Part II in my two part review of my perspective times and events of 2007 in a photographic form (Read Part I first).
Read on and comment if you like!
July
My Birthday Present to myself - my first L-Series lens from Canon, a 70-200mm f/2.8 from d-d-photographics.com.au. Also pictured are my Moo mini business cards from England based on a selection of my flickr shots… they lasted all of 2.5 months
July represented a ramp up in the hectic nature of my photography and life in general. I got to shoot a number of bands including: Something With Numbers at University of Newcaste’s Bar on the Hill and 28 Days playing out at Maitland. A follow up to Mewfest:Easter 2007 was Mewfest777:Winter 2007 to celebrate my 25th birthday. Friends came up from Sydney, and also some of my Newcastle mates dropped in, dropped down to Sydney for Sunny’s 25th birthday bash, enjoyed the EnergyAustralia graduate dinner (after presenting during the day on our rotation), shooting some random work shots for the presentation, catching up with my Great Aunt who was down from Queensland with family and got some surf shots in to the bargain.
A rather popular shot of the junk I keep in my pocket - I need tto update this!
The Inches from Melbourne supporting Something With Numbers at Bar on the Hill in Newcastle
Something With Numbers at Bar on the Hill in Newcastle
My Birthday Cake - lovingly made by my best mate’s (now) wife Sarah
Housemate Ben Lange relaxing on the couch
Surfer at Bar Beach in Newcastle
Well, it’s interesting to me 
(larger panoramic)
Pasha Bulker, having been removed from the beach undergoes repairs in Newcastle Harbour (larger panoramic)
Sunny’s Birthday Cake
My rellies new Black Lab Penelope (aka Penny)
My Great Aunt Tot at Nelson Bay
Newcastle girl band Amathyst supported 28 Days
28 Days playing out at Maitland’s Club House Hotel
August
My final month in Newcastle was jam packed to say the least. On the band front I started with a friend from TheRoot42.org Ben van Grootel’s band from Perth Streetlight hitting up Oxford Street’s Spectrum and finished shooting the Midnight Juggernaughts at the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle. In between were the Kaiser Chiefs at the Hordern Pavilion (my first, and I finally met both Will Reichelt and Daniel Boud both of whom I’d followed on flickr for some time), The Beautiful Girls playing Newcastle’s Bar on the Hill and the local band competition Resonate. The month also saw a visit from Switzerland of a friend from TheRoot42.org Thierry Blancpain, a meetup of the Sydney members of TR42, the annual trip with the Manly High Guys to Mike’s Farm, a lunar eclipse and packing up my room to head back to Sydney.
Perth’s Streetlight play at Oxford Street’s Spectrum
Perth’s Streetlight play at Oxford Street’s Spectrum
Kaiser Chiefs play a packed Hordern Pavilion in Sydney. The opportunity to shoot was a thank you gift from the band for developing the open source jmc_event_manager that runs their gig guide on their site.
Cruising the Hunter with Thierry visiting from Switzerland
The Beautiful Girls performing at Bar On The Hill in Newcastle
Road case - old school style
Logan Wines at Mudgee - beautiful winery and beautiful wines
Fireside at Mike’s Farm. The challenge is always a bigger fire than the year before…
…I think we did a pretty good job
Driving back from the farm via Mudgee (larger panoramic)
Pedal Shots at the Resonate band competition at The Brewery in Newcastle
Dusk at Bar Beach during the lunar eclispe
The Lunar Eclipse!
Damn Arms, a great bunch of guys from Melbourne, supporting Midnight Juggernauts in Newcastle
Midnight Juggernauts close out my August, quite literally
September
September started with two gigs in one day - the Bimbadgen Blues Festival in the Hunter Valley and Kora at the Gaelic Club in Sydney. I also had to move the majority of my belongings to Sydney and pack up my room. I’m a tad crazy! From there Sydney saw APEC come and go, along with the fence and the Chaser security penetration. A friend had started a new band so I volunteered to shoot them in at the Hopetoun Hotel and also shot the guys from True Live once more, this time at the Annandale Hotel, and Shapeshifter at the Gaelic Club. Work changed to Sydney with a new group and I attended a conference too. The move back home was interesting to say the least, and it’s taken a while to get used to the bus travel once more.
Bimbadgen Blues Festival goers
…more of the crowd!
Sunsets over Bimbadgen Blues Festival
Budspells supported Kora at the Gaelic Club
The calm before the storm of APEC in Sydney
APEC Week - the Sydney Opera House
Light Trails in Sydney
Tal at the Hopetoun in Sydney
True Live with support from King Farook, Paris Wells and Amali Ward at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney
Shapeshifter and Foreign Dub Soundsystem keep the Gaelic Club aliv till the wee hours of the morning - playing after a set at Parklife
October
October opened with a lovely night at the Vanguard to shoot Hollie Smith and closed with the Annual PVSOC Dinner. In between I had the opportunity to shoot Regurgitator at the Metro Theatre, Urthboy, Hermitude + The Tongue at the Gaelic Club, UK’s The Klaxons at the Enmore Theatre, Butterfingers at the Forum, Vasco Era once again this time at the Annandale Hotel. I also attended the EA Staff Club Masquerade Ball, a bit of a wander around the Rocks for a Beer Festival, one of Macquarie University’s productions that Stu was playing piano in and a roadtrip with the VeeDub Club to Bowral with Seb. I was also involved in my first paid shoot - the media day of the Sydney Motor Show for CarsGuide.com.au. October also saw me replace my trusty Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 with a Canon L-Series version as I’d slightly damaged the Sigma and it could no longer guarantee me quality images at the f/3.2 I normally shot at. As with the 70-200 I was suitably impressed by the quality of the glass - L-Series needs to be used to be believed!
The magical hands of New Zealand’s Hollie Smith at the Vanguard in Newtown
More pedals It’s all about the details!
This seems to have been a rather popular photo of the Masquerade Ball!
Just something about this shot that I really like
Jump shot + more from Regurgitator’s support act New Pants (from China!)
Shooting the ‘gurge once more - Regurgitator at the Metro Theatre in Sydney
The Sydney Motor Show - my first paid gig!
Urthboy at the Gaelic Club in Surry Hills
The Tongue at the Gaelic Club in Surry Hills
The Tongue with Urthboy
Melbourne’s Damn Arms supporting the Klaxons on tour from the United Kingdom
The Klaxons play to a packed out Enmore Theatre
Butterfingers at the Forum Theatre in Enmore
The Vasco Era’s Sid O’Neil - perfect lighting from the Annandale Hotel
The Vasco Era rocking the Annandale Hotel
Archy + Mehitabel playing at the Lighthouse Theatre by Macquarie Uni’s Musical Society
Seb’s family’s VW Beetle Cabriolet at Milton Park Country House in the Southern Highlands
More cars from the VW Club Cruise to the Bowral Car Show
November
November was one of the busier months gig wise, shooting Sounds in the Grounds at Sydney University, Xavier Rudd on his national tour, Beleruche out from the United Kingdom, my mates band The Gays, Sneaky Sounds (with support from Sweden’s Robyn and Australia’s most excellent Van She) and Ohmega Watts. I also found time for a dinner in Newcastle with the Safearth group, heading out to the Sydney Convention Centre for E21C, Dad’s side of the family’s Christmas and the National Art School’s 2007 exhibition of work.
Performers at Sounds in the Grounds, from top: Gotye, Gotye, Wolf & Cub, I Heart Hiroshima, The Crowd.
Xavier Rudd performing at the Enmore Theatre in Newtown
Jeremy Fisher, from Canada, supported Xavier Rudd on his Australian Tour
Conferences can be fun to shoot! The E21C Conference with: 2007 Australian of the Year Tim Flannery, KPMG’s top demographer Bernard Salt, absolute champion journalist George Negus, my (by then) former housemate from Newcastle Ben Lange
Belleruche perform at Will & Toby’s - Kathrin deBoer’s eyes and voice are absolutely captivating
Sneaky Sound System brought me back to the Hordern
Robyn supporting Sneaky Sounds at the Hordern
Favourite photo of 2007 - Van She perform at the Hordern with Sneaky Sound System
The glo-stick-fluoro-crowd at Sneaky Sounds
Ohmega Watts hits up Sydney at the Oxford Art Factory in Darlinghurst
My cousin’s little girl Ella at the Courtney Christmas Party
December
The final month of the year was a very busy one. I had two weddings - James & Lee and Stu & Sarah (where I was also Best Man) - with the associated bucks parties, family stuff for Christmas, a ramp up of work and more gigs. I got to cover TripleJ’s Elements Tour at the Metro, an all ages with Muscles at the Forum, Blackalicious at the Forum and finally to top the year of one of my favourite artists - José Gonzáles at the Enmore Theatre.
TripleJ’s presents Elements Tour - Artists from top: Z-Trip, Swollen Members, Jungle Brothers
James and Lee’s wedding was held up at Kurrajong Heights
Muscles’ all ages show at the Forum in Sydney - never been at a crazy floor at a gig!
Cassette Kids supported Muscles
Stu + Sarah’s Wedding (top photo: Kate Butcher)
The next generation of the Head family at the annual Head family gathering on Boxing Day at Box Hill
Blackalicious playing the Forum in Sydney
DJ QBert (top) and People Under the Stairs (bottom) supporting Blackalicioius
The crowd awaits Blackalicious
An end of year treat - José Gonzáles playing at the Enmore Theatre - absolutely awesome
Emily Barker supported José Gonzáles
Farewell 2007: The surf during the day, and the stars just before midnight
Seems like second half of 2007 was just as busy for you as the first! Many great shots
great set of pics mate, the 1st part and this one.
i like the idea of posts like this. *copycat!*
heh - didn’t even see your post mullet @lucky! (Seriously - fix up your htaccess file for a better uri structure mate!)
@dimitry: cheers mate! definitely was a busy year
Excellent 2007 Review Joel. Definitely looks like one hell of a year; photographically & just life in general. Hope 2008 opens up for much more opportunities for you to take your awesome photography to even higher lengths man :).
Hej Joel, you shot a gig of José Gonzáles’ and didn’t even put up a blog or photos. I don’t know whether to feel incensed or sad. Would like to have read how his show was and see some photos. I also agree, he’s a great artist/musician/songwriter/singer.
Best Wishes for 2008.
@Stephen: the José Gonzáles gig was on the Saturday night before I drove up to Booti Booti for NYE (leaving the next day at around 830am) so I haven’t had time to blog it (there’s photos on flickr though ;)). I will catch up on December’s photography sometime soon.
@Bob(aka Beerluver): Cheers heaps man - I’m hoping so too! Maybe even some published work.
AWESOME pics!
[...] a year it’s been (if you’re bored I’ve split my review of 2007 into parts I and II for a review with photography). Given that Gonzáles is currently on high rotation on my iPod [...]