Boudist » Documentary Photography

An afternoon with Carmen

Daniel Boud — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:44:23 +0000

Carmen arrives at the DIVA Awards in 2008

Sad news today that Sydney (via New Zealand) transgender icon Carmen Rupe passed away aged 75.

Carmen in her bedroom

I met her several times over the years while photographing for Time Out.

The most memorable was an afternoon i spent with her and writer Angus Fontaine in her small Surry Hills apartment. She spoke at length about her amazing life, born as Trevor in a sleepy New Zealand town, a stint in the army, a move to Sydney, prostitution, time in jail, a career as a drag performer in Kings Cross’s 60′s heyday and a fulltime switch to life as a woman.

Her home was a shrine to her fabulous life. Every inch of the place decked with mementos. I feel awfully sad for the poor soul faced with the grim task of pulling it all down.

Carmen's bathroom and me in the mirror

From Carmen's scrapbook

Before she was Carmen she was Trevor

Carmen's front door bell

Mother

The wall of Carmen's living room

Carmen at Stonewall

Triple j’s Nick Cave tribute

Daniel Boud — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:00:23 +0000

Lisa Mitchell performs 'Into My Arms'

Triple j’s Nick Cave tribute show, dubbed Straight To You, rolled through Sydney’s Enmore theatre last week and i dropped by to take some pictures and catch up with old pals.

At the end of "Into my Arms" Lisa Mitchell embraces Jake Stone. Get it?

Paul Kelly

Urthboy as Stagger Lee takes out Jake Stone

Stagger "Urthboy" Lee's reign of terror is unsuccessfully interrupted by Lanie Lane

Adalita lets fly

Dan Sultan leads the full ensemble

Dan Sultan takes flight

The cast take a bow

I popped my head in backstage to say hello too.

Lanie Lane limbers up

Johnny Mackay and Dan Sultan

Lisa Mitchell and Johnny Mackay

Urthboy's Stagger Lee inspired homicidal urges overcome by the love of Dan Sultan

Don't do it Dan

Adalita and Alex Burnett get cosy

Half a setlist

Thank you and goodnight

Who We Are wins an ASTRA Award

Daniel Boud — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:42:31 +0000

Last week a documentary series i worked on called Who We Are won an ASTRA Award for Most Outstanding Documentary. It’s a series of short profiles of seven indigenous Australian artists and is highly deserving of its acclaim. Much credit is due to creator and director Dei El-Ayoubi as well as DOP Tony Luu for making it look so good. And props to Foxtel for funding it too.

Dan Sultan

I’ve posted some of the photos i shot on the project before, but most remained in my archives so i’ve dug some out to share here.

Gina Rings and Soo Yuen You

Gina Rings

Soo Yuen You

Buddy Knox

David Page

Dan Sultan

Dan Sultan performs in the Harold Park tram shed

The Medics

Kamahi Djordan King

Kamahi in front of one of his artworks

Kamahi as Constantina Bush

Constantina Bush and the Bushettes performing on stage at The Dreaming Festival

Constantina Bush and Juanita Bushette outside Woodford police station

Constantina and backup dancer Juanita Bushette

Kamahi as Constantina Bush performing at The Dreaming Festival

Rhoda Roberts

VIVID Live photos

Daniel Boud — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:22:06 +0000

It’s been almost a week since it wrapped up but i’ve just found a moment to come up for air to blog some Vivid Live photos.

I was shooting for the Sydney Opera House and some days felt like i had the best job in the world. Going to work each night at the magnificently adorned Sydney Opera House and seeing incredible shows. The Cure, Bat for Lashes, Odd Future, Cut Copy, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Azari & III…

More than previous years it felt like Vivid transformed the Opera House into a real party venue bringing in loads of punters who’d never normally set foot in the place.

To showcase the photos i put together a DPG powered photo website, much like i did for Laneway Festival. You can check out loads more photos there.

Sydney Writer’s Festival photos

Daniel Boud — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:52:06 +0000

I’m more known for photographing festivals of the musical variety so it was somewhat of a change of pace shooting Sydney Writer’s Festival the other week.

It was a very civilised affair, meandering between the wharves at Walsh Bay, enjoying superb Sydney sunshine and listening to snippets of writer’s discuss their work.

Kerry O'Brien and Bob Carr

Instead of the usual festival punters i’m used to it was largely frequented by women who resemble my mother. Greying baby boomers, ABC 702 listeners, Herald readers and left leaners with an affection for Kerry O’Brien.

But there was something for everyone, the food lovers had AA Gill and Anthony Bourdain, the FBi listeners had a live taping of All The Best, there was The Chaser, John Howard, David Hicks, economists, screenwriters, photographers, designers, musicians, journalists, comedians, scientists, etc…

I really only managed to skim the surface.

An astonished Mike Carlton

Backstage at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week

Daniel Boud — Mon, 09 May 2011 06:09:18 +0000

A model gets her hair and makeup finished

Last week i photographed behind the scenes at a number of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week shows for Little Hero PR.

It’s a pretty fun gig, shooting models and hanging out with photographer buddies. A lot of my brief was shooting sponsorship stuff but i snapped some frames for my own interest in between.

I made a gallery of some of my photos and there’s some samples below.

Romance Was Born

Romance Was Born designer's Luke and Anna overlook a rehearsal for their show at Mitchell Library

Alex from Hobo Gestapo shoots Louise Van Der Vorst dressed in Romance Was Born

Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett from Romance Was Born

The Australian Youth Choir backstage before singing The Never Ending Story

Flannel

Gail Sorronda

Alice McCall

A model's light reading while she gets her makeup done

Therese Rawsthorne

Carl Kapp

Kate Sylvester

Stolen Girlfriend’s Club

See more in my fashion week gallery and check out coverage from my photo comrades at Hobogestapo and Yimmy Yayo. Those guys knocked it out of the park with their unique perspective on things.

Laneway Festival 2011

Daniel Boud — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:38:09 +0000

A wheelchair proves no impediment to crowd surfing at Melbourne Laneway Festival

Last weekend I wrapped up one of the best photo assignments i’ve ever had as official photographer for the Laneway Festival.

I’ve shot Laneway every year in Sydney since its first time there in 2006 and i think it’s the best festival in Australia, and I don’t just say that because they have the good sense to employ me.

I’ve been the official photographer for events like this before but going on the road with a show like this is something way more special. There’s a camaraderie that only comes from those shared late nights and early flights and the familiarity bred from seeing the same crew at every show. The bands, the crew, the punters – everyone was in fine spirits. It really was a privilege to be a part of.

I photographed the shows in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth and in each city i recruited a second local photographer to shoot with me too. They were Elleni Toumpas, Leah Robertson, Nikki To, Rodney Magazinovic and Anthony Tran and they all did splendid work.

Screenshot of the Laneway Festival Photos website

One of the things i’m most proud of as a result of the tour is the building of a special website to share all the photos i and the other photographers took. The Laneway Festival Photo site presents all the photos in a large 960 pixel wide format and you can browse by various categories.

The single column wide photo format was first popularised by sites like The Big Picture which showcases exceptional photojournalism. Then last year i noticed British photographer Andrew Kendall began to publish photo mini-sites with a similar format for UK festivals like Secret Garden Party and Offset.

Those sites were built using a platform Andrew developed called Digital Photo Gallery and i could tell it was a nifty system for presenting photos online and managing them behind the scenes. It was designed and built by a photographer who understands how we work and how our work is best displayed.

It’s still invite only until Andrew polishes things up for a bigger user base but i’m hooked already and it’s something i’ll be using for more sites in the future. Maybe even my first ever portfolio site.

But anyway – on with the Laneway photos. Here’s some of my highlights, you can see way more on the Laneway Festival Photo site.

Violent Soho in Brisbane

Brisbane boys Violent Soho were the heaviest band on the bill and made for some great photos as they thrashed around and whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

A Violent Soho fan

Violent Soho in Perth

Another loud and heavy band on the bill who made for fun photo times were Les Savy Fav.

Tim from Les Savy Fav makes out with a girl in the crowd while Lindsay McDougall looks on with approval

Les Savy Fav

!!! in Brisbane

Another act with a great live show was !!! with frontman Nic Offer spending much of his time off the stage dancing with the crowd.

!!!

!!! frontman Nic Offer supported by the Sydney crowd

Two Door Cinema Club

The band who probably drew the biggest and most fanatical following of the tour was Two Door Cinema Club.

Two Door Cinema Club play in Sydney

Two Door Cinema Club in Perth

In Perth the Francis St stage was overlooked by a backpacker hostel filled with backpackers getting a great free view out their window. I thought it could make a good vantage point for a photo so i left the festival grounds and went exploring in the hostel, knocking on random doors. The first room i was welcomed by a friendly group of Irish lads, but their window looked into a tree. I tried their neighbours and was greeted by some English backpackers who had a great view over the stage.

A guest at Perth's Old Swan Backpackers Hostel gets a free view of the stage

Warpaint

Warpaint's Aussie drummer Stella Mozgawa

Warpaint

The Antlers play on Melbourne's River Stage

Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox

Yeasayer

Cut Copy

Cut Copy's Dan and Tim get cosy on the stage floor

Cloud Control on Perth's Museum Stage

Jenny and Johnny

Beach House

Foals

Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis plays in the crowd

The Sydney crowd watching Foals

I can often get bored of shooting the bands and so turn my attention to photographing the rapturous fans enjoying the show.

Brisbane crowd

Adelaide crowd watching Yeasayer

Brisbane crowd watching Warpaint

Brisbane crowd watching Two Door Cinema Club

The Adelaide crowd dances to Cut Copy

As well as the crowd shots i also got some one on one portraits with punters. Laneway draws some interesting looking characters so it was opportune to get their picture.

Many more photos to see on the Laneway Festival photo site.

U2 turn Sydney Red

Daniel Boud — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 07:54:03 +0000

My buddy Elmo and I have been long time U2 fans, so when we heard Bono was in town to launch World Aids Day ahead of their Australian tour we scoured our media contacts to get access.

Turns out it wasn’t that hard, and with a scrum of TV crews, radio people, photographers and journalists we assembled at the Opera House where he was flicking the switch to turn the Opera House and Harbour Bridge red.

Bono was joined by his band mates (although Larry Mullen chose to remain away from the cameras) as well as PM Julia Gillard, Premier Kristina Keneally and Wendy McCarthy from the Pacific Friends of the Global Fund.

Julia Gillard entranced by the Bono charm forcefield

Bono talks as the Premier and PM look on

One of Elmo’s longtime ambitions is to interview Bono. With the scrum of media present and no guarantee that Bono would speak to anyone i didn’t like her chances of getting a one on one chat. But the stars aligned and after official proceedings were over Bono started chatting to the media. With the tenacity of Lucy from triple j, they lured him near and next thing i know Elmo was chatting with Bono. I’m not sure how long it was for. Probably only 5 minutes or so. But there it was, Elmo interviewing Bono.

And then, as if it couldn’t get any better, before Bono disappeared into the night he leans in and kisses Elmo on the cheek. Dreams realised.

I’m sure she’ll share her version of events in a far more eloquent fashion soon.

In the meantime here’s a few more of my snaps from the event.

Bono talks to the media as the red sails of the Opera House loom

The Sydney Harbour Bridge turned red

Temper Trap, Tinie Tempah and getting paid

Daniel Boud — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 03:14:48 +0000

Temper Trap perform Live at the Chapel in Newtown's St Stephens Church

Here’s some pictures from Temper Trap’s Russian Standard Live at the Chapel performance last night, followed by Tinie Tempah at the Blackberry Torch launch last week.

Tinie Tempah at the Blackberry Torch launch

These were shows i shot for the sponsors and it got me thinking about shooting live music and my changed relationship with shooting shows.

A Russian Standard model serving shots at Live at the Chapel

I worked out some time ago that shooting live music photos is no way to make a living. Concert photos are a dime a dozen. Most shows have at least ten accredited photographers shooting them, not to mention the dozens of people photographing from the crowd.

Everyone is getting very similar photos. We all use pretty much the same cameras and lenses. The show we shoot tours around the country with the same staging night after night. Every week hundreds and thousands of adequately professional photos of an artists performance are produced.

There’s lots of supply but where’s the demand?

Magazines, newspapers and websites might run your photos, but don’t expect to make money from it.

You might get $20 if you’re shooting for street press. You might make a wee bit more if your shot makes it to one of the few local monthly music mags. If you’re shooting for a website you’ll likely get nothing. If you’re shooting for an agency you’ll likely make peanuts unless something out of the ordinary happens at the show. The daily papers don’t usually use a photo with their reviews and if they do it’ll be shot by a staffer or pulled from a wire service.

Tinie Tempah being snapped by a punter on their Blackberry

The fact is when i look around a photo pit these days i can tell most people aren’t getting paid for it. They’re shooting for fun. It’s a hobby they have after they knock off their day job. They get a ticket to a show, shoot quite reasonable shots on their digital SLR the day job bought, and supply the photos to a website or paper that doesn’t pay them for their work. The photographers payment is a ticket to the show and the kudos they get when publishing the shots and getting comments like “Great capture!” or “I wish i had your job!”.

And who am i to begrudge these people? That was me. That’s how i learned my craft. I used to shoot hundreds of shows for little reimbursement. But not anymore. Ego boosting web comments aren’t enough to sustain me.

Stan Walker fans get their picture snapped on a Blackberry

The pictures you see here were paid for by brands who paid to put on a music event to bring positive publicity to their brands.

Tinie Tempah at the Blackberry Torch launch

Pouring Russian Standard at Live at the Chapel

Like the artists who receive a healthy paycheck to play corporate or branded events, i’m quite willing to do the same to photograph them. Sure, I feel a little icky when making sure i frame branding into shots, when my instincts would be to crop it out. But that discomfort is short lived. The cash that pays for my rent and camera gear makes up for that.

This is not a rant to implore people not to shoot for free or lambast publications that don’t pay. That horse has well and truly bolted. But thankfully there’s still the odd job that’ll pay fairly, and if it means shooting some logos and drinks and mobile phones to go with the performance shots then i’m all for it.

Justice Crew at Blackberry Torch launch

A punter films the show on their Blackberry

Tinie Tempah

Big in Japan 2010

Daniel Boud — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:14:24 +0000

On Tuesday night i shot Big in Japan at the Royal Hall of Industries for mixitup who were producing the event for Kirin and Ksubi.

Like last year, it brought together a weird and wonderful collection of Japanese musicians, artists and oddities.

Kentaro Shimura had an installation piece in the show

Mamoru Okuno does a performance/sound art thing by cooking up a bowl of noodles on stage with all the elements heavily amplified by little microphones

DJ Shabushabu was like a Japanese Spod.

Noise artist Hiroshi Hasegawa

DJ LakiLaki

A runway show by Yoshikazu Yamagata

Dan Single from Ksubi's dad walked in the runway show

Hiroshi Hasegawa with live visuals by James Brown

Nisennenmondai

Boudist » Documentary Photography

An afternoon with Carmen

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