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 :-)

Radio Ga Ga (Part Two) - Tapping like Fred Astaire

These pictures were an absolute must for me to blog, if anything for the story behind the images. At the TCR FM studio in Tamworth I got to meet a singer/songwriter turned music manager Rebekah Ryan when she came in for an interview with DJ Alex Farrell.

Rebekah gave a refreshingly honest interview about the current music, the bad and good of the industry and her hopes for the artists she manages. As if that wasn't enough she sang KT Tunstall's 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" live in the studio, a song I love performed a-mazingly. So amazing in fact that some video footage I managed to make during the performance is completely and utterly useless!?!

Lately, where an opportunity arises I have been experimenting a bit with video. In this case, video was not something I have been commissioned to do, but would be something I'm sure my client would be grateful to receive and a nice bit of experience for me. Many modern DSLRs offer video capture to HD standard and it's amazing how many people (myself included until recently) never make use of it. One of the limitations is that a DSLR camera being so light, there is a lot of movement unless you make or invest in some equipment to stabilise it. But my Spielberg days have not yet arrived so that little expense can wait.

Generally a careful grip brings the movement to an acceptable level. What I hadn't taken into account was how Rebekah's singing would make my right foot tap uncontrollably and the result is some video that looks like it's being shot by someone mid-seizure. End result - epic fail on the video front but at least I got the aforementioned "nice bit of experience". Live and learn :-)

Interestingly, the way the recording worked in the studio I could not hear the music Rebekah was singing along to, so my Fred Astaire foot was purely responding to the vocals. Rebekah has a facebook page you can get to here, which has performance dates etc. for Rebekah and her acts. A very beautiful and talented lady, my foot and I recommend you have a listen.

Tom :-)

Radio Ga Ga (Part One)

I've been thinking a bit about how people say "do the thing you love as a job" and yet the same people would say "work takes the enjoyment out of everything".

I suppose I see both sides of it. When I was in secondary school, I loved to draw portraits. I used to buy magazines that had an interesting photograph of someone and sketch it (rather than face the embarrassment of asking someone to model for me). I really enjoyed sketching as it gave me a lot of focus and quiet, but when asked to produce something for Art class, I could think of 100 reasons not to do what I clearly enjoyed.

I honestly have to ask myself why, because it was something I just instinctively did. I wasn't too worried about criticism of my work (not that I think my drawings were fantastic, but they at least looked human). I think it was because drawing was my bit of peace and as I never gave myself a deadline, I resented any that was imposed.

When someone commented that my art was good and I should continue with it as a career I would immediately respond with "but then I wouldn't enjoy it". And I think I was right about that statement, Art class was proof enough. Even now it's a rarity for me to pick up a pencil and draw, but there are some moments of calm :-)

Photography has never been like that for me. Yes it's true that taking a pictures when I'm on holiday or of my family is a very different feeling than when I make a photograph for a client. But it's still, for me at least, an enjoyable experience. There are challenges that have to be overcome for it still to be fun, but these are necessary challenges. For me the main challenges are subject, objectivity and pressure. There are undoubtedly more, but when I deal with these I feel like my photography gets better (yes the challenge/opportunity cliché).

Subject - When it comes to paid work, I'm not always going to be photographing someone or something I know about or perhaps have much interest. But what I can do is find a way to present it in an interesting way and I like how that keeps me thinking. As much as I want to create a unique style for myself, I don't want to be the "photographer that does...", I'd prefer that kind of statement to be a list.

Objectivity - When I photograph my son it's easy to think the photograph is amazing simply because he is in it. This is the very thing that made me hesitate so long about working as a photographer, yes I like a photograph but would a client? I do a lot of homework now where I look at other peoples work and my own with a very critical eye (probably too critical of my own work but I think it's necessary).

Pressure - The absolute difference I think, between shooting personal work and shooting commissioned is pressure. When I do some street photography I can take dozens of pictures and be happy that I've got just one single perfect shot and discard the rest, not the type of service I would be offering to a customer. Self-doubt can easily take over and the only way I have found to deal with it is to be that little bit more prepared each time, confidence is king.

I'm about a million times happier when I've overcome these challenges and made a photograph I'm happy with.

Recently I've been doing some commercial work for TCR FM, a community radio station based in Tamworth (you can find out more about the station and even listen live here). All of the DJs working at the station are volunteers and their dedication to the craft is an inspiration. They are definitely doing something they love and should be proud.

Below are some photographs taken in the TCR FM studio when DJ Hanna Smart interviewed boy band FTW.

One last bit of news, I've set up a facebook page for Saol Photography so I can post up a lot more photographs that don't make it on the blog. You can find it at www.facebook.com/SaolPhotography or by clicking here, please feel free to give it a 'like' and add any comments.

Tom

Studio Shoot

This is probably the most excited I've been about one of my posts. Obviously nothing is going to compare to unashamedly showing off my beautiful son, but in regards to my photography work I do harbor the ambition to also do commercial work. How happy was I when Helen Howard, whom I had met on a training course run by the very talented Mr. Steve Gerrard (see previous non-football explanation), sent a shout-out on Twitter to let people know she was a holding a model event at her studio.

As well as being a wedding and portrait photographer (have a look at Helen's work at www.helenhowardphotography.co.uk), Helen is also a partner in Image Red Studios in Tamworth. The studio is really nice and though I began quite nervous at the prospect of my first studio shoot, I was very quickly relaxed and very happy with the results. I can't say enough good things about everyone there, really helpful and supportive. I would definitely recommend to snappers at any level wanting to do it out of interest, experience or for a portfolio. Booking and information about events can be found on www.photographer-in-birmingham.co.uk.

The shoot itself was fashion-focused which I found really interesting despite being stylishy-challenged myself :-) My research is why you might have seen me walking out of Tesco recently with a bunch of Vogue, Tatler and GQ mags (not that it's having any positive influence on my dress sense!). To get some practice for future ventures I tried to capture jewellery as a focus in some of the images.

The models were as patient as they are beautiful and also very professional. An unexpected treat for the evening was provided by Keshia, the model pictured above. To give some variety in poses Keshia sang a cappella during one of her sessions, her voice was amazing enough but even more impressive to find it was one she had written herself. Have a listen for yourself at www.keshia.co.uk, I'm looking forward to the bragging rights to have photographed a multi-platinum artist before she went off to take over the world!

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't get everyone's name from the night but will get them and put in a follow-up post.

Rock and Roll :-) Happy Saturday!