And, with that, festival season 2010 was done.

Leeds has always had a special place in the circuit for me - the first festival I (very badly and entirely without success) ever attempted to climb the fence at, the first festival I went to as a punter (the year of the riots) and the first festival I worked at. Not to mention being fifteen minutes drive from my flat!

This year’s event was set to be a big one for a host of reasons - from the Libertines reunion to Guns N Roses - and it didnt dissapoint. I was incredibly lucky to have such a great view of proceedings and I hope I did the event justice with my shots.

Thursday was a chance to get my head around the new site layout and catch up with friends, while shooting some bands on the Dance to the Radio stage. I havent even looked at those shots yet, as I decided to head to the pub afterwards, but sure they’ll see the light of day eventually. As ever the accreditaton and press side of things runs seamlessly at Leeds, the only issue being just how far the staff car park felt from the press tent!

Friday was arguably my biggest day of the festival for me - several bands I love, and a few stage shoots I’d sorted in advance. The day began with the Walkmen, who I’d last seen live on the John Peel stage at Glastonbury in 2003 (although I think it was still called the ‘new band tent’ or something then!) and it was great to see their songs being belted out on the main stage. Next up was the Futureheads, and a chance to shoot on stage a band I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen them live. Needless to say, being up there for “The Futureheads singing game” (aka Hounds of Love) was as brilliant a way to start a festival as I can think of.

The day seemed to fly by, from another brilliant set from the Maccabees to the best festival set I’ve seen the Cribs play. Even Dizzie Rascal made an effort and brought some guitars. Obviously minds were already turning to the Libertines reunion, and whether the Arcade Fire could pull off the headline slot. While I must confess in advance neither had particularly filled me with confidence, in the end both were moments that will stay with me for a long time. I was lucky enough to shoot the Libertines set from the viewing platform at the side of the stage, one of the highlights of my photography career to date, and hopefully I’ll be able to find an interesting use for those shots soon. Then Arcade Fire came on and simply nailed it. From the opening ‘Ready to Start’ it felt right. I looked at a fellow photographer at the begining of the third song and said “if they play no cars go today will have been my best day ever as a photographer” - they did, and it was.

Saturday inevitably had a hard act to follow, and given that most of the bands weren’t my kind of music I wasnt overly hopeful. Once again though, I was proved wrong and the day made for some cracking photos. Both Fred Durst and Rivers Cuomo came into the pit during the first three tracks, with the latter spending most of Weezer’s set either in the pit of climbing things nearby. (All of which was quite unexpected as he nonchalantly did kick-ups at the side of the stage while the band got settled.) I even managed to grab a portrait of Mr Durst looking square down the camera and giving me the middle finger. In jest, obviously. He’s a nice bloke. After Paramore had rattled through a set of some pretty decent tunes, Blink 182 closed the day off with a trademark blend of catchy tunes and jokes about wanking, which seemed to be exactly what the crowd wanted.

And so onto Sunday. As an agency photographer, this is the relative light-day as everything has already been shot and filed from Reading. As it turned out, it was far from a light day, with the chaos of Guns N Roses giving it a fairly insane twist. (and probably contributing to the excessive drinking that went on afterwards!) On the upside I did get to start the day taking pictures of the Seat human car wash, which was as comical as it was surreal.

Gogol Bordello are always a brilliant act to shoot, although their introduction was oddly somber, playing a ballad first tune off. After that it went suitably bonkers, but a bit odd all the same. The rest of the day was pretty subdued - a very disappointing stage shoot with Biffy Clyro (couldn’t see very much past the smoke and support guitarist) and not shooting Queens of the Stone age bit a bit of a dampener on things, but then the real fun started. Some fun was had though, with a suitably rousing Mumford & Sons set preceded by a NOFX set that began with a spot of bantering-racism. I would try explain it but not sure I could either do it justice, or avoid offending anyone. Apparently the singer hadn’t slept for 30 hours but they seemed to get stuck in anyway. Bonus points for the decidedly understated backdrop too.

As I posted on flickr, the Guns N Roses release form was pretty insane, and there was no way I was going to sign it. All round nice bloke and top photographer Matt Crossick agreed, so we headed into the crowd with a 1.4 converted 300mm and ladders for Matt and me shooting wider on a 70-200. Things began pretty terribly when we got stuck at the back of the arena, behind a seemingly huge crowd. A slight detour (and numerous pass blags later) we emerged from the pit of the lock-up stage and into the side of the arena, which seemed pretty empty. In the end we were practically shooting from the crowd barrier, which did make for a slightly awkward moment when Matt was spotted by a security guard handing out water. Given the guard was stood on a ledge, it was difficult for him not to take an interest in the seeming 8ft giant stood near him.

In the end, Axl and co were only half an hour late, so we managed to get our edit and headed off to shoot our final bands. I opted for LCD Soundsystem on the NME stage, given I had stage clearance too, and arrived just as the band were taking to the stage. While the lighting was pretty patchy, this did allow a spot of pit dancing to ‘Us v Them’, which was no bad thing.

And with that, I shall see you in the fields next year.

Maybe.

View the full set on Flickr here.

]]> http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2&p=536 http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=532 http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=532#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:28:03 +0000 nick http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=532

Another neat idea, another Radiohead project. This time they’ve given an audio rip of a live show to a collaborative project which has basically made a gig DVD from fan footage. The team behind it had a hell of a job on bringing all the different camera feeds together and keeping it so tightly synced, and while I’m sure the quality won’t have the corporate types worrying too much, it’s an interesting sign of the times. How long before the quality of small cameras catches up with what you can now get on a 5D or a D3s and we’ll see much sharper efforts? Axl Rose probably won’t like it, and Metallica will probably sue video camera companies, but it potentially opens up a whole new world of opportunities for creative projects. Once again, it’s nice to see a band (not for the first time being Radiohead) putting something out there as a creative project without seeing it as a revenue-generating tool.

On stage as the Libertines perform at Leeds Festival 2010

What can I say? I missed the Libertines the first time round, but it was pretty hard not to get swept up in the magic of the occasion and to shoot some frames from side of stage was just amazing.

It’s often joked that the reason you never see any atmosphere photos from V Festival is because there isn’t an atmosphere. Well, once again the adage proved true - but in some ways, it’s not a bad thing, not least allowing me to focus on shooting bands, filing photos and getting a decent night’s kip.

The line-up at V is usually a mix of radio-friendly big names and random pop acts. Inspiration is rarely drawn from either, but it’s got to be said there were a few great festival moments to be found, buried beneath the pile of dross topped like a cherry (made of solid shit) by Daisy Dares You.

Not least was Neil Hannon’s solo set, which I enjoyed with a pint of Guiness in the sunshine, that included a piano rendition of ‘National Express’ and lots of singing along. Faithless once again proved why they are a perfect festival headline warm-up, and Editors managed to get a decent crowd moving to both new and old tunes. Equally I was pleasantly reminded just how many great tunes Kasabian have, with ‘Club Foot’ and ‘Underdog’ giving the set an edge lost on those just there to sing along to ‘Fire’.

There was plenty of standard-festival-fayre, with Paloma Faith, the Stereophonics, Calvin Harris and Florence and the Machine all playing sets honed at pretty much any festival they could get a booking for, but not to detract from the fact they are all decent enough artists - it’s just that I’ve seen them so many times that not being a huge fan it’s pretty hard to get excited. Apart from the Kooks, who are still rubbish, and Sugababes, who now appear to be more of a franchise than a brand, such is the ease and frequency of lineup changes.

Kings of Leon sounded decidedly quiet, although due to their ‘no agencies’ rule I ventured to shoot David Guetta on the Channel 4 stage. Despite assurances in the afternoon we’d get some great shots from the photo pit, the size of his light show meant he was entirely impossible to shoot from the photo pit, so I ventured into the crowd to grab a few frames. Not an ideal way to end the festival but a distinct improvement to the acts that kicked off Sunday, The Pretty Reckless and Daisy Dares You, to whom I should give a special mention for proving that a lack of talent or songs still need not get in the way of a career in the music business and playing major events.

Alas, two days is definitely enough for me at V, and probably enough for the masses who’d had to go 48hrs without hair straighteners or hollyoaks. But on the whole it serves a function, bringing together lots of fairly inoffensive acts and a boatload of strongbow to give a different audience a festival-lite experience. And I’m pretty happy with the photos too, which helps.

]]> http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2&p=526 http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=517 http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=517#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:04:53 +0000 nick http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=517

Back in May I blogged on the Guardian’s dubious rights-grab masquerading as a crowdsourcing of Glastonbury photos. Well, another day, another grab.

This time it’s the NME that is at it, although hardly a surprise given the tales of using ‘interns’ to cover gigs (aka students working for a ‘credit’) and the continued fall in the print edition’s circulation. (Not to mention their very dubious practices around reporting of web-stats)

However, given the NME’s position as the UK’s biggest ‘brand’ in music media (even if it is based on historic success) they still have a big sway, particularly for music photographers just starting out, for whom it is akin to the holy grail. So, their latest forray into ‘brand development’ (after the tours, venues and such like I expect that the only reason IPC will continue the print edition beyond 2012 will be as a loss-leading marketing exercise for these sort of activities) is a photography competition.

Here’s the general deal. You enter five pictures. If the NME shortlist them, they can be reproduced for pretty much any use. (s6.1) Yes, this must be in conjunction with the promotion of the competion, so basically they just need to stick an ‘NME Photo Awards’ logo on it and they can print posters, hold exhibitions, publish in a book, magazine or online, hey they can even use it on a calendar! (s6.1.f) All without paying the photographer a penny.

They can also make the shots available to other media to promote the competition (s6.1.j) without any payment for reproduction and the images can be used by IPC and it’s partners (not defined) without prior permission from the photographer, aslong as it falls under the general provisions of s6. Which pretty much cover any use with the exception of projecting it onto the moon, and even then it’d probably be covered aslong as it was a PR stunt to promote the competition.

And this isn’t even for the winning images! Oh, no, just getting a place on the shortlist entitles them to do this (s6.1) for TWO YEARS (s6.2) after the announcement of the winners. In other words, you might end up prizeless and still see your images reproduced to buoy the IPC’s coffers, with absolutely no comeback, until November 30th 2012.

Yes, you will get a credit but if the images are printed without a credit, well, tough. (s5.2)

And particularly worrying given the images will be available for PR use (ie easier to come by than a drunk person at T in the Park) IPC and NME have washed their hands of any image misuse. (s6.3)

What do I think? By entering this competition you’re risking giving away five of your best images for free. All for a prize that retails for £1700.

If your images are good enough for you to think they deserve to win an award, then they are good enough for someone to pay for. So keep the images in your shit-hot portfolio and go out and win work. Get paid, buy kit, be happy.

** I should also add an interesting thought about this is that potentially under s3.1.c any shots used which were the subject of a release form (the kind of which caused several national and international outlets to boycott shooting Muse at Glastonbury) would not be eligible, and if they were entered and any legal action forthcoming as a result of breaching the release would be your liability, even if the reason you were litigated against was publication in an IPC title. (Although I maintain I am still yet to see a legally enforceable release form.)

The full T&C’s can be read here.

So, for the first time in a while I got to cover a festival I’d not been to before! I must admit this was a bit of a last-minute job, but with a lineup that included Thom Yorke (rumoured to be performing with his band ‘Atoms for Peace’) M.I.A, Massive Attack, Patrick Wolf and lots of acts I’d never heard of, I set off with a fair degree of excitement.

Sadly, and much to my surprise, the resounding feeling of the weekend would be shaking my head in disbelief at some of the epic fuck-ups and ridiculous situations that emerged. The best moments were saved for the nightime photohunting on Thursday night with Glastonbury-atmosphere-photo legend Leon Neal and the merry gang of Tim, Tom and Tommy and a counter-surveillance operation involving body painted naked people that Andy McNab would have been proud of.

Alas, all this had to wait. Despite managing to get from Leeds to within 2 miles of the festival site in very good time, the final two miles were pretty monumental. We’d planned to arrive at 3pm, with gates opening at 2pm. We eventually got onsite aroun 6.30pm. It seems some genius had the idea to put all the traffic (artists and event staff aside) through one traffic gate. Which was a single track road. Resulting in massive lines of cars not really going anywhere, for a long time. I dread to think what time anyone would have got on site if they’d joined the que after leaving work.

Eventually on site, the tent went up and beer in hand I caught up with a few other photographers and discovered that on Sunday morning there would be a big art project by Spencer Tunick, famed for his installations of naked people. I remember being invited to one in Gateshead at the Sage (as press!) but declining to take up their offer of a 4am cooked breakfast.

Alas, our immediate objective was food and then a wander around the site, which seemed to have picked bits of Latitude and Glastonbury and scattered them across the valley. After overcoming the lure of the winking sausage, I feasted on veggie japanese (washed down with lager, obviously) and headed to the giant balls. Quickly the pack of photographers split off to find their subjects, and ended up with a couple infront of one of the said giant balls kissing.

On the other side of the valley (and up what Tommy took to calling ‘the hill of death’ - seems these Geordies just can’t take the pace) I found two guys enjoying themselves with two massive spliffs, and despite the horrific green light managed to grab this frame.

And I forget what this guy was doing, but at least he played along.

Friday morning brought the first of the bands. Well, actually, that’s not quite right. The weird thing about the big chill is that the main stage doesnt kick off until 3pm-ish, with headliners going on at around 10.30pm. So we ventured to the press tent to see what the set up was. Quickly it became apparent, as we tried to file our shots from the nightime exploration, that this was no ordinary press tent. The wi-fi was so slow I carrier pigeons were not only a viable alternative but a serious consideration, with our questions greeted with confused looks and promises to call the tech guys. We were into 15-plus minutes per frame territory, not a good start to the day.

Occasionally a rare burst of speed would emerge, and the painstaking process of trying to file before the network fell over again saw everyone rushing to laptops furiously re-starting FTP transfers.

Friday’s musical highlight for me was always going to be Thom Yorke, so the news that no agencies were to be allowed to shoot Massive Attack wasnt too big a deal. However, when offered the chance to shoot Massive Attack’s press conference with a Palestinian charity, it seemed to make sense to get some frames. After arriving very late, the PR then told the waiting press pack the event wouldn’t be happening. Not entirely sure why the band (who were this point were stood a few feet away from us) wouldnt do it, disgruntled, most of us left, but on seeing a few flashes firing I ran back and ended up being able to shoot a load of frames during the interviews. PR Farce Number 1 over and done.

The afternoon’s surprise highlight was Tinariwen, a Saharan blues group who blend African sounds and songwriting with the grooves traditionally heard in New Orleans’ sounds of the 1920’s. Really, really cool stuff and not too bad to shoot at all.

Thom Yorke’s set included a few classics, not least a piano rendidtion of Planet Telex. Sadly I had to enjoy most of the set from the press tent, fighting with the wi-fi, but it was nice to shoot Thom again with some night lighting. (Although it should be noted I missed the best shot of Thom between the two lighting rigs as I was having a new-lens love-in with the 300mm kindly lent to me by Leon.)

Massive Attack proved to be no real loss, and after grabbing a few frames from the crowd it was time for a quick beer and sleep. Saturday didn’t see any improvement in the wi-fi situation, as my ability to care slowly faded.By the end of the day, I dont think anybody had filed anywhere near a full edit and by the time the midnight closing time had come (”i dont care if you havent uploaded, I want to close”) I had filed 3 shots of MIA, despite more than 45minutes elapsing. When rumours came of a barrier collapse we grabbed cameras and ran into the crowd, only to realise that it had just been a stage invasion and probably not that newsworthy. Call me cynical but part of me wondered whether the closure of the press tent had more to do with trying to stop anyone filing shots of the invasion than organisation, but those thoughts were helpfully put to rest when one PR remarked “let’s get rid of these photographers so we can get hammered in the guest bar.”

Questions about Sunday’s Spencer Tunick event were ongoing, as given we knew it would be an early start, it was obviously prudent to try sort things out on Saturday. Obvious questions like ‘where will the press pen be’ were met with blank faces, while ridiculous conditions were doled out via the now notorious noticeboard. (It’s fame was cemented when the same elephant-in-a-china-shop deftness of message featured in the Daily Mail’s coverage of a blanket photography ban by Lilly allen. Linky.)

A masterclass in terrible PR

So - there we had it. All shots *must* include the big chill logo. But they couldnt say where we would be shooting from, so presumably the laws of optical physics were to be suspended for proceedings.

In the end, Leon and I opted to hide out on the other side of the lake, believing (rightly) that the press pen would offer a terrible view of the project. It also proved how farcical the big chill logo ‘requirement’ was - as you can see from the frame below, the naked people were in an opposite direction to the logo. Whether the PRs were checking shots I dont know, but in the end we had to laugh that the only shots including the logo would come from the two photographers who decided to ignore the PR direction and hide out under a milkshake van (which at the time was putting its staff through the rigours of an american motivational video - “see the sale and the sale will be yours” kind things.) Then again, when you’re trying to hide to take photos of body-painted naked people, life does get a bit surreal.

So, while the logistical and PR provisions of the festival left much to be desired, the festival itself threw up some great moments. Glitter Wrestling should be an olympic sport, The Jolly Boys may look like they are a hip-salesman’s dream but they are are ‘proper Jamaican gold man’ and I finally got to write a caption include the names ‘Peter Uzzle and Edward Nigma without it being a joke.

Mike Patton may have brought Faith No More back to life, but his latest project (complete with orchestra and 1920’s italian tunes) is a brilliant spectacle and musical tour de force well worth seeing. Kelis can still bring the boys to the yard and for all the critics, MIA still has some mint tunes. (Plus she played my favourite, Kala, first.) And judging by the press coverage, Lily Allen has put another nail in the coffin of artists who turn up at festivals with a PR strategy of allowing no photographers in the pit. (Tip - it doesnt work)

And before it was all over, I managed to grab a photo with Harry Shearer, or Derek Smalls to you higher mortals.

Not as chilled as you expect, and certainly not an easy weekend’s work, but still an enjoyable event to cover. I just hope for the sake of everyone involved the mountain-like creases can be ironed out and the festival can get the coverage it deserves.

Fin.

]]> http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2&p=509 http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=505 http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=505#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:40:57 +0000 nick http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=505

Harry Shearer - aka Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap - was at the Big Chill this weekend doing a talk on the history of festivals. I managed to bag a minute with him beforehand for a cheeky portrait and safe to say I’m very pleased with it. I mean, if it’d been rubbish I’d have still been chuffed to get a shot of such a legend, but to produce a portrait I’m happy with (a very rare thing) makes it all the better.

]]> http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2&p=505 http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=503 http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=503#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:33:46 +0000 nick http://www.music-photographer.co.uk/blog/?p=503

Last year at Kendal Calling I managed to explode a tooth and catch swine flu, so it’s fair to say I approached this year’s event with a degree of trepidation.

After a slightly random comission from the local paper, I headed up looking forward to not having to wire any shots over the weekend. Heaven forbid I could actually grab a beer, sit down and enjoy the bands!

While it’s fair to say I’m not a fan of Calvin Harris’ music, he certainly did a good job kicking the festival off although my personal highlight on friday was shooting Pulled apart by Horses for the first time. Mental atmosphere, no photography restrictions (although the melee of their set did mean they introduced them for every band afterwards!) and some kick-ass tunes made for a very fun set.

Over the weekend it was great to catch some fantastic bands I know and love - the Futureheads’ closing song ‘Man Ray’ nearly cost me my voice for the rest of the weekend, while a typically epic encore of ‘There goes the fear’ and ‘Space Face’ reminded my why Doves are such a great live band. The combination of that, a small site and very little rain added up to a cracking festival.

I would do a bigger review but I need to finish my Big Chill edit!For the full set on Flickr, click the linky.

Surprisingly good fun though, if not slightly terrifying following a guy who did a presentation on ‘how to save safe sex with robots’ !

Anyway, here’s the video and another demonstration of why I prefer print interviews.

It’s been too long since I saw a Field Music show properly (Glastonbury I was stuck at the back of the tent) so to see them playing a tiny theatre in Harrogate was the perfect tonic to festival season, when everything can feel a bit rushed and impersonal for the bands lower down the bill.

Complete with interval and very old man to hold the auditorium door open for you, this was about as perfect a venue as I can imagine for Field Music’s unique melodies and carefully crafted pop gems. Running through tracks from all three of their records (although no ‘In Context’ sadly) it was a joy to behold a 100-year old venue being filled with such sonic delights. And I got a comfy seat too, reet civilised.