Manifest Live ft. Cat Chinn

So I've been a busy little snapper lately. So much to blog and so little time! Will have to remedy that.

Before April was out I shot my first live music event. The very talented Cat Chinn launched her EP 'The Roads We Chose' in the O2 Academy Birmingham.

I always like to use available light where I can, so I can capture the atmosphere better. Flash when it's too strong can overpower other sources of light and you end up losing the ambient colour that sometimes makes an image.

I knew the low-light would be a bit of a challenge during the performances and brought some fast lenses and a good flash. Even so I was still surprised to find the none of the stage lights pointed towards the singer of each act (the front of the drums were perfectly lit!?!). Good thing I'd prepared.

I'm quite happy with the results but really looking forward to doing some more live music. It's such a great feeling to be doing something you love while your enjoying fantastic music and a great atmosphere. I was particularly blown away by Jasper In The Company Of Others and the headline act Cat Chinn.

At the moment I've been working on some lifestyle and commercial portraiture, will be sharing some of that soon. Here's some images of the acts that performed on the night, each of the names is also a link to their music.

Scott Yoko Churchill

Charlotte Carpenter

Jasper In The Company Of Others

Emma Skipp

Cat Chinn

Happy listening, Tom :)

Bobby Aherne - Singer / Songwriter

While I was back home in Ireland last month for a wedding, I found some time to photograph Dublin musician Bobby Aherne.

Bobby is the lead singer of No Monster Club (check out their website here) and was being interviewed by my younger brother Paul. The interview was featured on TCR FM during Gary Jon's Éclectique show, a nice mix of old and new music from new, established and even unsigned musicians. The interview is still available on the station's replay link here until next week.

I really enjoyed this shoot, not just because Bobby's got a unique style, but it was really interesting to hear about his music and what he and his bandmates have achieved (including releasing albums through UK, Dutch, Italian and Australian labels and touring in Europe last year).

I've been doing a lot more photography work around music lately so expect to see some more soon, including my first live music shoot.

Tom :-)