luke jones

Luke Jones was one of my very first portrait clients and I was so pleased when he contacted me recently, and asked for some updated images for his forthcoming album release. He is a truly lovely man and a very talented artist! Check him out here - http://www.myspace.com/lukejones

little noise sessions

Every year, BBC Radio One dj Jo Whiley curates the wonderful Little Noise Sessions at the Union Chapel in London, on behalf of Mencap. Nine nights of amazing musicians (and surprise guests) such as Glasvegas, Razorlight, James Morrison, Keane, Fratellis, Kasabian, Kate Perry, Duke Special and Stereophonics. So far this year, the surprise guests were The Killers, on the opening night. More are rumoured to play as this week continues. Last year, Bono and The Edge turned up and played a few songs.

The Union Chapel is a 124 year-old, grade 2-listed chapel at Highbury Corner in north London; the ideal setting for any intimate, acoustic experience.

So you can imagine how pleased I was to be invited along last night to see Adele, Angus and Julia Stone and the amazing Damien Rice. Tickets were like gold dust and the atmosphere in the chapel was amazing. I only brought my tiny, not-good-for-low-light Canon G7, so please excuse the quality of the images.

Julia Stone



Adele



Jo Whiley and her two week old daughter Coco! Jo asked us not to clap too loudly when Damien came on, as she was really hoping Coco would stay asleep through his act and Jo could relax and listen to it ;)



Damien Rice



Damien played a perfect set. When I say perfect, it was perfect for me. He only played songs from his first ep and album. I first saw Damien and Lisa play in London, way back in 2001, at a tiny venue called The Kashmir Klub. He had just released the Blower's Daughter ep and hadn't yet released 'O' in Ireland. They were so mesmerising, I was blown away immediately. Poor Damien, he must have been sick of the sight of me, after a few months, as I never missed a London show. I prefer to call it 'supporting' rather than 'stalking' ;)

For the geeks among you, the setlist included:

Delicate
Amie
Blower's Daughter
The Professor (La Fille Danse)
Cannonball (Damien sang this without the PA, you could have heard a pin drop.)

He was on fine form with the banter, too. Several long, slightly naughty stories. Such a shame that he is not planning any more shows for a while. This one was a favour to Jo Whiley.

Oh ... and a little bird told me, after the show, that Lisa Hannigan's 'Ocean and a Rock' will be featured on Grey's Anatomy on the 24th of November! I'm sure she'll conquer the States in no time.

Fantastic night all round (many thanks, Paul).

Ah this makes me SMILE!

Taken at 3.23am this morning, you can see the weariness in me, eh. We got home at 5.30am and then had to stay up to watch Barack make that impressive and moving speech.

My oh-so-better-half took this picture. He was on shift for AFP (Agence France Presse) and four of his pictures were used on the BBC site today - numbers 2,4,9 and 11 - BBC. He has written a blog about it also - Leon's blog.

We, here in the UK, could not be happier for the USA. I think the world will sleep better tonight, for more than one reason...

speaking of Tom Baxter

First person to spot Yours Truly gets a Noddy badge.

music photography

A friend of mine, Paul Kramer, runs a industry music magazine called the Hitsheet - www.hitsheet.co.uk. He has done for some years now, and he is so passionate and enthusiastic about his work. He sees several bands play every night in London, and runs himself pretty ragged.

We met at a Tom Baxter show a few years ago and have bonded over music ever since. Once a month, Paul hosts a gig night at a private members club in West London, where he showcases acts that he believes will be successful. He's usually right! Last night was one of those evenings. Despite only having four acts booked to play, he managed to squeeze nine on, including his young beat-boxing son, Daniel. Among the acts was the hotly tipped Nell Bryden, who was interviewed on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday morning, and has just returned from playing to the troops in Iraq. Her music is an intriguing mix of bluegrass and Americana. Blew me away.

I do have a long running battle with Paul about the lighting at the Cobden. Not his fault at all, actually, but the place has the worst lighting for photography of anywhere in London, in my opinion. The photographers among you will sympathise with me on this. There are two red spotlights way back that shine onto the stage and the only other lighting is one very hot blue light and one white light, both of which are aimed squarely at the top of the artist's head. Makes it nigh on impossible to expose the faces. I can't bear using flash at a gig as it washes out the subject and casts terrible shadows. So I battle on regardless ;) If you're interested, the settings for the shots below (Laura Critchley) are ss 1/400th, ap f2.8 and iso 1250. Oh, to have a D3 sometimes ...

I love autumn in the UK

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of shooting my friend's two daughters, as well as three of their friends. We went to Richmond Park, in south London, and it was a really perfect sunny autumn day - warm, with that gorgeous low autumn sunshine. It seems I can only fit 1mb worth of images in one post, so I will put some more in the post below.

the rest ...