Band Portrait Photography
One of things I enjoy when shooting band portraits is experimenting with the post-production.
Bands tend to book me for an hour’s shoot but in that time I aim to get a variety of images for them that look like they were taken at different times and locations. This hopefully makes for a more professional looking set of images.
Local band Dirty Mindz are a local upcoming rock band who needed some new promo shots and, despite some awful weather, we ended up with a great collection of photos for them.
Here are some of my faves…
New Band Portraits
Recently I’ve been doing a few more band portraits. I really enjoy the chance to get these kind of shots, sometimes just before or after I shoot the actual gig, as with all the shots here.
Above are local boys, Tomorrow Brings Giants, who played their first ever hometown gig just after this shot was taken.
Next up are another local band, StRANGEtIME, who were runners-up in last year’s Win A Band Photoshoot competition on this blog. As runners-up they won a live shoot, but I wanted to grab a qucik band portrait at the venue too.
Next up are The Swellers from Flint, Michigan, currently gaining plenty of interest, partly thanks to their friend Hayley from Paramore who has been raving about them in interviews for a while.
I was in Nottingham to shoot their gig for Rock Sound mag and managed to collar the band after the show for a quick shot.
By the way, these guys are so nice!!
Lastly, Canadian band, Dead & Divine, are a group I’ve listened to a lot recently so when they stopped off for a small gig in Birmingham I made sure I went down to see them. And shoot them.
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.
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.
Isolated Atoms – Band Photo Shoot
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to meet up with local band on the rise, Isolated Atoms, who were shooting their debut video which you can see on their site HERE
They wanted to get some new promo shots to add to the ones I did earlier in the year for them but this time were after a few that were a little darker and moodier. I think we got some pretty cool shots…
After getting some moody images inside we headed out into the car park for a few more…
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…
Win a Free Band Photoshoot!
With the amount of bands out there in the world of MySpace, it’s more important than ever to have a great collection of images to help your band stand out from the crowd. I’ve been shooting bands for years now and thought it’d be fun to offer unsigned bands the chance of a free photoshoot. The competition has been promoted elsewhere but I wanted to mention it on the blog too just in case.
Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to be an accredited photographer for bands such as Radiohead, Metallica, Kiss, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Iron Maiden, The Sex Pistols, Bon Jovi and Kings Of Leon. I’ve also shot artists as diverse as Liza Minelli, Slayer and Girls Aloud! My work has been published in magazines including Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, NME, Terrorizer, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound.
So here’s the deal.. If you’re in an unsigned band, or even if you’re an unsigned solo artist, and you’d like a collection of new images for your website/flyers etc, just answer the following question and email me the answer along with the name of your band, location and a contact phone number.
QUESTION – WHAT WAS STEVE’S FAVOURITE ALBUM OF 2008?
Competition ends – March 31st Deadline extended to April 12th (EASTER SUNDAY)
Good Luck!
(Hint: The answer can be found on this very blog)
Aydin Rocks!
Just before Christmas I received an email from Los Angeles. It was from a band manager looking for a photographer to shoot some portraits of a guitarist called Aydin who is hoping to take the leap into the big time and a potential sponsorship with Fender Guitars.
Aydin came to the studio and, after a quick simple portrait against the white studio wall, we headed out into the streets of Digbeth. In just over an hour we got a great collection of varied images and Aydin was super-cool in front of the camera. Here’s just a few of the finished photos…
FAVOURITE!!!
A little bit of Oasis attitude
Good luck with everything Aydin. Don’t forget me when you’re famous! 
The Melvins
Some bands become legendary and sell out stadiums. Others may still be playing small clubs well into their career but are no less legendary in the eyes of their fans. One such band are The Melvins and I got to spend some time with them recently in Nottingham to get some new photos for Rock Sound magazine. The band were a huge influence on bands such as Nirvana, Tool and Soundgarden and continue to do their own thing. Frontman Buzz was in a band with Kurt Cobain before Nirvana even formed and makes for a great portrait subject wit his crazy “Sideshow Bob”-style hair. Here are my fave photos from our session..
