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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

Covers – a photo show

Daniel Boud — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:56:16 +0000

Cybele Malinowksi and I are having a photo show at Mart Gallery in Surry Hills (156 Commonwealth St) starting this Friday 12-5pm and continues for 2 weeks.

The show comprises 24 music magazine covers that feature our photos, including Drum Media, The Brag, Time Out Sydney, jmag and Mess and Noise.

Artists who feature in the photos include bluejuice, Ladyhawke, Philadelphia Grand Jury, The Presets, INXS, Pnau, Paul Dempsey and more.

Before the show, Cybele and i were racking our brains thinking of what to show. It was on open brief – it just had have something to do with music and art.

We toyed with the idea of creating new work, but found it hard to agree on anything, nor did we have time to put any grand schemes into action.

We decided to exhibit our catalogue of music magazine covers. Most of the music stuff we shoot these days is commissioned work – portraits of bands for publicity and editorial use. So it made sense for us to show the photos in the mode they were intended, which is usually for the covers of magazines. Plus Covers was a cool title with music connotations.

I’ve always been a consumer and aficionado of the music press, so the show is a celebration of them too. We all love the internet – but for me, music is forever entwined with magazines and photography. It’s where my love of music photography was borne – as a teenager pouring over music magazines, ripping off their covers to stick on my bedroom wall and cut out photos of my favourite bands for my school books.

It’s quite a thrill to be able to show some magazine covers that we photographed ourselves.

Cybele and i have been doing a bit of spruiking in the lead up to the show, with stories in the street press (shame old-media doesn’t put that stuff online), a feature in Pedestrian, a recommendation from Time Out and an interview in Side Street Sydney.

The pictures will be for sale, with all profit going to Oasis Youth Support Network.

There’s a Facebook event with all the info too.

Hope you can make it.

Sydney Dance Company promo video

Daniel Boud — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:00:21 +0000

Back in August i had a dream gig shooting stills on the set of a promo video for Sydney Dance Company.

The one minute piece was shot with six dancers from the Sydney Dance Company, choreographed by Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela.

It was all filmed in the Deutsche Bank building in Sydney’s CBD.

SDC Creative Director Rafael Bonachela and Tony Luu help block out the shot for Director Husein Alicajic

Credit is due to:

Director: Husein Alicajic
Director of Photography: Tony Luu
Creative Director: Dei El-Ayoubi
Choreography: Rafael Bonachela
Producer: Ellen Barton (Foxtel), Matt White (SDC)

Plus the amazing dancers and crew.

It was filmed on the Arri D21.

Me and Greedy Hen and Kareena Zerefos

Daniel Boud — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:21:44 +0000

This Friday night some of my photos will be on show beside the work of illustrator/designers Greedy Hen and Kareena Zerefos at World Bar in Kings Cross.

I’m extremely humbled to be in their company because they’re amazing women who do world class work that i’m a huge fan of. Plus they can draw, which alongside singing is one of those talents i’m terribly bad at and thus have great admiration for those who do it well. PLUS they’re drop dead gorgeous. Knockouts on all fronts.

A Greedy Hen artwork i liked so much i bought it for my wall

The glue that binds us for this show is our work in the music world. Greedy Hen have done album covers, tour posters and videos for many of your favourite artists like Bill Callahan, Cloud Control, Holly Throsby, Josh Pyke and The Panics.

A Holly Throsby tour poster designed by Greedy Hen

Kareena is a similarly talented illustrator who does lovely nostalgic drawings. I saw a show of hers at the MTV gallery last year which was filled with beautiful drawings of children, animals and other things. It sometimes walks a line somewhere between twee and creepy – in a good way. She’s also made album covers for Bob Evans, Sparkadia and John Steel Singers.

Boy with Rat on Head by Kareena Zerefos

Artwork for the John Steel Singers, Bob Evans and Sparkadia

Now me? I can’t draw, so i’m going to show some of my photos. Not just any old photos mind you but NEVER BEFORE SEEN secret photo project photos that i took in March over the weekend of the My Filthy Riot festival at The Annandale.

Human fountains Philadelphia Grand Jury

I set up a little mobile studio upstairs and whenever i got the chance would drag a band up and take their photo. All the photos were taken with the same setup, no pre-planned concepts, no fuss, just whatever popped into our heads. I probably spent about a minute with each act and all up i shot about 25 bands over the weekend.

Upcoming fashion designers FTW

I was a bit tired of shooting bands where everything is overthought and you have to deal with layers of management, labels, approvals, contracts, egos and restrictions. So i thought i’d keep it simple, go back to my roots and shoot some up and comers fast and furious.

The show on Friday will feature my favourite 10 photos of artists including Philadelphia Grand Jury, Lions at Your Door, No Art, The Scare, Aleesha Dibbs, Fait Accompli, Ghosts of Television, The Spirits, The Amazing Philips Sisters and fashion designers FTW. That is if the prints turn out nicely from the printer tomorrow.

The Amazing Phillips SIsters. You may recognise Johnny on the right from his side project Children Collide

I don’t really know what to expect, but this won’t be like a regular art show, it’s at a nightclub/bar on a Friday night in Kings Cross for starters. But if you have the willpower to ignore the dickheads who infest the Cross on a Friday night then do come by, have a drink and see some ART.

There’ll also be live performances from Villains of Wilhem, The Vignettes, Allies and Underlights. If you come by around 8pm you may also aurally witness me DJing whatever the hell i feel like.

Normally you have to pay to get into this thing on a Friday, but if you leave a comment below or RSVP on Facebook by Friday lunchtime, you’ll get your name on the door and waltz past the shmucks queuing and paying to get in.

Kicks off at 8pm, this Friday at World Bar, 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross.

Interview with Tony Mott

Daniel Boud — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:48:02 +0000

An interview i did with music photographer veteran Tony Mott has just been published on Mess and Noise.

We spoke for about half an hour over Skype, me in Sydney, Tony in his temporary home in Melbourne.

Tony’s someone i’ve always admired in the photography business. He’s gotten where he has through sheer passion for his work and by being a gentleman. It’s a good reminder that sometimes nice guys finish first.

Here’s a few choice quotes from the conversation.

On photo contracts:

“I ignore them. They’re illegal anyway. My only advice is, don’t argue because then you don’t get your access. Just sign it, date it and time it. Almost instantaneously it becomes null and void.”

On Getty Images:

“Getty are obviously quite evil in their strategy and do want to rule the world.”

On competitive photographers:

“Some other photographers always seem to feel like they’re competing with other photographers, i think i’m competing with myself. I always want to be better than i am.”

On switching to digital:

“I hate digital. I still shoot film, but digital’s that much easier and cheaper. People say digital is better, but it’s not better, it’s easier.”

“The good news is that digital is easy to do, the bad news is that it’s harder to sell. Everyone’s doing it.”

On photographing Coldplay at the 2001 Big Day Out:

“We did a session in Auckland and it was really fucking rubbish.”

On why he keeps shooting:

“The beauty of photography is that you’re never the best you’ll ever be. You’ve always got new ideas. I just genuinely enjoy photography.”

Read the whole thing.

You can see Tony talk about his 25 year career if you’re in Melbourne tomorrow night at the Thornbury Theatre.

The Scare backstage portraits

Daniel Boud — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:14:08 +0000

The Scare week continues (previously No Money video, AMP ceremony) with these snaps i took of the band at The Annandale.

They’re part of a bigger project i did last weekend, shooting band portraits backstage during My Filthy Riot. I set up a mini-studio, taping a gray backdrop to the wall and lighting with a softbox. I shot about 20 bands all in that way, quick shoots over in less than a minute.

I’ll post more once i sort through them.

It’s good to see The Scare in good spirits and optimistically looking forward. They’ve been doing the hard slog for years and previously seemed on some downward spiral to disintegration. No longer.

They’re one of the first bands i photographed live, before i even owned an SLR camera.

This is a snap from Spectrum in 2004.

And this from Homebake 2005, the first festival i ever had proper accreditation to photograph.

Sydney Festival 2009 in photos

Daniel Boud — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:59:20 +0000

A month late, but here’s the final lot of my photos from Sydney Festival.

First up is Festival First Night, featuring Grace Jones, Santogold (before she became Santigold) and Busy P DJing plus loads more i didn’t see. It’s always one of the highlights of the festival; it’s free and takes over the city with thousands of Sydneysiders.

Then we have Bon Iver. He played 5 sold out shows and i was lucky enough to photograph one, then go back on his final show to see it as a regular punter.

During the final song he had the entire City Recital Hall audience singing the refrain "what might have been lost" until it built up to a raucous crescendo. The best live show i’ve seen in ages. Time Out loved it too.

After shooting Grace Jones at Festival First Night i was lucky enough to go back for another shot at her side show at Enmore Theatre. What a woman – 60 years old and looking and sounding amazing and still as loopy as ever.

Unfortunately i didn’t see the full Reggie Watts show but i was treated to a little performance for the cameras. He does this amazing thing of live sampling his own voice to build a song, which is often entirely improvised.

Here he is performing in Hyde Park.

Sydney Festival has more videos of Reggie performing impromptu sets on the streets of Sydney.

Then we have Pivot and Metronomy for the Pop Frenzy party at the Becks Bar. You can see video of the whole sets at Moshcam.

And finally it’s Marawa Ibrahim performing at La Clique in the Famous Spiegeltent.

You can see all the photos in the Sydney Festival 2009 gallery.

Pride? Patriotism? Jingoism? Racism?

Daniel Boud — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:31:43 +0000

A few snaps of tats, piercings and t-shirts at the Sydney Big Day Out.

Postscript

I saw this happy family down at Bondi and thought they made a nice addition to the collection of flag wavers.

Miss Pole Dance 2008

Daniel Boud — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:11:56 +0000

A few weeks ago i had the pleasure of spending some time backstage at Miss Pole Dance Australia 2008.

Evidently pole dancing isn’t the sleazy underground pursuit it once was, with this event held at the 2000 capacity Enmore Theatre with most of the audience made up of women.

Behind the scenes it was relatively calm; lots of stretching, listening to iPods, doing hair and make-up and spraying of thighs with hairspray.

The winner of Miss Pole Dance Australia was Felix Cane from Perth.

Follow the link from Time Out Sydney for a slideshow with over 50 more photos.

Photographing Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton

Daniel Boud — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:23:14 +0000

On returning from overseas one of my first assignments was to photograph Cate Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton for a Time Out Sydney cover feature.

The feature is about their roles as Creative Directors of the Sydney Theatre Company and previewing the STC open day where the public can see backstage at the theatre.

I’ve shot a few famous faces in my time, but it’s still intimidating getting one-on-one photo time with one of the world’s most revered actresses. I’d photographed her before, but that was among an anonymous barking press pack.

In the lead up there’s no chance to actually speak with Cate or Andrew, all communication is via the publicist. It’s hard to get too conceptual or lock in shots when you can’t discuss ideas directly with the photo subjects.

I visit the theatre beforehand to map out some potential locations for pictures, but it’s hard to set anything in stone. It’s up to Cate and Andrew what they want to do. And i won’t know that till we meet and i have to start shooting.

True to form, when we meet, Cate suggests a spot underneath the stage that i wasn’t planning on using. But i’m flexible, so we head over and decide it’s worth a shot. If Cate’s keen, then so am I.

I quickly set up a single light, ask for some costumes to hang behind them, grab a nearby bloodied box as a prop and start taking pictures a few minutes from the moment we meet.

There’s no stylist, no hair and make-up. Just straight into it with my trusty 5D and 50mm combination.

I glance at the back of the camera to see how the shots look. I relax a little. Cate looks amazing in every frame. They have great chemistry and Andrew’s nice and playful.

After a dozen or so photos i figure i’ve got what i need from this spot and move on to a new location in a large backstage area where all the sets are built.

The interview is being done at the same time as the photos, so our editor-in-chief keeps them chatting while i set up.

I experiment using flash, but the natural light looks much nicer and i stick with that.

I’m aware of my time running out and try my luck at a few more shots in the props department. I shoot a few, but the momentum is gone and time is up.

I’m relieved. I didn’t reinvent the wheel, or get anything particularly outstanding, but I didn’t fuck it up. That’s the dread that always lurks in the back of my mind.

The magazine is in Sydney newsagents now and the story is online with a slideshow of more images.

Boudist » Featured

Who We Are wins an ASTRA Award

Gina Rings and Soo Yuen You

Buddy Knox

David Page

Dan Sultan

The Medics

Kamahi Djordan King

Rhoda Roberts

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Covers – a photo show

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