One of the albums I’ve been playing repeatedly for the past couple of weeks is the debut from LA’s Funeral Party.

I caught them on this Channel 4 feature and was interested to see they were about to play in Birmingham, so I made sure I was there to shoot the gig.

In fact, I was the only photographer there!

They were great live too. Recommended.

Dolls Eye Weaver are a local punk rock band whose influences range from Rancid and Social Distortion to Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.

They’ve been around in one form or another for a few years but have recently decided to take things a little more seriously so thought it was about time for some new band portraits.

The band’s frontman, Matt, emailed me about a week ago about setting up a shoot and we managed to schedule it in for bright & early Saturday morning. I always aim to get a good variety of images within a reasonably short space of time. All these photos were taken in around an hour.

I’m hoping to catch the band live when they play the Academy in a couple of months.

Apart from shooting 48 weddings in 2010, I was also busy in between shooting bands. I work regularly for magazines such as Rock Sound, Terrorizer and Metal Hammer as well as shooting for the Birmingham Live site which I launched 3 years ago.

I’ve also shot a bunch of band portraits, mostly for local bands and I hope to do much more of those in 2011.

It’s been a mixed bag too. From legends like Kiss, Aerosmith and Glen Campbell to popstars Peter Andre, The Saturdays & Olly Murs. From extreme bands to acoustic singer/songwriters. And I finally got to photograph my favourite band, Pearl Jam. Twice!

All in all a great year and here are some of my faves from the past 12 months. Enjoy!

**** NOTE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS – WE WILL BE ANNOUNCING A MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP VERY SHORTLY. WATCH THIS SPACE ****

AEROSMITH

PAUL WELLER

LISSIE

ARCHITECTS

THE SATURDAYS

KINGS OF LEON

AC/DC

&U&I

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

BLONDIE

TINCHY STRYDER

CONVERGE

FESTIVAL VIBES

DELPHIC

FLORENCE & THE MACHINE

DARK FOREST

PAOLO NUTINI

MOTORHEAD

DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL

OLLY MURS

BLEEDING THROUGH

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE

COPIOUS

SLASH

DIRTY MINDZ

KT TUNSTALL

LIAM GALLAGHER

AUGUST BURNS RED

PETER ANDRE

CROWD SURFER

STEREOPHONICS

KYLESA

THE SCRIPT

DEFTONES

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE

DETRALATE

DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL CROWD

TRICKY (smoking a naughty cigarette!)

WAR FROM A HARLOT’S MOUTH

EDITORS

PEARL JAM

POWDERFINGER

TOMORROW BRINGS GIANTS

PARKWAY DRIVE

PUNKS

PALOMA FAITH

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM

INTERPOL

STRANGETIME

IMOGEN HEAP

CROWD

EMMURE

GLEN CAMPBELL

SEASICK STEVE

FAITHLESS

JIMMY EAT WORLD

THE PRODIGY

JAY-Z

WHITE LIES

KISS

THE COURTEENERS

JOB FOR A COWBOY

DOVES

MANIC STREET PREACHERS

THE SWELLERS

OCEAN COLOUR SCENE (playing in a pub 5 minutes from our studio)

REVENANT DEAD

PARAMORE

SUZANNE VEGA

DEAD OR DIVINE

And finally, one of me at work, taken by my friend Bianca Barrett

Dark Forest are a Birmingham based band who have been described as a “fusion of NWOBHM, thrash and a strong sense of Celtic melody will have a lot of bigger labels kicking themselves wondering how this lot slipped under their radar”.

I asked them what would be their perfect support slot and they struggled to think of  a band they sound like, but then opted for Iron Maiden.

They  came to me as they felt they needed new photos to help them get to the next stage with the band. We met just before dark and hoped to get some dramatic skies and moody locations to get the kind of shots they were after. I think we did alright…

I’ve done a few band portrait shoots recently and really enjoy pushing myself to get something which will help bands stand out from the pack and help labels take them seriously. I use simple lighting set-ups, sometimes just natural light, and then spend time giving them the look I’m after in Photoshop.

The editing techniques I use for these shoots are quite different to what I’d use on weddings and other portraits but bands often suit something more dramatic so I think it works well.

Detralate describe themselves as “a melodic death metal band (inspired by bands like In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Lamb of God etc.) and have been together over 5 years. They’re just about to start promoting their debut album, so needed some new images to go along with the new album.

All these photos were taken within a few hundred yards of our studio in central Birmingham…

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…

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 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…

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 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.