It seems like I have shot gigs most of the month – yesterday was my first night off in eight. I would never complain about being busy it has been fun – tonight I will be shooting Kaiser Chiefs at Newcastle Academy then Spector at The Cluny. In between I have done some photo shoots and video work I will be updating my website with more information about these in the coming weeks.
In the meantime I have put most of my recent live shots on Flickr – this year have added 41 sets of different bands.
I am very happy to have recently been given assignments by two of the leading music publications the NME and Classic Rock Prog
The published images are below:
More images in my Dananananaykroyd set on Flickr and Zappa Plays Zappa set on Flickr
I am putting this at the beginning of the year, I hope in December that I can reflect on more assignments.
This has been an incredibly busy start to the year with photo shoots, live gigs, and some video work – I am so grateful and plan to keep it rolling on
Although I have filmed some acoustic performances from some of the North East’s most exciting bands since September, I have never made a music video. The performances that I have filmed are stripped back live acoustic sets. To my relief the bands I filmed,and other people have liked them.Some of these videos can be see
One of those bands was The Union Choir who asked me to make a video for their single Your Melodica. So we met at The Cluny before one of their gigs in November to plan the video. Over the coming weeks we came up with a concept for the video a mixture of performance and narrative.
From my photography I do have knowledge of lighting, composition, and experience shooting gigs and bands – it seemed a daunting task for a first music video but we managed it one step at a time.
We planned the performance shoot to be at the end of November in a room where we had recorded some of the acoustic sets called the High Bridge Sessions – but to give it a different look we put the band in front of the windows. This shoot took careful preparation as we decided on the key shots for each part of the song – on the day we were there from 2pm and I think the real filming took about 5 hours – and we ended up being there until the building closed at midnight. It was a hectic day but the band were willing and patient to hang around and make sure that we got all the shots – without complaint.
Here is a time lapse we made of setting up the performance footage
That video will always remind me of the fun we had on that day – thanks to the three people ( Dan, Andy, and Jill) who helped with the filming and setting up it was a fantastic team effort.
We then planned the doll shots in Newcastle and South Shields – Jill even knitted a doll in the image of Jon from The Union Choir – I feel details like this really give the video a more personal feel and was definitely worth doing. It was great that the band could find some actors – thank you Ashleigh, Liberty, and Rachel.
The editing took days it was especially time-consuming to synch the video. I sent different cuts of the video to the band for approval and we finally came up with the final edit. It is a pity there was other footage that could have worked but there was only 4 minutes of video – there was also footage that was good in theory but when viewed on-screen was not suitable.
Anyhow here is the video
Ginger returns to Newcastle
After I shoot the Go West gig at Newcastle Academy tonight ( 17 December) I am going to see some of my favourite local bands at the Cosmic Ballroom on Stowell Street.
Gallery Circus – who I have recently filmed
The Greeting Committee – whom I filmed on the roof of my studio building in September
The Watchers – as yet not filmed them but have shot some of their gigs
See you there
The Instamatic for the People book is now also available as a download for iPad and iPhone – it is priced at £4.99 plus £0.99p tax added at the checkout, and from this £2.00 from each sale will be donated to Teenage Cancer Trust. It is available from Blurb here
It features over 220 portraits of musicians from the North East of England as part of my ongoing project.
This follows on from the Instamatic for the People exhibition that ran all summer at The Cluny – all the images from the exhibition are featured in the book.
You can read more about my project in my earlier posts in this blog.
Instamatic for the People Book - available exclusively from Blurb
I have been busy filming local bands as part of an ongoing project. This is a sharp learning curve for me, but it is a fun ride. This is one of the multi camera shoots I done with The Prison Library
This is the song If I Was There. They are playing with Tribes tonight 2 November at The Cluny. For more information please visit The Prison Library website
I like the way this contrasts with the images I made with the band back in February
Prison Library Homepage
There will be more videos with more bands soon.
David Wala Photography 