Monthly Archive for June, 2007

Band Photoshoots

I’ve finally got over one of my biggest photographic hurdles, and started doing “posed” photos. This last week, I’ve done photoshoots of one sort of another for four bands/musicians. None has been perfect, or anything even approaching, but all have made me realise how much I have to learn, and have pointed me in the right direction. I still have great difficulty with posed shots, because I am useless at directing people, too nervous myself (never a good vibe in a photographer) and never have any kind of mental image of what the finished photos might look like – I only really discover that once they’re on the computer. In fact, I think these are the two most important things for me to work on: confidence and visualisation, but in the meantime I also need to work a lot on lighting technique – my current approach of using remote flash units on ebay triggers, pointed in semi-random directions, yields some interesting but very inconsistent results. I could do with a proper lighting kit, and I certainly need a reflector. But with every random shot I take, I learn a little more about what works and what doesn’t.

Here’s a photo I took yesterday of The Cherokees:

580854402 310ad23417 Band Photoshoots

shotme badge Band Photoshoots

A day at the Leadmill, a night at the… Leadmill

A bit different from my usual photoset: on Saturday I was asked to tail Sheffield band Durban for the entire day, photographing them as they prepared for an played a gig at the Leadmill. From practice rooms to soundcheck to backstage debauchery, plus the band’s performance in full and highlights from headliners Air Traffic and support acts Jacob Golden, Dark Sparks, Sonic Hearts and The Stations.

Here are the photos.