Second City Soul – Birmingham Wedding Band
Second City Soul are a fantastic covers band playing classic and contemporary soul, funk and R&B.
They contacted me a while ago about doing some new promo photos and last week our schedules finally aligned to allow us to get together for the shoot 
Here are a few images from our time together…
Revenant Dead – Band Portraits
This is the second time I’ve done promotional pictures for local metal band Revenant Dead.
Since the last shoot my style has developed and so have my post-processing abilities. I now use better cameras, better lenses and extra lighting on occasion. I knew I wanted to get much better photos this time around and I think we managed it. The band sent me some images from movies such as Inglourious Basterds for inspiration and I tried to give some of the final images that dramatic movie look.
Here are a few of the final images…
Revenant Dead’s new album, Two Evils, is released on 2nd March.
Delphic and Biffy – Published!
The new issue of Practical Photography is out and I’m pleased to have a double page spread in there featuring a shot I took of Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro.
I also give some tips on shooting live gigs.
Closer to home, My photos of rising stars Delphic are featured in the new Brum Notes mag, with one picture making the cover. Which is nice
Check out Delphic’s album which was released this week. They’re being called the new New Order.
Delphic – Band Shoot
If you pay attention to what certain music mags say, Delphic are gonna be huge in 2010. That all remains to be seen but I have to say I like what I’ve heard so far. Check out their video from Later.. With Jools Holland below.
Local magazine Brum Notes asked if I’d do some shots of the band for their next cover and I was happy to oblige. A 3pm shoot ended up happening after 4pm due to the band’s soundcheck so it was dark outside which killed my original idea for the shoot. I decided to go for something a bit dark and moody instead and here are a few of the results…
They’re lovely lads by the way, so I hope they do go on to big things in the next 12 months
Emalkay – DJ Portrait Shoot
Emalkay is a DJ and producer who has risen to prominence this year with some huge tunes which have been in heavy rotation on Radio 1 amongst others. His tune “When I Look at You” was The Guardian’s and Zane Lowe’s Single Of The Week.
On top of that he’s toured the world DJing. His year ends with a huge event at The Custard Factory in Birmingham, where our studio is located.
Emalkay’s management decided the time was right for some new promo shots and so we met up at our studio before heading to the roof of the Custard Factory and then inside the building before finishing on the streets of Digbeth. Here are my faves from the shoot.
Gypsy Pistoleros – Band Portrait Shoot
Gypsy Pistoleros call themselves “the world’s greatest flamenco rockers”. They list their influences as Motley Crue and Hanoi Rocks but also The Gypsy Kings!
They got in touch with me as they needed some new band portraits so we met up one Friday afternoon at their rehearsal space and, over the course of an hour or two, got some pretty cool shots. Here are a few of my faves…
This last one is probably my favourite from the day.
Point Blank Fury – Band Photography
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to shoot the metal band, Point Blank Fury, as they were recording and gigging a lot but desperately needed new promo shots.
We met up at their rehearsal space in Birmingham and, over the space of an hour or so, set out to get a good selection of images for them to use. If you like your music on the heavy side, check out their MySpace page.
Here are just a few images from the session…
Copious – Band Photography Shoot
There are plenty of great unsigned bands in Birmingham and I recently ran into Larkin, frontman with Copious, and we talked about doing a shoot some time as they really needed some decent band portraits. So, one Friday evening we met up at the Rainbow pub in Digbeth and spent about half an hour getting photos inside the venue and around the surrounding backstreets. Here are a few we came back with…
Later that night the band headlined the Rainbow and asked me to come along and get some live photos too…
Download Festival 2009
For the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to photograph some of the UK’s biggest music festivals and probably my favourite is the Download Festival at Donington Park which sees the best rock, metal, hardcore and punk bands play across four stages over three days.
This year saw some of the most legendary bands ever grace the main stage while plenty of great new bands could be found rocking the smaller stages. The weather was glorious all weekend and, although I had to miss the Saturday due to a booked wedding, I got to shoot a ton of cool bands, including some bands I grew up listening to when I was at school.
After choosing my favourite images from the weekend I still had over 500 photos so here are just a small selection from Friday and Sunday at the festival….
Faith No More
Korn
The return of Limp Bizkit
Bring Me The Horizon
The infamous Dio t-shirt with shockingly bad rogue apostrophe!
Ex Guns n Roses/Velvet Revolver bassist, Duff McKagen
A quick backstage shot of Montreal band Voivod. I saw them in London 23 years ago when I was at school!
Killswitch Engage
Parkway Drive
A Day To Remember
Motley Crue refused to allow any photographers in the pit in front of the stage. Maybe Vince Neil is worried we might photograph his beer gut! I tried to grab a picture from the crowd but it wasn’t easy..
And my favourite band of the weekend – the mighty Meshuggah
Sunday started early with Trigger The Bloodshed. It’s a weird experience watching brutal death metal bands on a Sunday morning in blazing sunshine!
Then I grabbed the guys from Suicide Silence backstage for a couple of portraits before they went onstage.
Sunday on the mainstage was all about classic rock and I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed Journey.
And what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the sun than watching ZZ Top!?
If you haven’t heard about Steel Panther yet.. you will! Not to be taken seriously whatsoever they can be described as a mix of Spinal Tap, 80s glam rock and Zoolander. They put a smile on everyone’s face and were introduced on stage by Jackass star Bam Margera.
The front row for Steel Panther…
Back on the main stage the classics kept coming thanks to Whitesnake.
The younger fans were all over at stage 2 though to see Papa Roach and Trivium.
The weekend wound up with rock megastars Def Leppard.
I had a great weekend. I met up with good friends, saw some fantastic bands (and some awful ones), got a tan and came home with plenty of great photos. Can’t wait for Download 2010…
Anaal Nathrakh – Band Portraits
Last week I met up with Dave & Mick who, together, make up the extreme metal band Annal Nathrakh. I had been asked by Terrorizer magazine to get some new band portraits for a feature to coincide with the release of their new album In The Constellation Of The Black Widow.
Do not listen to the music on their MySpace page if you enjoy pleasant, easy-listening music with a catchy chorus!
