Lithuanian pop singer, Irena, contacted me about having some photos done and, although she originally wanted to do them all inside, it was such a lovely day I convinced her to have some outdoors as well and we got her a great variety of images all in the space of about an hour.
My “to-do” list has been steadily getting more and more out of control of late. It’s a good thing really. Work is busier than ever and we’re getting regular bookings for the year ahead, with wedding bookings confirmed up to August next year already.
On the music photography side I have a few projects on the go as well as regular gigs for mags like Rock Sound and Terrorizer. Shooting Despised Icon in Nottingham last week was a particular highlight for me. A fantastic small venue and a rowdy crowd for some extreme metal shenanigans. Despised Icon were amazing live – one of those bands that you have to witness on stage to truly appreciate. They’re from Montreal like Evelyne and we had a quick chat about the scene over there. Who knows.. I may even end up moving there some day.. Here’s a few pics from the gig:
Another gig last week was Bullet For My Valentine in Wolverhampton which I was reviewing and shooting for Rock Sound. Not my favourite band by any means but they had 2 good supports in the form of Skindred and Still Remains. My friend Lee Allen and I were the only photographers there and had plenty of opportunity for good shots.
I’ve spent some time this week setting up a new blog especially for reviewing local gigs. I’ve named it BIRMINGHAM LIVE! and added a few recent gigs just to flesh it out for now but I’m trying to encourage photographers and writers in the Midlands to get involved. A lot of people ask me how they can get into shooting gigs and it can be tricky getting photo passes for gigs unless you can show that the pictures will be out there for people to see. Hopefully this site will help people get their work seen, help them get passes for gigs, support local music and let people see images and reviews from gigs they may have been to. You can see the work-in-progress site at www.brumlive.com. There’s also a FACEBOOK GROUP
Being so busy with everything means I need to make a proper effort to schedule in some days off. Sunday was Evelyne and my first wedding anniversary (from the first registry office wedding for those that are keeping up!) so the computer was switched off and we headed out to Wales on what was a gorgeous sunny day with my newly dark-haired wife, our boy Elliott, our 2 dogs and, of course, my camera. We stopped off for a picnic by the canal and made it to Aberystwyth beach just in time for sunset…
This week I was asked to photograph the winning band from Channel 4′s Mobile Act Unsigned show. Envy & Other Sins won a million pound record contract and needed some images to use for promotional purposes. We spent a few hours with the band and tried to get a really good variety of shots for them. The whole thing was filmed for an upcoming programme on Channel 4 which looks at what’s happening with the band since winning the show. Here are a few of my faves from the day…
Billy Connolly once said “There’s no such thing as bad weather, there’s just the wrong clothing”. That may be somewhat true but unfortunately, when it comes to photo shoots, the people in front of my camera don’t necessarily want to be wearing overcoats and wellies. Especially when you’re the bride!
This weekend was very wet and that meant certain challenges as I undertook a fashion shoot in the woods, two band shoots and a wedding but in the end we just got out there and had fun, trying to avoid the worst of the weather whenever we could. Here are some of the results…
Claire & Dave’s wedding in Warwick was great fun with a fantastic bunch of people. The bad weather wasn’t allowed to dampen people’s spirits one bit and we got some great pictures for them. They’re in Canada for their honeymoon now and we’ll show them a slideshow of their day when they return. After that I’ll be able to post my favourites here.
The new issue of Live 24-Seven magazine came out and, apart from featuring some of my photography, also features a 2 page spread on our wedding! It’s quite amusing but also a really nice momento of an amazing day…
Back behind the camera things have been busy again after New Year and my first job for Terrorizer Magazine saw me down in London to meet with industrial metal band, Prong. A great band who I last saw live at the beginning of the 90s and I’m glad to say they’re still a fantastic live act.
The shoot was at Camden’s Underworld venue where I met with vocalist, Tommy for a quick portrait before sticking around to shoot the main gig.
While I was in London I popped over to the Rock Sound offices to meet everyone there and came out with a handful of great albums for my trouble, including Biffy Clyro, Bloc Party and Converge. It’s good to put a face to the people who I’m working for.
The big news for us this week though is that, since viewing the space in the Birmingham Jewelery Quarter for a potential studio for Steve Gerrard Photography, our friend Claire Evans contacted us to say she’s leaving her studio in the Custard Factory in Birmingham and would we like to take it over when she leaves? The Custard Factory is a great little area (originally the home of Bird’s Custard) with a very creative and funky vibe to it. Claire’s studio is already decorated nicely and pretty much ready for us to move straight in. We’ve met with the people concerned with the space and it’s all looking good for us to launch our first studio space just before Easter.
It’s an exciting time and Evelyne and I are already throwing lots of ideas around. It’ll be so much better to invite clients to the studio rather than meeting them at home or the local pub. And it’ll mean we can separate work and home a lot more which can only lead to a better quality of life for the family. Hopefully things will go smoothly and we’ll be in there by mid-March. Then we need to have a little launch party!
A new year and a new look to my blog. Hope you like it.
2007 has been an amazing year here with me getting married to Evelyne (twice!) and the arrival of our boy Elliott on July 17th. He and Evelyne are currently having fun in the Montreal snow.
New Years Eve for me was pretty relaxed compared to most years. I spent it in the Jug Of Ale pub with lots of friends and that’s not a bad way to start 2008.
2007 saw the business really start to gather momentum. I’m now working for more music mags than ever and the other side of the business has seen us photograph 13 weddings in 2007 and we already have almost 30 weddings confirmed for 2008. I never thought wedding photography would be something I’d enjoy but I’m loving every minute of it and get excited about each wedding I photograph. The next is this Saturday.
So, as 2008 begins, I’m feeling optimistic and excited about what’s coming up. I’m not great with resolutions but I really do need to stop being late all the time and I need to get myself a bit more organised too!
At the end of each year I try to choose my favourite albums from the last 12 months. There are more heavy bands in this year’s list. I’m not sure what that says about my current state of mind but it’s balanced out with a few Kates – Tunstall, Walsh and Nash! You’ll find the list below but in the mean time I just want to say Happy New Year to everyone and I hope it’s 366 days of fun, happiness and prosperity for you all.
All the best
Steve
Steve’s Albums Of 2007
Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero
Architect – All Is Not Lost
Machine Head – The Blackening
Hacride – Amoeba
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works
Eddie Vedder – Into The Wild
Interpol – Our Love To Admire
Idlewild – Make Another World
Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová– Once Soundtrack
The Red Chord – Prey For Eyes
Editors – An End Has A Start
Job For A Cowboy – Genesis
Soulsavers – It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s The Way You Land
Biffy Clyro – Puzzle
Since The Flood – No Compromise
KT Tunstall – Drastic Fantastic
Kate Walsh – Tim’s House
Ministry – The Last Sucker
Powderfinger – Dream Days At The Hotel Existence
Kate Nash – Made Of Bricks
The Ghost Of A Thousand – This Is Where The Fight Begins
Puscifer – V Is For Vagina
Radiohead – In Rainbows
Architects – Ruin
The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
Cold War Kids – Robbers and Cowards
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones we used to know..”
Bing Crosby may not have been the first to recognise the effects of global warming but I bet he was the first to sing a song about it!
Well, it may not have been a white Christmas here in jolly old England but Evelyne and Elliott are now in Montreal and, as you can see, it’s pretty damn white there now..
They flew over to Canada on Boxing Day to visit her family and friends. It was Elliott’s first plane trip and it went well from what I’m told. It has to be said that our travel genes seem to have been passed on to Elliott cos he looks very at home on a plane…
It’s been strange having the house to myself (I had to stay in England to shoot 3 weddings in 8 days) and I’ve been suffering from a little man flu since Christmas Day too, but I’m trying to keep myself occupied with work, magazines and Sky+. Before they left we had a great Christmas. Sunday saw lots of friends come over to the house for a little house party. Plenty of good food and drink was had by all and some people even took the trouble to bring a present for Elliott which was really nice. He loved all his presents too, even if he probably wasn’t sure quite what he was playing with most of the time! For some reason, everybody left the party really early (maybe our entertaining skills aren’t as good as we thought!) but it gave us the evening and all day Christmas Eve to chill out and enjoy our first proper family Christmas.
Unfortunately, late on Christmas Eve Elliott got quite a nasty fever and by Christmas morning we were considering having to take him to hospital but thankfully he started to improve again in time for his big trip. My parents and my brother changed their plans and came to visit us in Birmingham because he wasn’t well and, in the end, we had a fantastic Christmas Day.
The weddings this weekend were challenging again due to the fading light and some rain but I had a great time at both events and came home with plenty of great images for both couples. At the Saturday wedding I took some inspiration from my Yervant and Jerry Ghionis DVDs and used my video light for several of the portraits. I have to say I’m over the moon with the results and I think I may well be a video light convert. It’s so much more flattering than flash. As Evelyne was away, my good friend Bianca assisted me on both weddings and she was a star, even stepping in to help the brides with their hair as she’s an ex-hairdresser. She’s also a great photographer and it’s good to get coverage of the day from slightly different angles.
At the Saturday wedding one of the guests told me I’d inspired him to get back into photography again. I’m not quite sure how I inspired him but I’m more than pleased to have had an effect.
After being unwell and then having two weddings in two days, both of which saw me getting home after midnight, I’m still feeling less than 100% so I’m doubting a hardcore New Years Eve party is on the cards. It’s my first NYE off in over a decade though so I’m looking forward to just going with the flow and seeing where things take me. First though, I have to go over to see Alex & Steven to show them their wedding photos. Here are a few from their day…
I hope everybody had a great Christmas and I want to wish everyone a happy, fun, adventurous and prosperous New Year.
Cheers
Steve
ps. I almost forgot to mention… Envy & Other Sins won T4′s Mobile Act Unsigned competition! Congrats to Mark and all the boys.