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.

The Fratellis

November 18, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

"Duh-da-da, duh-da-da" was the song being sung in the car last Sunday on the long drive back from the O2 Academy in Bristol. Joining me in the car was Steve from MusicMuso and of course we had just been to see The Fratellis and that well known track, Chelsea Dagger, was well and truly stuck in our heads!

Not that it should come as any great surprise to anyone but it was a great gig to shoot with two high energy bands putting on a great show. I also like shooting the O2 Academy Bristol with its fixed and large pit area. Plenty of room to move about in and follow the action.

The first band up were The Crookes and you can see them here:

The Fratellis were up next and they put on a great show and I really had to work hard to keep up and get these great images:

Getting your photographic mojo going on a Sunday evening can be a challenge, but with some great bands and great venues my job can be a real pleasure.

If you want read more about the gig itself and how the bands performed, check out MusicMuso where a review of the gig will be posted up there really soon.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for my latest posts on The Unplugged Blog and for images posted live from gigs over on Twitter.

See you next time on The Unplugged Blog!

From The Jam

November 17, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

I had a feeling that the From The Jam gig at the Exeter Phoenix was going to be a good one. All the signs were there. It was a sold out event and when I arrived at the venue last Saturday night I had squeeze my way up the steps to get in past the crowds. A great band and a busy crowd always make for more interesting shots!

Of course, with great headline acts normally come great support bands, and The Real Me did not disappoint. Here they are in action:

By the time From The Jam came on my shutter finger was well and truly warmed up and here are some of the images of the band in full swing:

My job as photographer is always more fun when you get a night of loud and energetic bands. Last Saturday was one of those nights.

I hoped you enjoyed my images and if you want to see more then keep an eye out for regular posts on The Unplugged Blog and for images live from the gigs follow me over on Twitter. If you want to read a quality review of the From The Jam gig then my friends over on MusicMuso will be posting one up really soon!

On A Technical Note

As I mentioned in my last blog post I had just taken delivery of a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24–70mm f/2.8E ED VR lens. Saturday night proved a great first proper test of my latest bit of kit. Initial signs are really good with noticeable improvements in focusing speed and accuracy. The often dark conditions that I have to work in can often play havoc with autofocus but this new lens seems to be coping very well. The Vibration Reduction technology is also a welcome addition. I've got another big action gig coming up so we'll see how it copes with that but the initial signs are looking good!

Beardyman

November 16, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

I've had the pleasure of photographing musicians from many genres of music, but when I went to the Exeter Phoenix last Thursday night to see Beardyman, I saw one man cover everything from jungle to death metal! The show put on by Beardyman was hugely entertaining (musically and comedically) and the crowd were loving it. There were plenty of funny moments for Steve from MusicMuso to write about, so keep an eye out on the MusicMuso website for a quality review very soon.

But my job isn't really to write about how good the gig was but to show you how good it was. So here it goes….

I hope you enjoyed these shots, and I'll be back on The Unplugged Blog again very shortly with images from both From The Jam and The Fratellis gigs, so keep your eyes open here and over on Twitter.

On a Technical Note

I've finally just taken delivery of a new Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24–70mm f/2.8E ED VR lens. It's a quality bit of glass and I can't wait to really put it through its paces. It had a nice warm up job for Beardyman, but the next two gigs will see how it really performs. I'll report back soon.

See you next time!

Lucy Rose

November 03, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

Most people don't like Mondays. It's the start of another working week and the weekend seems an age away. However, I took a little trip to the Exeter Phoenix last night where the very talented Lucy Rose was on stage to brighten everyone 's life up a little.

Here is Lucy adding a bit of happiness to the packed out crowd:

It was a fantastic gig and a great way to get my shutter finger warmed up for the week. My friends over at MusicMuso will of course be writiing up a full review very soon so keep an eye out on their website for that.

I've got a busy November so check out the My Set List page to see what gigs I'll be covering and remember to follow me over on Twitter to see images posted live from the gigs.

See you next time on The Unplugged Blog!

Cattle and Cane

October 28, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

The Exeter Phoenix features some of the best new musical talent out there and Monday night was no exception. Cattle and Cane were on tour promoting their debut album and they managed to put a great show for the eager Exeter crowd. As usual I was there with Steve from MusicMuso, so expect a full review up on his website really soon.

In the mean time, let me share a couple of images from the gig. First up were the local band Tors.

And of course Cattle and Cane...

Just a short blog post today but I thought you'd all like to see the photos from Monday night.

I'll see you next time on The Unplugged Blog!

Barrence Whitfield & The Savages

October 12, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

Despite suffering from a rather annoying cold I was really looking forward to Saturday night at the Exeter Phoenix. I thought a good dose of American soul and R&B would be just the medicine I needed. Thankfully Barrence Whitfield & The Savages instantly made me forget my own blues as I moved around the intimate venue taking my shots. The power of music and photography can cure all sorts of problems!

It was a cracking gig and and my friends over at MusicMuso will be posting up a full review very soon, but in the meantime here a few images to keep you going.

See you next time on The Unplugged Blog!

The Bluetones

September 28, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

It's always harder to get motivated for a Sunday night gig, particularly when you need to drive to Bristol. But when it's the The Bluetones at the Bristol O2 Academy motivation is not an issue that is for sure! Particularly when MusicMuso is driving (thanks Steve!).

So while Steve is busy writing up the review for MusicMuso , let me share some of my favorite images from the gig, which by the way, was brilliant! My job as photographer is always easier when you have an experienced band who knows how to work the stage.

But lets start things off with Cornish band The Velvet Hands:

Next up were the very entertaining The Standard Lamps:

And of course filling the Bristol O2 Academy were the very cool The Bluetones:

That's about all I've got for now. I've got a busy run up to the end of the year so if you want to see what I've got coming up please check out the My Set List page. And if you want to see the latest images remember to check out my Twitter feed and of course right here on The Unplugged Blog.

See you next time on The Unplugged Blog.

The Unplugged Blog is One Year Old!

September 22, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

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!

In The Garden

September 20, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

In The Garden had all the elements of an epic night. A great Exeter city centre location, nice weather (for September), a quality line up of artists and 4500 tickets sold. So when I was asked by Hold It Down to cover Exeter's biggest ever music festival with MusicMuso I didn't need to be asked twice!

As usual on The Unplugged Blog I'm going to let my images do the talking and I'll leave my friends over at MusicMuso to wax lyrical about the event (a full review will be on their website really soon). But one thing I can say is that the packed out crowd had an awesome night and were treated to some of the UKs finest musical talent.

Here, let me show you...

As you can see it was a bit of an epic night and it was a lot of fun to shoot. It's always good fun at the festivals as you get to photograph artists on a big stage and the crowd enjoying themselves.

Well, that's about it from me. Keep an eye out on my Twitter feed and this blog for a very special post that I'll be making this week. I'm also shooting the Bluetones this Sunday night in Bristol, so you can see some images from that gig both on my Twitter feed and here on the blog.

On a technical note....

As regular readers will know I like to tweet images live from the gig to my Twitter feed. I had some real issues with this on Saturday night though. In certain locations around the In The Garden event my tablet struggled to maintain its WiFi connection to my camera. As you can imagine this made tweeting images rather difficult! I'm not sure what the issue was as my workflow is normally rock solid in the field (including other festivals). It could have been the density of people (and mobile phones), or the radio transmitters that had been installed. I'm not sure which it was, but something I'll need to be aware of for next time!

See you next time...

The Willard Grant Conspiracy

September 17, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

After a busy festival season and a nice long summer break it was good to be back at the Exeter Phoenix on Thursday night. I was there to shoot the Willard Grant Conspiracy, an alternative country band from sunny California. As usual I was there with my friends from MusicMuso so expect a full review of the gig up their website really soon.

Here we have Willard Grant Conspiracy in action:

I've got a busy schedule from now until the end of the year so I'm looking forward to giving my camera a good work out. You can see where I'll be by checking out the My Set List page and remember if you follow my Twitter page you'll see me post images live from the gig!

I'll see you next time right here on The Unplugged Blog!

Chagstock 2015

July 20, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

It had been a busy week for me and my energy levels were low. Well, that was until I arrived at Chagstock last Friday evening! As soon as I picked up my photo pass and got through the gate I could tell it was going to be great weekend full of festival fun.

I spent a lot of time wondering around the site and there was a really positive vibe about the place. From the young to the old, everyone was just on a mission to have a good time. Hopefully you can see this from this selection of some of my favourite people and crowd shots:

As with my last festival post I'm going to keep this post light on words and let the pictures do the talking when it comes to the music. However, expect a full review from my friends over at MusicMuso really soon, so keep an eye out for it. In the mean time, here are some images of the bands and artists that made it such a great festival:

Chagstock was amazing. No doubt. It was hard work (believe it or not), but very satisfying. A great mix of amazing musicians and festival folk really made it a pleasure to shoot. I've still got lots more photos to process so keep an eye on my Twitter feed and I'll let you know when I've posted them.

I'm away to catch up on some sleep but see you next time on the Unplugged Blog!

Brother Strut

July 16, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

With a festival shoot last weekend and another this weekend, spare time to fit in a mid-week gig shoot was looking slim. However, I couldn't resist the chance to nip down to the Exeter Phoenix to shoot the new funk-soul band Brother Strut.

I'm pleased to say that my efforts were well rewarded, both musically and photographically. As usual I'll leave it to my friends over at MusicMuso to wax lyrical about the gig in their upcoming review, and I'll concentrate on the images.

So to kick things off here is Leigh Coleman on stage:

Dfunk then hit the stage with some awesome sounds:

And here we have the funked up Brother Strut:

A relatively short blog post from me. I'm still working my way through all the images from last weekends festival and getting prepared for another this weekend. If you want to see what gigs I'm shooting then check out my set list.

I'll see you here again on the Unplugged Blog really soon!

Glas-Denbury Music Festival!

July 14, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

For my first festival of the year I took the not so long trip to Denbury for the cunningly named Glas-Denbury. Though not as large as that other festival with a similar sounding name there was plenty to do and see, and of course plenty to photograph! In fact I barely got time to post any images to my Twitter feed I was so busy going from tent to tent. However, even though it was hard work it was great fun and I got to meet some awesome people.

I'm going to keep this post short on the words front and let the images do the talking. If you are looking for a review of the festival, the music and the people keep an eye out on MusicMuso for a full write up!

It was a long day but I really enjoyed shooting Glas-Denbury! It's got everything a photographer wants from a shoot. Lots of musical talent, happy festival folk and plenty of action. I've still got lots more photos to process so keep an eye on my Twitter feed and I'll let you know when I've posted them.

See you next time on the Unplugged Blog!

The Sherpas, Instant Karma and AFTPC

June 15, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

Epic. It's the one word I would use to describe the quality night of music at the Exeter Phoenix last Saturday night. With local band The Sherpas headlining it was already guaranteed to be a great night, but as I've seen before never under estimate the power of the support band to turn it into an epic night.

My photographic duties started out early as my friends over at MusicMuso asked me to help them cover a pre-gig interview with The Sherpas. It was good chance to meet the band and it was also a rare opportunity to shoot outdoors. It's sure to be an excellent interview so keep an eye out for it on the MusicMuso website.

Returning inside I prepared for the first band of the night, Auction for the Promise Club. Now, when I go to these gigs my primary focus is to shoot high quality images. However, sometimes you can't help but have a great time. Not only were AFTPC great to shoot but I also really liked their music. So after shooting the first three songs I got to hang back at the side of the stage and enjoy some quality music from the Cornish artists. Here is what they looked like on stage:

Next up were another local band Instant Karma. These very talented and energetic guys really put on show. Plenty for me to shoot and and a great show to enjoy from the sidelines. Here they are in action:

Last up were The Sherpas who put on a truly entertaining show. Again my shutter finger was given a good work out while my foot was furiously tapping to the quality sounds. Plenty of action from these guys:

Overall it was a great night for my photography as I got the chance to shoot three highly energetic bands with bags of stage presence. I saw Steve from MusicMuso writing frantically throughout the night so I'm sure there is going be a quality review up his website really soon. It really was an epic night of music!

I hope you enjoyed the images on this blog post but did you see the images I posted on Twitter live from the gig? No? Well then you better head over to my Twitter feed here and follow me for all the latest pictures posted live from the gig . I'm covering Brother Strut next month so get yourself a ticket and follow me on Twitter!

On a technical note...

My regular readers will know that I've been working with Lightroom CC Mobile to see if it offers any improvements to my workflow over Snapseed. I use Snapseed to process the JPG images I transfer over from my Nikon D750. I can then post these straight to my Twitter feed during the gig. After a bit of testing I've decided to stick with Snapseed. The primary reason is, and I find this a little strange, is that Lightroom CC Mobile doesn't provide any sharpening adjustments! Any image out of any camera always benefits from a little sharpening so it seems a little odd that is missing. Hopefully this will appear as a new feature soon along with RAW processing.

I still use Lightroom back at the editing desk to do all my heavy editing, but for now Snapseed is tool of choice for mobile editing.

That's it from me for now but keep an eye out on The Unplugged Blog for more images hot from my editing desk!

Evil Scarecrow, Demons of Old Metal and Embers of Eden

May 29, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

I was really looking forward to the Evil Scarecrow gig at the Exeter Phoenix last night. As I always do I did a little research into the bands that I'll be shooting and from what I could see they looked likely to put on a great show. I was not disappointed! In fact all the bands had great stage presence which made my job of capturing images that little bit easier. Expect to see a great review of the entire gig from my friends over at MusicMuso really soon.

As I always like to do here on The Unplugged Blog, here are some images of the gig hot from my editing desk.

First up were mighty Embers of Eden.

Demons of Old Metal were up next and they really kicked things up.

And finally the epic and highly entertaing Evil Scarecrow!

Well that's it from me for now. Remember to keep an eye out on my Twitter feed for images that I post live from gigs. I'll see you next time on The Unplugged Blog!

UB40

May 18, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

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.

Bury Tomorrow

April 27, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

There are two main challenges with shooting rock bands, knowing where to point the camera and selecting which images to publish. Both these problems are of course a good thing. I like to have the challenge of keeping up with the action on the stage and it's always a good thing to have a wide selection of images to choose from.

"So what bands caused your shutter button to flutter so much?", I hear you cry! Well, it was a triple whammy of Pillars, Creeper, and the mighty Bury Tomorrow. As usual the venue was the Exeter Phoenix and I was there with my good friend Steve from MusicMuso. He will be writing a full review of gig really soon so keep an eye out for it over on the MusicMuso website.

As it was such an action packed night last Thursday I'm doubling the number of images I'm normally post on my blog! To kick things off, here are Pillars....

Up next were the equally awesome Creeper.

By the time Bury Tomorrow hit the stage at theExeter Phoenix it was packed out. These guys delivered an awesome set to the eager fans.

So not only was it a great night of music, but a great night for taking photographs.

It's a change of music genre and venue for me next time. I'm off to the Plymouth Pavillions on the 17th of May to shoot UB40. So as always, keep on eye on my Twitter feed for images posted live from the gig.

On a technical note....

For those of you that follow my blog on a regular basis you will know that I currently shoot with a Nikon D750. I link this to my Nexus 6 tablet so that I can live tweet images of the gigs I'm shooting. I use Google's SnapSeed image editing app to process the JPEG files straight from the camera. This generally works very well and I was glad that they have just released version 2 of the app. This now provides me much better control over the shadows and highlights. These can be challenging areas with gig photography.

While Snapseed 2 is a great improvement I'm also going to start trialing Adobe Lightroom CC. I've always been a big Lightroom user and was always going to upgrade to the next version, but this time I'm going to jump on their subscription based licensing service. This will give me access to Lightroom Mobile on my tablet. It will be interesting to see how this could fit into my workflow. If I can edit the RAW files straight from the camera this should give me a similar level of image quality as I have here, but also when I'm tweeting live. I'll see how my tests get on but this could be an exciting addition to my image workflow.

However my images are processed next time, I look forward to sharing more of my shots right here on the Unplugged Blog!

Villagers

April 20, 2015 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

I was back to my regular routine again last Thursday night with a trip to the Exeter Phoenix to photograph indie folk band the Villagers. I was of course joined by Steve from MusicMuso who will be posting up a full review of the gig on his site very soon.

It was very busy at the Exeter Phoenix and it looked like a full house. Those music fans in through the door early were treated to an excellent solo performance from the very talented Luke Sital-Singh.

After Luke's solid performance the eager crowd were warmed up nicely for the main act of the night, the Villagers.

It was a fine night of music and despite some challenging shooting conditions it was a pleasure being there to capture images of some very talented musicians.

My next gig is UB40 on May 17th but I'm looking to shoot a couple of extra gigs between now and then. You can keep an eye on my schedule here, and please follow me on Twitter to see images posted live from the gigs I'm shooting.

That's it from me on The Unplugged Blog, so I'll see you again very soon!