Tuesday, April 28, 2009

and they are off..

Today my second container left Southampton, UK for sunny California, USA. This has been a bit of a distraction over the past couple of months, but at least they are going. I will have to be there at Long Beach to receive it in about 6 weeks. No doubt with the help of my brother who is driving around Arizona and the Grand Canyon in his bloody enormous motor home, at the moment having a nice and well deserved break.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

AC/DC London

I can’t remember the last time I shot AC/DC, but I think it was around 1980. It was possibly at Hammersmith Odeon. In fact, I have a funny feeling that I also photographed them with Status Quo. Does anyone remember if they actually supported Quo? If so, please let me know and I will then get someone to dig deep into the archive and try and find them. So, back to now then. I arrived at the O2 arena in North Greenwich, London. It is a really long drive for me. I always say this or at least think it, but, it's easier for me to drive to Birmingham than across London to the O2. There were only about 6 photographers there allowed to shoot the show. We were all given a briefing as to where we are to stand and how the show will run for us. It was kind of reminiscent of shooting the Rolling Stones, the same kind of setup, which is pretty good. They know why were are there and want us to get the shots. So, in this case, the guy who was briefing us actually at the end of his list of does and don’ts he said one last thing "thank you for coming and we at AC/DC hope you get some great shots" This was quite refreshing and nice. So, in we went and we were split into two groups. There O2 was packed out, the crowd were really excited. Then without much delay at all, on the massive screen behind the stage came an intro cartoon film of AC/DC on a train with cartoon characters including scantily dressed saucy women. Then as this train finally crashed into a station, pyrotechnics went off on stage and the band appeared on stage. The lighting was very bright. We were all positioned along a runway in front of the stage. Brian Johnson and Angus Young both took turns and came down along the runway. After the show I headed out of the O2 and jumped in my car and attempted to get to a restaurant for dinner with my sister in law Jane who was having a dinner to celebrate her birthday. But, by the time I got anywhere near the restaurant, they had all left and gone home, which was a shame. Maybe they thought, hurry up eat up and get out of here before Danny gets here. When I got home I edited up the photos of AC/DC and sent them out.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Starsailor - Shepherds Bush London

Tonight was the full band. I have been shooting James Walsh quite a bit recently on his own whilst he was doing a few acoustic sets. So, here we were at Shepherds Bush Empire and it is sold out. I am not surprised as they are bloody great. I was shooting the whole show so, I managed to get some good shots. I started in the photo pit and did the first 5 songs. Then I ventured upstairs and shot from left right and centre. It was a great show, brilliant band. There was an after show party, but, I didn't go, I went with my wife Lyn and our friend Jill to Fulham to VQ and had a quick bite to eat. We then headed out of town and home. I then edited the photos and sent them out to usual places.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Ted Nugent Exclusive in Texas

I was running through some of my old negatives and scanned a whole set of photos that I shot when I was on tour with Ted Nugent back in 1980. This was a shoot backstage somewhere in El Paso, Texas. Ted posed for me with all of his guns blazing.. Kind of weird as they were all loaded.. He was a very nice man and I did have great fun on the road with him. One of these shots ended up as a cover of the music magazine of the day in the UK, Melody Maker..

Monday, April 06, 2009

Pictures Published

Had some photos from Friday night's Remi Nicole party in today's London Paper. Think they were in some other papers as well. But, I didn't really get much time to check them all..

Friday, April 03, 2009

Lacoste Party for Remi Nicole

Party tonight at the Boogaloo in Highgate, North London. It's Remi Nicole's birthday party sponsored by Lacoste and in aid of Multiple Sclerosis. I got there at about 7:30, I was told it would start at about 8pm. Well, it was about 9:30 and nobody had arrived yet. There was a steady procession of guests from about 10pm. So, finally we got some photos. Pixie Geldof was on good form. She was having great fun, dancing and having a laugh. Her sister Peaches turned up about an hour after her. So, we did a couple of shots of them together.. Alexa Chung, Nick Grimshaw turned up and got on the decks for a bit of DJing. The party was in full swing by now. Got some nice shots of Alexa, Nick, Remi, Pixie & Peaches.. I headed off home just after midnight. Then edited up the photos and sent them out to all of the papers.