Anyway, because I’ve been so busy I’ve passed the 10,000 picture mark with Redferns Music Picture Library, I thought I’d celebrate by posting a picture of a band on here for every letter of the alphabet… so here goes:

Just in case you might be interested, every one of these images is available for editorial use through Redferns. They’re very friendly, and very helpful people, so if you’re after music images, please do give them a shout!

Escobar was the venue. This place is kind of small, and a bit of a weird set up for a gig, as the stage is largely cordoned off by huge pillars, creating a feeling slightly like you’re watching a band play in a goldfish bowl.

Anyway, The Old Romantic Killer Band were a bit of a surprise to be honest, but their minimalist, yet powerful bluesy folk-punk completely won me over.
Another local support was slotted into the line-up between The Old Romatic Killer Band (I really wish bands would decide on shorter names – it’s not big and it’s certainly not clever!), which pushed proceeding back a bit. Had I have left in time for the last train, I would’ve only seen around 3-4 minutes of The Lionheart Brothers’ set. This wouldn’t have pleased me in the slightest, I really enjoy their intricate and almost prog-like indie music.

Luckily, my accomplice for the evening managed to secure a lift to Leeds where we could find shelter, otherwise I fear the scene would’ve been similar to one of those survival documentaries, or Evil Dead – Wakefield. You get the gist.

Nevermind, 2007 was a great year for my photography, which ended with a flurry of published work, a couple of which were in the NME (a nut I’ve been trying to crack for a long while) in consecutive weeks! A tear-sheet of each article can be found here and here.

I also had my first front cover (that I’m proud of, the less I talk about the previous one, the better!), which was on the final issue of Music Mart Magazine – September 2007. This can also be seen here.

I remember at the end of last year, I was chuffed enough with getting myself into three proper music festivals, and a couple of other one day events. In fact, I had described 2006 as a busy year… compared to 2007, I barely scratched the surface! In 2007, I managed to get myself to no less than seven individual festivals, and two of those were overseas! Both Hove Festival in Norway and Iceland Airwaves in Reykjavik, Iceland were a joy to shoot. Hopefully I’ll get more similar opportunities in the coming year.

So now, 2008. What can I hope for this year? More of the same would be great, but of course, when I say more I mean I’d like this coming year to eclipse 2007 in terms of business, and in the quality of my output. The way my work has improved is what has pleased me the most about 2007. I can only hope I continue at the same rate in 2008!

Oh, and that’s another thing. If anyone reading this were to see one of my pictures printed/published somewhere that I haven’t mentioned on here, I’d appreciate it if you could let me know. I often don’t find out where my pictures have been until well after they’ve been published, so it’s often too late to grab a copy of the mag/advert/etc. Seeing a bit more of my printed work would surely make my 2008 a good’u!

Cheers, and best wishes for the New Year!

Gotthard put on a good show. It’s pretty gutting when I sift through my photos afterwards and see the shots I missed, simply because there was no light. I still managed to capture a few all the same though.

You can see a selection of my pictures from the night here!

Despite my misgivings at the lack of cameras to look at, I was able to put my own memory cards in the cameras and mount my favourite lens, a Sigma 24mm f/1.8 on the front of them.

Nikon D300
Out of the two, this is the camera I’m really interested in. After a lengthy wait I managed to get my hands on one without the new battery grip, which was a shame as I really wanted to see how much better than the plasticcy one for the D200 it is. Never mind eh? Beggars can’t be choosers and all that. Anyway back to the camera…

On close inspection, it appears several subtle improvements have been made to the exterior of the D300 when compared to its predecessor. The first thing I noticed was how firmly stuck down the soft rubber coating is on the grips. My D200 have long suffered with loose grips (which I’ve had to sure up with insulation tape!) so hopefully the D300 is designed to take a bit more abuse.

The new terminal covers are a welcome change. My covers went missing off my D200 within a couple of weeks and as a result the PC synch socket has got pushed in and no longer works. This should not be a problem with the D300.

I was a little worried about how the new-fangled 51-point AF system would perform, especially as the group-dynamic option has been removed since the D200. In my few minutes with the camera, it seemed to perform really quite well, with off-centre focusing points seeming to respond much more positively than they do on the D200. Spot metering also works in exactly the same way as previous models, following the AF point, except you now have more options of where to meter from, which is great for what I do.

The expanse of LCD screen on the rear really dominates the camera, and so it should. It’s noticeably sharper and clearer than that on the D200. I’d love to be able to view one outside to see if it’s any more visible than the screen on the D200, which is rubbish in daylight.

Controls-wise, things have been kept pretty similar to the D200, and upgraders should be able to adjust to the new camera fairly swiftly. It took me a few attempts to hit the correct button at first when I wanted to view my pictures on the screen, but I’m sure that would be something I’d get used to fairly swiftly, although it may cause problems if I were to use a D300 and a D200 as a second body. Another improvement seems to have been made to the multi-selector switch on the rear, it seem much less ‘spongey’ than it does on my D200, which made navigating AF points much easier.

Right, now down to the nitty-gritty of images. The thing that images me most about this camera is its improved performance at high ISO sensitivities. I wanted to see just how much better it would be at ISO800, 1600 and 3200 and whether the improvement is down to clever noise reduction, or improvements in the design of the sensor, which would have a greater bearing on the noise present in RAW images.

After being handed the camera, I proceeded to take a few shots using default settings as you can see below. Each image will link to a cropped section displayed at 100%.

Nikon D300, ISO800, Noise Reduction – Normal

Nikon D300, ISO1600, Noise Reduction – Normal

Nikon D300, ISO3200, Noise Reduction – Normal

So far so good! To my eyes, the D300 looks to be at least a stop better than the D200 for noise. The images are quite soft, but for now I’ll put that down to unfamiliarity with the camera and default settings. A camera like this isn’t really designed to give nice snapshots straight from the box, plus it’d been a while since I’d had a smoke/coffee/food and my hands weren’t the steadiest! Now to turn the Noise Reduction off and see how much the camera is smoothing out the noise in the images produced.

Nikon D300, ISO800, Noise Reduction Off

Nikon D300, ISO1600, Noise Reduction Off

I didn’t take any shots without noise reduction at ISO3200. Images the screen looked pretty snowy by this point, and my time was running out with the camera. The problem is, the new large screen is so sharp it appears to show up every flaw in the images. They looked far noisier on the screen than they do on a computer screen and I imagine the noise that is present would pose few problems for printing. Still so far so good then! I have to say I’m reasonably impressed. Not blown away by any means, but impressed enough to be thinking this camera will be a worthy upgrade to my current D200.

Nikon D3
I could never afford this camera, so looking at it was really just for japes. It was there, I had queued, so why not?!

Straight away the size compared to the weight of the D3 was the first thing that struck me. It really does feel like you could hammer nails with this thing, but at the same time, it isn’t overly heavy.

The AF system appears to differ from the D300 slightly. the display in the viewfinder is made up of translucent squares that light up with red LED light when selected, much more like Canon cameras than what I’m used to from Nikon. The AF was also noticeably faster with the same Sigma 24mm f/1.8 lens than it was on the D300. I imagine that could possibly be put down to a more powerful focusing motor in the D3 body though?

Controls have been kept as they were on the D2 series cameras, so anyone who has used one will be in familiar territory from the off. A few changes including the various viewfinder crop modes (the camera was set to a 5:4 crop when it was handed to me) exist, but these shouldn’t get in the way at all. Everything is incredibly well laid-out.

Now down to the images. After seeing how good the D300 was, even without noise reduction, I thought I’d better cut straight to it and turn the noise reduction off from the start.

Nikon D3, ISO1600, Noise Reduction Off

Nikon D3, ISO3200, Noise Reduction Off

Nikon D3, ISO6400, Noise Reduction Off

At ISO1600, this camera isn’t even breaking a sweat, even with noise reduction turned off the image is pretty clean. As you raise the sensitivity, there is a gradual decay in image detail, and the amount of noise, but when you consider just how high the sensitivity is set, it just doesn’t make sense!

My problem now is simple. I shouldn’t have looked at the D3 at all. Now I need to find a way of extorting £3500 out of somewhere! Maybe if I write that letter to my bank about getting my bank charges back, I’ll be someway there!

Oh, ok. Maybe not! This is essentially what The Hard Rock Hell Winter Ball i though. Seaside holiday camp + a range of classic rock and metal, peppered with more extreme modern metal bands, and a pinch of goth-type-stuff added for good measure is definitely a recipe for a great weekend! No? Oh yes it is! (Well, I enjoyed it anyway).

Headliners, Twisted Sister were not exactly my cup of tea, but were fun to shoot nonetheless! My absolute favourite performance of the weekend was by Battle Metallers, Turisas, who tore up the stage in Reds (Home of the Redcoats, apparently!) with their inimitable style of folk-ish sing-a-long metal.

Other highlights included:

• Cradle of Filth, just because I’ve wanted to shoot them for a while now and the pictures didn’t turn out all that bad.
• My Dying Bride, who were excellent live. I didn’t really know there stuff before, but I’ll certainly look them up now.
• Grand Magus, even though they appeared to be unable to remember their songs in places. I do like their music though.
• Diamond Head, who put on a great show at 4am on the Saturday!
• Chthonic, were thoroughly enjoyable also.
• And finally, the fans there who made it such a pleasant festival to be at.

As flash was allowed on the smaller stages this was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to use wireless flash at a festival. Using the Nikon CLS system allowed me to trigger my SB-800 in different positions on the stage to add a bit more interest to the lighting. I got some strange looks off other photographers who had their flashguns firmly welded to the top of their camera. Overall I’ve been incredibly chuffed with how the wireless system works on the Nikons, allowing TTL flash or manual control from the camera, which means I can just bob the flash down somewhere and forget about it until I feel I need to move it. The TTL mode is incredibly useful for fast moving artists and for when I can’t place the flash down anywhere (i.e. the flash to subject distance is changing almost constantly). If you have a Nikon camera with a built-in flash, I’d certainly give it a go!

Sheffield Hallam Arena almost put a dampener on the evening though with their over-zealous rules and regulations. Somebody need to explain to them that the public smoking ban only affects enclosed spaces for a start (car parks outdoors could not be considered enclosed by any stretch of the imagination), secondly the fact that they’ve now decided to remove their pass-out system, seemingly just to annoy people further. If I had stepped out the door, they would not allow me back into the venue, even with my photopass and a ticket. I hate arenas!

Anyway, back to the matter of photos. The stage at the arena was much smaller than I’ve seen it before (I took my 300mm f/4 to try and get shots of the drummers! It wasn’t required.) and for the first two bands, the lighting was absolutely terrible! I sometimes wonder if venues have a coin-operated electric meter backstage for the lighting. If they were to blow their 50p on the support acts, would that mean the electricity would go for the main headliner? My mind boggles! Iced Earth were brilliant, although with the poor lighting I only managed to capture a shot or two of their singer, Tim “Ripper” Owens, which was a shame. A small selection of the photos can be found here.

Lamb of God were similarly poorly lit, plus I’ve shot them twice earlier this year so I didn’t really throw all my energy into getting anything special. I still managed to eek out a couple of shots I was pleased-ish with… only a couple, but still, that’s much better than none at all.

A couple of the shots of Lamb of God can be seen here.

Finally, to Heaven & Hell. How tiny is Ronnie James Dio? He must be about four feet tall?! What he lacked in height, he certainly made up for in stage presence, commanding the stage. I really enjoyed them, probably a little too much as my shots don’t really do them justice. Or maybe they do? I’m rubbish at being pleased with my own work. Nevermind.

A selection of my Heaven & Hell pictures can be seen here.

‘Oh, wait, he’s going to change the CD!!!! OMFG, how exciting, best get a photo of that! Wait a sec, he’s twisting that knob whilst cuing up his next track. Fucking amazing!’

Sounds a bit silly doesn’t it? You see I find the challenge with DJs is very different to snapping live bands. With the bands, I try to capture them looking at their most interesting, whereas with DJ’s they’re not interesting (to look at anyhow) so you have to try and force an interesting shot. A popular saying involving silk purses and sows ears readily springs to mind.

The picture on this post is of Digitalism’s DJ set at the Plug on Saturday night. See what I mean?

As a couple of Sheffield venues appear to have downsized their live gigs to smaller, darker holes with no provision for stage lighting, I’ve found myself using flash a lot more than I would normally, when allowed.

The problem is, when there’s little or no stage lighting, leaving the flash on camera, leads to lifeless snapshots with no colour, so I’ve been experimenting with moving the flash off-camera wherever possible.

The main problem with off camera lighting at a gig is that you can’t really go leaving your flashgun lying around at one side of the stage, as in the commotion of the performance, the strobe is likely to go walkies, get crushed, kicked, doused in beer, set on fire, etc, etc. this means I’m limited to as far as my arm can reach, to my left, or the space directly in front or to the side of me, which doesn’t leave too much scope for creativity.

To trigger the flash, I’ve been using Nikon’s excellent Creative Lighting system, which is ready built into the D200 I use, so I can pop up the built in flash and trigger a speedlite pretty much anywhere, and control it’s power output from the camera, rather than having to continually mess with the flash.

Still, I’ve managed to eek out a couple of shots I’m happier with, but as the experimentation continues, hopefully I’ll get better!

The Whip

¡Forward, Russia! are always a joy to hear/watch, but an absolute nightmare to shoot! Tom Woodhead never stop bleeding moving and couple that with the ‘wonderful’ lighting in the small room in the Leadmill (I’ve seen brighter candles) then you have a problem.

I managed to get a couple I was OK with.

OK = not quite pleased, but they’ll do!