Hello

Hello. I've decided to start a blog to show the different places and people that I photograph. I thought a blog would be a good way to do it, as it offers room for commentary and can also link back to the aforementioned people and places. In theory, I'd like to post every Friday with that weeks work; in practice, I suspect it will be more sporadic than that.

So, with no further delay..

Last Saturday was a busy day. It started with a visit to the Resistance Gallery where a 3 day festival, Iconography Of The Mask was taking place. I'm resident photography at the Gallery, and the festival included the showing of a few of my photographs. Resistance Gallery is run by the lovely folks behind Lucha Britannia, and that's where my photographs came into the equation. They had colour prints, but I generally prefer my monochrome wrestling shots. It was nice to have a little exhibition.



By early afternoon it was time to run off to Field Day festival. It's my 3rd festival this year; I'm planning on Offset and then I'm done. Here's Tom; Field Day is his festival.



Aw look at him there. I think he said the baby is only a few weeks old; imagine the birthday parties that kid'll have when it's older.

Field Day was alright; it rained a lot, and it seemed like most folks I knew were hiding in the press area. In the photo pits, there was a nice atmosphere. It's nice to recognise a few faces from other events. The security were very nice as well; after some of the ridiculous cunts that were at Download, and the misery of the 1234 administration, having one of the mosh security guys hunt around for five minutes among his colleagues to find me a disposable rain poncho was excellent. Anyone who's worked on a festival knows the last thing you want when you've just finished work is a jobsworth telling you you're not allowed to squeeze through the gap in the fence between where you are and where you need to be five minutes ago. Here's Little Boots.





I don't really listen to a lot of music any more; it's fair to say I couldn't name a Little Boots tune or album or name without the aid of mighty google. I thought she put on a good show though; odd as it might sound, you don't really get to listen to the music when you're shooting, but you get caught up with the atmosphere of it. It seemed to me like, there's a shy girl there on stage, who's been told to dress a certain way to appeal to a certain crowd - and appealing she is - but for sure, she wants to be a pop star, wants to belt out the tunes.

Here's a couple of Horrors on the back of a buggy.



Hi boys.

Santigold was delayed and the crowd weren't happy.




Then Santigold showed up.




And the crowd went wild. I didn't stick around for long; I wanted to catch 4 Tet.



He was alright; I think probably that sort of music is better suited to somewhere you can sit down. The back to the main stage, for the headline act, Mogwai, who I hadn't seen before. It was curious to see them live; it's music I fell for when I was on mushrooms years ago, and to go from that intimacy to standing in a field with a few thousand people.. well it's just not the same is it? They had a nice light show though.







So I stayed for a couple of tunes and then it was off to The Victoria in Mile End, where I'd been asked to take photos at the Cramps Fetish Night, one of the official Field Day afterparties but also a chance to see a band I'd loved as a teen, Empress Of Fur. Their tune Johnny Voodoo left an indelible mark on my idea of how music should be.



First up were a band with a name I forget, but it involved sausages.





Oh, by the way, that's lady wrestlers he's singing to. It was that sort of club. Who wants to see more lady wrestlers?






Then it was time for Empress Of Fur. They were excellent.







Then it was back to the Gallery for a little mask party action.






Then home to bed. Boy I needed it.

Sunday saw me shooting catalogue images for Miss Jacqueline White. She's a nice lady who is launching a range of funny t-shirts. Most of the shots on her website are mine. Go get a t-shirt! Afterwards it was time for A Rebours, a club night at Catch put on by Mr. Reece Prince Watson. I've been thrown out of Catch twice; I would say it's the most "standard" Shoreditch nightclub, after Hoxton Bar & Kitchen. It was fun; his birthday celebration as much as anything else, and it was nice to see people dancing and having fun.







Then home to bed, via the Joiners.

Also this week: a "Day In The Life Of" shoot for my friend Ike Robinson, to help promote his new band Park Lane Girls;










a studio shot of Fred Butler at work, for an inflight magazine;



a 3rd shot for my "Flowers" series, not yet fully processed;



and that was pretty much it. It was a busy weekend but the week has been a little more sedate; next up, Dice Club on Sunday, a shoot with Matt Berry in the week, and who knows what else .