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!

For most people Sunday night is all about relaxing in front of the TV and trying not think about work the following day. While this is often the case for me also, last night was all about getting over to the Plymouth Pavilions to see UB40. There were many reasons for my high levels of motivation for a Sunday night. Firstly it's the lure of the Plymouth Pavilions. Big lights, big stage and a big pit. All these things make life a little easier for the busy music photographer. The only the other thing you need is a big act. And they don't come much bigger than UB40, a British pop / reggae band that have been around for decades.

Now, I could write paragraphs of text on the history of the band and how good they were last night, but I like to leave that job to my friends over at MusicMuso who were there with me to cover the gig. Keep an eye out on their website where you will be able to read a full review of the gig very soon.

My job on The Unplugged Blog is to show you some images of the gig hot from my editing desk. There were lots to choose from, but here are some of my favourites from the night.

So there you have it. Did you see my images I tweeted live from the gig? If not, make sure you follow me over on my Twitter page.

On a technical note...

For my regular readers you may remember that on my last post that I mentioned I was trialing Adobe Lightroom CC. Well, I've taken the plunge and jumped onto the Adobe subscription bandwagon. At the moment it won't have to much of an impact on my workflow. At least not when I'm back at the office editing that is. One area I was hoping to see an improvement was with use of Lightroom Mobile. I've only done some initial testing and unfortunately it doesn't support RAW editing. I was hoping to edit RAW files so that I could maximize image quality in my tweets. However, JPEG editing seems strong so there may be room in my mobile workflow for it..

I've not moved my mobile workflow over from Google SnapSeed to Adobe Lightroom Mobile yet. I need to get really comfortable with the controls. When I'm live tweeting images from the venue, time is limited so I need to be focused on the edit rather than working out the app controls. I'm sure I'll switch soon, but I just a bit more hands-on with LR Mobile.

I also tested out a new fixed aperture zoom lens at the gig last night. I love shooting with prime lenses, my Nikon 50mm f/1.4 being my favourite, but given the size of the venue I thought I would try out something that might give me a little more flexibility. I was really pleased with the results and I might just have add it to my kit bag.

That's it from me for now. I'll likely be shooting a few more gigs over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out on The Unplugged Blogfor more images hot from my editing desk.