Things have been a bit quiet...

Comply or Die - promo shot, originally uploaded by suzyska photos.

Since Slam Dunk I've not had another show to shoot. It's a bit quiet at the moment I think, generally, as we enter the festival season. And I'm also busy with other stuff so not been able to commit to much photography wise. However on Tuesday I met up with my friends in Comply or Die and did some shots for them.

I wasn't entirely happy with the photos but after a bit of editing I feel better about them... one edit took at least an hour as it involved merging two shots to get something usable (not the photo in the blog!). We had awkward looking poses, eyes shut, silly faces... it was a tough one. I struggled with the flash gun on a tripod and then decided to stop using it and managed to drop it on the concrete in the car park.... I also dropped the transmitter on said concrete. But luckily neither broke. I was panicking though!!

So I did learn a bit about promo shots. And having looked at my photos I've got some ideas on how to improve them and make them look better next time. Just need some willing bands to work with now which is another thing that can be quite difficult!

Slam Dunk 2009

Slam Dunk 2009: Polar Bear Club, originally uploaded by suzyska photos.

This weekend I had not one event to photograph but two. On Saturday night I went to Rockabilly Riot in Leeds which was pretty good. It's a hard venue to shoot in as the stage is very dark - there are no lights - and there is a reflective wall at the back of the stage. Took me a while to remember how to take photos in there! After a bit of experimentation I'd figured it out though. Always learning.

Sunday was Slam Dunk. I've been my fourth year at the festival and third year taking photos. I forgot how busy it gets. Lots of crowds. Every room was totally different to photograph in. The Vans stage was high up and no photo pit with lots of skankers and crowd surfing... whilst the main room had good lighting but a smoke machine at times which was a bit difficult. I was doing flash photography and then no flash... changing lenses every now and again. I wish someone would invent a lens that has wide aperture, could be very wide and zoom too. lol. I'm lazy.

Anyway, yeah, it was really good fun. I enjoyed the festival and the opportunity to photograph so many good bands. The photo I chose for this blog post is one of my favourites from the day. It's Polar Bear Club. I'd never heard anything by them but the stage manager said he'd like some photos of them so I decided to catch some of their set. I think I was the only person taking pics of them too which was nice. They were jumping all over the place, going down to the crowd.. it was really fun to watch. I hope that comes across in my photos of them.

Think I've got a bit of a break from gigs for a week or two, but I'm absolutely desperate to get out there and take more photos now! Trying to organise some promo shoots in the meantime though. Totally different style of photography, but think I need to get more experience in that area now.

Mutiny 2009

Sonic Boom Six, originally uploaded by suzyska photos.

On Saturday it was the first Mutiny Festival at Bridlington Spa. It was a one day event which featured loads of punk bands including Sonic Boom Six, Random Hand, UK Subs, Anti-Nowhere League, Stuff Little Fingers and Goldblade. Had such a great time! Goldblade in particular were good.. never seen them before but they were amazing.. the singer was so full of energy and was down in the crowd for a lot of the set! UK Subs were good too.

I think Fisher did a great job organising this event and hoping that he'll do another event like this next year...

The Vexed

The Vexed promo, originally uploaded by suzyska photos.

Just a quick edit on one of the shots of The Vexed that I got yesterday.

The Vexed are a York punk band. I've taken photos of a couple of the members before when they were in The Hazard. I was really pleased that they asked me to do some promo shots for them :) We were walking around York for about 2 hours yesterday and I took about 320 photos so I have lots to look through. It was fun despite the rain. We even went to the National Railway Museum!! Needless to say, afterwards my feet were sore and I was tired so I decided to skip the Deathstars gig in Leeds (not really sure if it was really my kind of music anyway).

For this shot I used a wide angle lens with flash gun on camera. For some of the other shots I used a flash off camera with trigger. I don't have any fancy lighting and it would have been impractical with all the walking we did. We used about five or six different locations.

Funeral for a Friend with WATO and People in Planes

We are the Ocean, originally uploaded by suzyska photos.

A couple of weeks ago I went to cover a band called People in Planes for pushtofire.com and luckily they were supporting one of my favourite bands Funeral for a Friend. I last saw FFAF in 2005 when I was still up in Durham.. they were playing at Northumbria University and it was a baking hot gig as it was in June. We spent the entire gig beside the fire exit as one of my friends' brothers was feeling the heat and not enjoying it... he had to go outside as he felt ill. The gig was good.

And so was the gig the other night. It was at Rios in Leeds, which is a pretty informal venue. It was rammed from front to pack. Almost sold out but not quite. I've heard there were about 750 people in attendence which is crazy as it's not that big a venue. FFAF were brilliant.. for the first time in ages I actually enjoyed being at a gig not taking photos the whole time. We got told to leave the pit after two songs and no flash.. it was a nightmare, but never mind.

We are the Ocean supported who are a up and coming UK band. They were great too. It was clear that a lot of people had come to see them as well as FFAF. People in Planes were pretty good, not really my thing, but they did play well.

The photo I've posted in this entry is of the singer from We are the Ocean. It's one of the best photos I got that night and possibly one of my favourites to date. :) I like the clarity of it - something only achievable with flash in that venue. It was really dark hence why my FFAF ones are so poor. 1600 ISO with a f1.4 lens. Not fun! I definitely am someone who is 'for' flash. I don't like using it for acoustic sets or slow songs, but when the lights in a venue are going mental it's cool.

Happy New Year!

Ok. So I kind of didn't post much at all last year... I might post more in 2009, but I might not. Got a few gigs coming up and am the official photographer for a punk festival in May which is pretty cool.

Suzy

Barcelona and forthcoming gigs

Last week I was in Barcelona on holiday. I took some photos but only on my G9 because my SLR is too big to carry about when doing touristy stuff! I don't like wandering about with it in busy unfamiliar places either. We went to a gig in Barcelona and it was so weird not having my camera there. I kept looking at the band thinking, "ah that would make a good photo... that would be a good shot" - bit frustrating but it was good to not have the pressure of getting a good photo or reviewing the band. I really don't enjoy reviewing gigs, but sometimes I have to as the pr companies ask for it... I think they think it's better exposure for the band.

Anyway, we saw The Real McKenzies with support from the Holy Buttons in this tiny old bar called Puerto Hurraco Sisters Bar, which was about ten mins from our hotel. I'm so glad we have a smoking ban in the UK. The place was full of smoke as about 99% of people were smoking - my eyes were stinging and I was coughing... probably one of the reasons I still have a cold after a week. Our clothes stunk so badly after the gig too - we had to try and steam clean them with the help of the shower in our hotel room... it worked to an extent which was surprising! The gig was ok - the support band were good and the Real McKenzies were ok too, though slightly repetitive in terms of the tunes. There was a photographer there who had my shirt from H&M! It was like seeing a smaller spanish version of me. lol. Except she had a Nikon and I only use Canon.

I'm looking forward to the gigs I have planned in the next couple of months. Tomorrow I'm photographing a You Me at Six gig. The last time I saw them was at Fibbers in York and we did an interview for pushtofire.com too (Feb 2008). They were really nice people and down to earth. It's amazing that since then they've been on the cover of Kerrang! and supported Fall Out Boy at Wembley. I like it when people who work hard get results like that. They really deserve it.
Then on Thursday I'm going to see Elliot Minor. I've offered to review their gig and I'm going to have to be honest about their performance. We interviewed them for the zine in April and in my opinion they didn't come across as well as You me at Six, but maybe they were just not in the mood to be interviewed that day. Who knows.

I am already freaking out about next week. I'm interviewing Less Than Jake. So scared! I love their music but I hardly know anything about the band really. I'm gonna have to do some serious preparation!! The day after it's Push to Fire's first ever gig... Take a Worm for a Walk Week plus The Network and Stella Dawes (The Junction, York, Nov 16th). Hopefully TaWFaWW will be well this time as they recently had food poisoning and were throwing up at the side of the stage in Fibbers (gross!!). They are a crazy band and worth seeing at least once. I have some promotion that needs doing as we need people to come to the gig so we can pay the bands. Gig organisation and promo is horrible!

Seeing Imperial Leisure in November too. Then Johnny Truant, The Ghost Frequency, Streetlight Manifesto, Guttermouth and Cherry Poppin' Daddies in December.. hopefully. I really want to get out and take lots and lots of photos and improve my photography. I think this year I've already seen more bands than I did in 2007 which is awesome.

Suzy :o)