Jacqui Dankworth

Highlight: Working with Flora of Cocoloco again. The woman knows how to look after people. Getting to cover the soundcheck.

Lowlight: Having to negotiate with the venue staff for every viewpoint, despite the fact that a film crew were running around all over the place.
Fill in: Cocoloco wanted some live shots of Jacqui Dankworth's concert as part of the Jazz Festival. As with all Jazz artists, Jacqui and her ensemble were too engrossed in the music and performance to be affected by photos and as a result were a dream to work with. Luckily for me the film crew had already been there an hour by the time I arrived so they had broken most of the ice regarding photography and I got to shoot during the sound check as well as the concert.


Tech Spec: The lighting was pretty constant so easy to photograph but there wasn't much change in mood. Luckily Jacqui donned three different, equally stunning outfits and hairstyles to help ring the changes visually and there was plenty going on on stage with all the musicians. During the performance viewpoints were restricted to the back of the venue, the balcony (both only really good for wide shots) and the extreme sides of the stage which (meant I had to wait until Jacqui turned to get her expression), so I was extremely glad I covered the soundcheck. Worst of all though was the clanging sound of my camera as the music was at times very quiet. As I had the whole of the gig I kept the shooting to the loud parts of the concert and when people were clapping. Having been physically thrown out of a gig before now just because I was annoying someone by my very presence I do try not to annoy the punters!

For further details: www.jacquidankworth.com/
For editorial: flora@cocolocomusic.demon.co.uk