The Great Escape – Day 3: Marina and Tiff

After the aches and pains of the morning I decided that for the Saturday I would shoot only the bands that I would enjoy shooting and who’s photos would be more likely to sell. Also, I knew the headline act – “Marina and the Diamonds” would be packed and not easy to get into.

The first act I needed to shoot was Tiffany Page who was playing at the tiny Volks on the seafront. I got down there vary early to size the place and the lights up and caught the end of their sound check. Took a couple of snaps and then enjoyed the short set by Jaakko & Jay – “Acoustic Punk” very entertaining.

Photographing at small place like this and getting there early means you usually get a chance to make contact with the band and this gives a little more interaction. I’m really pleased with the results given the space and the light I had.

Next I wandered down to Concorde 2 and watched a couple of support acts before Marina, who was headlining. My gut instincts were right and as the time drew near for her performance; the venue and the pit filled. I couple of guys I knew did not make it in (The pit was also reduced as Channel 4 were also filming and had 2 cameras in the pit). I however had the centre of the pit – prime position.

All in all the perfect evening, 2 good shoots with a little time to relax and enjoy some music… (and a beer too!)




The Great Escape….

As I write this I ache all over and am absolutely shattered (it’s 10AM on the Saturday morning). 2 days of The Great Escape Festival have gone and we are now into the final day..

For those of you who do not know TGE is a “new music” festival covering 3 days in 24 venues throughout Brighton. This means covering it is a case of running (ok, brisk walking) from venue to venue and trying to clamber to the front to get a position from which to shoot (many of the smaller venues do not have a “pit”).

Yesterday evening I shot 8 acts in the space of 4 hours starting with a special outdoor gig by The Futureheads at Audio and finishing with “I blame CoCo”. Between these there were a number of acts, some I have to say were quite poor but one I really liked was “Think about life”, a Canadian band with a lot of beat and life…





Now I need another cup of tea and to plan todays marathon..

Streetdance 3D

Tuesday was the World Premiere of Streetdance 3D at The Empire.

Again I was lucky to have red carpet access for (it has to be said), this laid back, atmospheric premiere. Maybe it was the fact that many of the main press pack are over at cannes so there were less press, but this event had a really nice feel to it. Lots of younger performers and dancers hung around on the carpet enjoying themselves for what I would think, for many of them, was their first film.

N-Dubz were one of the acts hanging around and Dappy was seeming particularly relaxed and happy to be snapped.

Originally uploaded by Julie Edwards Uk


Head over to The Empires facebook page to see a couple of Flawless performing on the Red Carpet.

Ash at Concorde2

Concorde 2 in Brighton is a venue I love and hate both at the same time (with far more love than hate I must say). Why?

My hate is the lighting and the smoke machine… It really is a small venue and like most small venues the lighting is just about vertically over the stage with and awful lot of backlighting. For the audience the result is great and dramatic. For a photographer trying to deliver images to a client where you can see the performers, see their faces, recognise them, it’s a nightmare. It’s just the nature of small venues, The Borderline in London is usually the same

But as a venue, it’s wonderfully intimate. It’s not just it’s size, there is something else, an atmosphere that contributes to this feeling within the venue. I’ve been to some wonderful gigs here and I will continue to visit as often as I am able…

For Ash, for some reason we had far more room in the pit than normal and as there was only one other photographer there was plenty of room to get the wide angle on for the 3rd song which, with the backlighting made for some dramatic photos. Then, as he got to the end of the number Tim punched the air… perfect!!

Originally uploaded by Julie Edwards Uk

Its all been done before….

In this world, if you stand still, you are left behind. It’s with this thought that I continually try to push myself and cover varied types of events, although usually staying fairly local. Last year it was Goodwood and this year I have a few other local alternative events lined up. I think this is one good way of advancing yourself. After all, I have moved from just working with buildings to covering the entertainment industry fairly successfully – who would have though that were possible.

This week I applied for a press pass to a local (but well large and well known) event that I have fancied shooting at for a couple of years. I exchanged a couple of emails with the press officer and read all the media accreditation information and I now feel I no longer want to work with them. Why?

Before I go into details I do not want to name or shame the event or the press officer. Nor do I assume that I am a great photographer or worthy of any special treatment. I just feel hughly at odds with the sentiments expressed in the communications. The following are excerpts from the communications with my thoughts following;

“With the current economic situation and our wishes at xxxxx to keep the accreditations to bona-fide members of the Media”

Perfect. I attached my press card to my email.

“This is not to say that we do not wish to encourage new participants as they are our future but we need to remove those that have been using our events for their own gains.”

First question; “own gains”. Everybody that gets into photography as a career does so for a reason. It may be to create art, document wrongs, show social injustice but the bottom line is all members of the (freelance photographic) media sell our work for self gain. After all, we have families to support, food to buy. I actually think that this is just a case of semantics and what is meant is that they need to protect their “brand” or “image”. This aspect I totally agree with as it also occurs in heavily in the entertainment industry (music etc.) and I think any self respecting freelancer would be happy to sign a contract that limits the use of the images to editorial use.

“I know what it is like to start and it is not easy – there are a lot out there now.”

and

“P.S. If you shoot ‘Film’ and use Nikon F5s you will get an hon media membership!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) There are a few Non digital types there me included.”

Well I ditched my film and darkroom years ago and there is the obvious assumption here that I am “Finger Happy Snapper” who would not know one end of a film canister from an enlarger. Digital is the future, it enables images to be delivered to clients within seconds, however to achieve you still need a complete and thorough knowledge of the photographic medium.

All of the above sentiments I can understand and agree with (to some extent), but here is the killer for me;

“I can assure you any thing that is different has been tr
ied over 21 years”

A single sentence that I find odious and hugely arrogant. How can anyone say that it has all been done in the field of event coverage photography. That is dismissing the possibility of any of todays or tomorrows photographers contributing to the history of photography.

If you place 2 photographers side by side, shooting the same scene, the personal feeling, the view of the photographers will vary, different angles will be used, timing, different images will result. Bresson was a master. I have no doubt that if another photographer was alongside him as he worked, only Bresson will have created the images he created.

I cover lots of music events alongside other photographers. How often do we produce identical images? Never.

At the premiere this week I delivered 5 images of Jennifer Lopez. Other photographers for my agency delivered far more. However, It’s one of my images on the front page of their site (one of the other photographers was actually standing in front of me with a better view and took probably treble the frames that I did).

So, do the older generation of press photographers do feel that this younger generation have nothing to offer? I hope not, but until this arrogance subsides, until the current crop retire and leave more room for the up and coming, I wonder at the ability of possible stars to get the access they require to break in….