2017

April 09, 2017 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

With the promise of three energetic rock bands taking to the stage, there was a tangible sense of excitement as we drove the A38 towards the Plymouth Pavilions. Joining me on the short journey to Plymouth was my journalistic pal from MusicMuso, Steve. Not only were we excited by the prospect of a good night of music, but we were very pleased to see that local band Black Foxxes would be supporting. We've covered the Black Foxxes a few times and we knew how good they are to see and to photograph.

Steve will, of course, be writing up a full review of the gig over on MusicMuso really soon but in the meantime here are some of my photos from the night.

Black Foxxes

Tonight Alive

You Me at Six

Well, I hope you enjoyed those images. Remember you can follow me on all the normal social channels. Just check out the social buttons at the bottom of this page. I'll see you next on The Unplugged Blog.

Black Foxxes with Big Spring and Magpies at Exeter Phoenix - 29/10/2016

October 30, 2016 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

I've been lucky enough to shoot local rock heroes Black Foxxes a couple of times now including their epic set at the Radio One Big Weekend earlier this year. Aside from the fact that they are a kick ass band they are fantastic to photograph. The sheer energy they put into their performances makes my job so much easier. My only complaint is having too many pictures to pick from!

So when my friends over at MusicMuso asked me if I could cover their sell out gig at the Exeter Phoenix there was no way I was going to miss it. It was sure to be a awesome night of music with some quality support bands.

Here are some of the photos I took...

Magpies

First up on the stage were 4 piece rock band Magpies.

Big Spring

Turning it up a notch were Big Spring...

Black Foxxes

As I expected the mighty Black Foxxes did not disappoint as not only did they play a great set but they also gave me plenty of great shots.

There you have it. I hope from the images you get an idea of what a great night of music it was. If you are looking for a full review of the gig my friends over at MusicMuso will be posting one up soon.

On a technical note....

You may have noticed that all of my images on this blog post were black and white. Ask any gig photographer how they will process their images when there is very poor light (in photographic terms) and they will tell you they will go black and white. The gig was actually upstairs in the Voodoo Lounge at the Exeter Phoenix. It's a fantastic room and it really allows the crowd to get up close and personal with the bands. However, it's a really challenging environment for photography as there is very little in the way of lighting.

With flash photography generally being frowned up I really had to push the limits of my Nikon D750. At a minimum I had the camera set at ISO 6400 but often pushed it to ISO 12800. This was in addition to the camera being set at f/2.8 and 1/125 sec. With the ISO so high the images had a lot of noise, and to combat that and the prominent pale blue lighting, I opted to process the images as punchy black and whites. Despite those technical challenges, I like the results.

See you next time!!!

Radio 1 Big Weekend at Powderham Castle, Exeter - 28th and 29th May 2016

June 10, 2016 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

When I heard that Exeter was going to host this years Radio 1 Big Weekend music festival I soon cleared my calendar. There was no way I was going to miss shooting some the worlds most biggest artists while they were only a few miles from my doorstep. Normally I'd have to travel a little further for this kind of shoot.

I'm really excited to share these images so I'm going to save the rest of my thoughts for later on in the blog post and get straight into the photographs.

BBC Introducing Stage

In New Music We Trust Stage

Main Stage

Saturday

Sunday

The Crowd

Gear

I hoped you liked the images, but in case you are interested I'm going to talk a little bit about gear. Aside from plenty of spare batteries and memory cards this was definitely a two body, two lens job. The ability to switch between telephoto and wide quickly is really important as the action can be happening in front of you on the stage or behind you in the crowd. For this gig my chosen gear was a Nikon D610 with 24-70mm f/2.8 VR and a Nikon D750 with 70-200 f/2.8 VR. Both are wonderful combinations to shoot with.

Aside from the camera gear though some essential items are sunblock, water and food. Shooting a gig like this can be very busy. Jumping between the press tent and three stages makes for a busy weekend and you don't want to be battling hunger, thirst and sunburn if you're going to take the best of images.

The Experience

So what is like to shoot a big event like Radio 1 Big Weekend? If I could describe it in three words they would be exciting, hectic, and fun! There is no doubt that shooting festivals can be hectic. With three stages and barely any gaps between an artist finishing on one stage and another starting somewhere else, you have to have a daily plan. Without some sort of plan you will either burn out or miss someone you need to shoot.

It's also very exciting. I still get a thrill as I enter the pit at the main stage and start shooting. You can prepare by watching YouTube videos of the artists to see how they behave on stage, but every performance is different so you need to stay on your toes.

It's also fun. After all, I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it. I was located in the BBC Pictures tent and despite myself, the other photographers and the BBC staff being exceptionally busy everybody was enjoying themselves and there was always good chat while we walked between stages.

And finally...

My friends over at MusicMuso have written a full review of the Radio 1 Big Weekend and you read it over here.

My next festival will be Glas-Denbury in July. As I did with this event I will be posting images live as they happen so remember to check out my Twitter and Instagram feeds.

See you next time on The Unplugged Blog!

My Top 10 Images of 2015

December 31, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

As the end of 2015 approaches I like to take some time to look at all the images I took over the year. Looking at my 2015 collection I realise that I've had a very productive year. At the end of 2014 I wrote about my Favourite Images of 2014, a collection of my 5 personal favourites. I soon came to the conclusion that narrowing 2015 down to 5 images would be impossible.

So to celebrate 2015 I've selected 10 of my personal favourites. This gallery of images are the photographs that I'm either very pleased with (artistically speaking) or strike some sort of personal chord. An image should spark an emotional response and for me these images do just that.

I really hope you enjoyed my selection but if you want to know what my favourite bands were, please check out My Top 5 Bands of 2015 blog post.

See you all in 2016!

The Computers

December 16, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

Having photographed The Computers back in 2013 I was fairly confident that their show at the Exeter Phoenix last Friday night was going to be a good one. I was joined by Steve from MusicMuso and we were not disappointed! Not only did we have The Computers but we had three quality support bands and a very lively crowd. Happy days.

As always, MusicMuso will be putting up a review of the gig really soon and it's my job here to show you a couple of images hot from the editing desk. OK, I'm not so hot with this post due a trip to Glasgow at the weekend, but my main problem was actually selecting which images to include. A tough job given the quality and energy of the bands, so I'm just going to share more than I would do normally. But hey, it's the Xmas period and I'm feeling festive!

First up were The Mocking Birds:

Next up were Black Foxxes and they caused me a bit of headache as it was really difficult to narrow down which images to use!

On next were Then Thickens:

And last, but in no way least were the very talented and energetic The Computers:

So I definitely posted up more images than I normally do but I couldn't do the gig justice with just a couple of photos! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did capturing them.

I think this will be my last gig of the year but it won't be my last post of the year. I'll be working on my top 10 images of 2015 blog post over the next couple of weeks. It's going to be tough to pick them as its been a bumper year of great images.

However, 2016 is already shaping up to be even better than 2015 with some amazing acts in the pipeline. I can't wait to share some of those images with you!

No matter what you are doing this December, have a great holiday and I'll see you real soon on The Unplugged Blog.