This one was an absolute pleasure to shoot. The Arches is typically a good place to shoot, plenty of space, nice lights (especially since they upgraded recently) and add to the fact that the totaly legend Ben E King was on the stage, it was a pretty great night.
I was kind of surprised at how many people haven’t known the name when I mentioned them, so in case you don’t know him, he’s the man behind this tune, among many, many other absolute classics.
Had a bit of an impromptu brain storm with a couple of friends, Gavin & Moiser, about some upcoming shoots. I got a little excited with one idea in particular so we went out and did a little bit of location scouting. This was out in Dalmarnock, charming little place!
Pretty excited about this shoot that I’m now well into the planning stages of. Quite a relatively large scale production so looking forward to it coming together over the next few weeks and sharing the results.
This is Gav, back down in Cardiff by the time this is online. Check out his incredible photography here.
Adam Stafford supported Take A Worm For A Walk Week at their final show at Stereo, Glasgow last week.
He is a name I’ve heard but hadn’t listened to before seeing him. Really impressed with the energy in the live set from one man, and the variety and interest he brought to the performance. Listening to his album ‘Build A Harbour Immediately’ now and while it’s pretty different from seeing him live, I’m really enjoying it. Definitely have a listen and get along to see him when you next get the chance.
I hadn’t been out shooting a gig for a long time before this and glad this was the first one back, so much fun!
I’m not sure how long TAWFAWW have been kicking around doing their thing, but I’ve managed to see them quite a few times over the past couple of years and they are phenomenally fun live band. I didn’t actually realise this was their last show until I spoke to bassist Ian before the show. Sad that they won’t be playing any more but an incredible way to go out. Rammed room in Stereo going nuts and an excellent performance with frontman Joe Quimby on typically perfect form. Even nicer to see them on chairs singing to Katy Perry by the end of the night!
This was a bit of a funny one, the wonderful Ben Cowie, who I work with quite a lot, was doing some work for Jill Jackson ahead of the launch of her new album. I went along to lend a hand, and ended up doing a little bit of filming (which I’ll link to when it’s all live and out in the world).
Main location for the day was an incredible old warehouse with a layer of caked dust on the floor and so many awesome things lying about. It looked so nice in the swathes of sunlight coming in through the ceiling, which seemed about to blow in the entire time we were there. All this, in the middle of a Glasgow industrial estate, above a fishmongers (that generated a full day of fishy puns!).
The man behind the camera down below is Niall Walker, who makes some remarkably pretty things, like this video which I blogged about a while back.
I’ve been a bit of a tardy blogger of late, mainly due to being busy making things that will hopefully see the blog at some point in the future! So I make like it’s all ok.
Since the weekend, Scotland has been bathed in sunshine the likes of which we barely see during the height of Summer, let alone late March. It’s incredible to see the effect that the sun has on people with so many people on the streets smiling and having a good time. Hopefully it’s here to stay for a while longer. Here are a few shots from an afternoon and evening spent in Glasgow caked in factor 50.
This was a bit of an odd one, shot for The Skinny’s ‘new blood’ feature in their current issue. As mentioned in the article, the band didn’t want their faces to be visible. I was told this in advance and had a few ideas for some creative post-production, or doing a calendar girls style covering of faces with watermelons etc. Instead I decided it’d be more interesting to try and get rid of the faces in the shot itself. Other than some colour & contrast adjustments this is pretty much straight out of the camera.
I was a little apprehensive about the shoot, not knowing the reasons for the obscured faces, I had feared the worst, but turned out to be 3 lovely guys who have just released their debut album. Their web presence is minimal but you can have a listen to some tracks on their website.
United Fruit are one of the most intriguing and interesting bands making music in Scotland just now and are certainly one of the bands, in my opinion, that have the potential to grow bigger than any Scottish ‘scene’ and take their music to a wider audience. They will be announcing lots of new dates soon, definitely try and get along to see them if they are anywhere close to you!
This image is the 3rd instalment in a little project I’ve been working on, the first two parts featuring Kobi Onyame and Lightguides.
A bit of a cold, dreich evening trek up to the top of Queens Park in Glasgow for this one. Virtually no photoshop involved in these images other than a little bit of sharpening, contrast & colour toning.
Big thanks to the man, the legend Stephen Moiser for taking care of the ‘pyrotechnics’ for me. Not the easiest starting fires in the rain, especially with a suspicious running club looking on!
Some more photographs of United Fruit coming in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, check out their bandcamp where you can listen to and download their first album and give the a shout on facebook as well.
