The 2008 Photographic Review Continues.

• 2008: A Photographic Review – Part I
• 2008: A Photographic Review – Part II
• 2008: A Photographic Review – Part III
• 2008: A Photographic Review – Part IV

July

Another two weeks attending The Annandale Hotel occurred this month.

End of Fashion rocked back in to Sydney’s Annandale Hotel to celebrate a long drought of shows. Support was by friends Cuthbert & the Night Walkers and fellow Sydney band Bridgemary Kiss.

Oz Hip-hop has been big the last couple of years and TZU headed down to the Annandale Hotel to make their presence felt, with support from The Tongue and Rapaport. Oh yeah, I’d also picked up a new lens – a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM – which got an outing at this gig.

World Youth Day was upon us in July so the camera, mainly with the new ultra-wide angle lens on it, came walkabout a bit.

The Annual Pilgrimage (of sorts) once again saw the bogan group from Manly High School’s class 2000 (plus a couple of ring-ins) hit the road up to Mike’s Farm at Ilford for a weekend of doing what we do best. I also got to have a little fun with the new strobist gear I picked up back when the dollar was at parity with the greenback.

During this month I also got myself in over my head doing headshots for my sister and her musical with the Newsouth University Theatre Society (NUTS for short, kinda apt don’t you think?). Not only that, I also did the design work for the programme, the website, the posters and the hoodies.

Finally to round out July I also headed out to shoot Lightspeed Champion at the Oxford Art Factory with Nicholas, this time working with The Sydney Social.

August

August was a fairly quite photographic month for me, however in life it was changing. I moved out of the abode in Surry Hills and took over the spare room at the Haberfield abode of one of my best mates – Stu.

Following up the work I did for my Hannah (my sister) with her production of Man of la Mancha, I also shot the dress rehearsal…

and back stage at one of the nights.

To round out the last month of Winter for 2008 I finally caught up with a fellow photographer from England, Mark Haldane, and his girlfriend Heather Carson while they were in Australia doing some work experience up in the Queensland outback (having flown down to Sydney on one of their two week breaks). I’ve known Mark for quite some time through the ubiquitous intarwebs (he gave me some ideas on faux-cross-processing in 2006) and it was good to finally catch up as I took them from lunch at Manly up to Palm Beach (well, they are hopeless poms and just had to get a shot at “Summer Bay”) before we drove back across the Sydney Harbour Bridge (one of the few times I wished for a convertible) and ended up in Glebe for some hot chocolates at to round out the day. Hopefully both Mark and Heather can return the favour when I hit the shores of England in April!

September

The second day of Spring saw me shoot another gig for The Sydney Social – this time it was a MAX Session recording of Newton Faulkner. I ended up getting to talk to his sister for much of the end of his set and discovered that he was extremely nervous about playing in the Sydney Opera House – and that it was something he hoped for but never imagined would come true. Dreams, huh!

To follow up the midweek shoot I hit The Metro in the heart of the city for some Drum ‘n’ Bass courtesy of our kiwi cousins in Shapeshifter. These guys seriously know how to put on a great live show, and that night was no exception. I can only imagine how they’d bring down the house at the Enmore if given the opportunity. Support came in the form of Ritual & Spike T plus Bondi’s Budspells.

Next up it was a night out at one of Sydney’s iconic music venues – The Basement at Circular Quay. Not only did we have Holly Throsby as the main act, but Youth Group’s Toby Martin took the role of warming up the crowd.

…and closing out the third quarter of 2008 in photos are the local lads from Van She as they hit The Forum at Moore Park to release their album, pulling along Lost Valentinos for support.

The Kiwi’s Drum and Bass band Shapeshifter hit the stage in Sydney to a sell out crowd. They’ve gotten significantly bigger since I last shot them at the Gaelic Club in Surry Hills. The crowd was more balanced – although that was probably more reflective of the fact that they weren’t playing after a set at ParkLife like last year.

Great night out with support from locals Budspells and Ritual & Spiky Tee.

More shots after the break or see the full set at flickr.

Support: Budspells

Support: Ritual & Spikey Tee

Shot for Niche Productions

The Kiwi Brothers + 1 token white guy of Kora hit Sydney Festival

Catching up on the last month of photography. Kiwi band Kora hit Australia to play with the Sydney Festival this year. Performing at Becks Bar, located at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum at the northern end of Hyde Park in the city, I was given an access all areas pass by James Browning (working for Sydney Festival, but also the man behind Niche Productions) and a couple of tickets – shooting the event for InTheMix. While I couldn’t find anyone to enjoy the VIP tickets, I met up with Duncan and his brother Angus who were reviewing the show for InTheMix and give a great wrap up of the evening’s entertainment. The support acts that I got their to shoot were Aloe Blacc and Budspells.

More shots after the break or full set at flickr.

Budspells

Aloe Blacc

Shot for InTheMix

Kora at the Gaelic Club

In addition to the Bimbadgen Blues Festival and moving back to Sydney I also spent the night at the Gaelic Club in Surry Hills shooting New Zealand band Kora, with support from Budspells. I was invited to shoot this gig by James Browning of Niche Productions, and also covered the event for In The Mix along with reviewer legal-affairs (you can read his review at InTheMix.com.au)

Kora

Budspells

More Shots…

View the full set of Kora @ The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills at flickr.

Thanks to James Browning for giving me the gig. Shot for Niche Productions and In The Mix