I hate it when this happens

I don't mind two or three days of shooting gigs, but can I do it four days in a row?

I haven't seen End of Fashion since november 2006. My friends know the story of me getting pulled out of the media pit 15 seconds into shooting End of Fashion. Ever since I have tried to shoot them again.
The next night is Wolf & Cub. They are without a doubt the coolest band around. I'm not even as cool as them.
The next night is The Vandas. Another band I haven't seen in years that I absolutley love and they are much much cooler than me.
The next night is my friends The Stray Assembley with Grand Fatal.
I don't want to miss out on a single show, but I do get tired and not as good a photographer when I'm constantly shooting shows.
Think I should do it?

Fifty Sixx @ Annandale Hotel

Welcome to the new and improved LTTL photo blog. Well, it's just a new layout, which looks similiar to Craig Nye's but that was an accident I swear. The layout really works well for putting larger images in my posts. I hope so at least.

This blog is the new home for most of my recent band photos. I may add a few to MySpace but not as much as this blog. It's just so much better having the photos in one place. Of course they will still be published by the sites that send me to the gigs, but I don't have to be approved to add them here.
The most recent show I shot was Fifty Sixx and friends @ Annandale Hotel on May 31. After feeling the burden of my 24-70 which weighs up to 1kg I decided that I'll just bring my 50mm f/1.8. I hardly use this lens and it's amazing for its cheap price. It's good to know that to take good photos you don't always have to spend $2000. Though the photos may have a lot of detail in them the 50 has a 3 second delay time before it takes a single photo, my 24-70 doesn't delay at all. And the bokeh on the 50 is not as creamy as the 24-70. Yes, that's right I spent $1800 on a lens that gives a good background blur!
This time I was given a photo brief detailing just what photos my superiors at Faster Louder HQ were looking for. So, I took photos of pretty much everything - even soundcheck! I wanted to do 200% because these photos may just get me into Come Together.

My favourite band of the night was The Paper and the Plane. You can expect me to go to more of their shows. Mere Theory were the first band that I photographed so they are special. I really need to buy their new album because I only have their first two eps with the old vocalist Ryan.

Want to see an old photo of them I took back in 2004? I once vowed never to show the photos because they are so horrible.

Closure in Moscow were great too. I probably took the best photos of them because they were so active or because the singer reminded me of Pete Wood from The Hot Lies.

I've seen Fifty Sixx a lot of times and they always put on an interesting show. I think last time I got a photo of one of the guitarists with a moose. They sound like a good band to party with because they seem to drink a lot.

There was a free sampler cd that was been given out at the merch table and at the end of the show with a few tracks from each of the bands that played on the tour. I've been to a lot of gigs but have never seen anything like that. It was quite a clever idea. I certainly don't have enough money to buy every ep or album from every band that plays at a show. And after listening to the sampler cd I feel like going out and buying more music by the bands, especially Paper and the Plane.

Here are some photos:

THE PAPER AND THE PLANE

CLOSURE IN MOSCOW

MERE THEORY

FIFTY SIXX

You can see the full gallery of 56 photos (yes, I'm so lame I added exactly 56 photos for my Fifty Sixx gallery) at fasterlouder.com.au

You like? If so add a comment and information about how I can pick my Come Together photopass up. ;)

Bands can use the photos if they give credit. More photos or larger ones will cost you though.

Some news

I missed out on shooting Gyroscope. No confirmation and I felt a bit ill. A bit of a downer because I've been trying to photograph these guys for two years and they are one of my favourite Australian bands.
Not all is bad however because an Arts Centre in my town (well, a 313 media training building) want to display some of my photographs on canvasses. I'll have a couple near the stairs and outside the classrooms and up to 8 in the recording studio. So, now I'm on an assignment to take the best photos possible to be displayed. One of the prints will be a silouette of Geoff Rickly of Thursday fame in the crowd at Soundwave '08.

Stay tuned for some more photos, either samples of the prints or more gig photos.

The Stray Assembly

My friends The Stray Assembly played their second show at Candy's Apartment in Kings Cross. I decided to go along and take photos of them instead of going to shoot The Mess Hall at Gaelic Theatre.
It was my first time at Candy's. It was a nice little venue with very low lighting. It was a external flash and 50mm f/1.8 type of night. I prefer better lighting but sometimes you've just got to put up with these things.
I'll add some photos later. I'm off to Annandale Hotel again to shoot Rocket Science, so I'll add some photos up here of them too.
Then I've got Avenged Sevenfold to shoot next wednesday, but they'll be getting their own post.
Stay tuned.

EDIT:
Check out photos of TSA here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34500&id=523464306
If you can't view them then you're just going to have to add me on Face Book.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=523464306

Soundwave: A photographer's journey

I went to Soundwave to take photos for Bombshellzine.com. There have been many negative reviews about the festival, especially in Sydney, so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon. This will not be too negative.
Sunday morning started for me at 7am as I was desperately hungry to get some breakfast inside of me. I couldn’t find any cereal or bread, so I quickly showered and headed to Enmore Rd. I slowly ate half of my Country Eggs and bacon. After it I still felt hungry but couldn’t take another bite.
I headed to King St to find my friends house. A few failed attempts meant walking up and down King St. I eventually found the place and locked myself outside in the alleyway.
When I was rescued by my friend Mark I rested on his couch with his tiny kitten on my lap. I was there to sign and pick up my photo release form. I read through it shaking my head at the ridiculously strict rules but signed it anyway.
We went to Aaron’s house to have a few drinks, while listening to Thursday. If only that chilled out moment could lasted all day. But after checking the clock on my phone I thought it time to head to the festival site. I was told it was about 10seconds away.
There were a lot of kids walking around, so I decided to follow them. It was easy enough to find. We came to a lot of construction, but then I saw a ‘box office this way’ sign and followed it. It looked like it was pointing up a path, but I decided against that thought. It took a long time to walk but I eventually found the lineup. There were enough people there to repopulate a small planet, or one the size of Saturn.
When gate opened people rushed to get in. I didn’t like my chances so I went to security to let me go straight to the box office. Nicole, the photographer from The Dwarf was there so it all went pretty smoothly.
I ran from stage to stage trying to find stage 2. It was all very confusing. I didn’t print out my whole map. I thought I had a pretty photographic memory of it, but that hope was soon shattered as I frantically looked around for what stage Trial Kennedy will be performing on.
When I thought I found the stage I waited to see who would set up, but then from the left I could hear faint sounds which were that of Trial Kennedy. I ran at full speed to the main stage standing area. Yes, it was surely them. I flashed my photo pass to security and got instant access. I wasn’t sure if I missed my 3 songs but didn’t care. These guys were the local band, so it shouldn’t apply. Or so I thought.
When I was done taking photos of them security takes me aside and says I have no access to the photo pit. So, I show them my photo pass and VIP wristband. But that still wasn’t enough. So, I left and was once again joined by Nicole, who said we should complain at the front desk. As we walk I call Bomber and leave a voice message.
At the office we are told to talk to some people and those people tell us to talk to more people. So I am waiting at a gate, constantly check my clock so that I don’t miss The Fall of Troy. Then I spot Matt Booy (Triple J photographer), who assured me that these things always happen at festivals. And according to my friend Kylie the exact same thing happened at the Brisbane Soundwave.
It did eventually all work out for us, so as Matt and Nicole make their way to Halifax I quickly make my way to The Fall of Troy, still unsure of what stage it was at.
I make it just in time for them. Security lets me into the photo pit and say that they don’t even know what the photo passes are supposed to look like, so he shows the other guys my pass saying this is who we let in. I only stayed for a couple of songs then I check who else I should photograph. On my list it says All Time Low, so now I had to look for stage 5.
I found it but some kid said it was stage 4. Hardly anyone knew where they were at. I get into the photo pit and find shelter from the sun in the form of a very tall speaker.
All Time Low were a very energetic band with a fan base of screaming girls. I stayed for my usual 3 songs and went to leave but security were busy holding the crowd back, so I was directed to go left. I walk left but the path is still going without any way of knowing how to get back outside. So, I ended up in an area with a lot of tour vans, and then I realized I had ventured backstage.
I decided to eat and get a drink before I shot anymore bands. My body was giving up on me. Water was easy to get, no lines. A bit expensive but I’m used to paying a lot of money for drinks. Sprite is usually $3.40 a bottle so $4 for water is no biggie.
My next artist to shoot is City and Colour. I meet another photographer shooting for Drum Media. The barrier is pushed right up against the stage. We both had nervous looks on our faces. Oh great, we were about to be thrown into the crowd. And this was an unusually rowdy crowd for the calm and soothing music of Dallas Green. We both stayed to shoot one song and left. I used my LCD screen in manual mode to get a good shot of Dallas. My Drum Media friend was pushed right to the front. After we escaped the pit we were both very annoyed and said our goodbyes and that we might bump into each other soon.
It was time to rest. I sat down with a corn on the cob (I’m on a diet and will not eat unhealthy meat pies or any of the other festival food) and another bottle of water, while Cartel set up. I could have photographed them but my energy was running low.
As I sit and munch on my corn I hear through the trees the faint but soothing sound of The Plain White T’s playing “Hey there Deliah.” I so wanted to be there to take photos or just watch them but I was waiting for Mae. Getting to point A and B was a very time consuming task. I had made it up in my mind not the go to stage 4 again.
While I was resting I was offering kids info about what stage was what, who was playing where that huge crowd was formed and who was playing next. At least I wasn’t completely useless sitting there eating corn.
I shot Mae and met Kane Hibberd, a photographer that I’ve known about for a long time but never said anything to him. I was glad I did. Such a nice guy.
Mae were good, but I think I prefer them on cd more. I only shot three songs so it was hard to get into them.
Then I left stage 3 to go the main stage. I would remain there for Thursday, Motion City Soundtrack, Alexisonfire, Incubus and Offspring. Thursday and Alexisonfire were by far the greatest bands of the whole tour for me.
After Offspring I left the main stage to take photos of The Matches, but I had time to get a few songs worth of Socratic.
The mood changed from the minute I saw them. It was like I ventured away from Soundwave festival and into Annandale Hotel on a local Indie band night. It was beautiful. I wanted that moment to last, but I had one more band to shoot.
The Matches played to half the crowd that the main stage bands played to. But this was so much better. They had their true fans there supporting them and singing along to every song. They were full of so much energy. They moved faster then any band I saw that day.
I did the usual 3 songs, contemplated seeing Killswitch Engage but dreaded walking down the hill, through the bridge, through the merch stand and up another hill. So I stayed for The Matches whole set and began to sing along to the songs that have been playing on my iTunes for so long.

The walk home through the long entry was long and hard. Someone had knocked over the gates so half the chore was done. But the walk back to Enmore Rd was most exhausting, but not as exhausting as going through my photos from Soundwave and sending them to Bombshellzine.

Dallas Crane

I thought to celebrate my 22nd birthday I'd go see Dallas Crane live. No drunk dancing to Fall Out Boy at Hot Damn for me (sigh). Dallas Crane were great and really energetic live - well at least the singer Dave was. They were supported by King Jack (sort of like Kings of Leon) and Mercy May (slighty Libertinesque but much better). King Jack were awesome. The singer looked a cross between Jake Grigg (Something With Numbers) and Wil Ferrier (Ohana). He was a nice guy too. I love watching support bands then falling in love with them. I enjoyed Mercy May too. I kept thinking that they were far more original than Mercy Arms. There was also an in-between band on the smaller stage called Boston Shaker. Quite a good night, but I still can't help feeling like a 12 year old at these kinds of shows.

A good show to end the year on.

Resist Tour 2007

It's been awhile since my last update. I got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas and have locked myself in my granny flat and have been playing the Wii for hours.

I went to shoot the Resist Tour at Manning Bar in Sydney on saturday december 22. I've been going to Resist Tour since 2004. In fact it was the second gig I've ever taken photos at. I missed the 2005 tour for some reason, but was back last year and then again this year. So, from now on going to the Resist Tour will be my Christmas tradition. The Sydney Resist show is on three days before Christmas every year so it is a special night for all who attend. This usually means that by the time the headlining band hit the stage there is fake snow and silly string everywhere. I sort of captured the moment when Carpathian were on stage. I need a more wide angle lens to capture it more.

The hi-light band this year was Irrelevant. My brother was the former bassist and back in those days I would see Irrelevant every chance I got. After he left I didn't go to as many shows. In fact I didn't see them once this year until Resist Tour. They are such an awesome band live and the members are so nice. I love every record they put out too.

All bands at the tour were great especially 50 Lions, Irrelevant and Carpathian.

There was a donation box for Andy and Damo's funeral and the mini-bus hire costs. I donated more than loose change and the box was full of gold coins, so I think hardcore scene have helped to take the burden of finding money fast away from the band and the boys' families.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I celebrated both Christmas and my birthday this week. Yes, I'm the big 22.

My break is over. Band photographers only have a week or less of holidays. There's seriously only two days when there's not a single gig on, unless you count the APEC summit.

Here's some more Resist Tour '07 photos:

See you all next year!

The Wellingtons

Another weekend spent in Sydney. This time I was taking photos for a new club called FUCKEN A! Fridays at Qbar, Darlinghurst. I'll be going there every friday from now on as the official photographer. Club photographers really do make it more easily than band photographers.

The opening night didn't see too much of a crowd, mind next door was The Levity Christmas Party. I was enjoying doing a lot of celebrity spotting in between taking photos. First I saw Andrew G from Australian Idol, Evermore and Operator Please. I realised (or Zac Anthony of Wellingtons fame told me the day after) it was because those bands were going to play at Homebake, so what happened to the good bands? Haha I kid, but I would have loved to see Behind Crimson Eyes there.

Spotted: Dann Hume from Evermore

My friends Ted and Brett (of Die Magic Band fame) were also at that party.

So was a good family friend Eamon.

He's the one with the hat...er in the flanny...wearing the backpack. When Brett met Eamon they were instantly...abusing each other. And then Ted came over and so he to was abused and well, Ted is not one to modestly walk away. So, my good family friend and new friends were verbally abusing each other. The discussion was oh so intellectual and it wasn't long before the subject of a tattoo involving Jesus making out with a unicorn was bought up.

The next day...

I went to see The Wellingtons at Hopetoun Hotel. I'd never been inside the venue before so I thought I'd check it out. It wasn't too bad. Lighting was fair. The Wellingtons were great as usual.

Here are some photos:

There was also a band called O'neders, which I quite enjoyed. Here are some photos of them. They also played at The Lansdowne that night but my friend was having her 22nd birthday party.
Did someone say photos?

I nicknamed this place The Garage of Love or The Garage of Refuge. It's basically were we all went when the party got too hectic. Or maybe because it was warm.

The funny thing was that he didn't and still doesn't know who Jon Hume actually is. I overheard him and a friend saying "isn't he the guy that made the Hume Highway." Haha, I love drunken banter.

Well, that's it for now. I'll have more photos to take tomorrow. Oh, and I've been approved to shoot RESIST Records Tour @ Manning Bar...and review Nightwish. Well, a free show is a free show. Who is Nightwish by the way?