Best photos of 2022
I'm on holidays, so it's time to compile my favourite photos from last year. It's a wonderful time for me to reflect on the year that's just past, reminisce about good times...and in the wake of COVID, say 'Wait...was that last year? I thought that was two years ago...or 6 months in the future!'
As per usual these aren't in any particular order other than 'let's not have all of the beach/band/black and white photos next to each other'. But if there's a theme to this year's selection it's probably 'trying something new'. Quite a few of these leapt out at me as I was going through my '4&5 star' rated photos in Lightroom, because I remembered trying something new to achieve them.
So if you're on holiday, sit back and have a read...and if you're back at work, pretend you're doing research, either way, enjoy!
GoPro through sunglasses
On the beach at Warrnambool on a stinking hot day I was noticing how much better everything looked through my sunglasses. So I thought I'd put the GoPro behind my sunglasses lens and see how it looked. 'Chaotic' is probably the answer. The colours are all over the place, the light is baffling, and I have NO IDEA why there is that weird shadowing around the the arms. BUT, if I had achieved this result on purpose, I would have been super proud of myself, so the next best thing is to claim a mistake as a success...then hope that no-one asks me to replicate it!
Spontaneous surf selfie
If there are two things I usually avoid, it's selfies and spontaneity. So the fact that this is one of my favourite photos from last year, really does speak volumes. We were down at Sandy Point in late January and after dinner, made an impromptu decision to go for a surf. The sun was sitting low on the horizon, the light was incredible, the surf was great, and for one quick second we were all in the same place at the same time and I took this shot.
If you've ever taken a photo of someone, you know how hard it can be to get a genuine smile...and if you've ever worked as a photographer, you'll know how hard it is to get a photo where everyone looks happy at the same time. So as a photographer, this is a great keepsake...and as a parent, it's everything!
When in Rone
I do genuinely think that this is an objectively good photo. It's someone in a great outfit, striking a great pose, in a great setting.
But for it to happen, visual artist RONE had to have created this incredible installation above Flinders Street Station, and I had to have taken the unusual step of booking Katie and I in for a social event (a trip into the city to see RONE's work), and while we waited in the queue to be let in, Katie had to have started up a chat with Helen and her son and said that I would take a photo of her inside, and I would have to have a GFX100S in my hands because Fuji had loaned it to me for another project, and while we were walking the around the installation I would have to see Helen and compose this shot, and then with such a great subject, in such an aesthetically engaging environment and with a very expensive camera, I would have to not stuff up the photo. If any one of these elements hadn't coalesced, this photo would never have happened.
But they did...and I love it!
Trainspotting meets Bladerunner
From memory it was raining for most of November, and repeated trips past Coburg station in various forms of precipitation had left me with the thought that there were some good photo opportunities there.
All it would require was; me leaving the comfort of the house on a rainy night, me taking the time to actually set up a good photo, and of course me being willing to be 'that creepy guy taking photos of a train station at night'.
Needless to say, the chances of this actually happening were very slim. So I was very proud of myself for actually heading out and taking the photos, and really happy with how they came out.
But the real joy was posting it online and hearing from people who had worked on the redevelopment of the station, or had designed the lighting for the station, or were just proud Coburgers/Coburgians/Coburinians?
You just never know what is going to connect with people...so get out there and take those shots!
Rock and/or Roll
One of my big photographic focuses for 2022 was to shoot more live gigs, with a view to getting proper accreditation to do it 'for realz'. So when I saw that Body Type were playing at The Brunswick Ballroom, I pulled what strings I could (aka got in contact with Cecil the drummer, who I used to work with) and got myself on the door to take photos.
Having shot photos of John Flanagan a few weeks earlier in the same venue, I was confident I could get a few good shots. And when Cecil told me 'This could get pretty loose tonight!', I knew I was in for a great night.
Body Type are a freaking amazing live band, and there was a LOT of energy in the room.
This photo is the one I keep coming back to. It's definitely not one that jumps straight out at you, but I just love the pose. I had set myself up so I was shooting between to people (that's why there is so much black around her...that's actually the people right in front of me blocking out the rest of the picture), and I certainly didn't plan for the lights to turn red just as she did this pose...but I'm very glad they did!
Black, white and live
If I could spend the rest of my days taking photos like this, I would be incredibly happy. Obviously I love black and white shots, and I love taking photos of musicians...but in this case, I had also worked with the band in rehearsals and developed a rapport. Because of this I was able to be on stage to take the photo them as they performed...and so suddenly it wasn't all just 'up the nose of the lead singer' shots, and I was able to bide my time and wait for the shot.
John is a contemplative performer...and his decision to book the Brunswick Ballroom for the gig (and play with a 6 piece band!) was a big swing after two years of no live gigs as a result of COVID restrictions. So to not only see him in his element, in front of an appreciative crowd, but to also be able to capture it, was a real privilege.
Silhouettes and sunsets
One of my favourite jobs for the year was shooting some portraits of the wonderful Sue Johnson. Now clearly the vast majority of the photos were ones where you could actually see Sue...but this one, where we had headed to the slightly flooded grasslands of Coburg, was the one that as soon as I set up the shot, I knew was going to be a keeper!
The late afternoon Winter sun just peeking through, the blue sky and the movement of her hand *chef's kiss*!
Comfort zone
It's probably a testament to my lack of skill as a videographer, that the whole time I was setting up for this video interview, my main thought was 'This would make a great photo!'
I love taking photos of people in their homes (and to clarify, I love doing this when I am in their homes with them for the purpose of taking photos...not just lurking outside with a long lens!) I get to see the place with a fresh eye and see the things you miss when you've lived in a place for more than 3 months...and they get to sit in a space where they're in control.
I think there's a fair bit of relief that the video interview was over in his face...and bemusement that a complete stranger was asking him to stare out a window. If there was a thought bubble it would say 'If I just do this...then he will leave'.
He was of course wrong...I overstayed my welcome by at least another 3 hours!
Maps and chats
This one was taken as part of the same project as the photo of Phil, where I was trying to capture the essence of Carol's relationship with her parents. One of Lyn's favourite memories was a trip she and Carol took to Italy, so I looked to capture that idea of both planning for, and reminiscing about, that trip.
I love the way the maps and travel books tell a story, and I'm so glad I used the vase with the Irises to frame Carol...but it's the way the smiles look so relaxed, comfortable, and authentic that makes me the happiest.
Can I get a light check?
I had a very specific idea for a portrait I wanted to shoot, and had borrowed a friend's light to shoot it. So I spent an hour or so doing a practice run, and roped my daughter and niece into posing for me.
I cannot begin to describe how much this was exactly the light I was going for...and how far away I was when I took the actual shot with the actual people. So I'm keeping this photo as a reminder that I can get the light that I want...just not necessarily when I want it.
Also, if this isn't the album cover for their debut EP, I will be furious.
Splashdown
On this day Josh had ridden just over 200kms from Preston to Sandy Point...and this was him getting into the surf for a cool-down. On a metaphorical level, this was a teenager who loves exercise and the outdoors who had just come up for air after 2 years of lockdowns.
To me this is a perfect portrait of relief and renewal.
Flinder's Street Station
I've lived in Melbourne all of my 47 years... but I reckon I've been in to the city to take photos 3 times in my life. If I'm staying in any other city I will religiously take my camera and get some photos. But for some reason I have a blind spot with my home city...probably because it's always there, so there's never any urgency to make a trip in.
In December I was due to return the GFX I'd borrowed from Fuji, and so I thought it was probably high time I headed in to the CBD and get some photos.
After about two hours of taking a series of photos that were very nearly good...but were just lacking something. I decided to just embrace my inner tourist and take a photo of the iconic Flinder's Street Station.
As soon as turned the corner of Swanston St I saw this incredible purple dusk sky. I rested the camera on a the edge of a bench so that I could drag the shutter a little and then waited for a tram to trundle through and give me a snapshot of Melbourne...this city loves me so much, it gave me two!
Thanks for indulging this trip down memory land. Now it's time to relax, and make some plans for 2023!
Backstage pass - Part 3: The gig
So I'd had my idea, and I'd done my rehearsal...but now it was time to bring it all together for the gig.
So on a chilly Melbourne evening I headed along to the Brunswick Ballroom as John and his band were getting ready.
There were so many questions running through my head:
Was having access to the band going to make for better photos?
Were they still going to talk to me after seeing the photos I took?
What's it like to stay up past 10.30pm on a weeknight?
There was only one way to answer these questions - with a blog!...written about 2 months after the gig...because life got really busy...and The National STILL haven't called!
The gear
I was very selective with the gear that I took...in that I selected every bit of gear that I had, and took it.
So this meant I carried:
- X-T1 body
- X-T4 body
- 16mm f1.4
- 10-24mm f4
- 35mm f1.4
- 50-140mm f2.8
- 56mm f1.2
I did 'um' and 'ah' about taking the 10-24mm and the 50-140mm ...but my decision to take them was 100% vindicated by the 0 photos I took with the 10-24mm and the 2 photos I took with the 50-140mm. On the bright side, my shoulders were stoked with carrying the extra weight all night for no apparent reason.
My big lesson from the night was that I should have just taken my prime lenses and shot on those. I would almost have said that I could have gone with just the 16mm and the 56mm...but three of my favourite shots from the night were taken on the 35mm.
As Zack Arias says 'There's just a bit of magic in that lens!'
The support
Now admittedly we all have busy schedules, and after 2 years of lockdowns, some of us are still trying to limit the amount of time we spend in crowds. But it is 100% worth your while to get there early enough to take photos of the support act. It's a great trial run to see what is going to work when the main act comes on stage, and no up-and-coming muso is ever going to say 'Nah, I'm good for photos' if you send them the shots you took. In fact you may be the person they contact as their career starts to take off!
Of course, John didn't have an 'up-and-comer' as his support...he had the incredibly talented Maggie Rigby. So I was always going to have someone who was giving an incredible performance. But I'm still really happy with the shots I got...especially as some of them worked incredibly well with a single perfomer, but failed dismally when John and his band were on stage.
Shoot early, shoot often
I think a lot of people taking photos of gigs dream of taking iconic photos like the ones of Iggy, or Kurt, or Patti that they had seen growing up. And yes, these were all probably taken by someone who had two rolls of film that allowed them to take 24 photos for the night. And yes, 'you should never spray and pray', 'you should always take the time to compose the shot and shoot it once', and 'it's no good just filling up hard-drives with useless shots'.
But if I need to shoot a whole lot of shots to get the one I'm after...then so be it. It's not like I'm demanding that people look through all of my shots.
No.
I'm just taking multiple photos of a very similar shot, then cursing myself when I get home to find that I've taken over 550 photos...and no one even got married! Then I'm spending an inordinate time switching between two versions of the shot and saying 'I really like the singer's hair in this one...but the bass player's eyes are open in this one...I think I'll just keep them both!'
BUT, so much of what I'm trying to achieve with my photos is to capture a moment that encapsulates the energy of the performance...and sometimes, that moment is there and gone before you can even take the shot.
This is one of my favourite shots from the gig, as it really captures John's energy and committment. But I can tell you that the photos taken 1 second before and after, just don't have the same energy. So if I have to delete 50 photos out of Lightroom just to get this one...then no amount of 'photographer snobbery' is going to stop me!
Hiring gear
My wide lens is the 10-24mm f4. For non-photographers, this means the lens goes from 10mm (which is very wide and great for photos of urban landscapes or sports like BMX and skating where you're trying to get a lot into a shot) to 24mm (great for landscape shots and group photos), and at f4, it's great in full-light, but starts to struggle in low-light.
Most live venues are 'low light', and so if you're trying to capture a moment with minimal blur you're probably shooting about 1/125...and really ramping up the ISO. As a result, I only use this lens if I'm trying to capture the whole band on stage, and very rarely for action shots.
I knew I had permission to get as close to the band as I liked, and I really wanted to get some up-close action shots...and so I fell down a rabbit-hole of YouTube videos on the 16mm f1.4 lens.
In the end I decided that this lens was exactly what I needed. But at about $1,000, it would be insane to buy it just to take band photos. The smart and pragmatic thing to do would be to hire the lens for $50 every time I needed it. That way, I could do 20 gigs before I had incurred the same cost as buying it outright! It's this kind of considered and emotionally constrained thinking that makes me such a great businessman.
So I hired the lens for the night, loved it so much that I went out and bought one the next week.
Take that pragmatism!!!
*sigh*
Tell a story
John had given me access to the band before the gig, I'd spent time with them so they knew who I was, I could get as close to the band on stage as I wanted. So, how could I use all of this to not just take photos of the show...but tell the story of the night? The short answer was, 'take the photos of the little moments'. In a social media landscape that rewards the big and flashy moment...it can be hard to take the time to capture the little moments, that make up the big story.
Post-script
Thankfully every photo that I take is perfect and needs absolutely no work in Lightroom...but if I were the sort of person who spends a LOT of time deciding on which black and white preset to use, then I would say I lent very heavily on Chris Orwig's presets for these shots.
His 'BW strong v1' and 'Add snap' presets are usually my 'go-tos'...but for this show, some of his film simulations 'Film Classic Warm Plus' and 'Film Cross processed' really made the shots pop, and gave them an almost 70's Rock vibe.
So was it worth it?
I honestly don't think I could be happier with how it all went.
I got to work with some incredible local musicians, and take a peek behind the curtain to see how it all works.
I got to challenge myself creatively, and learn a hell of a lot that I would never have known if I hadn't taken the risk.
I captured some great photos on the night (click on the image below for the full shotlist): 
and I got other gigs after shooting this one (again, click the image to see the gallery: 
AND I now have a portfolio of shots to use for future photo accreditation: https://www.twodegrees.com.au/live-music
But best of all, I got to see an artist at the top of his game, breathing musical life back into the city I love!
Backstage pass - Part 2: The rehearsal
On a recent project for work I was interviewing teachers who had been working for 40, 50 and 55 years. One of the things that really stuck with me was a teacher saying that they got to the end of each year thinking they were getting the hang of it...but that they spent their entire careers with that feeling because they 'Didn't know what they didn't know'. So at the end of each year they knew that they knew more...but that had shown them what they didn't know and needed to learn.
Shooting this rehearsal was VERY much the same thing for me!
So having told you about the idea behind this project, let me take you through the rehearsal.
What I knew I knew
Shooting in low light environments is never fun. Admittedly, most venues where you shoot live music are low light environments...but they make up for this by at least having lights on the performers. Rehearsal studios on the other hand give exactly zero shits about the insane ISO levels you're going to have to use to get your photos.
BRACE YOURSELF FOR A PARAGRAPH OF RANDOM COMBINATIONS OF NUMBERS, LETTERS AND PHOTO JARGON!
My wide angle is a 10-24mm f4 lens. I normally find that to make sure every shot of a moving musician isn't blurry, my minumum frame rate is 1/125...but with f4, I was having to go to 1/30 and hope the IBIS did its job.
I shot on all my lenses (50-140mm f2.8, 35mm f1.4 and 56mm f1.2), and when I went back through the photos, it was the 35mm and the 56mm that did the best work. But even then the ISO was often around 2,000 which saw me going to black and white quite a bit to hide the noise.
For the non-photographers reading this, a lens with a lower f number, means it lets in more light. In my case, the 56mm F1.2 lens, which is considered a 'portait lens', was the lens that let in the most light.
I can't say this often enough, the 56mm is amazing for low-light photography!
Politeness vs photography - If you're one of those people who can walk up to a complete stranger in the street and just take a photo of them, then this next para isn't for you.
But if you're someone with even a little humanity, it can be really hard to find that balance between getting the shot you want, and not encroaching on the space of the person you're photographing. After all, if John had to choose between me getting a good shot, and one of his band members nailing their part...I'm quietly confident my artistic aspirations were going to come a distant second.
So I spent the first hour or so just getting wider shots or shooting on my zoom lens. Then as it got less weird to have someone in the room taking photos, I moved in closer and took some portraits.
Musicians are great to photograph - I have no confidence in my ability to get people to pose for a photo...but I do trust myself to capture a moment if they give me one, and musicians always give me one...no...wait...that came out wrong!
Look, all I'm trying to say is that musicians give you shots like this:
What I didn't know I didn't know
Trombonists are hard to photograph - If you're tight enough to get their face, then you're going to lose the slide...but if you get all of the slide, then it's a really wide shot.
Plus if you get it on the wrong angle the bell covers their face.
I guess I should just be happy that I'm not taking photos of the 76 trombones in the big parade.
It's the notes that aren't played that make good photos - I got into the habit of putting down the camera each time the band would stop playing. But that meant I missed a lot of the collaboration and discussion between the band members. At the end of the day, photos of people dressed casually, playing their instruments in a room with terrible lighting...are going to be, at best, poor versions of the photos I was hoping to get at the live show.
So I had to make sure I got some of the shots that showed the process of the rehearsal as a document of the day.
The end result
I was super happy with the photos I got. I probably could have got up closer to the musicians and really taken advantage of the opportunity of being in the room with them...but at the same time, I was there to take photos at their rehearsal. They weren't there to play instruments in my photoshoot.
I also wish there wasn't so much ISO noise in the photos, but outside of setting off a flash at regular intervals or bringing in a light, I don't think I was going to avoid this.
You can see the full gallery here:
https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzS4tB
Best of all, John was really happy with them...and the rest of the band all still spoke to me at the gig! Which gig? Well that's what I'll be talking about in the next post.
Backstage pass - Part 1: The idea
I think it's fair to say that I've always been a vicarious musician. The harsh truth of not having any musical ability has not stopped me from occupying as many music adjacent roles as possible.
I've done radio, driven DJ's to gigs, managed perfomers, made video clips...I've even done a University degree in Music Industry. If the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame was to open a 'Person who has done the most music related things without ever playing a note' category, I would be in with a STRONG chance of being inducted.
So why do I love working with musicians? Is it partially because I hope that some of their talent will rub off on me, and suddenly I'll be playing to sold-out arenas? Yes, of course. But also, they act as a constant reminder that there is an alternative to the 9-5 world I inhabit. A world where you start work when other people are going to bed, a world where writing passionately about things that piss you off is seen as genius and not a potential HR issue, and of course a world where each time you finish part of your job, people are obliged to applaud.
But of course, it's also a world where your livelihood is reliant on cramming as many people as possible into a confined space and getting them to yell and scream. Which is not ideal during a pandemic of an airborne virus.
The sad reality is that musicians have been doing it incredibly tough over the last two years. Live gigs have only just started again in earnest, the 2c per track they get from streaming services isn't really the same as selling a $10 CD at show, and Bo Burnham's 'Inside' on Netflix showed that whether you're a musician, videographer or stand-up comedian...he's better at it than you.
Plus the government made it PRETTY clear, that when it comes to showing support for people doing it tough, artists can pretty much get stuffed...they chose this lifestyle anyway!!
So I was keen to come up with a way to support local musicians. A quick review of my finances revealed that I could not bankroll a series of concerts...but I could take some photos of musicians, that they could then use to promote their shows.
When I saw that local singer/songwriter John Flanagan was putting on a show where he was hiring the Brunswick Ballroom and putting together a 7-piece band, I knew that this was exactly the sort of endeavour I wanted to support.
Altruism?
Wow Chris! You sure are generous! Looking to help musicians, without getting anything for yourself!! Children should be studying you in school!!!
Um, yeah...about that. This was definitely not pure altruism. Having been invited to shoot a few gigs for friends, I had to tried to get a photo pass to shoot the HoldSteady at the Croxton Hotel...and couldn't even get a response from the promoter. In short, without a magazine or website saying 'He's shooting for us!' I couldn't even shoot the show for free! And without a decent portfolio of shots, I couldn't really expect The National to call and say 'Chris! These shots you took on your phone from the crowd have convinced us that YOU are the one we want documenting our next tour!!'
So when I reached out to John to see if I could shoot his show, one of the first things I asked was whether I could have backstage access to get some shots before the show, and could I get some shots from on the stage?
Basically, I wanted the chance to get shots that the audience couldn't. I wanted to be able to tell the story of the show, and that meant shooting from both the audience's perspective and from the band's perspective...and did I dream of getting a shot of the band, with the lights flooding onto them and crowd mesmerised by the performance? Yes...yes I did.
Reaching out
I really should take a step back, because 'when I reached out to John' really does make it seem like this was easy. But rest assured that sending a DM via Instagram to someone you've never actually met and saying 'can I come and take photos of you?' is NOT easy.
But I had a few things working in my favour;
- while I had never met John...Katie (my wife) knew him, so I wasn't going in totally cold.
- one of my regular dog walks actually went right past his house, so if he said 'no', I could train our dog to crap on his lawn.
- he's a folk musician, and these really are the Canadians of the music world...so he would be too polite to say 'no'.
- I genuinely felt that this was mutually beneficial. I've done jobs where I've felt that I had got the better side of the deal...and I've done jobs where I felt like I had been exploited. This one felt like a happy medium where we were both going to benefit.
Thankfully John agreed. Not only did John agree to me shooting the gig, he also invited me along to a rehearsal the band were doing...and that will be the focus of the next blog.
Live music photography tips
Now I know that at the moment the idea of talking about photography at a live venue with a group of people all crammed in together in a non-ventilated space where they can yell and scream...may seem a tad far-fetched. Who knows, by the end of this year all pubs and band rooms may just have wisened old hipsters looking into the middle-distance and saying 'Live music? We ain't see no live music since...well shoot...not since Omicron!'
But I'm an optimist...and I think I'm also now at the stage where I have shot enough gigs to have learnt from my mistakes, but I'm still sufficiently new at the game to remember all of the things I wanted to know when I started.
So I think it's the perfect time to give some tips on shooting photos at live gigs.
Get out there
A remarkably important part of taking photos at live gigs...is actually being at those live gigs to take photos. So while I have waited remarkably patiently for The National to call and say 'Chris, we want YOU to follow us around the world and take photos at our shows', I have also hustled to find performers to take photos of.
Now, admittedly, having the drummer from The Cat Empire as my brother-in-law has opened quite a few doors. But if you haven't made the strategic decision to marry into the Hull-Browns...then that's on you.
But in all seriousness, I'm yet to come across a musician who has said 'Nah, I'm all good for free photos that I could use on my numerous social channels, and I certainly don't need a new shot that I can send to potential venues, and the venues I am playing at really hate it it when I bring along an extra person who buys a few drinks.'
This is a win-win for you and the artists, so see if you can find a friend/cousin/friend of your kid/local parent/open mic night participant who is doing a gig and get photographing!
Spot focus
Ok...this is going to get a bit technical, but I promise the payoff is worth it! If you've ever been at a gig, or a kids concert, or anywhere where the person on stage is in the spotlight and taken a photo of it on your phone...you've probably ended up with a photo where that person is very bright, and the background behind them is kinda murky. This is because your phone (and you camera will do the same), has taken in all of the light from what is in the photo and found a place where on average everything has the right amount of light. So the person in the very bright spotlight and the background which is very dark...have been evened out. The dark bits are a bit lighter and the bright bits are a bit darker. In a normal daylight shot, this is great...and you will say 'Thanks phone/camera for doing all of that thinking for me!' But in a darkened room with with a performer in the spotlight you will be saying 'Stuping phone/camera! That looks like balls!!'
Fortunately the answer is pretty straight forward. You can tell your camera to just focus on one part of the photo and get that bit exposed correctly...and then base everything else off of that. So in the case of someone in a spotlight, you set your 'metering mode' to 'spot' and that will make sure that the very bright person is exposed correctly and everything else will become dark. There are other modes you can choose that will vary from camera to camera...but basically the options will be for your camera to see the whole image and balance out the exposure, or take a section of the image (usally the middle of the image) and balance the rest of the picture based on that, or take a specific part of the picture and balance the rest of the image based on that.
A really good example is this shot I took of Danny Ross at the Wesley Anne. It was early evening the and the setting sun was coming through a gap in the curtains and hitting the stage. It was so bright, it was even brighter than the lights in the venue, which made taking photos REALLY tricky.
But then also gave some opportunities that I could never hope to replicate without a LOT of time.
Get wide, get tight, get outside!
This is my advice for pretty much every photography job...but it's particularly true for live music, DON'T SETTLE FOR MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF THE SAME SHOT!
Absolutely get the standard photos from as close as you can, and if there are multiple people in the band, make sure you have a good standard shot of each of them. But then...get creative!
Go in as tight as you can
Get as wide as you dare
Take photos of their shoes
Shoot from the back of the room
Shoot from outside the venue
I can safely say that they will not all be good shots...but I can also guarantee that one of these shots will be your favourite shot from the gig, because you made it happen!
Signage
I once presented at a conference and there was a screen outside the room with my name on it...I took a photo of it. Why? Because in one image it showed that I had been at conference, and I had presented...and no-one had escorted me off the premises saying 'Sir, you have no place being here'.
I think most performers want the same validation.
It's time to move away from 'auto'
The 'auto' settings on your camera are a far better photographer than I will ever be. They can do calculations that will result in the best combination of f-stop, shutter speed and ISO in milliseconds. BUT they are not set-up to provide the best shot in a darkened room, with a subject who keeps on moving and who has something sitting just in front of their face.
In fact, leaving your settings to auto will almost certainly lead to a slightly blurry photo of the performer (as they were moving when you took the shot), but that doesn't matter, because the autofocus will have focused on the microphone instead of the singer
So you're going to have to get comfortable manually setting some of your parameters.
Shutter speed - If you have a guitarist/singer then you're probably looking at a minimum of 1/125. If they're just sitting on a stool and singing you could probably go lower, if you're trying to capture the drummer, you will have to go higher...and if you're capturing a punk band, I wish you the best of luck.
f-stop - If your shutter is only staying open for 1/125 of second, then you're going to have to let your aperture do a LOT of the heavy lifting in terms of letting light in. So go the lowest you can go. I have a beautiful 56mm f1.2 portrait lens that is hands down my favourite lens at a live gig as it just lets so much light in. Whereas my wide angle is only f4 and that needs a steady-hand, or a LOT of noise-reduction in post.
ISO - Modern cameras are remarkably good at taking great photos at ISO levels that would have been considered laughable in the past. So don't be afraid to let it get as high as 5,000. There's a reason a lot of my live music photos are black and white, and that's becuase it's easier to hide noise reduction (a setting in Lightroom that 'smoothes out' the crunchiness of a shot with high ISO).
If you're in a venue with a lot of different lights, then I would leave the ISO on auto, because if a bright light suddenly comes on just before you take the shot, the camera will adjust before you've even pressed the button...you probably wont.
Focus - If you have your camera on autofocus, then it will focus on the thing closest to the camera in the auto-focus zone. So if the performer has a microphone in front of their face, and you're focussing on their face...then it's going to focus on the microphone. So be brave and try a bit of manual focus!
Drummers are people too
Look, I get it. When your choice is between the charasmatic lead singer, striking a rock-star pose, with the lights shining on them at the front of the stage...and the person at the back of the stage, moving frenetically, with no lighting and a car-crash of cymbals and drums surrounding them. You're going to take the photo of the lead-singer everytime!
Just try to get a least one decent shot of the drummer...and the bass player (they'll be hiding next to a speaker somewhere).
Something in the way
Part of the joy of any live gig is the people around you. You very rarely get an unencumbered view of a performance, so don't be afraid to capture this with your photos.
Get down a bit lower and shoot between people's heads.
Or 'dirty up' a clean picture by shooting through something (in this case it was an ornate hand rail that was about 3cms in front of the lens...but with the focal length set for the stage, actually created some nice shadows and deliniation between the performers)
Next level stupidity
Looking for something a bit different? Then why not hold your phone under your lens to create a mirror effect?
Or take a photo through another lens?
Or zoom your lens while taking your photo
If they work, then you're a creative genius...and if they don't...the internet never has to see your mistakes (unless you publish them in a blog...as above!)
No flash photography
The standard rules for taking photos at a gig if you're actually there on business is 'First three songs, and no flash'. I will never understand why you can only take photos for the first three songs, as I think it's like the venue selling a recording of the gig, but only including all of the between song banter and tuning of guitars...you know, all of the stuff that happens BEFORE the band actually hits its straps?!
But the 'no flash' thing makes perfect sense. No one wants to see their favourite singer stagger off stage having been blinded by some muppet unleashing a flash in their face...and no unseasoned performer wants a constant visual reminder that someone is capturing everything that they're doing.
Also, if you're shooting on your phone, just remember that the flash is designed for people about a meter away...so if you're 15 rows back pinging of shots of a band...you're really just taking stunning portraits of the backs of the heads of the few rows in front of of you.
Share the love
If you're taking photos at a gig and you see another photographer...just remember, they're not the enemy or the competition!
Realistically they are the only other person in the room who is facing the same challenges as you, and most likely the only other person you can learn anything from. So don't be afraid to strike up a conversation, and like their photos on Instagram the next day. If you're feeling really generous, why not grab a quick photo of them in action and send it through to them. Just as chef's are less likely to be invited around for dinner (as people feel increased pressure to make an amazing meal), I can pretty much guaranteed that most photographers have very few photos of them in action (in fact I think the only photo I have of me in action, is me giving a photographer friend the finger while taking photos at a wedding!)
At the Corner Hotel gig I got chatting to one of the other photographers (the remarkably awesome Samantha Meuleman ) and during the next music shot grabbed this shot of her.
Is it the greatest photo? No. Was 'here's a photo I took of you while you were at work!' an awkward conversation starter? Yes. But do I have any regrets? No!
So there you go...some of the lessons I've learned on my journey so far. If you've got any tips you'd like to throw my way, I'm always keen to hear them.
Best photos of 2021
It's perhaps a good indication of the sort of year that 2021 was, that when I looked at some photos from January, I genuinely didn't believe they had been in the last year.
'A photo of Uncle Jack Charles?! Wasn't that 2 years ago!?'
'A family camping trip to Wilson's Prom? Didn't we got to Narnia this year?'
Time and reality were at best 'fluid' for 2021, and at worst...well...2021. A LOT of time within 5kms of the house, and VERY little time feeling relaxed and inspired enough to get creative.
But there were still photos to be had and moments to be captured, so without further ado and in no particular order, here are my top 10 photos of 2021!
Uncle Jack Charles
Admittedly it's statistically impossible to take a bad photo of Uncle Jack...it's still awesome when you do. If nothing else, it means you've had the chance for him to tell you a story about how being able to read and write offered him protection in Pentridge...or his first ever play at the Pram Factory...or about being a cat burglar.
He's a genuine source of light, enthusiasm and warmth, and I think this shot captured that.
The Prom
The focus for this trip to Wilson's Prom was our first ever overnight hike...and so I decided to leave my camera gear at home and live or die by the iPhone.
This meant that on one day I was returning from a walk, when Katie and the kids were heading off in the kayaks. The sun was setting over the hills in the background, the kids were my mid-ground...and Katie was the foreground. The moment was only going last a few seconds, but that's all it takes to take your phone out and take the shot!
Shantilly clad
If you're a 'proper' photographer taking photos at a gig, you're normally only allowed to take shots for the first three songs (don't ask my why...I don't make up the rules). Which usually means you're frantically trying to get as many shots as you can for those three songs. But if you're taking photos at a venue like the Wesley Anne, you can actually take the time to experiment and get something different!
In this case it was the old 'hold a lens in front of your camera and take a shot through it' trick.
Also this is a band called 'Shantilly Clad' who sing sea shanties...I had to make sure they made the top 10, purely for their name.
Preston fog
We have the level crossing removal work going on in Preston at the moment (for people outside of Melbourne, we have things called 'level crossings' that basically stop traffic to allow trains to go through...and we're getting rid of them by elevating the train lines so that the trains can travel unimpeded...and cars can be stuck in traffic caused by other cars, rather than by trains). On one night had some really heavy fog, and I had borrowed a friends 12mm Samyang lens...and so I thought I'd put on my 'street photographer' hat and get some shots.
I was having some issues working out how to get the lens to focus when about 10 metres in front of me, this guy walked out of his front gate in a long coat and golf-cap. With his collar turned up and the thick fog, he looked like something from a le Carre spy novel and I tried desperately to get a shot. But by the time I'd sorted the focus, he was already too far away and so I took this shot as I walked after him.
I knew the shot I wanted to get, and this wasn't it...but when I looked back at the photo a few days later...I really liked it.
Seagulls on the Portland pier
With the exponential improvements in camera technology, the ability to take a great photo has never been easier. So a lot of the challenge is now being there to take the photo...and having the patience to wait for the moment to play out.
I had originally been trying some long exposure shots, until I realised that the whole pier actually moved with the waves, and so getting a non-blurry long exposure was going to be impossible. I saw a few seagulls at the end of the pier under the light, and so I sauntered over to compose my shot, then waited for more to arrive. When enough had arrived I thought I had my shot...but then a few took off and I realised that was the shot I wanted. So I waited a bit longer until this moment.
It's something that I've learnt from years of doing video work, sometimes you have to set up a shot, and then wait for someone or something to populate it. If this means you have to sit on a cold pier for an extra 10 minutes while local teens chuckle at the guy on all fours looking at seagulls...then this is the sacrifice you have to make for your art!
Strike a pose
After years of taking photos, I would say I am very confident in my ability to capture a candid moment. An unscripted, spontaneous moment. But ask me to create that moment...and my confidence evaporates.
Getting people to pose in a way that makes them look good, is really hard!
So I watched an instructional video from Lindsay Adle and dragged Holly out in front of the camera...and this was one of the shots that I got.
There were a number of shots that didn't work, and it was really interesting to see how a comfortable pose can make for an unflattering photo, while poses that felt terribly contrived looked great in the final product.
Sunset over sea
It's fair to say that the wind blows strong at Sandy Point...and usually onshore. So any day where the wind is down and the swell is up has to be taken advantage of. On this day we had arrived just after lunch and spent the arvo in the surf. After dinner I went down to the beach to take some photos and the surf looked so good, I ran back to the house, put the still damp boardshorts back on and charged back to the surf with Josh.
It was magic! The waves were being held up by a slight offshore breeze and the sun was setting through them just before they broke. It was a constant battle between catching the waves and capturing them.
This shot was taken on the GoPro as the last light from sun set over a softening sea.
Lisa Mitchell at the Corner Hotel
As someone who has attended quite a few gigs at the Corner Hotel in Richmond, it was pretty exciting to get to take some photos there. I demonstrated just how excited I was by taking about 15,000 photos.
I really love this shot because it shows some of the things I've learnt over the last 5 years.
- When an opportunity presents itself...take it! Up until about 10 minutes before this gig I was still trying to sort out a problem for a job the next day, and nothing would have been easier than saying 'no' to travelling to Richmond on Thursday night to take some unpaid photos.
- Try not to take the same photo again and again. Get low, get wide, get tight, look for reflections or interesting framing. I know I missed a few shots changing to get onto the wide-angle lens...but it was worth it!
- Compostion counts - I was in 'the pit' (the fenced off section between the stage and the crowd) with two other photographers, and I had to work to get this position right in front of Lisa and then frame her between the foldback speakers
Danny Ross
I've been lucky enough to have Danny Ross ask me to take photos of a few of his gigs. In a year when live music has taken such a pounding, getting to see Danny play live was a constant reminder of just how important live music is.
Up until this gig, I'd never taken shots of Danny with a proper lighting rig..and the way so much of this shot is blown out and faded but Danny's face is still exposed properly...lets me know that I made the most of the opportunity.
After the storm
One of my COVID-19 habits has been to walk almost every day past 'The Tannery' skate park in Preston. It's basically an abandoned lot that some local skaters have converted into a skate park.
I was on one of these walks just after a storm had passed the through and decided to duck in and see if there were any photo opportunities. The setting sunlight was diffused by all of the moisture in the air and the in the calm after the storm there was water on the ground and no wind in the air, making for the perfect conditions for a 'reflection' shot.
It was then just a question of getting down low and getting the framing right, setting the iPhone to RAW, convincing the dog to stop walking through shot...and then taking the photo.
So there you go. 2021 in 10 photos. Three photos of live music, two photos on the phone, one on the GoPro, one on a $10K camera I borrowed from Fuji, and one on a lens borrowed from a friend. Pretty reflective of a year where it was hard to plan for anything, you had to take your opportunities where you found them, and where family and music were the most important things!
Days like these with The Cat Empire
Back in the early 2000s I was working as a Producer for a video production company called Tribal. Our boss (the inimitable Sharon Maloney) was looking to build a stable of young directors and so we were doing quite a few video clips. Back in those days there was no real way to make money off a video clip (the world of monetised YouTube channels was but a twinkle in some tech entrepreneurs eyes), but everyone needed a video clip to play on Rage or Video Hits. So most record companies viewed them as a necessary evil, but not one that they were willing to throw a lot of money at. It was therefore fertile ground for new Directors to try their creative wares, on a very limited budget.
Thanks to the drummer of the The Cat Empire being my brother-in-law Will, I knew that the band were pitching for a production company to do the video clip for their latest single 'Days like these'. Our Director Mike Metzner pitched a treatment with a 'City of God' feel, and the band loved it, and so suddenly we were on our way to make a video with The Cat Empire!
Location, location, location.
Unsurprisingly, the budget didn't stretch to us flying to Brazil to capture that 'City of God' ambience...but Mike had found an amazing location near the wheat silos in Collingwood. Nowadays these are the location for multimillion dollar apartments, but back then it was a derelict wasteland full of loose concrete and tall grass. As is tradition on high-budget film projects, the Director, Producer and Art Department spent a day in full-Summer heat moving blocks of concrete, whipper-snippering long grass and desperately pretending that this was exactly how they thought their career in the arts was going to play out. But by the end of the day we had a space that was never going to pass an occupational health and safety review, but could definitely pass as a South American slum. Best of all, we had managed to track down the owner of the land and got permission to film there.
Shooting on film
My kids delight in referring to any story I tell as being 'from the olden days'. But the more I think about this part of the Cat Empire clip, the more I start to think they may be right, because we actually shot this on film!
I can still remember the first DOP who shot an entire video on Digital and thinking he was some sort of sorceror (shout out to Ben Allan!) Because up until then, we shot pretty much everything that had to look nice on film. If we were shooting a TV commercial (TVC) we would estimate how many rolls of film we would need (each roll of film was 400ft and would give you about 11 minutes of footage...and in typing this, I'm suddenly wondering if that's where the term 'footage' comes from!) Then you would order if from the Kodak factory in Coburg, and pick it up the night before the shoot. Sometimes when you were filming the TVC you might have used 300ft of film, but know that the next take might need more than the remaining 100ft, so the 300ft of used film would be marked up and set aside to be taken to a place in Elsternwick that would convert the film to a digital file, and then that digital file would be used for editing and colour grading.
BUT, it also meant that we had 100ft of film that we got to take back to the office and store in a fridge. We had shot about 6 TVC's that year and so from memory, we shot all of this video on what was in the fridge!
We also shot on Super-8 and then also worked in some Mini-DV footage shot by the band.
The final touch were some acetate stains that were created by two finished artists (Dom and Rich, who became known as 'the stains department') that were filmed and added in as a layer in post.
Highlights of the day
Cameos - At some stage the idea of everyone playing football (soccer) was changed to playing football (AFL) and so we got to see my father-in-law James rock up in full whites as the Umpire, and Melbourne jazz luminary Steve Sedegreen as 'guy appalled by umpire's decision'.
Location joys - While cleaning up the location on the days leading up to the shoot we had found the name of the person who was securing the site, and from him had found the owner...who after some cajoling and $200 cash heading his way, had agreed to let us shoot there.
Then about half-way through the day, a car pulled into the site and asked what was going on. I explained that we were shooting a video clip, and that we had permission from the owner, so it was all above board. He looked at me and said 'That's odd...because I'm the owner, and this is the first I've heard about it!' Seeing that there was suddenly every chance that the entire clip was going to be over before it really began, I frantically began explaining that they were a great local up and coming band, and that we wouldn't do any damage, and that 'Gosh, isn't this a funny situation for two wonderful men to find themselves in'. I think he saw the panic in my eyes and took pity and gave us permission to keep on filming.
Surreptitious - At one stage while we were resetting for the next shot I walked past Andy Baldwin's panel van, and found most of the band having a few cheeky beers in the back. I have no idea what I was worried about, but with all of the impotent power of a pool-lifegaurd asking teenagers not to sit on the lane ropes, I said 'C'mon guys, you can drink after we've finished...and if you are going to drink, can you at least be a bit more surreptitious about it?!' To my complete surprise they all stopped drinking and looked at me, and I thought 'My God! I actually got a group of musicians to stop drinking and see my point of view! I clearly command a lot more authority than I had realised!' Then I heard one of them say 'Surreptitious. That's a good word!'. Then they all laughed and continued drinking their beers.
Pizza - We had arrived early in the morning to get set-up, then worked through a stinking hot day in the full sun, and finally wrapped in the early evening. One of my final duties was to order and collect about 20 pizzas from a place on Brunswick St. When I returned the crew were packing away the last of the gear, there were band-members and breakdancers and friends and family all sitting in the rubble of an abandoned lot as the shadows grew longer across the scene. The footy was still being kicked, we had managed to get everything shot, and I sat down to eat some pizza and left-over watermelon...it was one of the best days I've had on set.
Best of all, thanks to the insane talents of everyone involved, the clip itself came together incredibly well.
All good things come to an end
One of the downsides to working with a song you like on a video project is that you get to hear it again, and again and again. In fact, if the person editing it doesn't have headphones, you will get to hear two seconds of the song continually repeated as they try to make an edit work...it's the best!
But one thing I will never tire of, is seeing The Cat Empire perform live. I've been lucky enough to have followed them from their beginnings as the Jazz Cat, through to self-financing their first album, through to international fame. I will still happily put one of their shows at The Forum as one of the top 5 live gigs I've ever seen (the other four are; Gil Scott Heron, Morphine, Beck, and Rage Against the Machine...never let it be said I am anything but a middle-aged white man). So it's a little sad to hear that the band will be playing the final shows as the current line-up at the end of the year.
At the same time, to have survived and thrived in the music industry for over 20 years is a genuinely amazing feat, and to be able to retire on their own terms reflects the integrity that's kept them together this whole time.
So thanks to The Cat Empire for letting me be a small part of your journey, but most of all, thanks for providing such an incredible reminder of just how important live music is!
My top photos of 2017
There's nothing like scrolling through all of your photos for a year to make you realise how much has happened in 12 months; 40th birthdays, 66th birthdays, weddings, first days of school, international travel, trips to the beach, rain, sunshine, surf, posed portraits, spontaneous moments, and best of all...photos that make you sit back and think 'Man, I'm really happy with that shot!'So of the 3,447 photos that made it through the culling process of this year, and the 192 that were given the coveted '5 star rating' in Lightroom, here are my 20 favourite photos of 2017.
Josh does his Felix Baumgartner impersonation
There is a decent period after you've bought new camera gear, when you are absolutely terrified of getting it wet/dusty/cold/hot. So you miss shots because you're not willing to take a risk. Then at the other end of the spectrum is when you've had a camera for so long that you'll wade into the ocean and takes shots not caring what happens to it...but also knowing, that its best days are behind it, so you may not get the shot you want.But there is also a wonderful mid-point where you a camera will take the photo you want, and that you're willing to hang over your shoulder as you jump from one rock to another over waste deep water and then scramble up a rock tower to take a photo of your 11yo son jump from a feet-tingling height. I'm at that point with my Fuji XT-1...and it's a very happy place.I was also really happy with this shot, as the tide was coming in and if we stayed much longer in that spot we were going to get stranded, and so I knew I only really had one chance to get it. So no pressure...no pressure at all.
Danny Ross at the 303 Bar
My brother in law, Will, was playing drums with Danny Ross for a show at the 303 Bar in Northcote. I will never pass up an opportunity to take photos of a band, because there are always moments in a live performance that give you an insight into who the musician really is, and if you can capture them...they usually make great images. Also, guitars are cool.Over the course of the night I shot, wide, I shot tight, and shot from up high and down low, from outside and inside (no really I did), but it was this shot that I took between two people that really worked. The two shoulders provide a perfect shadowy frame for Danny, plus the light is hitting him enough to illuminate his face under that distinctive hat...and he has an ever so slight rock n roll sneer on his face.In truth, this photo is a mess in colour...but black and white really provides some focus!
Walkerville cave portrait
If you're new to photography and want to try to create a quick and easy 'arty' portrait, get someone to stand somewhere where it's dark but there is a single source of light (a recessed doorway, open garage door, or in this a cave with a hole in the roof), get them to look towards the light, and then expose your shot for their face (or just set your autofocus point for their face) and the resulting shot will knock out the background enough for you to make to their face really pop...but with just enough ambience to give some context.Of course you do still have to convince someone to crawl into a dark cave that smells of rotting sea-weed...but that's why you have kids!!A440 (there is a prize to the first person who can explain this photo title...it's GENIUS!)
If you have ever tried to take a photo of someone giving a speech, you will know that what looks perfectly normal in real-life can look mortifying as a still image. The blink of an eye, the movement of someones mouth, or a gesture with their hand can make them look drunk, psychotic, lecherous or constipated. The same can be said for singers, although to a lesser extent because they tend to hold facial expressions and emotions a bit longer as they hit certain notes...and because they usually want to be singing, whereas people who are making a speech would usually rather be anywhere else doing anything else. So taking a photo of a singer is easier...but then when you add another singer, the difficulty increases exponentially...now you need to capture a moment where two people look great...then you add another person...and then another...and one of them is your wife...and it's her 40th birthday party.No pressure...no pressure. Just capture an image in which all four people look great...and DO NOT STUFF THIS UP!
Fire twirling in North Melbourne
You know that feeling when you're at your best mate's 40.5th birthday and someone dressed in Polynesian attire starts doing tricks with two flaming balls...and you think to yourself 'How am I going to get a good shot of this?' Sure you do. It's a predicament as old as time itself. Just go for 1/6 second, at f1.4 on a 35mm.If you're still saying 'Wait. WTF is a 40.5th birthday!' Then I think you and I can be friends.
Can you just sit there while I test the flash?
Any time I set up the flash for a portrait I ask one of the kids to sit in so that I can make sure it's going to work, my brief is always 'Just sit there, you don't even have to look at the camera'. The combo of a photographer who isn't telling someone what to do, and a subject who isn't trying to be anything but themselves...invariably leads to some of my favourite photos.
Channeling Alain Laboile
I shamelessly stole this from Alain Laboile's 'Reflexion autour du bassin' series where he took photos of the reflection in a pool of water, and then turned them upside down so that the photo looked like a distorted version of the real world. After a hefty downpour here in Melbourne, the lane out the back had some massive puddles...and the kids were dressed in rain jackets and gumboots. So I got may chance to create my own 'Reflection around the puddle' series.
Turin Brakes
While I'm really happy with this photo, this one made the cut because I only got it by having the chutzpah to call a festival promoter and ask for a press pass so that I could shoot it. So I got to spend the first three songs right at the front taking photos of one of my favourite bands...and this shot further assuaged my guilt about buying the Fuji 56mm f1.2 lens.
In the surf with Josh
There are few places I love being more than in the surf. But with young kids, going to the beach becomes more of a 'let's build sandcastles and wade in the knee-deep water' than 'let's head out the back and try to catch some decent waves' experience.But the body-boarding bug has bitten Josh, and he's now strong enough to venture out into the surf with me. In this shot we had made the decision to paddle furiously over a wave, rather then trying to duck under it after it had broken. It had been a close run thing, and we very nearly had the wave break right on top of us, but we'd made it and we were both very happy with ourselves...and the GoPro captured it.
Kids, France and trampolines
It took about 30 hours to get from Melbourne to Paris, and then a terrifying drive for 2 hours in the dark to get to our accom in Normandy. But when we woke up the next morning the kids discovered that there was a trampoline and took to it immediately. So this was among the first photos I took for our trip...and it was probably my favourite! Even though you can't really see either of their faces...you just know they're smiling from ear to ear. Because...well...tramampoline!
Normandy beaches
I would love to claim that I saw this scene and said "Holly, quickly go over there and climb that ladder and then hang off the handle at the top as if you're in a musical from the 1960's!" But in truth, I was pretty much waiting for her to get down so that I could take a landscape shot...and stop worrying about her falling off!But as is so often the case, a landscape looks a whole lot better with a person in it, especially someone who can inadvertently strike a pose like this.
Tuba flamethrower
It's a man in a top hat, playing the tuba, with flames coming out of the top, in London...of course it made my top 20!
The test shot
The plan was to get Katie to walk towards me and I would get the shot just as she came through the doorway, so I was just doing a test shot to make sure my focus was going to be right...and it turned out to be a much better photo than the one I had planned.
Mont St Michel
It's pretty hard to get a shot of Mont St Michel that hasn't been taken a thousand times, so here's one that hopefully only been taken 995 times. A friend of mine showed me this trick of holding a lens in front of the the camera and then taking a shot of what the lens can see.
A bird and an old man
We all got up early and made our way to the Old Man of Storr. When we got there we were one of 3 cars in the car park, so we knew we wouldn't be fighting off the crowds. We were however fighting one 6yo who wanted to make it very clear, that he didn't want to be there. The weather was also ranging wildly from foggy, to drizzling, to raining and all points in between. I only have one weather-proof lens and that's the 50-140mm, and I was having to stop pretty regularly to explain to the angry 6yo that 'No, this wasn't a stupid idea. No, I'm not stupid. No, everyone isn't stupid. No, we can't turn around and head back. No, that's not stupid.'So this is a long way of saying that my photo options were limited...but when I saw this burn circling in the mist, I had a vision of a Tolkienesque image and was really happy with how it came up.
Highland coo
I love these cows. The look like the bovine version of the guitarist from a 90's shoe-gazer band. One of my goals for our trip up to the North of Scotland was to get a shot of one these fine beasts. But our drive from Glasgow to Skye, while offering some amazing potential cow action, was so fraught with traffic issues that the opportunity to just pull over and take a photo just didn't present itself. Having done a lap of the Isle of Skye and still not got a photo of a Highland Cow, I had pretty much given up all hope. Then on our way to our final stop on the Isle of Skye we came across this fine specimen just next to the road. So I hopped out and grabbed this shot, and all was right with the world.
Steam punk
There is something magical about trains, and I can see why they fascinate people young and old (by which I mean, very young and very old). From a photography perspective they are a dream. Everything is on a massive scale, there is polished metal, steam, light & shade, history, and some amazing faces. This is my attempt at capturing all of that in one shot.
The headless bass player of York
After pouncing on the first coffee place we found at 9am in the morning, we had been traipsing around York all day and by 4pm we were pretty keen on finding another coffee emporium. But despite having seen quite a few in the preceding hours, suddenly there were none to be found. As we left the market in the centre of town we could hear a band playing the opening bars of Franz Ferdinand's 'Take me out'. It's a testament to how good these guys were that I actually chose taking photos of them, over getting a coffee (and people who know me, will know that I very rarely choose anything over coffee...least of all complete strangers). But with that late afternoon sun acting as a backlight, and their energy & enthusiasm, I knew I would get something memorable.
The Mae Trio
The Mae Trio's 'Take care, take cover' was my favourite album for 2017...and that's really saying something when this year saw new albums from The War on Drugs, The National and Iron and Wine. So I was pretty excited about snapping some shots of them when they played at the Wesley Anne in Northcote. Sadly the gig was actually a farewell for one of the band (Anita) and so there was a mix of celebration and melancholy on the night. I feel that this shot captured that. I also know that I manually set the focus and waited for a long time to capture capture Maggie looking up and getting that little bit of light in her eyes.I got some photos from the night that I was really happy with, and deep down hoped that they might see them and feel so inspired by them that they immediately wrote a modern-day folk anthem called 'Chris the remarkably good photographer'...but this hasn't happened...yet...probably because 'photographer' is a really hard word to rhyme with.So there we go. I've travelled the world, but taken some of my favourite photos really close to home. I've shot a fair bit of music, and clearly love converting them to black and white. I've tried new things, and refined some other things. I've shot three weddings, and quite a few corporate jobs. I've left my day job of 11 years, gone back to working 5-days a week in a new job, and started a podcast project.So it's been a big year, and I'd like to thank you all for your support...rest assured, I'll be back in 2018.
Turin Brakes
If serendipity is a marker of success, then Turin Brakes may be the greatest band I know. My journey with them began when I strolled into the record store near where I worked in South Melbourne and their album 'The Optimist' was playing. I quickly bought the CD and fell in love with it. For younger readers, a 'record store' was a shop devoted solely to selling music...it was a bit like Spotify, except you got to drink the music one album at a time...instead of wrapping your mouth around a musical fire-hose. A 'CD' was like a digital download...but without any of the convenience. CD's did however have 'liner notes' that you could spend hours reading and dissecting because the artists didn't have wikipedia pages where you could learn everything you ever needed to know about them. For older readers 'hours' were the measurement of time you used to have up your sleeve, before you had kids, to do things you actually wanted to do.'The Optimist' was on pretty high rotation as Katie and I prepared to get married, and even played a part in our wedding. When Turin Brakes released 'Ether Song' the next year, they were pretty much locked in as one of our favourite bands. Whether we driving in the car or cooking a meal, Turin Brakes became our soundtrack. The only thing better than listening to the harmonies of Olly and Gale, was listening to the harmonies that Katie would come up with singing along with them. It was an absolute certainty that we would see them when they toured.
However, from memory, one of the two key members of the group had a serious fear of flying, and while they were regularly touring the UK and parts of Europe, the lengthy flight to Australia was proving a bridge too far. Then suddenly, in what was clearly divine providence a tour was announced that would coincide with our 1 year wedding anniversary! What joy!But proving that the God's can indeed be cruel, we realised that we would be in Tasmania when they were playing in Melbourne...and in what can only be described as a cruel blow, they would be in Tasmania when we were in Melbourne.So we missed out on seeing them.I bought their next album 'Jackinabox' in 2005 and it was a cracker...but in the liner notes there were photos that were clearly taken down on the St. Kilda foreshore, and it served as a subtle reminder that they had been in Melbourne...and I hadn't seen them.By 2007 we had a 1yo child and I had started a slow decline into musical irrelevance. I simply no longer had the money or the time to stay on top of new music. I was also riding to and from work everyday and so was no longer listening to the radio to hear new songs...besides, to paraphrase Homer Simpson 'Why do we need new music? Everyone knows it reached perfection in 2001!'
But then I heard Fee B Squared on the RRR-FM Breakfasters announce that she had a new track by a band called Turin Brakes and played 'Stalker'. The song still had the beautiful harmonies...but also had a sense of self-assurance and urgency. My love for the band was reignited by the simple good fortune of listening to the radio at the right time. Best of all, I was able to walk into a JB HiFi and buy a CD that didn't have dust on it!
The album was great, but over the next 10 years (and two further children) I well and truly lost touch with the band. I briefly reacquainted myself with them when I stumbled across Olly talking to Phillip Bloom a photographer/videographer whose work I really like, and who was unaware that he was in a video battle with Zack Arias to see if I would go with Canon or Fuji for my big camera purchase.Then, one afternoon some friends came over and on the spur of the moment we decided to get some pizzas. I drove to collect them, and on the way home I happened to be listening to the radio when an ad for the Northcote Social Club came on, and among the list of bands they had coming soon, was Turin Brakes! Now the odds of me happening to be in the car, with the radio on instead of a podcast, and of the radio being on PBS-FM when the ad came on, and of them having Turin Brakes on the list of upcoming artists seemed pretty astronomical. In fact part of me was pretty sure that there was a hot new band called 'Curing Snakes' and I had simply misheard the ad. Nonetheless, when I got home I jumped on my phone and checked the Northcote Social Club website, and sure enough, Turin Brakes were coming to Melbourne, and playing a venue less than 3kms from my house! Needless to say, tickets were purchased quick smart.
Taking photos at the gig
So that's where the story could have ended. 'Boy finds band, boy loses band, boy finds band again.' But as the gig drew closer, I realised that it would be an awesome opportunity to take some photos of the band at the show. I'd recently taken some photos next door at the 303 Bar and Danny Ross was happy with those shots, so I knew I could do it...I just had to work out how.So I sent the Northcote Social Club an email explaining that I'd like to take some photos at the gig, and that I already had a ticket, so it wasn't going to cost them anything. They explained that I would need to get a press pass from the company organising the tour (Bluesfest touring), and at this point I started to wonder if it was worth trying to get a press-pass just so that I could take some photos of a band that I liked. Also, Turin Brakes have a song called 'Stalker'...and I was starting to wonder how 'some guy says he's a big fan and wants to come and take photos of you' was going to sound.
But I also realised that a large part of my reticence was having to step out of my comfort zone, and while that is never pleasant, it's usually where I learn the most. Plus, it really was a win-win. If the photos were good then the touring company got some free photos, and I got the chance to take some photos of a band I love that I could keep for the next 15 years until they toured again! So I sent the email, and a few emails later, I got the press pass.
I'd only ever shot at gigs where the band had invited me, so one of the first things I learned was that the photographers only get to shoot for the first three songs. I don't know if this is so that the photographers don't get to stay for a free show...but it does kinda suck, as bands rarely hit their straps until after the first three songs. Plus, it doesn't give you a whole lot of time to work out which lenses and which settings work.
I decided I was going to rely pretty heavily on the 56mm as it handles the low-light so well...and is just a beautiful lens to work with. Plus I would take the 10-24mm so that I could at least get a few wide-angle shots that had the whole band.I got the venue just before the support act started so that I could chat to the bar manager and get the lay of the land. The rules were pretty simple; First 3 songs, No flash, no backstage. I asked if seeing as I had a ticket if I could keep shooting...he said 'no, that was the agreement they had with the touring company'. So I headed in to watch the support act, have a look at the lighting and try desperately to work out what was going to work in terms of settings.
In the interests of not making the non-photographers read this want to gouge their eyes out by banging on about the technical aspects of the photos, I will just say that the 56mm was awesome, and that the X-t1 is a genuine joy to shoot with. Beyond that, if you have any questions, hit me up in the comments and we'll crap on about f-stops and shutter speeds until our virginity grows back.
The wash-up
- I shot just under 200 photos in the three songs with Turin Brakes and 3 songs with the support act (Lee Rosser), from this I got about 30 photos I was happy enough to keep and 12 photos I was happy enough to share.
- walking into that environment and acting like you belong makes a big difference.
- Drummers really do sit too far back for me to get a decent shot
- There are things that happen during songs after your 3 song limit that would make amazing photos...and you just have to look at them, acknowledge that they would have made a great photo, and die a little bit inside
- Getting to take photos of one of your favourite bands, and then stay up the front for the rest of the gig is pretty much a dream. Sure they didn't stop halfway through a song and say 'Wait, is that a Fuji camera? We love those. You should totally come backstage after the show, take moody portraits of us, then spend hours dissecting our lyrics before we all decide to appear on your podcast'...but you know...but it was still pretty awesome!
- Push yourself out of your comfort zone and take a chance!
- Turin Brakes were worth the 15 year wait.
2 Degrees of Melbourne: Episode 3 - Geraldine Quinn
Late last year I attended the live recording of one of my favourite podcasts (for the podcast fans among you it's 'The Sweetest Plum', I suggest you go out and subscribe to it). Part of the entertainment was a performer called Geraldine Quinn who was introduced as 'a local star on the cabaret scene' and my first thought was 'Oh Christ, here comes a jazz hands solo.' Now admittedly this was based on a single cabaret experience from about 15 years ago in Las Vegas that involved a very large gentleman dressed as Cher from the 'Turn back time' film clip, yelling songs and telling dick jokes...but I'll be damned if I'm going to let go of my ill-informed prejudices!Anyhow, it would have been socially awkward to have just stood up and walked out, so I stayed and listened to Geraldine rework a well known song into a song about the two guys who do the podcast (Declan and Nick). The lyrics were really funny and she clearly was a fan of the podcast, but what really made me reframe any misgivings I had about cabaret performers was when she hit the chorus like the proverbial freight train. Not only could she sing...but she could REALLY sing, and she had a voice that filled the whole room and said 'I'm not doing this by halves, I'm going to give this everything...and by the end of it, you will almost like a Whitney Houston song!' (you can hear the podcast here, Geraldine is about 80% of the way through).So when I embarked on this little project of interviewing people who represent my favourite things about Melbourne...I knew that Geraldine had to be one of them.Now it may have taken about 2 months of organising to finally sort a time, but on Monday she came into the 2 Degrees studio (aka the dining room) and here is my interview with her [vimeo 78679821 w=500 h=281]Two Degrees of Melbourne - Geraldine Quinn from 2 Degrees of Separation on Vimeo.I'm really happy with how this video came up...so happy in fact that I had to break with the traditional 'black and white' look of the other videos because the colour version looked so good. A huge note of thanks to John for bringing me a tripod at very late notice when the base plate to mine failed to re-appear...and an even bigger note of thanks to Geraldine for making the time to be interviewed and being such a great interviewee.You can check out where Geraldine is playing on her site or on her myriad social media sites...but whatever you do, get out and see her, you won't be disappointed!
Music from back in my day
I recently purchased three new albums on CD...and I realised that for my kids, at least three elements of this may not make any sense by the time they are teenagers. I mean who the hell will still buy music?...and if they do why buy an album when there's only one song that they really like? And CD's? CD's?! For Christ's sake Dad, you're embarrassing us and yourself.So I wanted to write some timeless advice to my kids about how to enjoy music, no matter technology brings...and why they shouldn't throw out my CD collection when they eventually put me in a home (although this can pretty much be summarised by 'there's a CD of the Dandy Warhol's debut album signed by the whole band...you don't want to know what Daddy did to get it...but it's probably worth some money now').AlbumsIn the past bands have released the 'best'/'most likely to move units' song off their album...in the hope that you would purchase the whole album. That was basically the choice, if you wanted to buy a single song, you bought the single...if you wanted more than one you bought the album. But of course nowadays you can simply grab individual tracks from an album, and ignore the rest. This is CHEATING!Look, I like chocolate, and I like eggs, and I'm willing to tolerate flour...as individual ingredients they range from tolerable to delicious...but all combined, they can make an amazing cake (or a horrifying breakfast). And that's what the band wants you to eat (the cake that is...not the breakfast). They have structured the album to be enjoyed as a whole, not broken up into individual elements and digested in isolation. So even if you don't like some of the songs on the first listen, you should always buy the whole album. If for no other reason than there will be songs that on the first couple of listens don't do anything for you...but suddenly start to grow on you, until they are the songs you want to listen much more than the song you originally bought the album for.
Hi Fidelity
No doubt by the time you read this, you will have no problem streaming enormous audio files at full quality anywhere you want (unless the NBN got scrapped and you have an elaborate network of strings and cans), but in my day we had to make a choice between high quality sound that took a long time to arrive, and lower quality sound that was there whenever we wanted it. We thought about this for about 6 seconds, and decided that we wanted our music now, now, NOW! and so the mp3 was born.Now I'm not one of these people who demands that you listen to everything on vinyl*, and on a stereo* that has valve powered amps* and was designed by some German artisan who died while making it...but I do beg that you at least listen to music at the highest quality setting you can get, and that you get yourself some decent headphones. I have lost count of the number of times I've listened to a song through decent headphones or speakers and heard a whole new parts of the song I'd never heard before.
The music you listen to from age 16 to 22 will be the best music ever
Now clearly this isn't true, because everyone knows that the best music ever made was released from 1991- 1997 (which coincidentally was when I was 16 - 22), but I'm sure that you will believe something to the contrary. Because the music you listen to from 16 - 22 will be the soundtrack to your teen angst, your first love, the inevitable first break up, freedom, repression, sex, drugs and haircuts that you will regret for the rest of your life. But most importantly, you will have large amounts of time to totally immerse yourself in music. You will have time to listen to songs over and over again...and it's this repetition that will hardwire the songs into your brain and inextricably link them with the incredible emotions you are feeling and give these songs a potency and resonance that words cannot describe.Nonetheless I will tell it's rubbish and demand you turn it down, and, if my worst fears are realised, will insist you listen to music from 1991 - 1997 so that 'you can hear some real music'. I apologise in advance.
Go see live music
No doubt by the time you are reading this, you will be able to access any concert anywhere in the world, and listen to it in crystal clear audio and with HD vision. But this is not the same as being there. You won't feel the entire audience being won over as Beth Gibbons lays her soul bare by singing one line in 'Over' with such passion and intensity that 10,000 people at Festival Hall think she is singing to them, you won't feel the sheer power of Dana Colley playing two saxophones at once, you wont feel the euphoria as DJ Shadow drops the beat on Organ Donor and every person around you collectively loses their shit. You won't feel it, because you weren't there, you weren't part of that moment.So get out and see as much live music as you can. Because one day all of this will have past you by, and you'll be writing blogs about music to your kids instead of going out and seeing a band.If genetic selection is true, then you will hopefully have inherited my love of music and your mother's musical talent and will be able to actually play music AND have a fantastic music collection. But even if you don't, music should be one of the most important things in your life. So whether you stream it, or play it, or it is fed directly into your cerebral cortex via a chip, expose yourself to as much music as you can and remember if a music style exists, then there is someone out there who is doing it well enough for you to listen it...you just need to find them. And most importantly, if anyone other than Daft Punk tries to make music with a vocoder or autotune...you just ignore it...just ignore it. * Just Google these and stop trying to make me feel older than I already do!
2 Degrees of Melbourne - Episode 2 : Mick Thomas
Given the number of times I've looked up on a stage and seen Mick Thomas singing or telling a story...it was a tad surreal to see him standing in my kitchen chatting about the real life person that Dickens' 'Fagin' was based upon. But when you bite the bullet and decide to put some energy into being creative for a year...these sorts of things start to happen.
A bit of background
For those who don't know, Mick Thomas is a Melbourne based singer songwriter. He is probably best known for his work with 'Wedding's, Parties Anything', but has also released numerous albums as both a solo performer and with 'Mick Thomas and the sure thing'...and has written soundtracks and theater productions.While I had always been vaguely aware of 'Weddings, Parties, Anything' (it's a memorable band name...and their constant touring meant I saw a lot of their posters around) it wasn't until a friend of mine (Dave Walsh) brought a song of theirs in to play on my student radio show. The song was 'A tale they won't believe' and basically tells the true story of a group of convicts escaping from a prison on Tasmania, and eventually resorting to cannibalism. As far as songs about cannibalism go, it was pretty awesome.I bought a couple of albums and was hooked. Having been raised on a pretty strong diet of Irish folk music and occasional 'Bushwackers' dances...I recognised the sound and the energy of the music...but suddenly it had lyrics about Australian history, or the trials of being in a relationship and working different hours, or being mistaken for Jack Jones. Most importantly a lot of the songs were about life in Melbourne.So when I came up with the idea of doing short videos on people who I thought were an integral part of Melbourne...Mick Thomas was one of my 'must haves'.Flushed with the success of the Andy White video (over 2,500 views on Vimeo!), I just decided to try my luck and simply sent Mick an email via his website explaining what I was looking to do...and in a rare display of poor judgement...he agreed to take part!
Preparing for the interview
I love listening to interviews by Mark Colvin and Jesse Thorn...if for no other reason, than that wonderful moment you can almost hear the guest think 'Oh wow...this guy has really done his research'. There is a near-tangible change in the way the interviewee responds to the questions, because they realise that they aren't going to be asked the same questions they've been asked before, by someone who is contractually obliged to talk to them....they are talking to someone who has put in some effort, has some great questions and the mental agility to respond to anything they say.Clearly I wasn't looking to achieve these lofty standards...but I wanted to be closer to them, than to Richard Wilkins on the red carpet asking 'So who are you wearing?'So I did as much internet research as I could...which proved to be a good idea, because one my questions was going to be about the brilliant lyrics in one song he sings...which research revealed to be a cover he does. Nothing makes a songwriter happier than having someone praise a song they sing that they didn't write.
The interview
One thing I've learnt over the course of the two interviews is that when you're by yourself and filming on one main camera, and filming on a second camera (my phone), and monitoring audio, and asking the questions, and actively listening to the responses and framing your next question, and doing your best to make sure your interviewee is comfortable...you tend to get to the end of the interview and think 'Well that seemed to go well...but I've got no idea if it's going to work as a five minute video?'But I think it does...and so here is Mick Thomas[vimeo 66318889 w=500 h=281]2 Degrees of Melbourne - Mick Thomas from 2 Degrees of Separation on Vimeo.
In conclusion
The music I wrote for Andy's video just didn't work with Mick's...so I had to write something else (and by 'write' I clearly mean 'stick together a series of samples in Garageband'). But I'm really glad I did. I also had to call an end to the interview a little earlier than I would have liked because the the camera was starting to overheat...and I ran out of memory on the card (shooting at 50fps is all well and good to get nice slow motion...but it chews through the memory!)...and editing in 1.5 hour blocks between putting the kids to bed and going to bed myself was less than ideal.But I can live with all of these little issues, the one thing I'm still annoyed with myself about is that with Mick standing right there in my kitchen I didn't have the guts to tell him that I think that he is one of the best singer/songwriters that Australia has ever produced...and certainly my favourite. And that Melbourne is so lucky to have someone to immortalise it in song. So I'll just write it here instead, and pretend that this somehow makes up for it.But if you'd like to make up for my inadequacy, then I heartily suggest that you all 'do yourself a favour' and go out and buy a 'Weddings, Parties Anything' album or a 'Mick Thomas and the Sure Thing' album, or head to Tassie and check out 'Vandemonian Lags'...or just visit Mick's site and see when he's performing next.You won't regret it.
The song that changed my life...kinda.
Rafael Epstein has a segment on his radio show on 774 ABC Melbourne where people talk about the song that changed their life, and every time I think about it, there is one song that really stands out: 'Red 2' by Dave Clark. But it's not because it heralded the onset of some amazing time in my life, more that it marked the end of one.The rave scene in the early 90'sIf this were a news report or documentary, this is the part where you cut to the footage of people dancing with glow sticks in a massive club while a light show explodes around them. But in truth this is not where this story starts. In year 11 and 12 at school (1992-93) I started listening to techno music. Back then it was called 'trance' and it was still well and truly outside of the mainstream. DJ's who would eventually play at parties for 10,000s of people like Will e Tell and Richie Rich were still playing the back room at Insanity at the Chevron to a transient group of about 20 punters.Community radio was the only place to find it. There was one show that I listened to religiously called 'Beat in the street' (that later became 'Transmission') on RRR-FM hosted by Kate Bathgate. I used to tape every show, and then listen to the tape on my walkman again, and again and again at school over the next week.Going to a private all-boys school meant that listening to anything other than MMM or Fox-FM was basically like walking into a steakhouse and just ordering a salad, it simply wasn't done. So listening to these tapes in the common room at school had a sort of forbidden pleasure element to it.I started going to dance parties (or in the parlance of 1994 'raves') regularly when I started Uni and it was a total revelation. The venues were usually shitty warehouses with one toilet. The sound systems were prone to blowing just as everyone was going apeshit (Thomas Heckman, I'm looking in your direction) and the people attending them were the offcuts from society. There were tall and lanky guys and short squat women. They had their own dresscode (highly coloured clothes, with very wide pants and very tight tops). They didn't drink and there was none of the agro that hung over the club scene like a fog as soon as the clock hit 2am. And the music...well it was like nothing I had ever heard! There was the big 4/4 beat driving it along, but there were also floating basslines and awesome melody lines that I just loved. If you can imagine my music up until this point being basically nothing but guitars and the occasional hip-hop track... then suddenly hearing this or this you can get an idea of just how big a change it was.It was a very friendly and welcoming scene, and like so many sub-cultures, part of the pleasure was sharing an experience with a whole lot of like minded people. I would head to these parties at about midnight and then dance until the early morning...then catch the first train home. Some how I managed to also accommodate my exhausting 8 contact hours a week of uni. I was living the dream.Cometh the drugs, cometh the pretty people...endeth the partyBy the mid 90's the parties were getting bigger and better, with the Hardware and Every Picture Tells a Story parties attracting thousands of people...and with that I started to notice more and more people from clubland appearing at the raves. It started with a slow trickle of muscly men in white t-shirts and their blonde bombshells...and eventually became a monsoon of pretty people armed with whistles, glow sticks and talcum powder. But of course these people weren't here for the music...they were there because someone had told them that it was cool to go to raves and do drugs.Now of course drugs had always been a big part of the rave scene, but suddenly people were no longer going to listen to the music and maybe do some drugs...they were going to do some drugs and maybe listen to some music. So the music slowly began to morph away from the flowing melodies and soaring chords, towards something that said 'look, you've spent a lot of money on those two pills and that gram of speed...let's give you something that you can just grind your teeth to all night'. To me Red 2 was the tipping point. It was so sparse, so mechanical, and so minimal that I felt no connection with it...and as the crowds around me generally lost their shit to it...I realised that I had no real connection with them either. And suddenly the spell was broken. I could no longer see my future self still going the these parties when I was 40 (I had earnestly announced this to people in the past), I couldn't even see myself going to these parties in 6 months time. The dance was over.Like any naive person in a subculture, I wanted the mainstream to see how amazing this scene was and to experience what I was experiencing. I was convinced that if the mainstream could just attend these parties, then the world would be a better place...but when the mainstream decided to drop by, they were like a drunken gatecrasher. They turned up at my house, made a pass at my girlfriend then vomited on the cat. In short they pretty much ruined everything, and Red 2 was the soundtrack they did it to.That was 20 years ago. All of the flyers I used to have stuck on my bedroom walls are gone, the recordings I listened to religiously are on redundant technology and it takes weeks weeks to organise someone to look after the kids if I was to go out on a Saturday night...and even then, I'd have to be home by 1am because otherwise I'd be too tired for the next day. But while writing this I jumped on YouTube and started listening to some of the tracks I used to love, and suddenly I was back in a warehouse in Footscray, at 4am, dancing my heart out with a room of people who were having the best night of their lives...and I'm so glad that I got to experience that.