Alexandra Palace
15 minutes spent at Alexandra Palace railway station, not time wasted. I wanted to spend some minutes taking photos of a few various pieces of the station, the detail that largely goes un-noticed. A special time, time spent at railway stations.
What does this have to do with music? Nothing... I wanted to post it, so I did! Anyway, music... I learned one special thing tonight - stop over complicating things - I was thinking about a possible portrait shoot that I have tonight *looks at clock* with a boxing commentator, and I started to worry about it. How should I do this, how should I do that... I get so wound up that I have no way of possibly going to do that shoot and start thinking of ways out... This is all sillyness, I'm sure that if I calm down and think about it, that it will be fine. I few words of advice from my life mentor, Pasky, and I'm back on the straight and narrow... So, boxing tomorrow night, maybe Paolo Nutini again on Wednesday and then Thursday night it's off to KOKO for Blues and Soul magazine who seemed to like the Review / Images that Rob and I sent them for the Nate James Review. So it is busy times! and, speaking of busy times, I'm going to bed!
what's this got to do with music?
Sime
All about the music...
I'm a music photographer, and I'm an appreciator of many (not all) types of music. I received a tweet from a friend of mine last night in response to a tweet I sent.
Here's what I sent..
I was at a gig last night (shock horror!) The show was at the Bedford in Balham, A great venue for sound (despite a gentle light based hum last night) and because of the act, Antonio Forcione, the noise showed through his amazing guitar playing (Video below) Anyway, the lighting at the Bedford is great for an atmospheric gig, it's soft and magenta and red and mirror ball with a black'ish felt backdrop curtain. All of those things make it a horrid place to photograph amazing artists. So, My tweets saying (musically / music was amazing) were basically that, saying I had an amazing night, musically - photographically, it wasn't so hot.
Here's what I received back...
And it made me think about my blog post from yesterday "Should I be doing this a different way" and then, I was thinking (I know, what THE!) again on the way to work this morning "It's not about the money" That's not why I wanted to become a music photographer.. I know plenty of music photographers that make next to nothing - but each one of them, when asked - and I do ask - loves what they do. They're either musical or a lover of music and there's a difference. You can see it when we're all in the pit shooting. "I get chills, and sometimes they're multiplyin"
So, It's not all about the photos, It's about the music first. - And on that note, Here's a hand-held video I shot last night of Antonio cranking out Billy Jean - Michael Jackson.
Bullet Proof?
I wish I was, but I'm not... A particularly uninspiring day of back and forth emails with "promotions" people, and some such bollocks. A completely misunderstood email, and a strong desire to want to slap someone - but really, life is too short. I'll be on her black list, I'll "never work in this town again" well, we'll see.
There's all this "hype" surrounding being a music photographer, unless you're commissioned by someone and have regular work - it's really hard to get anywhere with it. It can be quite depressing, being knocked back at a ratio of about 1:8 - Now, I'm not the worlds greatest photographer and, a lot of the time there is a little to be desired, but I'm not bad and I'm dedicated... Is that why I don't get gigs? Are there "brilliant" photographers in every possible position available in London? Well, I've had a look at a few of the images that are submitted and they're pretty rough. So, I don't feel so bad.
Is this image "that bad" (I'm not looking for back patting, I'm just saying)
Maybe it's time for a different approach?
Tonight - JEFF BECK!
Quite excited, shooting Mr. Jeff Beck this evening, but first I have a whole list of "venue" shots to do for the lovely peeps at Live Nation. 1. Light box on stairwell (one directly in front & one at the bottom of the stairs) 2. Row of light boxes on side of building 3. Various TV screens 4. Toilet door poster 5. Becks Bar (if lit and stocked) from different angles 6. As above for all bars, some with people, some without. 7. Daktroniks 8. Philips screen 9. Stairwell poster (one front on and one of row of frames up one stairwell) 10. Merch area 11. Foyer area
So, I will be busy pre-gig, but looking forward to seeing the guitarist great in action!
I will be uploading from the venue tonight (MiFi Willing!) Via the 3MobileBuzz MiFi that I was meant to give back today (Sorry, Cal!) - Watch this space to see how I get on with that.
