Samir Hussein

New Blog

2010-01-07T06:41:00.006Z

Hi,

Happy new year!
I've just moved this blog and all it's contents from Blogger to Tumblr. It should allow me a lot more flexability and give me the opportunity to update more often. You can find the newlook blog here:

http://samirhussein.tumblr.com/

Thanks,

Sam

London Film Festival

2009-11-25T15:57:00.009Z

Just over two weeks ago I finished working on the 2009 BFI London Film Festival where I was shooting for Getty Images as the inhouse photographer.
It was a busy 14 days shooting, covering press calls during the day, premieres - both red carpet and inside arrivals - in the evenings and after parties at night.
Although not in the same league as the likes of Cannes, the LFF is growing in stature each year and seems to have good backing behind it. The opening gala was for 'The Fantastic Mr Fox' which attracted George Clooney, his model girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis and Cindy Crawford. Elsewhere there were plenty of well known faces attending the premieres and parties.

As you'd expect, as well as snapping away during the festival I got to speak to many people involved in the films and learnt quite a bit about the upcoming movies. A couple that seemed really interesting were 'No One Knows About Persian Cats', about the underground rock scene in Iran and 'The Prophit'which went on to win best film at the award ceremony which concluded the festival.
Below are the stars of the 'No One Knows About Persian Cats' Negar Shaghaghi and Ashkan Koosha posing with Colin Firth, who is backing the film and director Bahman Ghobadi. Also, director Jacques Audiard and screenwriter Abdel Raouf Dafri from 'The Prophit'.

www.samirhussein.com

Trafalgar Square At Night

2009-10-23T19:57:00.003+01:00

I spent last night on the roof of the National Gallery and the Canadian Embassy photographing Trafalgar Square as it hosted an outdoor screening as part of the London Film Festival.
As you can see the view was spectacular.

www.samirhussein.com

B-Boy World Finals

2009-10-20T17:48:00.007+01:00

As the official photographer I've been covering many aspects of the build up to the B-Boy world championships in the UK for the past few months, from the regional and national finals right up to the world finals itself, which took place last weekend at a packed-out Brixton Academy.
Watching B-Boy battles (essentially break dancing to hip hop beats) is spectacular and the highlight of the various competitions, with include everything from popping to one-on-one contests, is the crew battles. Featuring the best 8 teams from around the world, it's been described as a James Brown concert meets a boxing clash and the intensity when two crews line up to battle and out do each other is incredible.
The eventual winners were the USA (posed in second photo from top), who narrowly beat Korea in the semi final and defending champions Russia in the final.
Seeing the best break dancers in the world in this environment was one of the best spectator events I've ever come across.
There was even a world record which I was on hand to help photograph for the Guinness Book of Records. Roxy (bottom photo), from UK crew Soul Mavericks, set a new record for the amount of head spins in a minute: 71! It made me dizzy just trying to photograph it.

www.samirhussein.com

Daily Mirror Front Page!

2009-10-12T14:25:00.003+01:00

My photo of Stephen Gately in his last public appearance before his death made the front page of the Daily Mirror today.

www.samirhussein.com

Stephen Gately Dies

2009-10-11T12:57:00.001+01:00

I took these pictures of Stephen Gately arriving at the Pride of Britain Awards with Ronan Keating just five days before his death was sadly announced on Saturday night.
Why he died appears to be a bit of a mystery at this time, but here he looks healthy, bright and happy at what was his last public appearance. It really does bring it home home when someone you've seen and photographed so recently suddenly dies.

Here's how the News of the World broke the sad news, using my photo.

www.samirhussein.com

Lil' Wayne Plays Hammersmith Apollo

2009-10-08T21:54:00.004+01:00

I'd not knowingly heard the music of Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil' Wayne before this gig, but knew of his fame in the US, so thought it'd be a good one to cover.
Poor lighting aside, it didn't disappoint. Although really not my type of sound Lil' Wayne was hyper on stage and the fact he'd come out 30 minutes late added to the edge he and the charged-up crowd gave the night.
My best shot of the night was this first one below of him jumping. Had the light been less saturated and red I think it could have produced a crisper shot, but given the conditions I was very pleased with the frame.

www.samirhussein.com

London Fashion Week

2009-09-30T12:52:00.020+01:00

London Fashion Week, home to a staggering amount of arrogance and pomp.
If you can ignore that and the 16 hour days though, you're on to a winner as the it does make for some startlingly good images and attracts well-known faces from the celeb/fashion worlds and beyond. Plus there's free champagne at every big show, which, let's face it, makes all the hard work a lot easier to deal with.
So, all this aside, what actually makes up my work at Fashion Week?
The work starts weeks before, with obtaining an official photographer's pass from the organisers. This allows you access to the shows at Fashion Week's new home - the impressive Somerset House. However, may of the other big shows - Vivienne Westwood, Burberry, PPQ etc - take place at other venues around London and require an additional invite from the designers' PR. These are hard to come by, with access tight, so takes a great deal of work to secure an invite.
Come the day of the show, you need to get to the venue early to mark up. There are a huge amount of photographers, from all over the word, fighting for the best possible vantage point to photograph the models from cramped area at the end of the catwalk. Typically I'll get to the venue and claim a spot (putting down tape and writing my name on it) at least two hours before the show. A good position is vital and you need to stay vigilant that no-one else tries to take your spot, which inevitably someone does.
The catwalk show itself last around 10-15 minutes and generally looks great to shoot - with lighting, clothes and models all amazing. Of course, attention needs to be paid for any well known models, such as Naomi Campbell (below on the right) and quirky outfits which the press love. Here's some of my catwalk photos from the week.

I was lucky enough to gain backstage access to most of the shows, so would generally spend a hour doing general reportage of the models getting ready, having their make-up applied and the last minute panics involving things like clothes malfunctions. I'll also take some time to do some portraits. This is one of the best parts to covering Fashion Week as you get to see how everything comes together, while guests are oblivious to all this, knocking back champagne, air kissing and.

The models don't usually mind being photographed getting ready, probably knowing that they look good whatever state they're in. One exception was Daisy Lowe (pictured below on the left) who would only let me photograph her with her dog after eye make-up was applied.

After getting what portraits and coverage I can from backstage, I rush out, re-check my position at the end of the catwalk, which inevitably ends up with an arguement with another late-coming photographer trying to take my spot and then go on the look for any celebs who might be attending the show. They tend to be given front row seats, but only take them at the last second, so it requires a few quick shots before changing lenses, removing flash and taking up my crammed position as the models walk out.

The big designers are often the stars of their show meaning such well-know faces as Vivienne Westwood and Henry Holland will parade out with the models at the end.

At the end of all that, there's the editing to do and photos to be sent off to clients before moving on to the next show. Time restrictions mean this isn't always possible, which means editing into the early hours of the morning after the shows are finished.
Naturally this means a lack of sleep and a consisting largely of champagne, coffee and take aways, but it's certainly worth it when I can sit back a week later and see the full scope of my coverage.

www.samirhussein.com

V Festival

2009-08-25T17:00:00.006+01:00

Glorious sunshine and heavy schedule shooting big, commercial artists was the order of the weekend at V.
Artists such Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Pixie Lott and Dizzee Rascal have been getting big amounts of media attention with their antics on and off the stage, so in terms of potential photo sales this was a cracker. Add bands as huge as The Killers into the mix and it leaves little time to do much other than run around from one stage to the hour shooting, editing and knocking back the odd beer. There wasn't even time watch England winning the Ashes unfortunately, but hey, if I'm not going to be seeing that, a festival is about as good a place to be.
The downsides to the weekend were Oasis pulling out, missing out on shooting Amy Winehouse playing with The Specials (although only one photographer was present for this as she only appeared for the encore when we were all shooting someone else) and Lady Gaga ridiculous 90seconds of photographing per song rule.
Overall, for a festival I wouldn't pay to go - the commercial feel to the festival means it pales in comparison to gatherings like Glastonbury and Bestival - it was well organised and good fun.

www.samirhussein.com

New Logo

2009-08-13T14:03:00.007+01:00

Here's a potential new logo I may use for my new website, which is under construction. Still playing around with things, but the whole outlook of the site will be hosted by Photoshelter and is looking a lot more professional.

www.samirhussein.com

Europe Road Trip

2009-08-12T13:55:00.006+01:00

August is a relatively dead month for jobs with so many people on holiday, few events are planned.
With this is mind, I decided to take 8 days off and go driving around Europe with my friend, Norwegian journalist, Hans Torgersen. The images below are some of my snaps are we travelled through Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France.

One of the highlights of the journey was a stop off in France at the restaurant of one of France's most celebrated chiefs, Alain Chapel. These couple of pics show us enjoying a glass of champagne in the garden on a hot summer's night. A nice thought ahead of getting back to finding some work in London this August.

www.samirhussein.com

Amy Winehouse In Court

2009-07-25T18:46:00.004+01:00

The world of Amy Winehouse is nothing short of crazy and her appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court on an assault charge proved just that.
Amy photographs are used worldwide so it was no surprise to find 50 plus photographers from different fields and news crews awaiting her arrival from 7am onwards. Showbiz photographers were out in force as well as paps and news photographers making a real cross over of different genres and a lot of snappers we'd not normally come across.
Her arrival was pretty straight forward - we were all behind a barrier allowing her easy access to walk with her father and solicitors into court.
However, mayhem ensued when she came out for a cigarette break as paps broke from the behind the barrier to sorround her and it was during this small time period that I got my best pictures of her. In seconds there was a media frenzy around her, with her security forming a ring around the singer as she stood against a wall and casually puffed away.
Thinking on my feet I climbed some stairs to the side of her to get a better view. The image below shows the scene.

Knowing I need her to look up in my direction to get a decent photo I called to her a few times, she heard me, looked up for a second and I got a couple of great images.

The next day, the picture of her smoking was used in the Metro (below) and I'm hopefully these two images will be used a lot more in the future.

www.samirhussein.com

Guardian Front Page!

2009-07-22T19:03:00.002+01:00

I'm delighted to have got the front page of The Guardian today!
It's a photo of La Roux, I took about 10 days ago at the Roundhouse in Camden and was used in conjunction with her being nominated for the Mercury Music Prize along with a host of other female artists.
It was used pretty big and included a byline. Brilliant!

www.samirhussein.com

VV Brown's Visuals

2009-05-11T22:05:00.004+01:00

I've spent the past couple of nights photographing the Turning Point Festival taking place at the Roundhouse. Several hot artists of the moment were involved, including Tinchy Stryde, currently at number one in the UK singles chart and The Noisettes, who are hard to escape whenever you turn the radio on.
The main act last night was VV Brown, pop's latest style queen. Now, her back drop for the most part featured her name in bright colours, like this:

That looked pretty good.
However, her visuals also featured some video footage and bizarrely that footage happened to include my good self photographing her as she performed. Those that know me will recognise me below in action behind VV as the Roundhouse audience look on.

www.samirhussein.com

Istanbul

2009-05-05T10:49:00.012+01:00

Here are a few pictures I took with a compact camera during a visit to Istanbul in January. The city was fascinating, not least from a photography point of view with a coming together of eastern and western cultures and stunning architecture which made for great skylines.
Of all the places I've visited I'd say it's up there with Cuba and Morocco for great locations to take photos. I intend to return armed with my professional camera and dedicate some time at sunrise and sunset, when the light is perfect, to capturing some more the city and its people.

We were lucky enough to be get to enjoy a stay in the Istanbul Swissotel and its amazing views overlooking the Bosphorus river, which separates Europe from Asia.

www.samirhussein.com

Recent Published Work

2009-04-16T15:17:00.006+01:00

The truth is, with my work syndicated internationally, I don't get to see even a fraction of my photos which are published. Occasionally I get a heads up from a friend or someone in the industry (as happened with the double page spread in Spin magazine below), but it's usually only by looking at my sales reports that I get any idea of what's being used where. And even then it would take a whole lot chasing up of time and effort to get hold of the published piece.
The following cuttings I stumbled across while looking through the UK papers. It's really important as a photographer to look through as many papers and mags as possible to understand how photos are used, which pics they're choosing and why.

Spin magazine (double page spread!)

Coldplay in the London Lite

Girls Aloud in the Evening Standard

Alice Delall topless in the Daily Star (no surprise the Star chose to use this)

Pussycat Dolls in The London Paper

www.samirhussein.com

Updates. I'm back!

2009-04-08T16:08:00.018+01:00

Right, I haven't been blogging for the past two months, mainly through being really busy and losing my rhythm. From now on, because of my workload I'm not going to try to blog after every job, instead write more in depth once or twice a week with the highlights of the jobs I've been working on.
Also you'll notice I've included my twitter feed at the top of the blog, so you follow what I'm doing on a daily basis, both photographically and personally.
Finally, February and March has been very pleasing months for quality of pictures, so I'm post my highlights below.

Fashion Week proved to work out really well for me in February.

February was a very busy month and along with Fashion Week included the Brit Awards.

Big name stars to have walked the red carpet over the past few months have included Julia Roberts, looking very unglamorous in a black suit, and Jennifer Aniston.

Familiar faces also featured as I shot Peter (as he now wants to be called) Doherty in concert and Amy Winehouse appearing at court.

Glamour came in the form of a Moet party with appearances from Scarlett Johansson and Eva Herzigova, whose picture below I would rate amongst the best I've taken this year.

I also joined Spandau Ballet on HMS Belfast as they announced their comeback.

www.samirhussein.com

Prince Charles & Camilla Visit Mosque Plus Film Awards

2009-02-04T16:42:00.004Z

This proved to be a very welcoming trip to the Dawoodi Bohra Mosque in Northolt, where I was served tea, given food and granted access inside the Mosque to photograph Prince Charles and Camilla's visit. It made for some interesting photos too.

Later that day I covered the London Critics' Circle Film Awards at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane. Not one of the better know awards ceremonies, but there were a few names worth shooting including Dev Patel, the lead in international hit move, Slumdog Millionnaire and Dame Judi Dench (both below)

www.samirhussein.com

Chaka Khan Plays Shepherds Bush Empire

2009-02-03T14:02:00.005Z

Fantastic soul diva to shoot - she put so much emotion effort into her vocals, which make for great shots.

www.samirhussein.com

Snow! And The Kooks' Secret Gig

2009-02-01T17:31:00.008Z

Today we experienced London's heaviest snowfall since the early 90s causing the city to grind to a standstill. I was suffering from a bad cold, but forced myself up to Primrose Hill to get some snaps, and found seemingly half of London were tobogganing down the slopes. I also spotted Lily Allen and got a frame or two as she enjoyed the snow, but unfortunately the paps had already been following her all day and no doubt blitzed all pics which would make the papers.

Later that night, still feeling terrible, I headed for the Hawley Arms where The Kooks' front man was performing a secret gig. I was hoping he'd have his new girlfriend, Micsha Barton, in tow, but she turned out to be in the States.

www.samirhussein.com

Seasick Steve Plays The Hammersmith Apollo

2009-01-31T18:23:00.000Z

A great gig to photograph - nice lighting, interesting character, imaginative backdrop & props plus good blues music. I was really pleased with the set of photos I got, a combination between close ups capturing his expressive face and wider shots showing his stage set. Seasick Steve is also excellent with the crowd using a lot of interaction, which I always appreciate.

www.samirhussein.com

John Martyn RIP

2009-01-29T12:32:00.005Z

I was saddened to hear of the death of blues and fold musician John Martyn today. I was lucky enough to photograph him in 2006 performing his classic album 'Solid Air' which was a pleasure despite his inebriated state.
Doing a quick search online I notice quite a few papers and news organisations ran my pics of him in their obituary. Below are a couple examples.

www.samirhussein.com

The Duchess Of Cornwall Visits RAF Halton

2009-01-28T23:22:00.003Z

A bit of a wasted job this one, due largely to the army not allowing us to get close to Camilla - despite numerous security checks and the fact that the photographers were well know to the Clarence House, who look after Charles and Camilla's visits. They also seemed overprotective about how close she could get to army personal, which was a shame as some of them were wearing gas masks and undertaking drills, so it could have made for a fairly interesting shot.
Instead we were basically left to photograph HRH walking around a hanger. All this on my Birthday too, not great.
It was at least over by lunchtime allowing me to enjoy the rest of the day.

www.samirhussein.com

Pussycat Dolls Perform at 02 Arena

2009-01-27T14:47:00.001Z

I've been in Istanbul for a few days, which is why there's been a gap posting items. I'll try and add some general photos from the trip when I get a chance.
First job back was photographing The Pussycat Dolls at the 02 Arena, which went well. The lighting was all over the place - rapidly changing between being very bright and dark, which made metering tricky, but I adapted my settings where need be and was pleased at my set. Nicole Scherzinger, Lewis Hamilton's girlfriend, was the obvious source of attention and I spent a lot of our allotted time getting strong solo images of her.

www.samirhussein.com

Valkyrie Premiere

2009-01-22T00:45:00.002Z

Following on just a few days from the Winslet/DiCaprio London premiere was the screening of Tom Cruise's latest film, 'Valkyrie'. Not bad for what is generally considered a quiet month for the industry.
Tom arrived with his wife, Katie Holmes, and even posed for photos before setting off for his usual marathon autograph signing session, which lasts hours. You can't deny the effort his makes to his devotees, but I do find Mr Cruise a strange man.
But as with the 'Revolutionary Road' premiere, I was pleased with my photos. It was great to get such strong images one of Hollywood's best known couples.

www.samirhussein.com

Franz Ferdinand Play Heaven

2009-01-20T13:29:00.005Z

This was the opening concert of the NME Awards Shows, a series of gigs leading up to the music mag's annual ceremony in February.
Heaven was a venue I'd not shot at before, a rarity for me in London, and I have to say it's pretty poor photography wise. The stage is extremely high, so when shooting from the pit you're right under the artists noses. I actually photographed the support, US band Of Montreal, from the crowd as the angle was much better and got good photos (see below).

But for Franz's show I was down the front, so it harder to get decent frames. The light was non existent for much their opening tracks, with little pockets of blasts of colour that we had to get our shots from. I managed to get some reasonable shots in during these brief periods, but I expect I'll try and capture the band again when they play at a bigger venue in a month or two.

www.samirhussein.com

Revolutionary Road Premiere

2009-01-18T13:41:00.007Z

A huge amount of photographers were down in Leicester Square as the Titanic duo Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio walked the red carpet together. Kate has been in the news a lot recently after scopping a Golden Globe and being nominated for a couple of BAFTAs.
I thought I got a couple of standout images of Leo and Kate - I just hope that equates into sales, given the amount of snappers at the event.

www.samirhussein.com

Barack Obama Waxwork

2009-01-15T14:53:00.002Z

A waxwork of Barack Obama was today unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London, as well as the other Madame Tussauds around the world.
Another reminder, as if it was needed, that's he's about to take over from George W Bush as the President of the United States. Thanks God!

http://www.samirhussein.com

Seven Pounds Premiere & The Astoria's Farewell

2009-01-14T19:21:00.007Z

Another cold evening spent outside, this time photographing the 'Seven Pounds'premiere in Leicester Square. Will Smith was good with fans and photographers alike and others celebs at including Danielle Lloyd and Gok Wan.

Following this I covered the final night at the Astoria before it is knocked down to make way for the Crossrail project.
The closing night had been scheduled for tomorrow, the 15th, and was expected to feature The Who and Kasabian, but that was cancelled. Tonight's bill was a lot less low key in terms of names, but did feature some good acts like The Mystery Jets (below).
I wouldn't count the Astoria as one of my favourite venues, compared to somewhere like Brixton Academy, where I've spent far more time. However, it's sad to see it go. I just hope this isn't the way things go for other large London venues, as the capital is in my eyes, the live musical capital of the world.
Finally, the best gig I saw at the Astoria and the stand out moment? Seeing Blur in 2003.

http://www.samirhussein.com

Doherty & Daltrey Perform One-off Gig

2009-01-12T15:06:00.006Z

I was happy to make the trip to Bristol for this one-off gig between Pete Doherty of Babyshamles and Roger Daltrey of The Who, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The concert was great - Pete was in good form and showed no sign of the usual shambolic nature of his live performances. His band, Babyshambles, adequately played numerous Who songs while Roger and Pete combined on the vocals. Hearing the best songs of The Who undoubtedly stuck out over Babyshambles' own work, but with the odd Libertines track thrown in, the night worked surprisingly well, the highlight being Daltrey's acoustic version of 'Behind Blue Eyes'.
I'm pleased to have got coverage of the two of them together, photos which, given the prominence of the two musicians, should pass the test of time well.

http://www.samirhussein.com

Daily Mail Website Usage

2009-01-12T01:45:00.000Z

The Daily Mail website used my photos today from the Bee Gees celebration on Friday night in an article on Mel C and her pregnancy. Here's a couple they published below.

http://www.samirhussein.com

The Observer Usage

2009-01-11T17:20:00.003Z

The Observer review section used my photo of the amazing Florence & The Machine today, tipping her for big success in 2009. I totally agree.

http://www.samirhussein.com

Chris Brown Plays The 02 Arena

2009-01-11T16:46:00.008Z

What a mission!
I had planned to travel to the O2 Arena via my usual route on the underground - the Northern line from Camden, changing onto the Jubilee line at London Bridge to take me to the Arena. Problem was, unbeknown to me the Jubilee line was closed and with no replacement buses and little time to get the concert I jumped in a taxi. 25 minutes later the O2 Arena was in site, but we were stuck in bad traffic as everyone was also obviously arriving by car or bus due to the Jubilee line's closure. With time running out I decided to get out and run the rest of the way with my heavy camera gear, which took a further 15 mintues. I just about made it in time, only to hear we only had 2 songs to photograph the gig and encounter perhaps the loudest screaming from fans I've heard at a concert.
But with all this in mind, I was pleased with my set of photos.

Getting back home wasn't much easier. I was told getting a boat was the best option of getting to central London. Well, if this was the best option, it didn't feel like it as I waited for 30 mins for a boat and then spent a further half an hour traveling along the Thames to London Bridge. All together my journey time came to 3 hours, using tube, boat, taxi and a knackering jog. I'm just glad I was able to leave the concert before the 14,000 strong crowd tried to make their way home.

A Celebration of The Bee Gees

2009-01-09T14:45:00.005Z

A very long night, but one which in the end paid off with some good photos. The night was a charity black tie event with various artists playing Bee Gees songs. After an two hours stood outside in freezing temperatures to cover some rather dull arrivals, I gained access to the event inside.
I was given time to get pics of a pregnant Mel C, who was accommodating and friendly, Robin Gibb, who being a Bee Gee was the host of the night and Lulu, who I only learnt on the night used to be married to Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees.

Following this there was another big wait as the audience, who'd paid big money to be here, sat down to a meal and auction. Being a charity event there weren't any free drinks - usually one of the upsides of covering events like this for photographers - so myself and the other photographer covering the acts, music photographer Awais Butt, took to taking photos of wine glasses. Here was my best effort.

Anyway, three hours later we got to shoot the artists performing. Mel C was in good form.

But the best photos came at the finale when all the artists took to the stage and I got some nice shots of Lulu with Mel C and Robin Gibb amongst others.

London Zoo Stocktake

2009-01-08T14:15:00.004Z

An early start to go and cover the annual stocktake at London Zoo, which always occurs at the beginning of the year. Zoo staff will count numbers of more than 650 different species, and the press had access to the merecats, penguins, flamingos and bugs as they were looked at. The whole thing was pretty laid back and amusing.

Defiance Premiere

2009-01-06T12:27:00.005Z

Happy new year!
So, this was my first job of the year and after nearly two weeks of very little camera action I was keen to get back to some photography. I could have done without the minus temperature conditions and the zip on my Lowepro camera bag breaking, but even that didn't stop my enthusiasm to get going again.
Daniel Craig was the star of the film, alongside Jamie Bell, but other than that there were no real exiting names to turn up. I was quite pleased with my photos though, considering I'd done so little over the Christmas period. All my equipment was working fine, which was also a relief.
One other thing - I'm now aiming to update my blog right after completing a job. Last year, due to work load etc, I got quite far behind in keeping the blog up to date, which meant missing out on sharing a lot of what I do. But, with the start of 2009, I'll be looking to post in real time.

Best of 2008!

2008-12-30T20:01:00.001Z

A presentation of my best work from 2008.

MTV Staying Alive Party

2008-12-01T18:36:00.006Z

Coco Sumner, daughter of Sting, was performing at MTV's Staying Alive party at The Proud Gallery in Camden so I went along to get some shots of her and the other bands playing. Still only 18, Coco has signed been signed up and is due to release an album next year. That coupled with the fact she's a major rock star's daughter, is a party girl and has been modeling a lot means you'll probably be seeing a lot more of her next year.
The other band posed below are Operahouse, another up and coming group.

Estelle Plays IndigO2

2008-11-29T15:09:00.005Z

The IndigO2 is a purpose build venue inside the O2 Arena, meaning the light and sound are spot on. I was very pleased with the images I shot tonight - one of the best gigs picture wise I've done all year.

Ida Maria Plays The Scala

2008-11-27T19:03:00.006Z

Fun gig this one, apart from a music photographer, whom I don't know, refusing to let me rest my bag on the front of stage for one minute to get my cameras out. Instead he seemed content in letting me stand behind him why I wrestled with a heavy camera bag and lenses in a packed crowd. It's rare for fellow photographs not to help each other out, but some seem paranoid of the opposition.
Anyway, Ida was entertaining to watch and the support VV Browne (bottom photo) was also a lively warm up.

Flawless Premiere

2008-11-26T18:32:00.005Z

After a very brief and dull job photographing Prince Charles arriving at Mosaic Talent Awards for Excellence (as I'm in a rush it's not really posting these photos) I rushed to Shaftsbury Avenue for Demi Moore's latest film Premiere of 'Flawless'. This wasn't deemed a big enough film its premiere hosted in Leicester Square, so instead 30 or so photographers were given a pen to shoot from outside this small Odeon Cinema, right on Shaftsbury Avenue with passing traffic and the public swarming around us.
Given that Demi Moore was arriving with her husband Ashton Kutcher, this was never going to work. And sure enough when Demi's and Ashton's car drew up, the waiting public and paparazzi surged forward, largely blocking our way. It was incredibly messy picture wise and their entrance to the cinema was over very quickly with barely any posing from the A-list couple.
However, I still managed to get what turned out to be a few great frames because after the two of them walked past me, totally out of the blue, Ashton tapped Demi on the shoulder turned her round to look in my direction before pointing at me (see photo below). Could he hear me shouting among all the other photographers and public? I doubt it. Perhaps he thought he recognised me.

The Queen Meets New Zealand Rugby Team

2008-11-25T16:22:00.003Z

The Queen visited London Bridge to meet the New Zealand Prime Minister and the New Zealand rugby team, who are over touring Europe.
Below she is seen feeling the freezing cold with the Prime Minister John Key and Kiwi captain Richie McCaw.

Blake Fielder-Civil & George Sampson

2008-11-24T13:22:00.005Z

Today was meant to be the day Michael Jackson appeared at the High Court to defend allegations that he owes an Arab sheikh £4.7m, but he settled out of court the day before he was due to arrive in London. I went down anyway as the sheikh was rumored to be appearing and because Blake Fielder-Civil, husband of Amy Winehouse, was appealing against his 27 month prison sentence.
I managed to capture Blake arriving before later going to photograph 'Britain's Got Talent' winner George Sampson.

He was doing a multi city tour of England in a day, which led to him getting delayed. In fact, when I arrived at the record store ready to photograph him I was told he was still yet to get on his plan from Birmingham to London. Two hours later he showed up and his management made sure he gave me plenty of opportunity to shoot him alone and with his fans given how long I'd waited.

Madagascar 2 Premiere

2008-11-23T12:46:00.007Z

This was a long way from how I'd like to spend a Sunday afternoon, thanks mainly to the pissing rain and freezing temperatures, but Leicester Square it had to be.
The big names to show up were Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett-Smith, wife of Will Smith (all below). The rain come in bursts and it as a battle keeping my equipment dry, but despite this I got some stong photos. It helped that the stars made some kind of effort to pose up despite the weather, although Chris Rock couldn't stand still for a second in the cold. Apart from these American stars who all the voices in the film, Danielle Bux (2nd from bottom photo) showed up with boyfriend Gary Lineker to much attention.

Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland Opening

2008-11-20T16:16:00.005Z

This was the launch of Winter Wonderland - a collection of rides, games and fairs set up in Hyde Park over the Christmas period. Several celebrities turned up to try out the rides and enjoy the Christmas vibes, helped by the free mulled wine the organisers dished out to us. The main name to turn up was Penny Lancaster (below), wife of Rod Stewart.

Tony Christie Plays The Cadogan Hall

2008-11-19T20:02:00.006Z

Tony Christie, an old crooner from Sheffield, has recently been name dropped by lot of artists, such as the Arctic Monkey, Richard Hawley and of course Peter Kay who re-released his best know track ' Is This The Way to Amarillo?' to such success a couple of years ago. Christie's calibre was clear to see in the serene settings of the Cadogan Hall where I'd never previously shot before.

Barroso Visits Downing Street & Bunch of Amateurs Premiere

2008-11-17T14:38:00.007Z

This was my second job inside of No. 10 Downing Street on a commission from the EC, whose President, José Manuel Barroso, was meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown for talks.
No. 10 is much larger inside than you'd imagine and I was given access to photograph Barroso and Brown walking though the Prime Minister's home before they undertook a press conference in one of the many grand rooms on show.

Later in the evening it was down to Leicester Square for the Royal premiere of 'A Bunch of Amateurs'. The film doesn't feature any particularly big names, but the Queen was in attendance. This date had originally be put aside for the Royal premiere of the new Harry Potter film, but that had to be put aside as the release date was put back to next year, which is why the Queen was now attending a fairly low-key film now.
Of the cast, Camilla Arfwedson (below), attracted the most attention.

Little Noise Sessions - Kasabian

2008-11-14T17:32:00.007Z

After a job shooting Prince Charles on today, his actual 60th Birthday, it was back to the Union Chapel for another of the Little Noise Sessions. Tonight The Edge from U2 was a special guest host with Reverent And The Makers plus Kasabian making up the main acts.
I'd never previously been a fan of Kasabian, but it has to be said that tonight they were terrific and the potential of their music really hit home.

Little Noise Session - Katy Perry

2008-11-13T14:33:00.002Z

After a a few days photographing Royals and being in France is was refreshing to get back to shooting some live music in the shape of the Little Noise Sessions - a week-long event where different artists perform acoustically at the impressive, intimate union chapel.
Tonight's headliner was James Morrision, but he was rather overshadowed by special guests Katy Perry and Lemar. Perry was particularly impressive performing alone and out of her normal pop guise. I later photographed her backstage and she told me this is how she'd started her career, on the acoustic circuit, before being remodelled as a pop star.

The Worst Job I've Done

2008-11-12T17:52:00.004Z

I travelled back from France today and headed straight to Wimbledon in South London, travel and camera bags in tow, to cover arrivals to a special theatre production called 'We Are Not Amused' for Prince Charles to mark his 60th Birthday. The night played host to several giants of comedy, including John Cleese and Robin Williams at the South Wimbledon theatre, peforming in front of the Prince, Camilla and Prince Harry.
A big group of photographers were at hand as Charles' Birthday was obviously expected to get a lot of coverage and as we stood around in the cold for a couple of hours waiting for Royals to arrive. Several discussions took place with officials and TV cameramen about where photographers and TV should be stationed to get the best angle on proceedings. Everything seemed ready.
But as the Royal car pulled up, the TV crew, filming for a special show to mark the Prince's 60th, walked straight in front of the Royals and didn't move, blocking photographers view for whole of the entrance. The photographers errupted with anger, but it was all over too quickly leaving us snappers nothing worth filling. Considering I'd rushed back from France for this and we got nothing worthwhile of the comedians or Royals I'd have to put this down as just about the worst job I'd done.
Below is the one photo I got of the three Royals arriving.

The Times usage

2008-11-12T14:57:00.001Z

My photo of Carla Bruni and the Duchess of Cornwall from the remembrance service was used by The Times today.

Royals Attend Commemorations of The 90th Anniversary of End of WWI

2008-11-11T16:46:00.003Z

The commemorations took place at a small town called Verdun, a 3 hour drive outside of Paris, which meant leaving at 4am. Horrendous driving conditions ensued as heavy rain lashed it down the whole way. Thankfully a friend of my parents, Angie, was kind enough to make the long drive there and back to give us, but it wasn't at all easy for her, especially leaving at such an early hour.
The rain did finally clear as we reached Verdun and the hour-long ceremony itself provided good opportunities to capture the main royals along side President Sarkozy and Carla. Amazingly, despite a police escourt, the President was actually late arriving to mark the minute silence at the 11th minute of the 11th hour, so that had to be put back.
All-in-all though, a good day's pictures, but a very tiring day as we didn't get back to Paris till later that night. Tomorrow it's back to London for another Royal job as Prince Charles begins one of the many events to mark his 60th Birthday.

Royals Attend Private Banquet In Paris

2008-11-10T16:56:00.003Z

I spent the day in Paris, which included an excellent lunch, including oysters, before going to the Elysee Palace for Prince Charles and Camilla arriving for a banquet with President Sarkozy and Carla Bruni.
There were the usual minor scuffles between the French and English photographers as we took our positions, but most people got the shots they needed. I stay in France and travel to a WWI remembrance service tomorrow again involving the British Prince and French President and their wives.

Camilla, Katie & Finley

2008-11-08T19:28:00.004Z

A busy day today with three jobs all over town. I braved the rain to photograph Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall leading a charity dog walk in Green Park before travelling to east London for Katie Melua's performance at the O2 Arena. It was then back to Camden to meet some friends for a night at Koko, where Finley Quaye was headlining. He certainly lived up to his reputation by being a bit out it, but even during his ramshackle time on stage there were were still plenty of glimpses of the great talent and he was when he sang songs of his debut album 'Maverick A Strike'.

'Body of Lies' Premiere

2008-11-06T17:31:00.000Z

Leonardo DiCaprio was the only draw for this one and there was barely anyone of note who showed up. All-in-all it was very low key premiere, which meant just getting head shots of Leonardo was the order of the day.
This is because newspapers and magazines tend to you headshots of male stars, rather than full lenghts normally reserved for the more glamarous looking girls.

Prince Harry Visits Plymouth

2008-11-04T14:11:00.004Z

After a long drive down to Plymouth this looked like being a disappointing job as we were led to a gym at HM Naval Base to photograph Prince Harry. He was there to launch Khumbu Challenge 09, an adventure training expedition for wounded Service personnel to the base of Mount Everest, and we were taken to the gym to get him meeting amputees who were part of the expedition. The set of photos was from it was pretty dull, but things got better when he left as there was a tank ready to pick up Harry and drive him away.
Suddenly we were able to capture him getting into a tank and driving off, which made for some unusual photos of him and some excellent pictures to add to the library.

Seu Jorge Plays The Roundhouse

2008-10-30T18:04:00.004Z

Like the Vampire Weekend gig recently this was a real pleasure to shoot and I enjoyed hanging around to watch the whole gig as Seu Jorge got the crowd dancing along to his Brazilian rhythms and tunes. I saw the concert stood right by footballer Deco of Chelsea and Portugal, who was there with his girlfriend.

Guardian Online Usage

2008-10-30T16:01:00.000Z

James Bond 'Quantum Of Solace' World Premiere

2008-10-29T17:50:00.005Z

This was probably the biggest premiere of the year in London, with anticipation even eclipsing the Batman and Sex and the City screenings. James Bond of course needs no introductions, but the fact that this was a Royal world premiere with Princes William and Harry walking the red carpet for the first time added to the build up.
The whole of Leicester Square was taken up by the premiere as a huge crowd gathered from early in the day.
With all this in mind, outside of the cast there weren't really any huge names who turned up to attend the screening. I also had problems with my flash quantum battery, meaning by the end my flash was only firing in about one in four frames. This was particularly annoying as it was the Princes who were last to turn up. However, I got one good frame of the only time they looked up at photographers (below).
Other than them, the main centre of attention was Bond himself, Daniel Craig, and the bond girls including Olga Kurylenko (seen below).

Easy Virtue Premiere

2008-10-28T11:04:00.003Z

This was the final of the BFI London Film Festival premieres I was covering and it was all fairly straight forward. Jessica Biel was the main draw, but director Stephan Elliott bought along Fizz the dog, who apparently also stars in the film, and made sure the dog was given a lot of attention by kissing it in front of photographers.

Pierre Lewis & 'The Brothers Bloom' Premiere

2008-10-27T18:07:00.004Z

This sunny Monday morning I went down to a cafe in Soho to get some shots of Pierre Lewis, an up-and-coming singer who's taken the dance chart by storm and model turned DJ, Lauren Pope, who's done a remix of one of Pierre's tracks.
I spent an enjoyable hour or so over a coffee with them at Cafe Boheme, a great spot in the heart of Soho to get away from the madness of central London (it's even open till 3am if you fancy some decent late night food), before getting some candid shots of the two of them.

Later that night it was back to Leicester Square for the premiere of 'The Brothers Bloom' as part of the BFI London Film Festival. Rachel Weisz was the star attraction.

Saturday Night Fever At The Roundhouse

2008-10-25T15:44:00.005+01:00

Catchy as it may be, spending a night watching a performance of The Bee Gees' soundtrack 'Saturday Night Fever' is not how I would normally choose to spend my Saturday night, but with several guest stars appearing throughout the hour and a half show I was asked to stick around and photograph the whole performance at the Roundhouse. The guests included The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb, Boyzone's Ronan Keating and Stephen Gateley, Sam Sparro, Sharleen Spiteri and Gabriella Cilmi and to be fair, although I'd never claim to be a fan of any of these artists, most of them put on a spirited performance.
This was another of the BBC'S Electric Prom nights and just as I'd finally made it home from shooting and editing I turned on the TV to find the show being broadcast on the BBC. It seems there was no escaping The Bee Gees best-known songs tonight.

Vampire Weekend Play The Forum

2008-10-24T19:02:00.000+01:00

I had great fun shooting this one. Vampire Weekend have, in my opinion, produced one of the albums of the year so it was great to hang around and watch them play it live having finished shooting them.
Looking back at my shots arter a few pints I wasn't hugely impressed, but the Forum rarely produces well lit shows and having had such an enjoyable night I was happy enough not to be too critical of myself.

Bodyworlds, Trafalgar Square & The Streets

2008-10-23T17:12:00.005+01:00

The Bodyworlds exhibition, 'Body Worlds & The Mirror of Time' was both amazing to witness and photograph. The man behind it, Gunther von Hagens, is no stranger controversy but I found his latest and biggest exhibit, which shows the body living through time – at its most radiant and as it changes, grows, matures, peaks and finally wanes - compelling and totally different to anything I've seen before. To think these are real bodies takes some getting used to as they look more like wax works, but the show as a whole shows a lot - not just about how our bodies function and age, but also about life in general.

Later that evening I had a busy schedule as firstly I clambered up in blustery and rainy conditions to the roof the National Gallery on Leicester Square to photograph an outdoor screening as part of the BFI London Film Festival.
I was taken up to the roof by security man who'd come out of retirement to continue his 20-year career at the National Gallery. He was a real gentleman, but it took him an age to get me into position on the roof through a host of reasons (lift not working, picking up the wrong keys, rambling conversations), by which time I was already late for my next job of photographing The Streets at the Roundhouse. I'd have begun to lose my temper if he hadn't been so a kind, aimable guy. I quickly got the shots from the roof of the outdoor crowd braving the rain to watch 'High Treason' on the huge screen before rushing back down to get more shots from ground level.

I made it with absolutley no time to spare to The Streets headlining the second night of the Electric Proms, so barely had time to set up my camera before Mike Skinner and his boys hit the stage. I still got some good results. Sometimes I think it's an advantage to have to start shooting with no preparation or thought about how you're going to photograph a subject. You just react to the situation and shoot from instinct.

Burt Bacharach Plays The Roundhouse

2008-10-22T19:13:00.006+01:00

Burt Bacharach's performance at the Roundhouse marked the start of this year's BBC Electric Proms, an event which over 5 days draws a host of top artists to play across Camden's music venues. The idea is to make the concert a different to your typical gig and as a result the performances at the Roundhouse tend to be accompanied by a live orchestra, as was the case tonight. Also heavy on the agenda is guest appearances and Bacharach's concert saw songs sang by Jamie Cullum, Beth Rowley and Adele (all below).
Bacharach was in tremendous form for a man in his 80s; conducting the BBC orchestra, playing his piano and encouraging his guest singers as songs throughout his six-decade career were played. The setting and feel to the night made it special, not least because we were all witnessing most of the most successful and prolific songwriters ever.
It was also great to photograph Cullum, and old school friend, who, up until now, had always missed out on covering.

Tony Curtis Book Signing & Nokia Party

2008-10-21T12:25:00.001+01:00

I began the today photographing Hollywood legend Tony Curtis, who was doing a book signing at Harrods. Curtis looked old and frail, understandable for a man well in his 80s, but still seemed to have a good sense of humor about him

Later that night I popped down to Bloomsbury Ballroom for a Nokia party. Plenty of guests arrived, including Martine McCutcheon and model Keeley Hazell (below), but the main name on the guest list was Paris Hilton. The PR assured us she'd be arriving, so we hung around as the party drew out, only to get regular messages saying she'd been held up. Three hours passed before the PR conceded she'd rang to say she couldn't make it. What a wasted evening. I can't stand Paris anyway and it really grated that I'd hung around for someone I have no appreciation for. Undoubtedly one of the downsides to my job is having to photograph celebs, who have little or no talent and who masquerade around as if they're some incredible person, because they're likely to fill magazine pages and newspapers pages.

Kaiser Chiefs Play The Forum

2008-10-20T14:46:00.003+01:00

I talk a lot about light when I speak of live music photography - where flash is rarely permitted - and it has to be said, given it was a major band this was probably the worst light I've ever had to shoot a gig. It was terrible, with barely any light on lead singer Ricky Wilson. When there was it was a harsh red or blue light, where there's nothing that can be done to alter it - even in Photoshop. The result was a set of photos which will never be used. A shame because, as the two photos below show, there are nice photos to be had from such an energetic band.

Franklyn Gala Sceening

2008-10-17T16:12:00.005+01:00

Having missed the opening gala of the BFI London Film Festival to cover the MOBOs last night I went along for red carpet arrivals of 'Frankyln', the first major gala screening of the festival.
The films stars Eva Green and Ryan Phillippe and kick starts two weeks of film premieres, which will bring A-listers such as Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow to the red carpet, before the big one, the James Bond premiere in a couple of weeks.

The Sun Usage

2008-10-16T18:45:00.001+01:00

My photo of Colin Powell dancing on stage at the Africa Rising concert was today used in The Sun.

MOBO Awards

2008-10-16T15:44:00.007+01:00

I got a late call today asking if I could cover both arrivals and inside coverage of the winners with their awards for this year's MOBO Awards.
It was all fairly straight forward as I was the only photographer shooting the artists at the winner's boards. Estelle (top photo) scooped two awards and other notable attendees included Mel B, Billy Ocean, Grace Jones and John Legend.

Arise Magazine Usage

2008-10-15T15:38:00.000+01:00

I was very pleased to see that at the Africa Rising event they supplied everyone with a free, glossy style and music magazine named 'Arise' containing several of my photos. This was issue one - The Africa Issue - of the magazine, produced by the organizers of the event and documented much of the Africa Rising event as well as featuring leading artists linked with the continent. The people behind it start it as a monthly in January, and given how well it's produced it's one to look for.
Below is the front cover, followed by two of my photos of Jay Z (full page) and Youssou N'Dour (double page spread!), both of which I took at Africa Rising in Washington DC.

Africa Rising At The Royal Albert Hall

2008-10-14T15:35:00.006+01:00

Having travelled to Nigeria and Washington DC to cover the other Africa Rising music and fashion shows it was great to be able to photograph the event relatively calmly so close to home. As things turned out, this event was the best of the lot - the organizers obviously pulled out all stops for this show, which is run to portray the positive side of Africa.
Nigerian media mogul Nduka is the man behind the event and having got Jay Z, Rihanna and Naomi Campbell, amongst others, to take part in Nigeria he was able to secure Christina Aguilera and Seal to perform at the Royal Albert Hall.
The music and fashion shows were a lot of fun to photograph and I was especially pleased with my live Seal pictures. However, the all the acts were upstaged by Colin Powell being dragged up on stage to dance for 10 minutes (second from bottom photo).

Queen with Paul Rogers Play The O2 Arena

2008-10-13T13:31:00.001+01:00

If I were to asked which band or artist I'd like to go back in time to photograph, Queen would certainly feature very high on my list. Freddie Mercury was one of the most iconic and spellbinding singers to photograph of all time, but sadly the Queen of the new millennium, with former Free lead man Paul Rogers fronting the band, cannot match the band in their pomp of the 70s and 80s (apart from Brian May's hair which remains the same as it has since the 70s).
Sure, Rogers can certainly belt out a tune, but he is a long way from matching Freddie in terms of exuberance and individuality. Perhaps that was the point when they handpicked Rogers, knowing that no-one could match Freddie. Some of the reviews suggested this seemed like a glamours tribute band to Queen and it's not far from the truth.
Of course the fans loved hearing some of their favourite songs again and I did really enjoyed shooting the show. I got some cracking photos, with the light being up to the standard you'd expect of the O2 Arena, and it was good to get some strong images of such a recognisable guitarist as Brian May.

Stock Market Trader

2008-10-11T20:19:00.004+01:00

I was called out late this Saturday evening to shoot a prominent French Stock market trader in a London house for Paris Match magazine.
The problem was, he was being interviewed by a French journalist and didn't know he was to be photographed, so after getting clearance through the journalist, who kindly asked him if I could shoot him, I turned up and got what shots I could as a two hour interview took place. Unfortunately, with the interview going on so long the trader, whose name never found out, was in a rush to leave with his business partner and family so could only pose very briefly. Hardly the situation I'd hoped for, given it was for a high profile magazine, but in these situations you just have to get what you can.

Financial Crisis

2008-10-10T19:57:00.004+01:00

With the stock markets crashing and today was labelled 'Black Friday' because of the financial world in ruin I was sent out to get stock photos of the banks in trouble and of traders leaving the London stock exchange.
Unfortunately, unlike many years ago when they wore bowler hats, the traders wear normal clothes and the London Stock Exchange has moved from Bank in the heart of the city to a rather generic-looking building at St Paul's meaning photos of them tend to look like any others workers in London leaving their office, rather than images with a stronger context of the financial disaster taking place.

Amy MacDonald Plays The Roundhouse

2008-10-09T12:55:00.003+01:00

Amy MacDonald is another name who has built her success through a growing fan base on MySpace. I'd not photographed her before so I thought I'd pop down to a local venue of mine, the Roundhouse in Camden.
The lighting on Amy was the harshest white light imaginable - I really don't know what the lighting people were thinking. Amy is quite a pale girl anyway, so having this light on her made her face totally bleached out and that's before trying to capture her through a lens. This meant I had to turn my camera settings almost as if I was shooting in day light to capture her without over exposing her. In the end I got away with making the exposure look OK, but why such a harsh white light I don't understand.

Shane Warne Book Signing

2008-10-08T10:58:00.002+01:00

I was the only photographer here for this cricketing legend signing copies of his new book 'Shane Warne's Century: My Top 100 Test Cricketers' at Waterstone's. As I was waiting for him I kept hearing an Aussie voice in my head saying, "bowling Warney" as was so often heard from his teammates during his career.
I resisted the temptation to say it when he arrived though and as the only photographer he was friendly enough to me.

High School Musical 3 Premiere

2008-10-07T16:57:00.003+01:00

Not being from the target audience, I don't think I realised just how popular the High School Musical brand was before this premiere. But on hearing more two hours of hysterical screaming (the loudest and most persistent I've heard at a premiere), largely caused by the appearance of actor Zac Efron (top photo) I soon learnt the impact the films has had on the younger generation. It's been suggested that it's the Greece for a new generation and that Efron is the new John Travolta, which seems like a fair comparison.
Photography wise it was a bit messy as there were so many families with children milling and gawping on the red carpet on their way into the cinema, meaning a lot of the time we unable to get clean shots of the stars. However, Vanessa Hudgens (bottom photo) posed for long enough to get the required shots of her and, to be fair, they at least made an effort with the group shot of the main stars.

Q Awards

2008-10-06T16:14:00.003+01:00

With Q magazine probably being the best established monthly music magazine in Britain, it goes without saying that their awards bash is one of the most anticipated of the year. They're able to bring in (from top photo downwards) classic stars (Roger Daltery), huge selling bands (Kaiser Chiefs), colourful guests (Grace Jones), bands of the moment (Vampire Weekend) and daughters of famous rock stars (Kimberley Stewart), which shows the kind of influence the magazine has.
I was doing the red carpet arrivals, so didn't get in to see proceedings inside, but the awards, much like the magazine, seemed to follow a mainly mainstream line. For instance, Coldplay, despite deteriorating in quality with every album they bring out, walked away with a couple of awards.

Michael Parkinson Book Signing

2008-10-03T17:42:00.005+01:00

This was quick little job photographing Michael Parkinson - or "the man who's met everyone" as they kept announcing over the loud speaker in Borders - during a book signing session for his new autobiography.
Parky is hugely respected and a national treasure, having seemingly interviewed all the great figures over his long-spanning TV career, but it looked for a while as if there wouldn't be too many people turning up to get their book signed. However, ten minutes before he turned up, the queue quickly expanded giving him the crowd he deserved.

Kate Moss Statue & Razorlight Playing The Forum

2008-10-02T14:32:00.004+01:00

Today was the first day that Marc Quinn's solid gold statue of Kate Moss, 'Siren', was displayed, so I went down to the British Museum to get some photos. Artist Quinn said Siren cost £1.5m to make, £1m of which was the price of the gold. He expects it to fetch up to £10m when it is sold following its time with the British Museum in January. Siren is made entirely of 18 carat gold and is the largest gold statue made by man since ancient Egyptian times, weighing 50kg, around the same as its subject.
It was impressive and it was amusing to see unsuspecting museum goers walking past Kate in her yoga pose, with legs around her head, as they made their way past the other ancient statues in the Nereid Gallery.

While there I took some other photographs of the architecture and Ron Mueck's slightly bizarre piece 'Mask II' (below).

I said after the Seasick Steve gig that my Nikon D300 body would come in handy in low light and so it proved tonight for Razorlight's Q Awards launch gig at the Kentish Town Forum. There was barely any light on Johnny Borrell, but being able to bump the ISO up to 2400 without too much noise being created meant I could still get some reasonable images from this.
The band's manager admitted after little effort had been made in terms of lighting and stage set up for this one off show as their UK tour started properly in a month's time, when they would be aiming to get everything right.

Seasick Steve Plays The Royal Albert Hall

2008-10-01T13:07:00.000+01:00

There's was more than a hint of surprise in most people's reaction when they heard blues man Seasick Steve was playing the Royal Albert Hall. Especially when you consider the former migrant worker used to travel long distances by hopping freights as a hobo and lived in 56 different houses in the 25 years of marriage with his Norwegian wife.
His break in the UK came when, as an unknown musician, he made his television debut on Jools Holland's 'Annual Hootenanny' BBC TV show, after which his popularity grew extensively. Now, upon releasing his third album, he finds himself performing at the grand, world famous, Royal Albert Hall in his biggest gig to date in the UK.
The Royal Albert Hall is situated in South Kensington, which has come a bit of a second home to me recently, what with London Fashion Week being based here and the two gigs I covered here last week.
And Seasick immediately seemed at home playing to such a large crowd, coming onto stage playing a moving version of 'Amazing Grace'.
I tried out a new body today, the Nikon D300, which I plan to use for gigs because of it's capabilities in low light. It worked fine here, but it'll really come into it's own when the stage lighting is poor.

The Orange RockCorps Concert

2008-09-26T12:26:00.000+01:00

This was the first time a RockCorps concert - where the concept is for the audience to volunteer to get their ticket, rather than buy or win one - has been held in the UK following a series of successful concerts in the US. Beforehand all the talk was of whether headliner Busta Rhymes would be able to perform having been detained by British customs who said he was not allowed in the country. However, upon arriving the PR told us he'd been cleared to play this charity concert, which only seemed right from what I know.
Rumours also surfaced that Amy Winehouse would join him on stage, but there no sign of the disturbed soul singer all night. Other acts were a strange mix of hip-hop, soul and rock taking in John Legend, Feeder, The Automatic, The Guillemots, Ludacris and Lethal Bizzle.
I don't think these types of night's work too well - there's many different styles and most of the acts only playing for 3 songs, meaning there ends up with lots waiting time between acts. Picture wise the stage was very back lit, which although looks bright and good, makes it difficult for the camera's metering system to pick up the faces of the acts because it gets confused by the bright lights behind making for more muzzy shots than normal. Still, overall there was enough opportunity to photograph the acts well.

End Of Summer Ball In Berkeley Square

2008-09-25T18:37:00.000+01:00

This was another example of the PR's press release suggesting an event would have bigger stars attending than actually was the case. The likes of Mischa Barton, Rod Stewart and Peaches Geldoff were all on the list, but didn't show to the ball. Some of those who did arrive, and who were at least wearing striking dresses for the occasion, included Tess Daly (top photo), Tamsin Egerton (middle) and Naomi Harris (bottom).
I later heard that Amy Winehouse performed at the ball, but unfortunately we could get no access to that, and unsurprisingly it was the disheveled-looking singer who made the papers the next day.

Joe Brown Plays 50th Anniversary Show

2008-09-25T01:20:00.000+01:00

I must admit, I didn't know much about Joe Brown before this, but soon read up on him and found he was huge in the UK in the late 50s, early 60s, around the same time Cliff Richard was making his mark.
This being a celebration of his 50th anniversary in the business, he had a number of special guests to bring out, but we had to finish photographing by the time he got the likes of Mark Knopfler and Jools Holland out on stage at the Royal Albert Hall. Brown seemed great with his audience too, spending time between each song to chat and joke away, which the older crowd clearly loved. As the photographers left he looked at us and joked we must be Cliff Richard fans...

London Fashion Week

2008-09-19T16:28:00.000+01:00

I do enjoy photographing fashion, but fashion week inevitably ends up being very tiresome with the sheer amount of shows all over London taking place which need covering. Then there's keeping an eye out for celebs on the front row - such as Mischa Barton (pictured below) - to see the catwalk fashions which the papers and magazines are full of through the week.
My week took a turn for the worse on Wednesday when I had my lens stolen from the photographer's area by the catwalk in the BFW tent. It was only out of sight for less than a minute, but to make matters worse it must have been a fellow photographer who took it as they were the only ones with access. This spoiled my week and it was hard to get any enjoyment from my work as I fretted over the cost of a very expensive Nikon 70-200mm AF 2.8 VR lens.
In photography and fashion terms the best event of the week for the Fashion For Relief show, which featured numerous high profile figures and models on the catwalk. Naomi Campbell, Cilla Black, the Sugababes, Daisy Lowe, Cheryl Cole and Tyson Beckford were just a few of the names who donned top designer's outfits.

Vodafone Music Awards

2008-09-18T13:15:00.000+01:00

I was covering this awards show at Brixton Academy for the PR. It was fairly straight forward as the Press Association had exclusive coverage of the live performances, so I was shooting arrivals and the winners of awards.
The after party proved to be one of the better ones I'd been to. It was held at Dex in Brixton and featured a huge roof terrace with BBQ, and a projection of film footage onto nearby buildings (see second from bottom photo). Free drinks flowed, celebs showed up and two girls played up to the camera by kissing each other (bottom photo).

Righteous Kill Premiere

2008-09-15T12:36:00.000+01:00

I was quite excited about shooting two legends of the screen, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, appearing on the red carpet together. Unfortunately, rather than the two of them posing together they were joined for a group shot by 50 Cent, who also stars in the film and the director. It meant we couldn't really get a strong shot of just Pacino and De Niro together, which was annoying, but there was still quite a few good photographs to be had of Pacino in particular.
He looked the part as usual whereas De Niro seemed a bit disinterested at having his picture taken.

Stevie Wonder Plays The O2 Arena

2008-09-12T18:56:00.000+01:00

60 seconds. A single minute to shoot the legend that is Stevie Wonder - by far the shortest amount of time I've had to shoot an artist. Even Madonna gave us three songs.
To be fair I was quite grateful for the minute after missing out on photographing on his first night here yesterday, due to having a series of misfortunes.
Having had the advantage of seeing the photos from other photographers of the show, it became clear they couldn't get a clear shot at him at the piano, so we spoke to Stevie's brother, who was briefing the photographs and he arranged for us to get a higher vantage point to shoot from to capture him at the piano. 60 seconds actually proved enough time (if you can get a clear shot, it doesn't need much time to get some decent frames), but it was vital we got him at the piano, so in some ways it worked in my favor missing the opening night's show.

UK Commemorative Service for Northern Ireland Operations

2008-09-10T16:56:00.000+01:00

A good turn out of Royals and Politicians, past and present, for this UK Commemorative service for Norther Ireland operations.
I missed out a couple of times photographing Margaret Thatcher, so it a relief to get some shots of her, all the more useful as I got photos with Tony Blair as well.

Guardian Usage

2008-09-08T14:33:00.000+01:00

Despite having big problems getting my Amy Winehouse photos out from Bestival, pictures still got used, including this on online on The Guardian site.

Bestival - Day 2

2008-09-06T17:48:00.000+01:00

Saturday turned out to be a very good day of music and shooting, but a bad day for my equipment and the weather, which continued to chuck it down in buckets.
My laptop died hours for Winehouse (the main reason for shooting the festival), which means despite a lot of time trying to fix the screen I couldn't file my photos on the same night, which will mean a loss of potential sales.
The surprise acts turned out to be The Specials (bottom photo) - who were a lot of fun - and Grace Jones, who proved excellent to photograph, changing costume for every song! She was followed by Hot Chip, who got into the spirit of things by wearing fancy dress (second from bottom photo) and they got the whole crowd at the main stage dancing away. Winehouse followed and was hugely disappointing. She was simply awful - not only was she 45 minutes late, she could barely sing and the huge crowd soon dispersed. I've seen and photographed her a few times and she's always produced the goods but here she looked and sounded a wreck.

Africa Rising Concert - Abuja

2008-07-11T20:08:00.000+01:00

The Ting Tings & Florence & The Machine Play The iTunes Festival

2008-07-09T18:55:00.000+01:00

Much better light than last night, as reflected in my photos of the impressive Florence and the Machine. In fact, one of them (top photo below) I rate as one of the best music photos I've ever taken.
Unfortunately after one song of The Ting Tings, photographers were told to stop taking pictures as the film crew, sharing the pit with us, had complained we were getting in their way (which we weren't). The organisers obviously gave weight to the film crew, filming for C4, but it left a lot of disgruntled photographers. It's a shame the film crew couldn't put up with the photographers for the three allocated songs we had, especially as they were there for the whole gig, but camera men and photographers often clash, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

The Times Usage

2008-07-08T16:56:00.000+01:00

One of my photos of Neil Young from Sunday was used in The Times today in their review of the Hop Farm Festival. They had good feed back for Young's peformance.

Black Kids & Foals Play iTunes Festival

2008-07-07T14:44:00.000+01:00

Many of my best photos from this were unusable due to terrible lighting for both shows. I managed to pull a few out of the bunch that where the lighting was passable, but I really don't understand why when they give photographers three tracks without flash to photograph an act they can't provide at least one of them with reasonable lighting.
I hope things improve as I'm down to photograph a few of the iTunes Festival shows, all being hosted at Koko.

Hop Farm Festival

2008-07-06T15:57:00.000+01:00

It was back to Hop Farm for another very enjoyable day of shooting. The sun didn't shine like yesterday, but bands - Supergrass (second from bottom), Primal Scream (bottom) and the legendary Neil Young liked up to expectations. Young performed a favourite song of mine 'Hey Hey, My My' while I was photographing him and I have to say he sounded amazing. His voice sounded as good as ever and it was a pleasure being so close while he played his classics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bLP4DWTi6s

The Mighty Boosh Festival

2008-07-05T13:08:00.000+01:00

This was a fun day-long festival to shoot save for two things: the long walk carrying heavy camera gear from the station to the festival site (we were told it would take 15 minutes, but it took 45 minutes to get onsite) and the PR letting pretty much any one with any kind of camera front of stage with the real photographers to shoot the show. I've got no problem with competing with other photographers and you tend to find a way to work with them, but letting in teenage girls, who were taking pics of Noel Fielding with their camera phones and getting in our way was ridiculous.
Thankfully, I was able to shoot around them and it didn't stop me from getting really good material of the Mighty Boosh, The Charlatans and Gary Newman (all below) amongst others. And on another plus side the festival was very relaxed with great weather. Tomorrow I return to Hop Farm where Neil Young headlines.

02 Wireless Festival

2008-07-04T15:41:00.000+01:00

This was the only day of the four days of the 02 Wireless Festival I did, as I had decided to cover the Mighty Boosh and Hop Farm festivals over the up coming weekend. Although we couldn't shoot headliners Morrisey or Beck, I still finished an enjoyable sunny day wth good photos of all the acts I shot and had the added bonus of celebs, Pixie Geldoff, Alexa Cheung and Russell Brand going on a walkabout around the site, so was able to get candid pictures of them

Lou Reed Plays The Royal Albert Hall

2008-06-30T17:18:00.000+01:00

Very poor light and having to shoot from a one position at the side made this a bit of a disappointing return for what was a legend, playing such a famous venue.