Gunning at AIR

This weekend I was invited to attend AIR studios (Lyndhurst) to photograph multi BAFTA winning composer Christopher Gunning recording his Symphony No. 5 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO). This was to be a “Reportage” shoot working around the busy musicians, engineers and of course, Christopher.

Christopher and the RPO

There are of course many constraints to working at a recording session; for example, when sections of music are re-taken (re-recorded) due to a “loud page turn” you realise that the equipment in use is very sensitive and that photographing during “takes” is a definite no-no. (This is in fact something I was already aware of having attended a session at AIR in the past).

Talking through

I made a point therefore of being in the control room listening to the music during takes, rushing out as soon as the Red Light was off to capture the interaction between Christopher and the Orchestra.

The engineers view

After a movement (or section) was recorded, Christopher would return to the control room (sometimes a couple musicians would also come) to listen back to the recording, analyse and then back out to re-record.

Listening Back

I edited the photos and delivered as usual via my secure client delivery website the following morning. Then of course comes the nervous waiting; I have a style of photography which I knew Christopher has seen and liked but there is always that wait. I knew I liked the images and thought they reflected the day and Christopher well but, would he like them? I’m pleased to say he did. If the client is happy – I’m happy!

I had already decided that I would deliver a mixture of colour and monochrome images, I’ll close on a couple of my favourite monos:

Christopher at the desk

Deep in thought

In his thanks, Christopher called me “clever”. Yes, I understand light. Yes, I understand composition but shoots like this are all about watching and understanding. Christopher on the other hand sat in his music room (I don’t know how long for), working on his piano, writing music. This he then orchestrated for 70 musicians. They come together at the studios, the musicians never having seen the music, the composer/conductor never having it actually played by 70 musicians. Christopher conducted, the musicians sight-read and together they created a wonderful sound that had never been heard before… now that’s clever!

 

It’s All About The Light

Wether its making the best use of what’s available, modifying existing or setting up your own, one thing that every photographer must understand is light.

It does not matter how great the subject, if the light is wrong, the image will not work. This weeks images could not be more different but they demonstrate this.

Last Monday I was training some clients in Frondsham, Cheshire. As it was to be a 9AM start, I traveled by train on the Sunday, starting out early enough to ensure I had a few hours good light to shoot some of the surroundings. Dumping everything at the hotel I went for a wander and found that the hotel was atop a high hill with wonderful views to the Mersey Valley and surrounded by lush woods. The sky was blue and I spend a nice couple of hours walking and shooting before returning to dinner. After dinner I wandered back out as the Sunset was wonderful and (although I hate shooting cliched images), shoot this sunset over the River Mersey.

Sunset over Liverpool taken from the War Memorial on Overton Hill, Frondsham

Travelling back on the Monday night I took a call asking  if I was free the next day to join a production company on set to shoot some film “stills”. This was a new line for me but as they were keen and I came recommended I switched my diary a little and headed over to the location the next day.

The set was in a dark nightclub and I was required to shoot stills of a main cast character. We found an area to the side and asked lighting to rig me some lights. (What a great feeling that was; never had someone rig my lights before). It was obvious that the images had to reflect the film and also that the surroundings were going to have a huge effect on the finished product. The lights given gave a nice light but were of a tube variety I had never used so I started playing with positioning and white balance to get the look and feel I was looking for (using the Mac as a remote as I planned to shoot tethered with me as the subject). This is one of my test shots; a rare self portrait:

Julie Edwards: Self Portrait

I will have to wait to show the final shots as of course they need to be kept under wraps.

So far we have covered available, creating your own and now we have modifying available. In this case the sun is giving a nice backlight to this group shot (taken at a roof top  reception). Adding a balanced flash completes the lighting ensuring the faces are nicely lit.

Martin Kemp, his wife Shirlie Holliman and producer Jonathan Sothcott

So without being at all technical you can see all the different types of light I have needed to work in over the course of a few days, each requiring understanding to harness it

I’ll end with another sunset (from the same set as the one above)  for you to contemplate:

Sunset over Liverpool taken from the War Memorial on Frondsham Hill

Snoop Dogg

By the time I manage to publish this (I am writing this on a plane, travelling to Dresden to discuss rectified photography and photogramatry software), Snoop will have played a number of gigs on his UK tour, a tour which kicked off in Brighton on Sunday 15th.

I last photographed Snoop about a year ago in London at the Shepards Bush Empire. That was a shoot that I enjoyed very much (great light) and I had images published widely. It’s fairly obvious that I would be keen to photograph him again.

It was only a couple of hours before the stage time that I was actually notified I was “in” and I had to rush to make it in time to shoot the support act “Maverick Sabre”; an up and coming act that’s getting a lot of mentions on radio at the moment.

Maverick Sabre plays the Brighton Dome

When it came to Snoop we were not disappointed; although it is not my kind of music, the gig did “bounce” and I did come away with a number of nice images (well I think they are).

Here he makes his entrance (it’s my favourite shot although not one I think will publish very well)

Snoop Dogg plays the Brighton Dome

The remainder are what you would expect; portrait, a 3/4 and finally a full length (with a bit of a boogie thrown in).

Snoop Dogg plays the Brighton Dome

More when I get back from Dresden…..

The Great Escape

For those not involved with the music industry, it is indeed a “Great Escape”, a chance to spend 3 days in the diverse city of Brighton on the south coast listening to many new bands playing every style of music your can think of (and many you cannot).

The festival is spread out across the city in many venues which range from small dark rooms in pubs to bright street gigs and even The Dome. It’s this variation in location along with the fact that so many of the acts are just unknowns that make this event a difficult, challenging but enjoyable event to photograph.

It takes educated guesses and a lot of luck to make enough as a photographer here to even cover your costs. That said, if you do manage to photograph the next “Lady GaGa” or “Take That”, you could do very nicely. This year I spent even more time talking to others and researching to choose my “hit list”, even then, time table changes and cancellations changed the bands that I photographed on the final day. So who and what? Over the 3 days I shot almost 30 bands, below is cross section which should give you an idea of the different challenges faced by a music photographer:

FRANK TURNER plays the HMV Store, Brighton on 12th May


CLOUD CONTROL plays the Corn Exchange, Brighton


RACHEL SERMANNI plays the The Green Door Store


JAMES VINCENT McMORROW plays an outdoor gig on Brighton Seafront with the peir in the background


A "flash-dance" broke out at a street gig in Brighton's Jubilie Square in Brighton


Le Corps Mince de Françoise (LCMDF) plays The Corn Exchange, Brighton


Guillemots play the Komedia, Brighton


How will I do financially? Only time will tell all I will say is that a day after the festival I received a request for photographs of approx 8 bands, I had shot 3 of them….