Short post here because I should be packing for going on holiday today, but I just wanted to get some of these pics out before I leave because I'm pretty happy with them!
We did this shoot for Anisa.A Boutique. Anisa's summer collection is looking fab and all items will be available to order very shortly. Our 2 model's Rio and Dela were superb. Styling was by Anisa herself, ably assisted by Amna & Ayra.
Special shout to the make up which was by Harry Jon and her stunning work here. The locations we used were my friend's balcony in Manchester's Northern Quarter. Contrary to 360 days of the year...
So I haven't got much time to blog now- busy busy busy as always!
I did a shoot recently for Dream Factory- the clothing designed by all round superstar Zara Khalique check out herWEBSITEand buy it all, and then pay her double 'cause thats the least she deserves for being such an all round bundle of joy and creative genius.
We did the shoot with Rapper, Fallacy. He's from London but is a true adopted Mancunian now- but thats not really important. He makes wicked tunes and has loads more in the pipeline with his Sleeping Giants project (himself, Rodney P and Zed Bias- oh yes!). He's repped...
Manchester has seen a lot of great hip hop gigs recently, and many of my favourite MCs have rolled through our city. The crowning glory to this occured on Wednesday May 11th when the 'Science of Speech Tour' came to the Academy.
Originally billed as Black Star, De La Soul and Rakim- when I first read about this gig I couldn't believe it- unfortunately, on the night we discovered the De La Soul had been dropped from the bill. I was a bit gutted, but then I still got to see Rakim, Talib Kweli and Mos Def, so to complain would be a bit rich!
Local collective Murkage kicked things off, raising...
Saturday 14th May was the climax of Manchester's FutureEverything festival, the final day, and also the day of the Festivals best gigs. Warpaint are a girl band (in the loosest use of the term) from L.A. who play ethereal, ambient indie rock. Highly recommended- just don't expect to be rocking out too hard to them!
After watching Warpaint bring the house down at the last live gig the Ritz will see all summer. I made my way over to Jabez Clegg for Drum Clinic & Selective Hearing, who had joined forces to put on a fantastic showcase of electronic music, featuring Martyn, Daedalus,...
I'm not really one for superstition, in fact, I completely forgot about the unlucky connotations of the day the 13th May fell on, an it took until the following week for me to think back and decide that, I had an awesome Friday 13th!
I got to watch Das Racist at the Roadhouse- an American hip-hop collective who, through one Youtube video viral, have carved themselves a niche in the comedy-hip-hop market, which isn't easy to do well! They also had the inspired idea of playing their first UK gig in Manchester, so I could take pictures- nice one!
After the gig I rolled over to Moho's for another...
So I did a shoot a couple of weeks back, with clothing designer, loving philosopher, and all round bundle of joy, Zara Khalique. You have probably seen some of Manchester's finest rocking her cool and customised streetwear and striking designs. Check out her WEBSITE for designs and stuff.
While we're on this, I have to also point you towards her other site - KEEP IT BRIGHT - Joyous and uplifting don't even begin to describe how the mantras and messages can make you feel! Check it out and spread the word to your people.
Back to the shoot and the basic premise I was coming with was spending...
Following on from my shoot for Me&Yu in February. We decided another collaboration was in order. This time we were shooting their Summer collection, and so we needed a suitable bright, outdoor location to suit the vibes of the collection. Luckily, theres a wonderful area of greenery near where I live called 'Fletcher Moss Gardens'. If you live in South Manchester and haven't been, go and catch a chill on the next free, sunny day.So, with the location sorted we needed a team. Luckily for me, the makeup artist from our first shoot, Bev Crawford (http://www.facebook.com/beverleycrawfordmakeup)...
When I'm milling about in nightclubs, bothering punters and setting off incredibly bright flashes in the faces of the hard working DJs and MCs, I try and use a few different techniques of shooting. This inevitably leads to me taking the odd picture using the wrong settings on the camera (I know many of you thought of me as a photographic demigod who never makes a mistake, and I am sorry to shatter that image).These pictures end up as indistiguishable trails of lights and colours, and there was a time where I would instantly delete such an image, disgusted by my own unprofessionalism. However I have...
So following on from my previous post about trying something different with gig/music photography I thought I'd share some of the shots from the recent massive freeparty put on just outside of Manchester. This was an epic night, where an alleged 5000 people turned up to dance through the night.I had a camera on me but it wasn't mine. Bearing in mind the sometimes dodgy goings on at events like these, and the value of my usual equipment, I borrowed my mate's Nikon D40- the same camera I started out with- as it was much cheaper to replace if anything unfortunate were to happen. So with the fairly...
I'm currently reading Annie Leibovitz's 'At Work'. Its awesome.She is an amazing photographer and has created an enormous amount of amazing photos and everyone who enjoys using a camera should read it.This passage hits the nail on the head for me..."As much as I love pictures that have been set up, and as important as those pictures are to me, I'd rather photograph something that occurs on its own. The tension between those two kind of photographs is at the heart of what I do. It's not a conflict, but sometimes it's useful to remember that things are happening right in front of you and that you don't...