Highlight: Getting four songs in the middle of the show with three costumes changes and some amazing sets and routines.
Lowlight: Having to sign a very restrictive contract which means I can't even show any pictures on this blog! Having to interrupt my holiday in Cornwall to do the job.
Fill in: I was on holiday for the week down in Cornwall but couldn't turn down this commission as it was from Japanese Magazine 'Rock' which pays very well. Logistically it was a nightmare because my phone couldn't get a signal and neither could my laptop dongle so I was electronically cut off from the world apart from getting the occasional blip when tons of messages from my long suffering partner would come streaming over the ethernet. The restrictions for Britney meant we had no idea where we would be shooting from, for how long or what forms we'd need to sign until the actual day - even an hour before we were shooting our position was not confirmed - and as it was at the O2, the likelihood was we would be miles away. However, not having any means of communication I did not get any of this info until I was actually travelling up to London on the train. Luckily Keith had been organising the whole shebang. So, after the Dolly Experience (see post on Dolly Parton), he had brought me box to stand on, and hired a 600 F4 lens. Thank god for loving partners!
Tech Spec:
11.00: Leave Michaelstowe Holiday Camp armed with a phone, some change, Harry Potter book and a sandwich.
11.20: Park car, only to find it is pay by phone only and my phone is still not working. Managed to get a text through to Keith who paid the parking.
12.05: Catch train from Bodmin Parkway to Plymouth - had to stand all the way
13.15: Catch train from Plymouth to Paddington - read five more chapters of Harry Potter.
16.20: Meet Keith at Paddington in the Starbucks. Eat yogurt and drink tea. Try to get gear packed down to a reasonable weight and size.
17.00: Carry 600 F4, monopod, two camera bodies, 200mm F2.8 across London via Bakerloo and Jubilee Line. No seats but I sit on the camera case.
18.15: Arrive at O2.
18.16: Have a rest.
18.17: Carry gear
18.18: Have a rest
18.19: Carry gear
18.20: Join the long queue for loo and realise I am not going to fit in the cubicle. Consider possibility of putting all the gear on the toilet seat, getting inside the cubicle, closing door, getting gear off the seat, going to the loo, getting gear on toilet seat, opening the door, getting out of cubicle, removing gear from cubicle.
18.31: Lots of people looking curiously my way.
18.32: Disabled person and carer wheelchairs into the disabled loo.
18.37: Disabled person and carer come out of disabled loo - I hold door open for them then promptly dash pin with all the gear. Plenty of room for camera.s lens and my derriere.
18.40: Receive text saying photographers do not have to rendezvous until 9.15pm. Heave gear over to Starbucks.
18.45: Have tea and banana.
18.50: Look at time
19.00: Look at time
19.05: look at time. Can;t be bothered to go anyway as gear too cumbersome and heavy to lug around.
20.05: I decide t buy a puzzle book to pass the time . Lug gear into a newspaper shop.
20.10: Coming out of shop am spotted by another photographer who persuades me to go with him to shoot the support.
20.15: Told we can't shoot the support.
20.20: Back to coffee shop for a drink.
21.00: Back to rendezvous point to sign contracts, collect passes, put lenses on cameras.
21.10: Still struggling to get lens out of case.
21.15: Finally get lens on camera.
21.30: Get led into arena and in front of a crowed who are none too pleased to see us.
21.50: Leave arena and dismantle equipment.
22.00: Cary gear back to tube.
22.01: Have a rest
22.02: Carry gear to tube
22.03: Have a rest
22.05: Catch tube back to Paddington.
23.10: Meet Keith, offload pics to laptop.
23.30: Leave Keith to process and submit pictures.
23.45: Catch train to Bodmin Parkway
06.20: Arrive at Bodmin Parkway
07.00: Back at Holiday camp - with kids all screaming at me to start their face painting ready for Halloween party later that night. As i can't show you any Britney images here's some from the face painting…
Highlight: Submitting my work for mentoring by the SWPP with a view to getting work up to speed for a Licientiate Award and being informed that the work can go straight in for the LSWPP qualification without the need for mentoring.
Lowlight: Having to go through all my archives to try and find some images worth submitting. It took a long time…
Fill in: The SWPP run a qualification scheme and despite having been professional for over 15 years, I know getting the necessary quality of work together is pretty tough - especially in my case where my work covers a wide range of subjects, its of it very pedestrian and straight forward. But I ,managed to cobble something together, with the hope that some of the pictures at least would be up to scratch. So I was immensely pleased to find the submission made the grade. I must thank the wonderful Emily Ovendon, Pythia and Mediaeval Baebes in particular who always give me exciting and innovative projects to work on and whose images made up a large part of the portfolio…and must also thank my mother, my father, my son, my partner, my teacher, my best friend, my accountant, my hairdresser, my dog, the man who lives down the road…..
Tech Spec: When submitting any work for assessment, be it a college portfolio, an international competition entry, a magazine submission - always read the rules/guidelines. At the very least you will probably have to submit it again but worst, your entry may just end up in the trash - actual or virtual - the result is the same as in your work will not be looked at. So check, check and check again the submission details and follow then to the letter.
For more info: swpp.co.uk/qualify.htm
Highlight: A tour of the famous Oxford Colleges!
Lowlight: Trying to find parking spaces.
Fill in: Gillman and Soame cover this auspicious occasion by shooting the group photos and individual portraits of the freshers. The job is planned with military precision as at least 20 teams of photographers and administrators are organised in to what can only be best described as platoons. These platoons have a planned route of attack with strict instructions to shoot on sight anyone one in a black robe, with specialist platoons setting up a camp once the college defences are down and to imprison whole year groups and shoot them en mass. It's a dangerous job, especially if you get trapped in the carpark by a platoon trailer or worse still - trap the platoon trailer in the car park with your own vehicle.
Tech Spec: As well as shooting freshers, one of the main objectives was not to get lost. Negotiating the maze that is Oxford is a task in itself and with a tight schedule and a fair amount of equipment to lug around (tripod, 2 x cameras, portrait lenses, flare buster and stand, flashgun, paperwork, and posing mat) just getting in past the porter's lodges was a major achievement. As we arrived at each college, hoards of freshers with their robes in various states of disarray lined up to greet us. It was a case of shooting as many as possible before zooming off to the next college on the time slot. As in any war, there are always casualties, and I am sad to say a posing mat was left behind. All day I fretted about itself fate, but you'll be pleased to know the story had a happy ending as it was picked up by a passing platoon that did the group shot later that day - unharmed and happy.
Enquiries: http://www.gillmanandsoame.co.uk/
Highlight: John Otway - the man is just one big highlight from beginning to end.
Lowlight: Having to leave before end to get the pictures off to the agency.
Fill in: As I trudged off to the Borderline (where I have photographed some pretty legendary acts including Amy Winehouse), a one hit wonder singer songwriter with guitar called John did not conjure up an image of wild rock and roll fun and I was hoping it would all be over pretty quickly. How wrong I was.
The surreal eccentricity and unabashed self deprecating humour that is Otway was a photographic joy and challenge. Half musician, half comedian, half legend, (that does add up as the man is 150 per cent larger than life), trying to capture the madcap energy of this guy as he somersaulted across the tiny stage with his guitar, re-enacted Travolta's famous disco grooves and pogo-ed to the screams of 'Rumplestiltskin' was enough to keep me shooting for well over an hour, and it was only the need to get the pics in before the night desk closed that dragged me away from this marvellous spectacle. John Otway gives true meaning to the phrase 'a legend in his own lunchtime' and doesn't come with as much baggage as Amy. His band are pretty cool too..
Tech Spec: I usually like to manage without flash but the light was so yellow (see top picture) it really needed a bit of flash to overcome the cast. Also I missed all the somersaults by trying to keep the flash turned off as I couldn't get the shutter speed up fast enough, even at 6400 ISO, to freeze the movement sufficiently. I used my pop up flash as I was very close to the stage and didn't want to blind the performers, especially as I was allowed to shoot for the whole gig. This did add the problem of nasty shadows from the mike stands but had to be done. I kept the ISO to 1600 and shot at F4 at 1/30 second so I didn't lose the ambient light. Although it was very red, the colour added atmosphere.
For editorial: www.gettyimages.co.uk
Highlight: Surprise visit from Rhianna and fab new artist Michael Kiwanuka (pictured below). Look out for him.
Lowlight: Yes. The light was low. Except for the strips lights, bare bulbs and reflector dishes blazing right into the lens. It looked great for the acts but was a nightmare to shoot.
Fill in: Private showcases from industry megastar Will I Am, hot band of the moment Florence and the Machine, young new upstarts Minus Behaviour, the new Pavarotti Joseph Calleja, and the afore mentioned Michael Kiwanuka. Amazing voices, amazing dancers and amazing personalities from all genres of the music scene made up the entertainment for this 2 day MD conference with an added bonus as Rhianna waltzed in to say hello in the middle of a presentation. Together with dinner at the Savoy attended by the legendary Jimmy Lovine it was a pretty cool job.
Tech Spec: Never have the light source going straight into the lens if you can help it. Of course if the whole background is made up of light sources of the worst possible kind for photography (led strip lights, tungsten bare bulbs and huge dish reflectors) then you either have to get at an angle where they are not in the background or wait for something to move between the lens and the light source to block it. With Florence it was fairly straight forward to use her to block the dish reflectors and they even added a good back light to her golden shawl and fiery hair. I moved at a sharp angle to the stage for Michael and the bare bulbs separated his hair from the background. Minus Behaviour however moved at 160 beats per minute for the whole set so it was tricky even pinning them down for any kind of shot, let alone one that allowed for the lighting. They had the strips lights and saturated magenta spots from the front and they were wearing black. I managed got some individuals but the group shots were few are far between. Joseph, Will I ma and Jimmy were all shot in the conference rooms so it was just a matter of setting the white balance of the camera to compensate as much as possible for the pink, lilac cast.
