Band photos - Shindig

Shindig promo picture
© Nathan J Hulse

As I am a musician as well as a photographer I sometimes get asked to photograph bands. Last year one such band approached me to take pictures for their new CD and promotion pictures. It is an old band with a new name. The CD cover also had extra artwork which I had to try to visualise in my head when taking the pictures. You can see the CD cover here.

I used Studio 3 in Potters Bar. It can get a little cramped in there with a few people plus drum kit and guitars all over the place. The white background works so the picture can be dropped in on posters and other material that show promoters may use the picture for.

Music Awards

Gary Barlow
© Nat Jag/WireImage

The Music Industry Trust Awards in London on Monday 5th November 2012 saw Gary Barlow win the award. He already knew when he arrived as the whole event was in his honour. Not bad for a self taught pianist. Many celebrity guests including Nicole Scherzinger, Tulisa, Kimberley Walsh and of course the man himself Gary Barlow, plus many others.

Ice Age Live: World Premiere?

Nicola Mclean
© Nat Jag / WireImage

I was ask to photograph the celebrity arrivals for the 'Ice Age Live: A Mammoth Adventure' World Premiere. Only I was there Friday evening 02 November, and there had already been shows on 1st November and an afternoon show on that same Friday. Was it a World Premiere?

There was a mediocre guest list, with only a handful of that list turning up with their family to watch it. Pictured is Nicola Mclean.

Katie Price signs books in Welwyn Garden City

Katie Price in Welwyn Garden City
© Nathan J Hulse

Katie Price latest book signing seemed to avoid the big London stores, instead she went to a smaller shopping Mall called the Howard Center in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire as well as a few locations after. Also looking on from the side was Leandro.

Picture taken with 24-70 lens and processed in Apples Aperture 3.

X factor live tour - Cher Lloyd

I was lucky enough to be asked to cover the Matinee performance of the X factor Live tour on Sunday 6th March at Wembley Arena. Normally with live shows photographers will only get the first 3 songs. I once had 1 song only. With the X factor show, because they had pyrotechnics, we weren't allowed to shoot any acts then. In addition, all the top 10 acts from the X factor finals were spread across the whole show. This meant for some a long day, or a chance to see more than one song from the show. Great. 

 Cher Lloyd © Nathan J Hulse

I was very pleased to see they actually used a real band with real musicians, playing real instruments rather than just backing tracks. It was good to see more of a show than normal, I still left just before the end to avoid thousands of people all catching the same train.

Simon Cowell's Syco had a 6 month restriction on use for any photography from these concerts. They were only available for 6 months from the date the picture was taken. Other use had to be arranged via syco. 

Usually photographers photograph the first 3 songs of a concert. However, because this concert had many performers, we were there for almost the entire duration. After standing at the front, I managed to blag some ear plugs from a security officer. When I got back I decided it was time to get some proper ear plugs. Best decision I made.

T4 on the Beach - 2010

The Saturdays

I was lucky enough to be asked to cover T4 on the Beach at Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset (UK). Great, I couldn't wait. Apart from an early start which is never good for me. I managed to get up at 4:15, the press coach picked us up from Hammersmith Apollo at 6:45am. That is very early for me. We were looked after very well by the PR team. There was a down side, there were so many acts on we had to do our best to fit the live performances with the press runs backstage, where many of the artists pose for pictures as well. This was a great opportunity to photograph the acts on the other stage. For most of the day the weather was great, it did rain, quite heavy towards the end while JLS were performing. I gave that a miss, plus they were on the same time Diana Vickers was due backstage for the press run. The Saturdays (R) were minus Mollie King due to illness and performed as a four piece. They did looked a bit nervous at the start.

Diana Vickers

My notes for the day and future occasions I should do this event again. As a photographer we can take the live performance pictures from the golden circle. In the golden circle are also other members of the public. It's easy to get head in the way of your shot. Take a small step to get above them. The next point, don't try to cover both stages. The second T4 session stage is quite a distance to walk, plus we shot from the crowd, not even closer like the golden circle on the main stage. Finally, trying to edit pictures on a moving coach made me feel sick. Do it either before I get on the coach or at home.

Tech notes:- The main shots were taken on the canon 70-200 lens using the canon 1d mk111, while the shorter lens picture, eg backstage, were taken on the canon 1d mk11n and 24-70 lens. Many of the shot were shot using plus 1-2 stops exposure compensation as I was shooting against a white cloudy background. I have included an HDR image at the bottom of The Saturdays (still with the demo softwares watermark) which shows more how the scene really was; overcast. Clicking on the picture will take you to the shot submitted to Famous pictures. All RAW processed using aperture 3 (excpet the HDR shot). Which brings me to a final note, when the lap top is on battery power, the screen goes darker, remember to take that into consideration when editing pictures, otherwise they all come out a bit bright.

The Saturdays

So there you have it, a brief run down on the event and all the points I need to consider in the future. Also, please note all direct links supplied are pictures taken by myself and sold by famous pictures. They are not other photographer pictures. Clicking elsewhere on famous pictures will show pictures by other photographers.

I hope you enjoy. Click on the picture for the full gallery of images I took and sent to Famous Pictures.