david wala newcastle photographer

Never Play It Safe Safe – Symphonic Pictures Promo Shots – Spaghetti, Pancakes, Rats, Soup, and Other Shenanigans

Back in May 2011 it was a privilege to have Symphonic Pictures play their first gig at my Instamatic for the People exhibition opening. Therefore I was happy to be involved with doing the photography for their first set of press photographs.

When Johnny from the band contacted me with the idea/inspiration for the shots my first thoughts was that they would make an impact and I loved that they were not playing it safe.

It took a few weeks for the band to assemble props, to which I also contributed. We used a painted a background and tried to emulate the lighting of 1960s shoot by at times using just the modelling lights and other times flash. It was also an opportunity for me to shot with my medium format Mamiya RZ67 camera, and use some hard to find expired Agfa portrait film which I had saved for something special. The subdued colours also helped to give that retro feel to the images.

The shoot took 5 hours and we tried to pay attention to detail for each individual portrait. It was testament it was a relaxed atmosphere throughout and that we all committed to getting the exact images that we originally envisioned.

The images were then given to Paul Burgess Graphic Design to work his genius the lettering and finishing touches

I have to say it has been so amazing working with such a creative bunch of people.

Thank you

Weekend Update

I was reading an article recently about how music photographer’s should promote themselves. It made me realise that I should do more, although I do feel people will get sick of hearing the usual just shot this, done that etc. However if you do not promote yourself people will think that you have nothing going on.

Currently I am very busy with my photography I am shooting live gigs, doing promo videos, editing a five camera live video shoot that I directed, and doing album covers and press shots. I will be adding more information about these soon

This week I have photographed seven bands over three gigs. Some of the images are below:

So Many Wizards Head of Steam 8 March 2012

Brilliant Mind Head of Steam 8 March 2012

Symphonic Pictures Newcastle Academy 6 March 2012

You can see all my live shots on my Flickr site

I did have one disaster I shot a gig by Nero – who are DJ duo who stand at the top of a 7 metre plinth – and all you can see are there two heads above the parapet. Before the gig I tried without successa to get permission to get access to the balcony or stage so I could get some interesting shots. I have sent them to Newcastle Academy – but I doubt I will put them anywhere else. As ever I was prepared and knew what to expect and tookj my 70mm-200mm lens for the close up shots. I will learn from this and move on.

Here is one of the better images:

Nero Newcastle Academy 8 March 2012

They say you should end on a high. Back in January I done a video session with Tusk in my studio. I was pleased with the lighting and the black background, and the tight composition. I think they sound fantastic. We also done some photographs – here is one of them below:

Tusk at David Wala Photography studios. Newcastle upon Tyne January 2012

I am very proud of the video and the camera work of my team Daniel Robson, and Jill O’Donnell. I finally edited the first song this week.

Thank you for reading this – I will hopefully be updating with more things soon

This is what I call a weekend update

Bridie Jackson and the Arbour Album Launch at Gateshead Sage Live Video

Back in January I filmed the Bridie Jackson and the Arbour gig to launch their debut album Bitter Lullabies. This was a sold out gig at Gateshead Sage

It was a real challenge there was four of us filming the gig with five cameras. This was first big live shoot that I have done, but I feel our research and preparation helped give us some excellent footage. We also came down early and filmed some of the soundcheck.

Some of the results can be found here:

For my first attempt at filming an entire gig I am happy with the results – but know I can keep improving.

As with any video shoot, it is the editing that can take up your time. However there is one advantage when I saw Bridie play at The Central Bar in Gateshead I know all the songs word for word.

Evolution Festival 2012 Launch

This morning to the launch for this years Evolution Festival – it is so cool that we have a major music festival right on the banks of The Tyne.

I took a few images including the super talented Lulu James who is on this year’s bill

I am especially looking forward to seeing Maximo Park who I photographed in 2011 for the NME

Recent Published Work

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