I was back at The Lemon Grove last week with Steve from MusoMuso to cover local band Wildwood Kin. Let’s great straight into the photographs.
Apologies that it’s a bit of a short blog post this week but I hope to be back in a couple of weeks with something a big special!
I had a busy summer this year with a few big festivals to cover, but after a short break I was back at The Lemon Grove in Exeter to cover the Feeder gig. I have fond memories of Feeder as they were one of my favoured artists when I was road tripping around europe. I clearly remember driving the French alps in my BMW convertible listening to Feeder on CD. Just the wind in my hair, lovely weather, and Feeder blasting out as tore around the hairpins.
I no longer have the car (I have a family now instead), but when my friends over at MusicMuso asked me to shoot the gig I didn't hesitate for a minute.
First up were local band Reigning Days who have been supporting Feeder across the country on this tour. It was a bit of a homecoming gig for them and they certainly delivered. I went back stage with MusicMuso to take some images for an interview so remember to check out MusicMuso's website for that one. Should be good.
Here they are on stage:
Reigning Days
Reigning Days
Reigning Days
Reigning Days
Reigning Days did an awesome job of warming up the crowd so when Feeder took to the stage the crowd were well up it. I'll leave the band review to my friends over at MusicMuso and instead I'll give you some cracking pictures to look at instead.
Feeder
Feeder
Feeder
Feeder
Feeder was an epic gig and both bands were a joy to shoot. I'll be back next week in my old stomping ground of the Exeter Phoenix to shoot Black Foxxes which should be an awesome one. Stay tuned to my Twitter and Instagram feeds to images live from the gig. I'll back here in the blog with all the photos from that gig sometime next week. Till then...
A year ago today I started The Unplugged Blog as a quick way to talk about and share the images I had recently captured. My first blog post shared some images from the Lewis Watson gig at the Exeter Phoenix - you can read it here.
One year and 24 blog posts later I've shared images from The South, The Boomtown Rats, Europe, Grandmaster Flash and UB40! It's been a blast.
For those who read my blog on a regular basis you'll know that I like to share my images as soon as I can. And while I will post images direct and live from a gig on my Twitter feed, you can't beat the quality of a fully processed image from the computer. So when I get back from a gig the first thing I do is catalog and select my best images. I will then normally select one or two of my best images from the shoot to share on my blog. It's important to share some images while the gig is still fresh in everyone's mind!
So to celebrate The Unplugged Blog's first birthday I've collated a selection of some of my favorite images. Not only are there images from previous blog posts but I've included some images from gigs before I'd even started the blog. So have a good look through and you might see some images previously unshared!
I hope you enjoyed this selection of images, I certainly enjoyed taking them. Remember to keep checking my Twitter feed and The Unplugged Blog for all the latest images!
See you next time!
As we are now firmly in 2015 I thought I'd look back at my catalogue of images from 2014 to see what my favourites have been. It was a really busy year, so there were a lot of images to look at!
The images in this post are my personal favourites, and not necessarily my best technically. I strive for technical excellence but I also like images that tell a story or have some emotional content. So these are just 5 of my personal favourites and in no particular order!
First up is this image from The South gig from October 1st. Here we have Damon Butcher working his magic on the keyboards. While I'm very pleased on how this image turned out, it's the memory of watching Damon play that makes this image special for me.
The South
You can read my blog post about the gig here.
Next up is the lead singer of Save Your Breath from October 7th. I love this image because you can really see the passion of the singer and the energy of the performance.
Save Your Breath
You can read my blog post about the gig here.
The next two images are both from the Boomtown Rats gig of November 10th. This was probably one of the best gigs (from a photography point of view) that I shot in 2014. They were a band with so much energy that it was almost easy to photograph them.
I love this image in particular because the guitarist played up to the camera giving me a great shot. This is where the skill comes in though as if you don't have your camera set up correctly, you'll miss the shot!
The Boomtown Rats
I have so many images of Bob Geldof that it is was almost impossible to select a favourite. I chose this image because it shows the energy of Bob's performance.
The Boomtown Rats
You can read my blog post about the gig here.
And finally, but certainly not least, is an image from the Grandmaster Flash gig from December 20th. Shooting this gig was really challenging because of the very low light conditions (mostly of which was red), but this image for me really brings back the happy memories of watching a legend on the decks. It was great way to finish the year!
Grandmaster Flash
You can read my blog post about the gighere.
These images, and a few others from my back catalogue now appear on the reverse side of my business cards. I'm using a new supplier for my business cards and I'm really pleased with the quality of the results. If you want to check them out, head over to Moo.
I'm now busy sorting out my 2015 schedule and it's looking like a monster year. I'll be posting my gig schedule up here really soon. Hope to see you at a gig in the near future!
On a technical note...
This blog post comes out a little later than I had originally planned. Sure, some of those reasons were that I was taking some time out over the festive period, but the main reason was that I was migrating to a new PC. My trusty old Dell PC was really starting to creak. The size of the files that my D750 produces was really starting to make my workflow creak so I decided to get an upgrade.
So what spare time I had over the Xmas period was spent moving data and installing applications. However, it has proved a worthwhile investment in time and money. My new system is uber fast and I can really see how much technology has moved on in the last 5 years since my last PC purchase.
The speed of my workflow is really important as time is always tight. I'm really looking forward to my first shoot of 2015 to put the system to the test!
Some nights you leave a gig with the wonderful feeling that you got some great shots and you heard some fantastic music. Last night at the Lemon Grove was definitely one of those nights!
As always on The Unplugged Blog, I'm going to share a few of my favourite images hot from the editing desk. Normally I'd only share one image from each artist but I have so many great images you all deserve to see two!
First up was the exceptionally talented and lovely Polly Money.
Polly Money
Polly Money
I was lucky enough to grab a quick chat with Polly back stage with Steve from MusicMuso so expect to hear more about Polly on the MusicMuso website really soon.
Next up were Exeter's top steam punk band The Mysterious Freakshow. They were colourful, loud and energetic. Definitely a band I will keep an eye out for on the local gig scene.
The Mysterious Freakshow
The Mysterious Freakshow
The main act of the night was of course The Boomtown Rats, and from the moment that Sir Bob bounded on to the stage the place erupted. Now, there is a man that can work the crowd. I really love shooting a band that can work the crowd. There is always so much to shoot!
For those of you that follow my Twitter account you know that I like to live tweet images straight from venue (thanks to Nikon D750, a Nexus tablet, and a phone signal). I tweeted this image last night but just had stick it on my blog as well. I just loved the way he played up to the camera for me. He got a big thumbs up back from me!
The Boomtown Rats
And now the star of the show, Bob Geldof, or as I now think of him, rock God!
The Boomtown Rats
It was a real pleasure shooting all three acts last night. I've still got a whole stack of images to get through and edit, but I just wanted to share these with you right now! Expect a full write up of the gig really soon over at MusicMuso.
In the meantime I'm going to carry on listening to new Pink Floyd album and I'll see you next time on The Unplugged Blog!
I knew before I turned up at the Lemon Grove to cover this years Halloween Zombie Ball that it was going to be a BIG night of rock music. I was not wrong. And with at least six bands to cover and an army of zombies to wade through to get from one stage to the other, I had a lot of work to do!
First up were local band Cambion.
Cambion
Cambion
Cambion were also good enough to invite MusicMuso and myself back stage for an interview. I always like getting the meet the bands back stage to take some photos and hear the bands story.
Cambion
Next up we have I Divide who really kicked up a storm on the 2nd stage.
I Divide
I really like this next shot. The beaming red lights in the background seem to suit the look of the guitarist from Glamour of the Kill.
Glamour of the Kill
And the action doesn't stop there. Here we have Kill All The Gentleman.
Kill All The Gentleman
Running across back to the main stage I caught up with Knotslip.
Knotslip
And my 2nd to last shot for this blog entry is The Dreamer Within.
The Dreamer Within
And finally, my favourite band of the night, the kick ass Skindred.
Skindred
As you can see, it was a very busy night of shooting, but I loved it. Life is much easier when the bands know how to use the stage and get the crowd going. I just wish I hadn't decided to get up at 5.30am that day to take some landscape photos. Yes, that's right, I do have a more arty side to me as well!
See you next time on the Unplugged Blog where I will be bringing you images straight from the Boomtown Rats gig. Bye!