nick pickles music photographer

Ahhh - back so soon. And this time we got 4 songs you know. Although the lighting was pretty rubbish this time, the spotlight guy seemed half cut as he was missed John by a good foot.

Yes he still swigs brandy from a bottle before spitting it into a bucket, and yes I only took about 2 frames of the other members of the band, but there’s not really many others quite like John Lydon. A true legend.

Then again, it’s equally true to say that given the choice, the thought of paying 30 quid to see PiL scares me. (Especially considering there was no support!)

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Where do the days go? Doesnt seem like five minutes since this gig. Not a huge amount to report, both Regina and her support act, Nicole Atkins, were pretty static to photograph, with equally static lighting. A chance to give the 85mm f1.8 a run out as the benefit of people playing the piano is you know where they’ll be sitting, and so can set up accordingly.

Regina’s songs are still as delicate as they are powerful, while Nicole Atkins has a folksy-charm that is difficult to pull off without sounding twee.

But yes - I was still knackered from latitude and so headed home early for the sake of an early night. Special mention should go to Regina’s photo release form which stated we should only use our most “flattering” shots. Sadly they failed to describe from what perspective they were flattering so I’ve no idea if I’m going to get sued or not.

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After giving it a miss in 2009, I returned to Latitude with some apprehension, mainly due to having not camped for ages, and very little prep time. Other than knowing the headliners and that The National were playing, I had no real idea what was on offer - not helped by being at T in the Park when I found out I had a pass. Having said that, the great thing about Latitude is you can wander off and see all sorts of random stuff - not least a bit of theatre in the woods. I’ve no idea who was performing, but the above shot is one of my favourite of the whole festival.

I ventured down on Thursday, mainly because Tom Jones was scheduled to play an intimate set in ‘The Woods’ at midnight. Also this meant I had some time to sort my tent out, which had never been out of the box I’d bought it in on Thursday morning.

Click on to read more, or for a fuller set of photos click here.

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Second festival, and my fourth T in the Park. Still as mental as ever, 85,000 scottish folk on the booze - a very unique atmosphere!

It’s hard to describe T this year - my first time shooting Muse, Eminem’s first european gig for five years and being on stage with one of my favourite bands, Editors, all great experiences. There were some incredible moments, including a *huge* version of ‘God is a DJ’ by Faithless, Tom from editors running towards me screaming during ‘Smokers outside the hospital doors’ and another epic Mumford and Sons set, but something didnt feel quite right.

It was probably due to the rain that battered the site on Saturday, and a distinct lack of sleep, but I also wonder whether it was down to a lineup that lacked any real unique moments of greatness.

It was a buzz shooting Eminem, but it isnt my kind of music and the consensus seems to be it wasnt exactly a stellar performance. Many of the bands playing are doing the rounds,  something affecting lots of festivals this year, and there wasnt much variety on the bigger stages.

T is still a great festival, with an incredibly passionate crowd and a great setting, but I think they need to rekindle the kind of variety that brought Brian Wilson and a whole host of acts who were ‘one offs’ to the various stages.

On the upside, Im incredibly happy with some of my shots (below) so I must be doing something right!

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So, once again another Glastonbury dissapears before me quicker than you can say Vuvuzela. For the first time since 2003, the festival passed without a drop of rain falling, and while I now need to spend time de-dusting my kit, it’s certainly better than having to wash everything to get rid of the mud.

The day kicked off and ended on the Other stage, and I was especially happy to join headliners Orbital on stage for their set - although not without a bit of a jog!

The Joy Formidable are one of my favourite up and coming bands and they didnt dissapoint the pretty decent crowd who’d got out of bed early on the last day to catch them. I shot the later half of the set from stage, great fun although from a photographic point of view quite challenging as there wasnt much stage lighting around, so like the Courteeners on Friday I was left to try and grab the odd moment when you could see faces.

Then it was off to catch Avi Buffalo on the park stage, and very good they were too, but by then my mind had turned to the day’s alternative headline event - England v Germany. Most of the festival’s press pack were camped down there and two blokes in full George’s cross body suits got a great deal of attention (and probably didnt see much of the match through the pack of photographers waiting for them to react to every goal). In the end, it was a massive let down in footballing terms, but an interesting shoot to do alongside all the usual music shots. One portrait of a rather ropey looking punter particularly caught my attention.

After the game (well, about 70 mins in) I gave up and tredged to the bar by the John peel stage, as I was down there for Gang of Four, Broken Social Scene and Julian Casablancas. There were alot of rumours that the latter’s set would infact be a Strokes gig, so the usual chaos of trying to confirm rumours and extra access kicked in. Last year I ended up on stage with the Black Eyed peas because of the Justin Timberlake rumour, this year I managed to blag a bit longer in the pit. Which in truth was totally useless as a) there was no strokes gig (although a few strokes songs were played) and b) JC played in the dark. I was shooting at 3200 ISO and in the end most of the photographers gave up and just started using flash. By the end of the third song it was a total free-for-all. I was going to walk away, but then he came down into the crowd but as I was at the wrong side of the tent I didn’t get anything useable.

After that it was onto tea and the final shoots of the night. As covering Glastonbury is a team effort, my schedule meant I was covering Empire of the Sun’s first UK show - so I kicked off with Orbital in the pit, then on stage, then about 20 mins in ran up to the Park. I ended up making such good time that I got there with about ten minutes to spare. As soon as the first three (visually stunning if not a bit weird sounding) tracks were over it was back down the path to the Other stage, hoping to catch the end of Orbital’s set. For anyone who has been to glasto, I did Park photo pit to being on the Other stage in 9 minutes. Amazed I had any energy left but I made it to watch the last 20 mins or so - including an appearance by the latest Dr Who, Matt Smith, who joined in on keyboard for a massive version of the show’s theme track.

I’ll do a more reflective post on the whole event and pick my favourite shots, but Sunday was definitely a productive day - hectic, yes - but on the whole another good day for photos and even a bit of exercise!

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Day two. for a minute there, I……..

So, all told a much better day. Started to get my head around what was irking me yesterday, felt in a bit of a lull but things feel much more positive now. Some really challenging shoots - Jamie T was lit with a very dull blue wash, while the XX were a few spotlights away from playing in the dark. Wandered into the crowd for Muse (as much to get a shot for my the wall of my new flat as to file!) and ended up with a few nice wideangle shots. Managed to catch a few tracks of the National - including shooting the first three. The sunshine and black backdrop made for some great studio style shots, which has definitely been something on my mind. The shot of Foals frontman Yannis I particularly like as it doesnt feel like a live shot, has a crispness to it that doesnt mirror the brilliant energy of their performance. I’ve no idea whether that makes it a rubbish live shot or not, but I like it so it’s going up heh.

one day left. never enough.

(oh, and I’ve just realised I’ve forgotten to do an edit of a shot of the national, so you’ll just have to wait for that.)

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So, turns out I had an extra gig before festival season!

Last time I shot a gig at LCCC was Coldplay last year, and if I’m honest that was one of the worst gigs I’ve shot in a while, so I was slightly aprehensive heading back. Things weren’t helped when it turned out we’d only have the first 2 songs, there were a ton of photographers and I didnt notice I had my camera on manual focus and briefly panicked that my 200mm lens had died.

In the end turned out pretty well - despite it being a sunny evening, I managed a few nice frames of the crowdsurfing fan and Billy Joel with the sky and crowd behind them. Also grabbed a nice clear shot of Joel with an england flag behind his head.

Not a bad warm up for Glastonbury, but now it’s onto the main event…..

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Yes, contrary to many’s belief that they had indeed banished themselves from the airwaves, the Kooks are still going.

From memory, the last time I saw them they were pretty dull to photograph, so I was a little pleased that the singer decided to move around quite alot - unfortunately with barely any light on him it made the photographs pretty pointless. Fair play for trying to liven things up though, the songs aren’t going to do it. Although his shouting ‘come on’ at the crowd did seem a bit, well, crap.

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I would say these guys rock, but apparently that’s a massive insult to them as (in the words of Danny North) they’re more metal than metal. So - I’ll leave it at that.

Needeless to say, by the time this gig finally came around - having been rescheduled twice - I was slightly complacent about what to expect. As someone who will happily admit that metal isnt my scene, I’ve never really heard much of Slayer and had no real grasp of the band’s history. That was soon remedied after seeing a good mate Rowan in the pit (at his request I won’t disclose who he was shooting for!) and hearing his tales of seeing the band over the years, complete with musical scene timeline.

Aside from some slightly bizarre lighting - LED mixed with parkans, with random intermittent strobe and white light killed by red wash before you’d got the exposure right - it was a cool gig to shoot, with each member of the band offering very different (but no less *metal*) shots.

Also, special nod to this shot which I’m really pleased with. It’s a bad habit but when I’m shooting a band I’m not personally a fan of, I often tend to drift into trying to take shots that make me smile, rather than perhaps capturing the essence of the performance. So, with Slayer I started trying to get shots of the band smiling rather than screaming, or capture some warmth rather than the sheer agression of the performance. This shot came about trying to create some intimacy around a guy who was very, very in your face on stage, and I hope it works.

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So, another support band with better lighting than the main band. That I missed because I was in the pub. Ooops.

I can’t really comment much on this gig - for all I enjoyed the first couple of tunes, I didnt get the overwhelming wonderfullness of the band the crowd seemed to be doing, and nothing in the first half hour made me think I’d particularly missed out by not knowing them.

This is without saying that it was the 2nd worst light show this year (second only to Echo & the bunneymen) and that the bassist had such huge hair you never saw his face. Both of which made photography much harder.

They did, however, have the longest setlist i’ve ever seen. Not in terms of songs, but in terms of actual length.

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