PHOTOGRAPHY

GIGS

Starcrawler @ The Underworld, London - 21.11.2019

I got this pass through messaging Arrow as I know the band. I asked if it would be okay to take photos of them again, to which she said yes.

I tested out using a different shutter speed (1/125 instead of 1/250) at this gig, which in turn provided some amazing shots. I had planned to use my flashgun, but it was broken and so I had to stick with the built-in flash. However, this didn't work too well as it didn't work properly - it only let me take one shot every few seconds and meant I missed out on quite a few photos as I wasn't able to do anything about it. It was an issue with the camera body itself and meant I couldn't fix it. Despite this, I still managed to get a lot of amazing photos.

I took photos both of backstage & the gig itself. There were 3 artists playing (Glossii, Pretty Sick and Starcrawler), but I only photographed 2 of them as I didn't get a chance to see Glossii.

In terms of networking, I chatted with 2 photographers (Nicholas Sayers & Autumn de Wilde), both who I previously knew, although I hadn't met Autumn before. In individual conversations, we spoke about cameras, tips for music photography, and what we had been up to. Both conversations were extremely beneficial as I received a lot of tips for taking photos and advice on what cameras I should look to invest in.

I also met Sabrina (Pretty Sick) and her friends Daniela & Ophelia and took photos of them. They were extremely lovely and used my images on their Instagrams after (and gave me credit). I have kept the connection with all of them.

Sam Fender @ Brighton Dome, Brighton - 30.11.2019

To get this pass, I had a look at which PR company Sam Fender is with and find the right email address to contact. I sent my first request back a few months ago which is too early to request a pass for a gig like that (although I didn't know this at the time). I followed it up again a few weeks before the gig and received a response asking me to fill in a form for the database. I sent this over and received confirmation of my press & photo passes for the gig. However, I didn't realise I would be in Birmingham that weekend and so was unable to attend. Despite that, I have managed to keep the connection with that PR company and am now receiving PR emails from them for About That Record, which is extremely good.

Adam Ant @ Brighton Centre, Brighton - 06.12.2019

I found Adam Ant's manager's email online in November and sent an email enquiring about taking photos of Adam. More than a week passed and I hadn't received a response so assumed it wouldn't be possible and booked travel to London for a different event. The night before the gig, I received an email from the manager saying I had a pass and was sent a contract to sign. However, I wasn't able to go anymore and had to turn down the pass unfortunately.

Slaves @ Brighton Dome, Brighton - 07.12.2019

I had this gig in the diary and was ready to send a request a press & photo pass for About That Record in November. However, I met one of the members at BBC Introducing at the beginning of November and mentioned how I wanted to photograph this gig but had no Brighton contacts yet due to me recently moving here. He asked if I had a business card and gave one to his manager for him to sort for me. A couple of weeks had passed and I hadn't received anything from Slaves' manager. I found his email and followed up the conversation I had with the guitarist and whether it would be possible to sort. I received a response the next day saying it was fine and my pass was approved.

Unfortunately, the gig was cancelled on the day (with the rest of the tour) and so I didn't get to use the pass. I have made a couple of connections from this though which is great.

Inhaler @ The Garage, London - 10.12.2019

Originally, I wasn't planning on going to this gig. However, the day before I emailed Inhaler's manager to see if there were any spare photo passes left as I didn't have any more gigs planned for the rest of the year and wanted to photograph one more, especially since I didn't get a chance to use the 2 passes I had the previous week.

I had emailed him the month before with the links to photos I have taken of Inhaler and Blossoms previously (he manages both bands) and received a positive response. As I had already started to make the connection with him, I thought I would ask about taking photos for Inhaler again to strengthen the connection as well as build my portfolio.

Their manager replied saying that was fine and asked the person managing the lists to add me to the photo one.

At the gig, I managed to do a lot of networking. I met the owner of SJM concerts briefly, although I didn't pass on my details or ask for his. I also met Inhaler's manager and had a quick chat with him about his artists and my photography. Yungblud's photographer was there too and I spoke to him about photography and how he got to where he is now. He was lovely and gave me a lot of advice for what I can do to improve my photos and get more opportunities in the industry.

In terms of camera settings, I stuck with the 1/125 shutter speed I used at Starcrawler as it allowed more light in and makes up for the high ISO numbers my camera body cannot reach. Flash was prohibited and so I had to really focus on getting as much light in as I could to get clear shots. The photos came out a lot better than the previous photos I had taken of Inhaler back in October. This was due to a few things - this venue had a much better lighting setup, I was in a photopit this time, the different shutter speed allowed clearer shots, and I had a better understanding of my camera compared to before. The only negative was the limited time in the photopit (first 3 songs), although this is the standard, and the lighting on the guitarist & bassist was hard to work with. I was also unable to get a decent shot of the drummer as he was hidden by the other members and there was hardly any light on him.

I received a really positive response to these photos, from both the band and their manager, as well as a lot of fan-ages that reposted a few of them.

This Feeling's 'Big In 2020' @ The Monarch, London - 23.01.2020

I work with Flowers & their management a lot as I am their band photographer. I was asked to come to this gig to take photos back in November by their manager and so have had it planned for a while. He sorted out the pass for me + any guestlist spaces I needed.

I was hoping to get a lot of networking done at this gig as it was run by This Feeling and had quite a few bands on the lineup (including The Clause who have recently signed to Universal Music). I was invited along to soundcheck but didn't get a chance to network with anyone there as everyone was busy rushing around setting things up. The venue was quite small and also had a bar area at the back which made it difficult to talk to people during the gig too. I did manage to catch up with the band, their manager and friends I have met at their previous gigs though which was good. Overall, I didn't make any new connections at this gig but did get to catch up with people I hadn't seen for a while.

Like the previous two gigs, I stuck with the 1/125 shutter speed. The lighting was poor in this venue though and I had to use my flash constantly to get clear, usable shots, apart from the times I was to the side of the band as I could capture the light from that angle. My built-in flash still wasn't working properly and meant I could only get one shot every few seconds so I ended up with hardly any photos. There was no photopit and the stage was extremely low, which made it even harder to take photos. A lot of other photographers were there too although everyone was respectful of each other apart from one that moved to stand in front of me a couple of times as I was taking photos of the guitarist. After the gig, I was able to get some great portrait shots of the band outdoors in the smoking area/outdoor bar, with them being a couple of the best I have taken of Flowvers.

Despite there not being many photos and them not being as exciting as previous ones I have taken of Flowvers, they were a much higher quality compared to previous ones and I still received a great response. The band posted a few on their main & personal Instagrams (with full credit) and they gained a few positive responses. I also had friends tell me they liked the photos too. This Feeling put the post on their Instagram story too, which meant many people have seen the photos as they have a large following.

PHOTOSHOOTS

Luna Blue - 11-12.01.2020

I received a message from Luna Blue on Instagram in mid-December saying I had been recommended to them by a friend as a good photographer in Brighton and they wanted to discuss doing a photoshoot with me. I messaged back saying I was definitely up for it and when they wanted the photos done.

We then discussed ideas, with the band emailing me some photos for pose and background ideas for their photos. I went away and did some research into different areas in Brighton that could be used for the type of photos they wanted, such as cafes, antique stores, the beach, different parks, etc and turned this into 2 new moodboards (one for indoors & one for outdoors) with a list of locations & photos they sent, as well as some that I added in.

We agreed on how many photos they wanted, how long the shoot would be, whether they were happy with the locations, their clothing style for the shoot, what time to meet, and the budget.

The original date for this shoot was the 5th January. However, I had been ill all week and wasn't feeling any better so sent the band a message saying that I would see how I was feeling Sunday morning but would likely have to cancel. I still wasn't well on Sunday and so we agreed to re-schedule to the following weekend. The band weren't able to do the full day on Saturday or Sunday (and I wasn't free on the Sunday afternoon) so we agreed to split the shoot between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

The shoot went extremely well. We didn't stick to the original plan and did leave out some locations as they weren't as good in person compared to the online photos (the antique shop and some of the cafes for example). We did find some new places as we were walking around, like a bar with amazing neon lights and a garden shop. We went in to enquire about using the bar for photos and the manager told us to come early Sunday morning and we could have the place to ourselves to take photos, which was brilliant. In the end, we ended up using around 10 locations for the photos and took over 100 photos.

The editing process took a lot longer than expected, mostly due to doing it the same weekend as another one, but also as my laptop stopped working properly. I was hoping for the photos to be a lot clearer but my camera couldn't cope in a lot of the light which I didn't realise before as I had never done a photoshoot in the winter (where the natural light is a lot darker compared to the summer). I also took a few burst photos of the band to turn into GIFs but these didn't back up for some unknown reason when I had to reset my laptop and I lost the files. However, I apologised to the band and offered to take some more burst ones of them next time they are available for free of charge to make up for this, which the band have accepted.

This was my first 'official' photoshoot and first time working with a band I had not known before, and it was quite daunting at first as there was a lot of planning involved and it was a lot more difficult to do without having a previous relationship to the band. I think the shoot went extremely well though and I am proud of the photos we took, as are the band. They have now used a couple for their Spotify page and a gig poster, and have plans to use them to promote more things with. I learnt a lot from the experience and know how to better organise a shoot for the next time I am asked to do one.

Flowvers - 12.01.2020

I am friends with Flowvers' videographer and he asked me back in November if I would be interested in coming along to the band's next video shoot and taking stills, to which I said yes. I received a message from him on Instagram a few weeks later giving me details of the next shoot and whether I was interested in this. We sorted out logistics, including the timings and locations and I agreed to do it.

I was only able to shoot the Sunday as the Saturday involved a lot of different locations and would be difficult to get me to all the locations. This worked out quite well though as it meant I was able to do the Saturday afternoon shoot with Luna Blue.

In terms of planning & research, I didn't do any before the shoot as I have worked with Flowvers many times before and knew what style they wanted & what images to take.

As we were in a warehouse from late afternoon - night, the lighting was extremely poor. There were special lights and reflectors set up for the film crew which I was able to work with too, but I couldn't use my flash when they were recording as it would bounce off the lights/reflectors and ruin the video shot. I was using the 1/125 shutter speed to take all the photos, but as evening set I had to change to 1/80 to get more light in the photos as my highest ISO wasn't bright enough with the other speed and made the images unusable. The difficulty with this different shutter speed was keeping the camera as still as possible to get clear shots as it was easy to blur them. This was a lot harder than I thought and I wasn't able to use a lot of the photos I took as they were too blurry. I wasn't expecting to have to change my shutter speed and so that is something I know to prepare for next time. I would be been better off bringing a tripod as I could have stabilised the camera, but the issue with that would be it taking too long to move around and me missing more shots from the delay.

At the shoot, I met a few photographers/videographers and we spoke about a lot of photography-related things which gave me a better understanding of what being a professional photographer is like. I got a couple of their Instagrams after and we have kept in contact, regularly messaging each other about our photos.

The photos came out much better than I expected them to. Like the Luna Blue ones, it took me a lot longer to edit them due to issues with my laptop, but the band didn't mind. They were extremely happy with the photos and have used a couple to promote their single with. This Feeling has also used one to promote the band's upcoming tour with them.

EVENTS

Winter in the City @ NEC Birmingham - 29.11.2019 - 01.12.2019

I attended Winter In The City with my sister. She was on the lineup and had a meet & greet and panel and so I went along to take photos of the event.

I had previously attended a Social In The City event (Summer In The City) back in August with Isla and took photos there too, but that was my first time shooting at an event like that and a lot of the photos weren’t usable due to the low lighting and my camera not being able to cope (I didn't have a flashgun back then). I knew what to expect this time round though and was prepared for it, and in return these photos came out much better.

I was supposed to use my flashgun, but it had broke in October and I was unable to get it fixed so had to go without. This was quite annoying as it was SITC that made me realise I needed to invest in one, so the fact I did but wasn't able to use it the next time was frustrating. I used my built-in flash where possible, but it doesn't have much of a range and produced harsh shadows. My composition of the photos was a lot better than previous though and I was able to work with the low lighting better.

I ended up photographing Isla's meet & greet, her panel, her with friends in the venue and backstage, as well as other YouTuber's meet & greets and panels. This gave me the opportunity to network with other YouTubers and as a result I made a lot of connections in a different industry which may be useful in the future if I choose to do work in the video/YouTube industries.

The event wasn't as exciting as its summer version, but it had more opportunities and I learnt a lot from it

------------

PROMOTING MY PHOTOGRAPHY

I had many great opportunities to take photos this project, but it wouldn't have been worth much without the promotion I did. Taking photos of great artists and events is great, but if you don't promote this no one will know you have done it.

From my conversations with the professional photographers I met during this project, I found the best way to promote myself is through my social media accounts (especially Instagram & LinkedIn), my online portfolio, and through the emails/messages I send.

Most of these photos have been posted onto my Instagram, apart from Luna Blue's photoshoot, Flowvers' video shoot, and WITC. I do plan on posting Luna Blue & Flowvers' photos soon. I am waiting for the right moment to post Luna Blue's but need to wait until Flowvers start teasing their new music video before I can post theirs. I have been trying to improve my social media presence - for example, I am now regularly posting to Instagram stories and have updated my highlights as well as my LinkedIn, but it still needs a lot of working on. As I have just upgraded my camera, I will be able to get much better photos now so will have a lot more content to post.

I have been updating my online portfolio regularly throughout this project and have been attaching the link to it in every email I have sent to music industry professionals. I changed the layout, added in new photos & took away old ones that weren't that good. The aim was to make the site look more professional and highlight my best photos and the big artists I have worked with at the top. I also updated my 'About' page with a different photo of me, added in a new section 'Music Video' for the video shoot, and added more things my photos have been featured on/used for on my 'Featured on' page.

Below is the before and after photos of it:

I have been working on an email template to use when emailing music industry people throughout this project and have come up with one that seems to work quite well. I have also made an email signature and added it in my Gmail settings so now every email will automatically have it at the bottom. It includes my name, job title (Music Photographer), phone number, email address and portfolio web address. I found that emails sent with the signature get more replies than those without and I am guessing this is due to it making me seem more 'professional' and knowing what I am doing.

I made this using Photoshop. I had to research what the best size to use was and found it to be 650px x 150px with a resolution of 650px. I used a 90px resolution at first but this made the image too blurry so I went with a higher one instead and that worked fine.