Temper Trap, Tinie Tempah and getting paid
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. These were shows i shot for the sponsors and it got me thinking about shooting live music and my changed relationship with shooting shows.
Florence and the Machine at the Enmore
Florence Welch seems to be riding a wave to genuine pop stardom. At Splendour she pulled the largest crowd i saw at the whole festival. More than The Pixies and more than The Strokes who followed her. These are some photos of her performance at the Enmore Theatre last night, the first of four sold [...]
AC/DC – The Boys are Back in Town
Rock’n’roll icons AC/DC returned to the city that spawned them at a bombastic concert in front of 70,000 odd fans at Sydney’s ANZ stadium last night. I was shooting for Time Out Sydney, whose cover this month is adorned by Angus Young with a feature on the A to Z of AC/DC. Read the review. [...]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Hordern
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs last night at Hordern Pavilion. A joy to photograph.
FBi fundraiser final fling photos
Here’s some photos from the FBi Radio fundraiser gig last Saturday night at The Metro. You can see more pictures in the gallery at Mess and Noise or below.
Sydney Songs closes Creative Sydney
The three week run of Creative Sydney came to an end on Friday night with a performance of Sydney Songs at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Many Sydney muso’s performed songs about Sydney backed by the Alan Dale Allstars, lead by Lindsay McDougal. Creative Sydney was a fantastic initiative, focusing attention on the often unacknowledged [...]
Eskimo Joe launch Inshalla
This time last week i was at the Royal Hall of Industries photographing Eskimo Joe perform most of their new album Inshalla to a crowd of competition winners and music industry types. The venue is a massive hangar that had been converted into a more intimate space by sectioning off a corner. I was shooting [...]
UnderExposed music photography symposium
I’m off to Brisbane tomorrow, ready to speak at Underexposed on Saturday. Underexposed is a series of music photography related events, a gallery show of music photography, live gigs and a forum/workshop/symposium type thing which i’m involved in. The symposium goes for a full day this Saturday and features workshops for aspiring music photographers on [...]
MTV Australia Awards 2009 : The Performances
A couple of weekends ago i was part of the crew from Blue Murder Studios photographing the Vodafone MTV Australia Awards for MTV. It’s a good gig to get because it’s much better access than the usual red carpet and media room frenzy. I thankfully managed to avoid both those places. It means getting to [...]
Kaiser Chiefs at the Enmore
Last night i scored a last minute pass to snap Kaiser Chiefs at The Enmore Theatre. They’re always a pleasure and a challenge to shoot. A pleasure because lead singer Ricky is so animated, leaping about the stage with loads of energy. And a challenge for the same reasons, in low coloured lights all that [...]
Interview with Tony Mott
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 [...]
Concert Photography Masterclass : Part 2
This is the second and final part of my guide to concert photography. Technique You can be technically adept but still take poor photos, the trick is knowing when to click the shutter. Watch the performance for a moment, where is the light on stage? You may have to wait for the performer to move [...]
Concert Photography Masterclass
For issue 46 of Digital Photographer magazine i wrote an article about concert photography. It gives an overview of everything an aspiring live music photographer might want to know. I republish it here across two posts. I’ll outline the preparation you’ll need to do before you get to the venue, the process for acquiring a [...]
Photographing Tool
Shooting Tool perform live is a photographic challenge i was aware of before i had a chance to do it myself last night at the Big Day Out. You only get one song to shoot, rather than the standard 3, and of course no flash is allowed. For the duration of that song Maynard (the [...]
Tips for live music / concert photography
UPDATE I’ve published a revised, expanded and improved version of this article – concert photography masterclass. I get the occasional email asking for advice on how to take better live music photos, so i thought i’d assemble a guide of sorts here. Consider it just my opinion, i’ve never formally studied photography, i’ve plenty to [...]