turned down paid jobs because I don't believe my photos are worth the money. Most people I've given my photos to credit me or link back to my website/flickr/blog. This is all I want but by the same token I don't want people to take the piss and walk all over for me.

A couple of months ago I found that Banquet Records had used one of my Gallows photos for a poster to promote a Gallows gig they were putting on. I sent them an email and asked for a copy of the poster. Although I wasn't overly happy they had used the image without asking but it was Gallows so I was happy to see a poster with my image on.

At the start of August, Gallows were playing another show which was put on by Banquet Records and I saw when buying tickets that not only had they used another photo of mine (without asking) on this new poster but they were also selling copies.

I emailed them again and said that I wasn't happy about this being used again without permission and that I thought the selling of the poster was going a bit to far.

They sent me a few emails saying sorry and that they weren't making money on the posters, they were doing it for the fans and as something to take away. After a few emails back and forth I got them to add my name and website onto the poster and thought this would be the last of it. I could have demanded money or demanded the poster be taken down and not sold but what was the point? At least people were seeing my name on the poster.

I bought tickets for the show and they arrived on Saturday and inside there was a flyer for a Banquet Records run club night (New Noise) which had the same image on as the one used for the second poster. I felt like the fact that this was the third usage of one of my photos without asking was just going too far and felt like I was being walked over.

I emailed them and said...

I hate the fact that I'm having to write this email again but I just received my Gallows ticket and inside the envelope was a flyer for New Slang which has my photo on it (the same one used on the Peel gig poster) which once again has been used without my permission.

If the flyer was made before I emailed and complained then I feel let down by the fact you failed to mention that you'd used it more than once (are there any more instances of this image being used?). If those flyers are printed again I want the same credit line from the poster added to them.

If the flyer was made after I emailed, how could the same mistake happen again?

I am happy for you to use my photos if you let me know what they are being used for and ask permission (as well as provide credit).

If one of my photos is used again without my permission then I will take this matter further.

I don't think I've said anything wrong in this email but again, as this was the third usage without permission, I felt like I needed to say that if it happened a fourth time that I wouldn't just roll over and let it slide.

These were the two emails I received from different staff at Banquet records...

The New Noise flyers have rotating images at the top and are used for maybe a few weeks at a time when there is a memorable show that's appropriate for the club night. These were made the week after the show, long before you mailed originally. I've made so many variations of this flyer and they are such a small deal that I wouldn't have even thought about mentioning it. If it ended up in your ticket order it's probably just because the mail order flyers are the more out of date ones. I'm pretty sure it's not the one we're currently using but as I say...I do so many and they're used for such a short amount of time I don't know.

The poster was amended with the credit and hasn't been printed without it since.

As your last line suggests you will take further measures if this happens again...well obviously that won't happen again as we won't use any of the pics. We'll re-do the flyer tomorrow (when I'm actually at work, it's my day off right now). Also although as the photographer you do own the copyright to the image itself - on the same token the subjects of the photo have as much right to tell you you can't use it / profit from it unless you were issued a photo pass or given permission. The band were stoked on the pictures as it was one of their favourite ever shows and that's why they were used.

We simply do not have the time to go through every picture and credit it, which is why we have our own photographers at a lot of these events. As much as I appreciate you're just standing up for your art it will only serve to restrict the ability for anyone to bring cameras to shows in the future without approval / being issued a photo pass in advance, which is obviously not something we want to do.

And I mean jeeze, this would be different if we were Live Nation or any of those multi-national corporate promoters (who will have lots of small print about photos, model release stuff) but I mean...what exactly would be the point in taking anything further, If you want the broken chair with no back or the recycled garden furniture...sorry, workstation I use in our office you're welcome to it... :)

As I said, we will remove the photo and use the official one for the tour ASAP. Obviously we can't do anything about the ones that are already in circulation.

and...

Hi Derek

Yeah, just want to re-iterate what **** said really.

First off, genuinely sorry that you’re pissed about it… but as Dave said this flyer was done long before that Gallows Peel show poster was done. . You were probably sent a NN flyer with Frank Gallows on specifically because you’d ordered a Gallows ticket. Other than that, this flyer isn’t in ‘ciruclation’ as such. We have, for years, used different images on an otherwise generic New Noise flyer. Recently there’s been some sick shows at the cocks, and its to show that off and celebrate it... Currently we’re using the New Found Glory picture here http://www.banquetrecords.com/NewNoise

I wasn’t at that cocks show as I was at a stag do. And maybe this is why something wasn’t clear at the time, but the general gentlemen’s agreement we have is that if we’re letting someone use a camera, at New Slang, at The Cocks, at anywhere we do shows, then they’ll always let us use the pictures for promo on our site etc. I really don’t know what to do about all this. Its left a bad taste in my mouth about why people would want to take photos at our shows. Shows that, in more cases than not lose us money. Punk shows, by punks for punks. The whole ethic seems to be missing through the tone of the ‘taking this matter further’ comment. As I said last time this came up (which is the same issue for us, but understandably not for you), I don’t want to get to a point where we have to make people with good cameras (does an i-phone count?) sign contracts for release of photos… Do we ban cameras entirely? I dunno.

But yeah, both Dave and I failed to inform you of a flyer that was created about 2 months ago, as, quite honestly, we have other stuff going on in a day we have to deal with. We should have told you and for not doing so I’m sorry. But that’s about it.

It wont happen again, and I wish we’d never had that Gallows show for the hassles a poster and flyer has caused

I found both their responses to be rude and disrespectful considering they were in the wrong. I found the fact they have said in several emails that they are to busy to ask photographers if it's OK to use their images. It's just bad practice as a company and a designer and I think it's quite unprofessional. I know quite a few designers who would never do this as it could get them in serious trouble.

I found the last line about how he wished he hadn't put on the Gallows show because of the hassle I've caused to be both rude to myself and the band.

I don't like the fact that they think that because they don't have a camera policy at the gigs they put that it automatically gives them to the right to use photos without permission. I don't understand how you can have a 'gentleman's agreement' without actually agreeing it with photographers.

I really didn't feel like I was going to get any further with them through emails and just felt all that would happen would be that we'd carry on arguing. I emailed back to make sure they were aware that I thought they were being rude and disrespectful.

This was the reply I got...

Hey

Leaving aside the fact I find the talk of ‘taking this further’ also disrespectful against one of Gallows’ biggest supporters over the last decade, I’m sorry you feel this way.

Like I said below, genuinely sorry you’re pissed and sorry we both forgot that those NN flyers were even made

The irony is that we do all this stuff to please music fans such as you…

Nothing has been done with that image since the first email, and it wont be at any point again.

Up until now I've always said good things about Banquet Records and had a lot of respect for them as they've put on good shows and seemed like one of the good guys. I don't think they've acted like it in this situation.

I'm a big Gallows fan and the last thing I want to do is cause trouble for them. I am always grateful of the opportunities they have given me. If I have annoyed you guys or you would prefer that I don't take photos of your band I'll understand. I just want to be treated fairly.

I'm not sure what I would like to happen from all this. I feel like they don't really get where they've gone wrong and I feel uncomfortable at the idea of photographing any of shows now because they've made me feel like I'm the bad guy for complaining and wanting some credit/acknowledge/respect. Not money. I'm not trying to screw the shop over.

If I've done or said something wrong or handled this situation badly then please feel free to let me know Hopefully some other photographers can learn something from this as well as maybe some bands, record labels and venues.

Asking a photographer for permission doesn't take much and a little bit of effort to credit photographers goes a long way.

Thank you my friends and other photographers who have been very supportive on Facebook and Twitter.

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.

Hevy Fest 2010

Recently I've been very behind on photo editing. I've moved house and between that and work I've just really struggled to find time to get down to photos. This has stressed me out quite a lot. Thankfully I'm all up to date and I've got about four blogs lined up which I need to get through and get up.

A couple of weeks ago now I had a photopass for Hevy Fest. Firstly I'd like to say that the line up was fantastic and I saw some great bands over the weekend but I thought the organisation was pretty poor.

Transport to and from the festival was a joke, there were barely any buses and the festival didn't put on any shuttle buses or extra services like pretty much all festivals that aren't close to anything. They hadn't made the campsite big enough so there wasn't enough room for everyone when I turned up on the Saturday.

The most unorganised part of the festival was the security. The festival organisers had stated that the photo pit rules were three songs with no flash. This is pretty standard and I think everyone expects to have those rules but the security changed the rules for every band and just made it up as they were going on. We were allowed three songs for the first band but every photographer was told that we 'didn't have the right type of photopass' to shoot the second band. This resulted in at least 25 photographers going to the box office and complaining. They restated the three song rule and sorted it with the security. During the third band of the they kicked us out after half of the first song.

The security were saying they were kicking us out because of safety but virtually every time they did there were no crowd surfers and no rowdy fans or anything like that. They just seemed to ignore everything they were told and did what ever they were felt like. I know we were 'press' and 'in the way' but I just think if you are going to make rules then stick to them. Don't mess us about as it just makes everyone elses life hard.

There were two smaller tents with stages and because of the high number of photographers they were limiting how many photographers could be in the pit at one time which meant I had to make sure I got to the stages early to avoid being turned away.

I managed to shoot Glassjaw, The Subways, Lower Than Atlantis, Throats, Devil Sold His Soul, Young Guns, Bury Tomorrow, Gallows, Comeback Kid, The Computers, Rolo Tomassi, Hearts Under Fire, Trash Talk, Santa Karla, Dead Swans, TRC and Feed The Rhino.

The lighting for Gallows was terrible and once again we were kicked out after one song and this resulted in me taking the worst photos of Gallows I've shot. Was so disapointed. Getting to shoot Glassjaw was a dream come true and I'm thankful for that experience.

Another band I loved that weekend was The Subways. Having seen them before there were several things I was hoping and waiting for. The first was Billy has a habbit of doing massive jumps off the drum kit and the second is he tends to get in amongst the crowd or stage dive during their last song which is normally 'Rock & Roll Queen'. I manage to get a good spot in the middle of the stage and I managed to nail the jump and I made sure I had my camera all set up and ready for the last song and the minute I saw him getting ready to jump in I made a quick dash straight into the middle of the crowd and got some nice shots of him crowd surfing. I was also reminded of how much I love photographing Rolo Tomassi. They have this really nice swagger and stage presence and are just so easy to shoot.

I had a good time despite the trouble with security (I'm very thankful to Hevy for giving me a pass) and I got to hang about with some good people including some fellow photographers Ben and Penny.

I feel a little disapointed in some of the sets of photos as I've stressed over these photos for at least two weeks and once I got them sorted I felt a bit like 'is that it?'.

All the photos from the weekend can be seen 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.

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.