The Specials - Brixton Academy 2009 - RIP Terry Hall

The Specials (sometimes called The Special AKA) are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. They have had hits in the United Kingdom, and their music is featured in film and television soundtracks.

The Specials - Brixton Academy

After seven consecutive UK Top 10 singles between 1979 and 1981, the band broke up. In 2008, it was announced that the band would reform and embark on a 30th anniversary tour in 2009... These are a couple of shots from that reunion.

Update: Via The Specials, terrible news. (Via Twitter)

”It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced”

RIP Terry Hall

Guess what?
The world ended yesterday
Today is just an action replay
And Hell is wherever Heaven is not
So here I stand, the well informed optimist
Who refuses to turn on, tune in, and drop out
I refuse to lose control
I refuse to let it wash all over me
I refuse to succumb to what your vision of happy should look like
Because it certainly doesn't look like you
And when the sign says stop, that's when I'll go
Like a clean, mean, medicated, fighting machine
Who's all dressed up and ready to disco
The emperor has got new clothes

Onward, Terry.

Shooting a festival? With what!

So, I went into a little spin yesterday and realised that I didn't actually have the kit I needed for the festival that I have coming up next week. I will usually take two bodies to a gig, one for a longer lens, one for a wider lens. I wonder though, is that just indulgent? I mean, It's not like I'm shooting for commissions, I shoot for myself / press sometimes / promoter sometimes and I think I could get the shots with one camera. So, anyway, I had this spaz off yesterday and tried to hire a 70-200mm f2.8 IS and a 17-40mm ...but then, upon chatting to many many hire companies I was horrified to learn that nobody had one in stock! - I tweeted a few times and a friend came to the rescue with the offer to loan his lens - thanks Kev. Well, I wandered home and @bigcrustyape popped in last night with his mum... He and I talked shoots, the women talked babies... I decided that I am taking two bodies, the Canon 30D and the Canon 5D Mk2 (My main squeeze) and, in that case, I will take the 10-22mm for the 30D and I will have the 70-200 for the 5D Mk2.... LONG and WIDE! An example of a long shot at a concert might be something like this...

and.. an example of a wide shot may be something like this...

Now, the Canon 30D may not have a super ISO rating and anything over about 800 in the right light is starting to look pretty darn grainy, but during the day for big, sweeping festival crowd shots - I think it will be OK... It's amazing how "bad" something becomes when we get and use something "better" - What am I on about? Well, I used to shoot music stuff with the 30D 100% of the time, now I use it very infrequently because of how good the 5D Mk2 is, it makes me think the 30D is a sub standard camera, but, it's not. (My shaking hands don't help, but hey)

So, My kit list for the 2009 Benicassim festival will be as follows...

Canon 5D Mk2 - With battery grip Canon 30D - With battery grip Canon 10-22mm ef-s f3.5 Canon 50mm f1.4 Canon 24-70 f2.8 Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS Canon 100-400mm f4.5 IS

Two sets of batteries for the Canon 5D Mk2 - Thanks to Digitalrev.com Three sets of batteries for the Canon 30D, again, thanks to the guys at Digitalrev.com Manfrotto 190XProB Tripod for those sweeping beach shots at 6am when everyone else is asleep on the sand... MacBook Pro to edit / upload / modify / surf / tweet / etc! Many Sandisk 4GB Extreme III CF Cards Filters, Cleaning kit, Chargers, Cables, USB Keys, Water! thinkTANK Streetwalker HD camera bag to fit everything in! (And maybe my thinkTANK SpeedRacer for little trips out)

I am very much looking forward to shooting Benicassim 2009, Very much...

Sime x

Errol Brown - Indigo2 2009

Errol Brown MBE - For service to DISCO and GALACTIC FUNK, ex front man of Hot Chocolate, yes, he still does believe in miracles, yes he does, you sexy thing... I though this was a nice portrait of the man singing his heart out for what will be one of the last bigger venue shows the man will do. Everyone's a winner baby, well, in this case - you are and I was.

A real gentleman, Errol was so very humble throughout the show and looked quite sad at times, as I guess anyone that has spent their life on the stage and has a realisation in front of their home crowd that this really is it...

Miss a trick

I had a gig today and yesterday, Hop Farm Festival, but I've not been able to make it. I've had so much on and none of my regular photographers were available to cover it, so, I've had to notch it up as a fail. Hop Farm festival would have been a great shoot, a good atmosphere (from all reports) with friendly people listening to good music and eating good food. I don't like missing gigs that I've requested a pass to, It doesn't send a good message to the promoter and, depending on their mood, you won't get a pass again.

I just wanted to throw that out there - has anyone had an experience whereby they've missed a gig and been slated by a promoter?

I have been noting down performers that I'd like to photograph... I have this mental list in my head and on to it, today, I have added Sting... I mean, most of Britain can't stand the guy but I'm really not sure why? I've been a fan of Sting since I was about 18... I recall buying The Dream of the Blue Turtles as my first Sting album and listened to it over and over on my older brother's cd player - this is when I was living in Flemington with him after I had just moved out of home. I used to sit out on the front gate and have the speakers outside - listening to the cd in the cool evening. I have pretty much every Sting CD ever made - sad fact though, is that they're in a box in my parents house in Australia... I am downloading for personal use a copy of Dream of the blue turtles to take me back to those times - I can't take YouTube with me everywhere I go. So, anyway, I'd like to photograph sting... Live ideally, but if I could photograph Sting in his studio, well... Magic

A Brilliant quote "A short clip from "Bring on the night" doc....Love this song..The chord progression is like eating a fat piece of cheesecake... "

I have just realised something. I know why I love photographing live music - because I am not confident, so, when I'm photographing someone up close and personal I'm always worried that they're going to ask to see the viewfinder on my camera and see that I may have taken one or two bad shots.... How stupid.... I am going into Sony studios tomorrow night to photograph an artist that's due, shortly, to release his debut Sony branded CD.... It's not live, He could indeed stop recording and come and want to see the photos and this makes me nervous. Weird huh?

It's OK, I'm working through it.

I'm currently editing a video of the "Behind the Scenes" of a recent fashion shoot I assisted on, it's very cool to be able to sort of go back and look at how we all worked together, how the photographer interacted with the model and so on. I've placed a short clip of the piece below....

Speaking of working, I've got a kitchen to clean! - See you all tomorrow.

Sime x