Africa Rising Concert - Abuja

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Prince Harry Visits Royal Norfolk Show

This job involved a long trip out to Norfolk for potentially interesting photos of Prince Harry, who, we were told, would be walking around Norfolk show grounds meeting locals and checking out the prize animals on show. Unfortunately, like the Crown Princess of Denmark job it didn't work out as it could have - namely because the accredited photographers had to battle their way through crowds of people to get shots and any official positions to shoot from didn't really allow us to get any amusing photos of Harry with animals.
The photo below was as good as it got, with Harry shown how to use an old fashioned lathe.

Radiohead Play Victoria Park

Being a big fan Radiohead have been on my photography wish list for quite some time, so eagerly awaiting this open air gig in the hope of getting some memorable photos of Thom Yorke and the boys.
Before the concert I checked out some of the other photos taken previously on their tour through Europe and nothing really stood out. However, the stage set up, nice evening light and Thom Yorke's actions and expressions allowed was some really satisfying photographs. I happily left the gig after the alloted three songs knowing I could return tomorrow to watch the show in full as punter.

Crown Princess Mary Of Denmark Visits Summer Fair

I had a last minute call to rush down and cover Crown Princess of Denmark who was over in London visiting a summer fair at the Excel Centre in east London. It turned out to be a bit of a scrum, with the few accredited photographers running around from stand to stand trying to get clear shots of her, as she made her way through unsuspecting visitors to the show.
The job wasn't helped by one of my flashes failing to work, meaning that I could effectively only shoot with one lens and as a result wasn't able to get quite as wide a range of shots I'd hoped. However, hopefully the pictures I did get will be picked up by the European media, especially in Denmark.

Royal Ascot - Ladies Day

Ladies Day lived up to expectations - sunny weather, weird and wonderful hats and some celebs. Dame Helen Mirren, Cilla Black and Bruce Forsyth all made an appearance and were only too happy to be photographed. The only downside for me was having to leave early to cover a Venus Williams private party (bottom photo), therefore missing Autumn Philips, who is demand at the moment following her Royal marriage to Peter Philips.

Royal Ascot - Day 2

There's a bit of a lull today as things quiet down slightly on the fashion stakes between the opening day and Ladies Day tomorrow. The weather isn't as good either, which doesn't help, but there's still plenty of racegoers and royalty to snap, including Sheikh Mohammed (second from bottom), the ruler of Dubai and highly influential horse owner, who is always seen walking around parade ground.