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.

Check it out bg on black!

I was asked if I I could shoot a friend-of-a-friend’s newly formed theatre group on a cold Friday night in July. Hell yeah I wanted to have a crack at it. It did however take a while for me to realise that one of the members I’ve known for years – being one of my sister Hannah’s friends, Joanne Erskine.

Lighting, stylist, hair + makeup provided. Just be there to shoot with a few ideas based on some inspiration the group had taken from a variety of photography sources. The venue was deep in the dark caverns of NIDA.

To work with I had two small continuous lighting sources (erm, not sure what they were, I was a little distracted setting up, tearing down etc). One was used as a lightbox ~2m overhead and slight to the left, the second had barn doors attached to provide a small focused light source from behind.

This has been done more than a few times, however check the site, it works in quite well with some of their design work to date, so should be easily used on flyers and so forth.

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

All bloodied up!

Shot for Cry Havoc.

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

The Affairs invited me out to cover their single launch in Darlinghurst. Not a bad little act and interested to see how they’ve gone since.

Support: Serenik

This shot has since made its way onto canvas for the lead singer. Awaiting a shot of it in place.

From the archives – shot for The Affairs

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

My last full day in England was spent wandering around the Thames once more, a visit to Tate Modern and a tour of the Globe Theatre. It really was a leisurely day, not having to do much was great. Had lunch with Samantha, a friend from High School, ran into a bunch of German skaters doing some photos and videos outside the Tate Modern and just did some basic exploration.

My last night was spent doing the menial task of washing and a night out on the town to catch up with Cord and her friends. All in all I think I got about 4 hours sleep as I woke the next morning early to get to Heathrow on the first Tube of the day to catch my 730am flight to the United States of America – entry point New York.

More Flickr Photos from London

After decamping from Cord’s place and relocating to my new digs – a hostel near Baron’s Court – I jumped aboard the train to Manchester to meet up with Ruth and Adam, fellow members of TheRoot42.org, for a traditional Sunday Afternoon Roast, capped off with a couple of Coopers (had to introduce the poms to it!). What I hadn’t counted on was that Manchester United was playing the same day, so my trip up and back with Virgin Trains meant that while I didn’t have a seat, I had a lot of entertainment provided for me – from the Swedish teachers over for the weekend to get pissed and watch football, to the unhappy supporters of the losing side (not Manchester thankfully, otherwise I’m sure it would have been a far worse trip back!).

Monday I followed a similar path to Sunday as I headed out to Oxford to catch up with Fev (also known as Heather). I met Fev first when her boyfriend Mark (and fellow photographer and member of TheRoot42.org) were in Australia doing work experience as geologists up at Mount Isa and visited Sydney. Fev grew up in Oxfordshire and offered to show me around the area as Mark was out in a remote area of WalesCornwall doing a dig with uni.

Oxford was crazy cool, filled with all those images of olde Universities that Australia can never replicate. The town itself was dominated by bicycles and the tours around places like the Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Camera and Christ Church College provided an insight into a totally different type of life. For the fans of Harry Potter, much of the scenes were (are?) filmed around the grounds of Oxford, including the Hall of Christ Church College.

More Flickr Photos from Oxford

Arriving in an English speaking nation for the first time in a little over a week I was both relieved and slightly apprehensive. I’d learnt to slow down and observe the goings on around me far more readily when I didn’t understand the language and quite enjoyed the freedom that this gave me. That said, it was nice to get to a location where you didn’t have to apologise for not having local language comprehension. Thankfully the nordic countries are amongst the most friendly I’ve met, and everyone I met spoke english more fluently than many native speakers.

Thanks to the groom-to-be I had been given the details of a friend of his from his time in The Hague and had a couch to crash on for the first few nights that I was in town. Unfortunately for me, my host Cord was having a night out on the town and upon arrival at Heathrow and the subsequent deep-end learning of the London Tube I ended up making my way to the infamous Camden Lock without any contact from Cord. Hoping for a meal I headed to The Hawley Arms Pub as she’d suggested in emails (apparently once frequented by a few famous musos), however the kitchen closed mightly early, so luggage in tow I headed out on the town looking for food. Thankfully there was a not too dodgy looking Vietnamese not too far away, so some Pho and a beer was had before returning to the pub for a pint and hoping that my host would give me a call or message.

Luckily Cord messaged me after her night was wearing down and she checked her phone, and when she arrived apologised profusely for the delay in contacting me and along with her housemate we had another pint before heading back to crash out.

Next day I headed into the city with my host as she headed to work. Despite school still being in, or because of it, London was filled with people, so I contented myself with playing tourist for the day, visiting Westminster Cathedral, the house of the Horse Guards, Hyde Park and general wandering around. I discovered Cord was an avid live music fan, so she took me out to a little gem of a venue, The Luminaire (wait for the shock – I was there sans-camera!). The place is awesome and reminded me a lot of The Annandale Hotel, but with a bit more polish. The best part were the signs on the walls:

QUIET
If you’re talking when a band is playing we’ll tell you to shut up.

and

SHUT UP
No-one paid to listen to you talking to your pals. If you want to talk to your pals when the bands are on, please leave the venue.

One word to sum that up: Gold! Their devotion to promoting live music, especially local live music, was to be looked up to! On stage that night were The Travelling Band with support from The Draytones and Echotone. A great night out was had, and got to enjoy the treat of cider – an english spring drinking staple.

Saturday I kicked up the tourist in me another notch as I wandered around the city of London, heading out along the Thames river to the Tower of London, Millenium Bridge and various other locations in the area. I also used this as an opportunity to work out what to do with my spare day in ol’ London Town. Sunday morning I shifted camp to a Hostel on the other side of London (and thankfully closer to Heathrow), not wanting to stretch the new friendship and onto the next part of the adventure in the motherland.

On the way however I made sure I purchased myself one grey woolen old man driving hat to augment my beanie (keeping my balding noggin’ warm).

Also ran into a few inline skaters doing some video work so I hung around to do some shots with them.

More Flickr Photos from London