Lil' Wayne Plays Hammersmith Apollo

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.







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V Festival

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.













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VV Brown's Visuals

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.

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Chaka Khan Plays Shepherds Bush Empire

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






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Seasick Steve Plays The Hammersmith Apollo

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.







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Pussycat Dolls Perform at 02 Arena

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.






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Doherty & Daltrey Perform One-off Gig

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.




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Estelle Plays IndigO2

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

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.

Tony Christie Plays The Cadogan Hall

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.

Little Noise Sessions - Kasabian

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

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.