Blown away by the Alice in Chains gig at Scala tonight... The light, as ever, was horrid so you - dear reader - get a grungy black and white set (almost) which I thought would be fitting. A couple on here, the rest in with the whole wash...
Metallica @ Sonisphere 2009
To share is a good thing...This is Metallica setting Sonisphere 2009 alight...
All images in this post, and on this blog (Unless otherwise noted) are © 2009 Simon Pollock All rights reserved - not to be used in any way without prior permission.
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Anthrax - Didn't jump, Pushed!
Dan Nelson, Lead (ex) Singer of Anthrax has announced that he's not been ill as reported by the band, but infact he was fired... All I know is that they performed really well on stage at the first Sonisphere the UK has seen.
Martina McWho?
You associate being asked to shoot from "some distance" with large names, Beyonce sized names... Not with people that less than a thousand people in the UK have heard of and certainly not because she doesn't look any good, she's a good looking girl who actually modeled in swimwear once... so, I don't see the issue... Martina McBride is one such private jet flying, take my photo from miles away type of person. I had a last minute pass to shoot for press tonight at Indigo2 - One of my favourite little "hidden gem" venues... I made it from Earls Court to Indigo2 in record time - Left mine at 19:20pm and made it for her call time of 20:00 - Miracle TFL, well played. Was there at stage side, as normal, about two minutes before she was on - The regular security guy popped over to say his regular (Have they the minds of Goldfish?) "You've shot here before? Three songs only" Which I am well aware of, yep - thanks... Then some other American dude about seven times the size swoops in and says "You're shooting from behind the audio desk, you know that right?" Now, I don't know if you've seen Indigo2, but if you're behind the audio desk at the back of a standing gig with the lighting that you get at Indigo2 from time to time - you might as well be standing in a neck deep tub of chocolate with your camera lens cover on... You don't get to move and you don't get any shots worth the £3.20 trip out there. You know what, I think I might invoice Martina for £3.20 for wasting my time... Not the sharpest tool in the shed are you, Mr. Security... Now instead of bad photos, your boss has no photos and it's all your fault :-) I spose I could have hung around and captured some nice shots of the LCD screens and sent them to press, looking like this!...
Frankly, I don't mind the trip out to Indigo2 and I certainly appreciate the venue organising my pass (As I've told them) but I don't enjoy having my time wasted by someone that doesn't think before he decides where photographers / press are going to be placed, and certainly doesn't bother to tell the venue and therefore wasting my time. I hope the £3.20 is paid out of his pay... Sorry security guy, FAIL... and Martina, FAIL... (By association, Sister)
Off to Sonisphere tomorrow, and, knowing my luck I will be placed in a cherry picker and hoisted up above the stage where I can't see the acts at all... But within reach of punter's beer cans... That's my luck that is.
Linkin Park - Look smart!
Sime x
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Going back...
I've started work on a book, I actually told a mate of mine, Paul, about it tonight, so that means I have to do it! - But more on that later! I was going through my Lightroom library and just laughing at the change in style and / or quality of the photos I've been taking over the last couple of years, music photos... From my first attempt at photographing some musicians in a dark pub to the larger stuff I'm doing these days - only one thing matters and that is that I get what I want out of the shoot. I'm not (A lot of the times) shooting for anyone other than press, and, as such I can pop into the pit, take a wide and a portrait and I'm done - but that's not why I'm there... I'm a music lover first and a photographer along side that. A music photographer, I think, can't capture the emotion on the faces of the people he's (or she!) photographing unless he (yes, or she!) understands the music, where it goes, how it runs and twists. I can air drum to any CD, Amy Grant included, I can get the most out of a piece of music - twice recently I've been stopped in my tracks by something that I thought I'd not totally enjoy... Acker Bilk the other night and a moment at the Benicassim Festival when, before the crowds were allowed into the main stage, I was standing listening to line checks early in the day and the audio engineer popped some Bach on - and we're talking a volume that would explode a small child at fifty paces... It was truly amazing! From there, we're moving swiftly on to Metallica, Linkin Park and NiN this coming weekend - so, I'm not precious with what music I will attempt to capture, I love music first and love capturing it equally first...
Dave Matthews from a recent show at the Brixton Academy
and then, moving back some time..
And, then back to one of my first gigs which, it turns out, was April 28th, 2008... My wedding anniversary?!
I really do find it amazing, the process, the trials associated with obtaining that magic "get me to the front" pass... One piece of advice I'd give to anyone trying to make it in this game - be kind to everyone you meet.
Sime - Music Photographer