Boys Boys Boys, Amplifier

A big ol’ photospam to recap on the weekend’s activities. The Next Big Thing band competition is the biggest band comp in WA, with winners getting some pretty sweet prizes (including playing at the Big Day Out), as well as having their name firmly shoved out into the national spotlight. I was the official NBT photographer last year, and while it was pretty hard work and I missed out on a fair few gigs cause I was tied up at the NBT shows, I do miss the camaraderie and trying to guess the winners of each heat. So when I got asked to cover the two NBT semi finals this weekend, I was never going to say no.

Boys Boys Boys were victorious at Amplifier on Friday night, with Project Mayhem coming in second, while The Typhoons took out the Rosemount semi, with Myles Vincent not far behind. They all go on to the grand final at the Rosemount on Saturday, joined by two finalists from the regional semi final and a wildcard. I won’t be able to go, as I’m covering British India at Amplifier, but it’ll be a hotly contested final and well worth a look. My pick is Boys Boys Boys for #1, but it’s too hard to call the runner-up spots without having heard the regional acts, and knowing who the wildcard will be.

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

Two weekends, two local bands, two album launches, and finally getting around to shooting in RAW format. Egads!

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

Kisschasy, Metropolis Fremantle

After a couple of attempts with film, I was looking to experiment a little bit, to try some different films & different situations, and to see how it all turned out. First show was Kav Temperley & Friends at the Rocket Room on the 31st of May, using Fuji Superia ISO1600 colour film. The next night was Kisschasy at Metropolis Fremantle, using Kodak T-Max ISO3200 black and white.

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

Sugar Army, The Bakery

On Friday the 30th I ventured out to the Bakery to catch a band I’d never heard of, and one of my favourite locals. A night full of surprises, ending with a ticket inspector and a close call.

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

Bliss n Eso, Amplifier

The last month has been pretty good fun, marred in the middle by the fact I got sick and missed 4-5 shows cause I was laid up in bed. You win some, you lose some, right?

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

Just a quick update, will do a proper photo-spam next week with all I’ve been up to over the last few weeks.

 I’ve just created myself an account over at Red Bubble, after months of hearing from fellow photographers how great it was. It seems to be a super easy and efficient way of selling prints, and I’ve heard the quality is really good, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it all works out. I only have a couple of photos up at the moment, but will be adding more in the coming weeks.

Calerway, The Paddo

Quick pic spam to catch up on the last few weeks. Was kept busy with new bands & old bands, and big venues & small ones.

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

Kevin Devine crowd, Soundwave 2008

The other week, I did something novel. I paid for, and went to a show for fun. And doubly novel? Took my film camera along. (NB. I do quite often go to shows for fun, I’m not that jaded! Though often my ‘fun’ shows are friends’ bands and I don’t have to pay)

I hadn’t touched a film camera since photography class in high school (2001, for those interested), and I’d only recently become confident enough in my digital skills to take the whole game back to film. Jeff Martin’s show at the Fly By seemed a good starter. Guy sitting on a chair for the whole set, static lighting…easy right? Kinda.

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

I’ve been shooting for a few years now, and Perth’s not exactly a huge town, so it’s a new thing to come across a venue I haven’t shot at before. The latest installment of Myspace’s Secret Show series was taking place at HQ, the main dedicated all-ages venue in Perth. Being that most bands will play 18+ shows as well as all-ages I tend to go to those shows instead. However, Gyroscope aren’t ‘most bands’ and I was more than willing to brave the unknown and take on the role of Myspace shooter for the day.

-MORE UNDER THE CUT-

The second pants-wettingly good tour of the year has been announced. The Stereophonics are touring their ‘Pull The Pin’ album in April/May, meaning I get to see Matchbox Twenty and The Stereophonics in the same month. Matchbox Twenty have been one of my favourite bands since I was about 15, but I’d missed them for some reason each time they’d toured, so I wasn’t going to miss them this time. I’m shooting it, as far as I know, but I still bought a ticket so I could bask in 3rd-row glory and carry on with my friends like we were teenagers again. I saw the Stereophonics on their last tour in 2005, they’re one of my top 3 favourite bands of all time, and I’d probably rate that concert as one of my favourites ever. When you’ve got so much emotional investment in the songs, nothing beats standing in the middle of a crowd of like-minded people, singing til you go hoarse.

I was ‘pre-publication’ at the time, so had to shoot from the crowd with my little Olympus C-740 (read the review to see what I was up against). Security were being REALLY tough on cameras, so I only had tiny windows in which to take a few quick shots. A majority of them were taken at ISO400, 1/10 from memory.

The results ended up a little bit like THIS and THIS. Not bad, considering, but I’m positively itching to be let loose on them with ‘real’ gear.