david wala

Instamtic for the People Poster

Instamatic for the People Exhibition & Gig

Instamtic for the People Poster

At last ,I am pleased to announce that my Instamatic for the People exhibition will be at The Cluny in Newcastle. There is an opening on Wednesday 25 May between 6pm and 7:30pm with a gig from 8pm in The Cluny. In the spirit of the exhibition everybody is welcome, it is a free concert but there will be collections for Teenage Cancer Trust – please give generously.

The project has been about the musicians of the North East and is a way to document how our music scene is in 2010/2011, I hope to revisit the project in a few years to see how everyone has progressed. It has been interesting looking at the images and seeing the seasons change some pictures in the sunshine at Narc fest in The Ouseburn in July with people in t-shirts and others taken on snowy December night in Sunderland.

This is a totally democratic project where everybody has the same status – all bands are featured equally and all members of the band are featured equally. For the exhibition each image will be drawn at random and displayed in the order they are drawn.

I spend a lot of time at The Cluny and it  is an honour to have an exhibition at the venue where I regularly photograph gigs, and where many of the images from the exhibition were taken.

There will be a book featuring the images from the exhibition available to buy online with all proceeds going to Teenage Cancer Trust.

The opening night gig will feature bands that have taken part in the exhibition

I am so proud that The Greeting Committee, Brilliant Mind, and Gem Andrews have offered to play the gig. They are all acts  that I love and their musical styles are quite different – it will be a fun night.

Simon Donald is someone who I have known for years and it is an honour that he is going to host the night in his own inimitable style. He is a long time supporter of Teenage Cancer Trust.

David Burn from Detroit Social Club is doing a DJ set -I am grateful he has taken time to support this charity event even though Detroit Social Club will be playing at Evolution Festival a few days later.

The line up for the gig is:

The Greeting Committee
Brilliant Mind ( acoustic )
Gem Andrews
and Special Guests

Compere Simon Donald (Viz)
DJ Set by David Burn ( Detroit Social Cub)

This whole project has been entirely self funded and is a labour of love – but I have to thank all the wonderful people who have taken part and encouraged and helped me with it throughout the year.

The exhibition will run throughout June .

There is also a Facebook event

Prison Library Photo Shoot

In February  I was excited to be asked to do the first press shots for the Prison Library. I knew some of the band from a few years ago when they were Spies in Limbo – we had worked together on a studio shoot. I feel I have learned so much since then.

It helped that the band had some ideas and I wanted to create a certain atmosphere and style with location and lighting. Therefore,before the shoot I sent the band location and lighting test shots, so I was sure that I was heading in the right direction. It is important that the style of the image fits with the style of the band. I even bought a second-hand pub seat that would fit four or five people – it will be great prop for future shoots.

On the day of the shoot I did a run through of the lighting set ups which saved time later on.

 

I still use a light meter to do my light readings

 

Lighting test before the shoot

 

 

Behind the scenes shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shots on the sofa were done using two separate exposures and merging them in Photoshop. I took one frame of the band with flash, and for the other shot I made a long exposure to accentuate the ambient lighting.I used a combination of Elinchrom flash heads with umbrellas,softboxes, and grids, for the three different shots. For my next shoot I will remember to get some behind the scenes footage.

More of my photographs can be found on my website

 

This shot was created using two exposures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was pleased with results, and more importantly the band liked them too – you can see them on their website here  http://www.theprisonlibrary.com/

 

Prison Library Homepage

 

Rather Be Doing Stuff Than Regret Not Doing It – Detroit Social Club Water Rats London

On the spur of the moment last Friday night I decided that I would go and see Detroit Social Club on the following night in London – it is always great to see a band based in Newcastle playing in London.

This was not a commission by anyone just done it for fun and to see a band that I had recently worked with play a gig in London. It was one of the best gigs that I have seen –  it was a night when the stars were aligned to create a really special  gig the band, music, audience, and the venue were all in the zone.

It pays to be spontaneous and do things just because it is good for the soul.. no other reason needed.

David Burn Detroit Social Club Water Rats 5 March 2011

David Burn and fan Water Rats London

David Burn Detroit Social Club Water Rats 5 March 2011

David Burn Detroit Social Club Water Rats London in London

Studio Now Open And Equipped

It has been a busy month equipping my studio and planning for the future – it is a daunting time but I am chasing my dream. Pictures to follow in a later blog.

In January I done a shoot with a high profile band and look forward to unveiling the results from the shoot soon – I am sure  there will be more shoots to follow in my studio. If you want to do a shoot drop me a line david@davidwala.com.

My Instamatic for the People project is progressing – I have made a decision to draw a line under this project with an exhibition in May – as soon as I have confirmed a venue I will post the information on here.

I did not shoot as many gigs I would have liked in January but the highlight was Pulled Apart by Horses at The Cluny in Newcastle some of the images are on my website

Anyhow I am keeping this short but from the heart – rather than rambling on like some type of infomercial

x

Updates to Published Work and Portraits

I have finally got round to updating the published work section since my last update I have had work published in print, online, and on a CD cover. See my published work  section for all the details.

It was a real honour that Paul Rose selected my photographs for his cover and CD booklet

Paul Rose Ten CD Cover and Disc

 The CD is available to buy from his website www.paulrose.co.uk and on I tunes.

I have done more portraits lately and my images of  Holy Mammoth featured in the November issue of Narc. We don an outdoor shoot on a cold windy night in The Ouseburn. They were great to work with and appreciate their patience during the shoot especially considering I did not have an assistant on the night. Some of the images are in my Portraits section.

It has been  a long time I am still trying to organise a new website I think I am going to go with Photoshelter and plan to launch it sometime soon – I am lucky that I have been too busy taking photographs to arrange this.

Here is a link to a slide show on my fortcoming site:

http://davidwala.photoshelter.com/gallery/Live-Music-Portfolio/G0000S1SpB5dSq3w

Some Publicity For My Instamatic For The People Project

The people at ChooseFilm have written an article about my ongoing Instamatic for the People project – whch is taking shape I will be adding yet more scans to the gallery soon. THis project is being shot exclusively on Fuji Instax film.

The article can be found here:

http://choosefilm.com/features/instax-for-the-people/

In the meantime I will be updating this blog  soon I have been busy settling into my new studio and organising a new website. As well as doing the thing I love taking photographs I have been busy doing some location shoots and some live gigs which I will write further in my next update.

Paul Smith From Maximo Park Latest Instamatic For The People Participant

I am delighted that Paul Smith agreed to participate in my Instamatic For The People project.

Last week I caught up with him at his in store gig at RPM records.

I am hoping to stage an exhibition of these images in 2011 – in the meantime you can see the images in the Instamatic for the People gallery.

Carl Barat At Newcastle Other Rooms

I have just added some images from Carl Barat‘s gig at Newcastle Other Rooms – where he played songs from his new self titled  solo album as well as Libertines and Dirty Pretty things favourites.

Please see the images from the gig in the Carl Barat Other Room  gallery.

Frankie And The Heartstrings At RPM Record Store Newcastle

On Saturday I photographed a stripped down Frankie and the Heartstrings (Frankie and Michael) playing at one of my favourite local independent record stores R.P.M.

You could not have failed to be impressed by their acoustic set Frankie did not even use a mic – a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I bought their new single Ungrateful.

I have put some images from the day in my Frankie And The Heartstrings RPM gallery.

I was pleased that both Michael and Frankie agreed to take part in my Instamatic for the People project.

It is always good to support live music especially at a local record store

MichaelFrankie

The Like, Young Liar, and The Twilight Sad images added to Flickr

I am back from my trip to USA and will be updating my blog soon. In the meantime I have added some images to my Flickr site. The links to the sets on Flickr are:

The Like

Young Liar

The Twilight Sad