Headed down the road to my fave little live music venue in Sydney – The Annandale Hotel – for a return of The Vasco Era.

These guys are absolutely phenomenal live. Unbelievably energetic and so very blues-infused rock. Love to shoot them (I think this shot of Sid O’Neil is the fave from the three times I’ve had the opportunity to shoot them)

Further photos after the break, or check out the full set online at flickr.

Support: The Smoke Band

Support: Bright Yellow

Shot for fasterlouder.com.au/people/jufemaiz.

Further photos after the break, or check out the full set online at flickr.

Support: Liberation Front

A massive night at Sydney’s The Metro – all in support of FBi Radio, ensuring the continuation of Sydney’s independent music scene.

Lighting was fantastic and the music even better. What a great night!

Further photos after the break, or check out the full set online at flickr.

Support: Holly Throsby

Support: Sherlock’s Daughter

Support: Middle East

TripleJ’s Unearthed winner for 2009 – Middle East.

Support: New Buffalo (now known as Sally Seltmann)

Support: Jack Ladder performing with band.

Support: Leader Cheetah

Support: Firekites

Shot for T H E S Y D N E Y S O C I A L

Midnight Juggernauts were back for the first day of Come Together Festival at The Big Top along with a long line of acts. I got to shoot day one for REVERB Street Press in Newcastle.

Oh Mercy were definitely the standout act – something proven with their success in following up with a tour supporting Ben Folds around Australia and the release of their debut album.

Midnight Juggernauts

Datarock

Dukes of Windsor

Infusion

Art vs Science (from the lovely gents behind Roger Explosion!)

Quan

Astronomy Class

SPOD

Cloud Control

Fire! Santa Rosa Fire!

Leader Cheetah

Pez

Oh Mercy

Shot for REVERB Street Press

Damn what a fun concert this was. Hordern Pavilion always represents a fantastic lighting scheme, and forewarning from a few other photographers told of a fantastic light show to finish out the night. The Presets, and Australian electronica for that matter, is most definitely in right now all around the globe – having come a long way from far more modest roots.

I ended up shooting enough to fill up around 20GB of memory this night (yes, I’m a purist, I even shoot concerts in RAW). Much much fun was had – even in the post production work on the shots.

Finally, the obligatory crowd shot (apparently they’re becoming something of a signature shot at large gigs).

Support: Architecture in Helsinki

To be honest, this is one of my most favourite. The lighting for these guys has given me heaps of ideas (like working on set of a short film) about lighting in three dimensions. I’d be very happy if this was an outcome from a strobist shoot!

Support: Van She

For more, check out the full set on flickr.

Shot for T H E S Y D N E Y S O C I A L

My first day in New York City coincided with a gig from the Australian indi-folk brother and sister duo, Angus + Julia Stone. Prior to leaving I’d managed to score a pass to shoot them thanks to their older sister Catherine.

The venue, while dark and not much bigger than The Vanguard, was filled to capacity, and not just with expats. As I waited patiently up front I met started talking to a fellow photographer, Mary Catherine, and discovered that while she was from New York City, she was here with her best friend, Marta Riggins, from Los Angeles – who turns out to be the Stone’s US Agent.

The Aussies turned on the charm and the audience definitely enjoyed themselves.

More Flickr Photos from Angus & Julia Stone @ The Mercury Lounge, New York City

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.

Rather than wait until the end of the year I thought I’d undertake Part I of my photography review of 2008 at the close of June wait until the end of the year to publish Part I of my annual photography review.

Closing 2007 out with José González was always going to be difficult to beat, and while the beginning of 2008 has not had quite the same hectic nature to it as 2007 was it has still proven to be fruitful on the photography front. But anyway, read on…

The 2008 Photographic Review.

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

January

My first gig for 2008, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ The Metro Theatre, coincided with my first chance to get the camera out following the short trip to the Booti Booti National Park for New Years (one which I didn’t really enjoy too much and think staying down in Sydney would have been a better option in retrospect, but c’est la vie, we live and we learn).

Following on from this the camera was set aside for half the month as I failed to by given any gigs and had no real social outings for a camera to be present at. James Browning of Niché Productions gave me a buzz to shoot at Becks Bar where he had organised a gig for Sydney Festival with the lads from Kora flying across the Tasman with support from Sydney siders Budspells and California’s Aloe Blacc.

Was a pretty great evening even with the light rain at an outside venue.

For the first time in eight years we broke from tradition and ended up staying in Sydney during Australia Day rather than heading out to a camp spot somewhere for an escape. Bit of a downer but again c’est la vie. The day was hence spent at the beach at Long Reef, wasn’t too bad a way to spend a lazy Australian summer day. Duncan was also there testing out his new purchase – a Canon 17-40mm f/4L.

Also managed to get a pretty nice panoramic out of the day too.

February

February saw one of my biggest goals achieved with my first major music festival. First up, though, was the sideshow with Cypress Hill playing at the Enmore Theatre where I got to meet Sydney photographer Nic Bezzina (whose awesome work graces the walls of The Annandale Hotel). Cypress Hill were crazy to shoot, as most hiphop groups are, as they ran around like ADHD aflicted children on the stage. Was a lot of fun though – and I got my first work published in Newcastle’s Reverb Magazine as a result. An early photography related goal scored (and one to be repeated throughout the year).

The Sydney leg of the Good Vibrations Festival was an absolute blast to shoot – so much fun, but a hectic schedule. Bands on the list to shoot included:

• Kanye West
• Cypress Hill
• The Rapture
• Pharoahe Monch
• Calvin Harris
• Katalyst
• Thievery Corporation
• K-OS
• Muscles
• Damn Arms
• plus the varied and assorted collection of munted punters

Some of the fave shots from the day:

I also picked up a new bag (Crumpler Whiskey & Cox) and fedora for the day.

Phew. With this day out I had two of my photography goals solved this year – a big festival and a photo published.

The annual pilgrimage to Tropfest occurred and a great day was had. The camera wasn’t brandished as much this time mind – just one shot showing how much we enjoyed the day.

Nicholas Broadbent (aka “Nick” or “Wombat”), one of my best mates, flew back to Australia with a lovely girl, Melanie, to introduce to his friends as his fiancée and have a general massive night of celebrations. The next day, in spite of the collective hangover, it was decided that the best thing we could do on such a day would be to head out to Taronga Zoo and Balmoral Beach before hitting the city that night to enjoy the limited time they both had in Australia.

March

In March a new phase of my life was embarked upon. I entered into a five year contract as Technology Analyst with the Intelligent Network section of EnergyAustralia. I moved out (again, something about March and new beginnings I guess) to Surry Hills, moving in with Ben Lange (my former housemate in Newcastle), Rami Banna (University Medalist for Electrical Engineering, Class 2003) and Simon Blythe (another underachieving UNSW Electrical Engineering graduate who is working a number of companies with venture capitalists simultaneously). So there we go – four electrical engineers in one sharehouse, a recipe for disaster really.

The first of the photographic expeditions was to shoot DRAMAC, Macquarie University’s Drama Society’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

March also saw me get out of the (new) house to hit up the Enmore Theatre once more to shoot this time for James Browning of Niche Productions – the act, Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings. What a powerhouse of the true roots of soul this woman is, a must see this summer as she heads back to the Australian shores.

Image

Stay tuned for Parts II, III and IV of 2008 in Review.

She’s cute, she’s fun, has a powerful voice and I have a major (photographers) crush on her (but she’s taken, having married her guitarist a while back). Kate Miller-Heidke is back, ladies and gentlemen, (her fans indeed come from both sides) and with a new album to boot.

I had the opportunity to shoot the Queenslander when she was in Sydney in April and played two shows at The Annandale Hotel (a location that was indeed unusual for her to play – full set of shots, with this one in particular being a favourite with Google image search). Through this I was tracked by Kate’s manager and we organised a pass for Friday’s show at The Spiegeltent

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

Shot for Kate Miller-Heidke herself

Ben Ven Grootel, a mate of mine from The Root 42, headed over to the east coast on tour with his band Streetlight from Perth and asked me to grab some shots for them. The Annandale Hotel has also increased their rig and pulled out all stops on the main stage today.

The Annandale Hotel has recently invested in some new lighting kit – specifically a rig of 8 LED lights. Now, normally I’d not be terribly impressed, but in this case I give full thumbs up. They’re being used specifically as fill lighting with smoke not as primary lights and they’ve hence been able to retire a few of the old PAR56s to their primary role – lighting people and objects instead of filling smoke with light.

Anyhow, for those fellow photographers interested, here’s an example of where The Annandale Hotel is headed with their lighting rig (note: the front-of-house lighting bar was not on for this shot and is used to compliment the back lighting with some nice white light on the face (although half the bar is gel’d yellow)

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