Going into a new year!

So after a long period of time and without a post since I shot W.A.S.P at the Leeds O2 Academy, I thought I had better update my blog and let you guys know (well those that are interested in knowing) what I've been up to in the past few months!


Firstly I got an email confirmation saying I had an AAA pass for the Human League's XXXV tour... which is always a good email to get in these harsh winters. I wanted to shoot one of the show's so I went to a few of the shows before I shot the show in Sheffield to get to see what the lights were like and get prepared. I travlled up to Nottingham to see them at the royal concert hall and then the next day I travlled up to Halifax to see them at the Halifax theater which, if I don't say so myself, was a LOT better than Nottingham. The crowd was more livey and the band were in full swing.

It came to the night of the Sheffield show and I was all prepared to shoot! There was no one else in the pit apart from a friend of the bands keyboard player, Neil, who was a photographer called Tracey Welch. No paper or website had commision for the show which was a nice feeling and I could shoot the entire show from where I wanted plus have the usual 3 songs from the pit. Another success that came from having no other photographers there was that if anyone needed any photos they had to come to me for them... I was in luck! The lighting and set design company wanted a photo of the set being used in action and I made a sale.

Next up for me was shooting a much loved band of mine... the mighty Thin Lizzy who I had previously missed out on earlier this year when they played the city hall in Sheffield. This time I was at the Leeds O2 again and after shooting W.A.S.P there a few months back knew how difficult it was. The pit is about 3 feet wide and the stage is quite tall for an O2 academy so I was litrally shooring up Scotty's nose! I got 3 songs from the pit and then was told I could shoot the rest of the shot from anywhere else. It was a good job as well as the lighting for the first 3 songs were shocking! The first song 'Are you ready' I wouldn't say was a song as it doesn't last that long then the band kicked into the Lizzy classic 'Jailbreak' to which the crowd jumped up and down in time clapping (I missed some wothwhile shots there).

All in all this year has gone well for me and I hope that my exams in the coming year don't stand in the way too much so I can still shoot some awesome stuff! I'm hoping to get on the NME tour photo list :-P Let's hope I do.

W.A.S.P at Leeds O2 Academy

So on the Friday evening of the 28th of September I caught a train down to Leeds in West Yorkshire to see the almighty W.A.S.P on their "30 Years of Thunder" tour that they had been doing the rest of the year and it had finally come to Europe... I just had to be at it!

As the time drew closer to the gig I must admit I got more and more excited... having listened to this band for about 8 years now and never had a chance to see them I was so anxious to start shooting. I had never been to the O2 academy in Leeds either so had no idea really what the shooting conditions would be like or what sort of lighting was usually used there (I was hoping it wasn’t the dreaded ‘red light’ or else I would be in trouble, unfortunately I'm not rich enough to get a fixed 2.8 or even 1.8 lens so I had my trusty 3.5 wide angle and zoom lens on hand).

Me and my mate arrived at the academy with plenty of time to spare, I always like to arrive early to get a clear picture of the equipment setup I might need and also to take a look round the venue and have some chats with the other toggers there. At the Leeds show there were only 6 toggers including me so I knew the pit wouldn’t be that cramped and I would have plenty of space to shoot without getting in anyone’s way. Arriving at the guest box office we were told that we were not down for any passes which gave me a slight heart attack but then they found our names and I had my pass for the night which let me shoot the first 3 songs from the pit with no flash... and even better there was NO photo release form to sign which for any photographer out there is a serious benefit!

The band before W.A.S.P I didn’t really pay attention to just waited for the main act to come on so I could get my pictures and then venture out into the crowd to watch the show. When the time came I started with my wide angle lens (14-42mm) as I had already done a shot test with the zoom lens and I found it to be a little too zoomed in... W.A.S.P was a band that I knew would be better off with full body shots rather than close up face shots. The band entered to an uproar of applause and kicked into their first song which then the toggers in the pit started shooting. It was difficult at first because they played a high tempo song and were moving around constantly and not even stopping to pose for the camera. Never the less I got my shots and left the pit to take a look at them... I a few hundred shots and managed to narrow them down to about 25 that really stood out for me... any lens blur just wouldn’t do for me.

I managed to have a chat to another photographer that I knew in name but never had met in person... Tracey Welch, who also blogs as well and is friends with some other people I know so it wasn’t too awkward introducing myself to her. Having shot for the likes of NME she knows what she’s doing in the business of photography!

Overall it was a cracking night and a review will be posted soon on the music website The Sheffield Scenester, you can also check out my site where you can drop me a message or view more of my photos on my Facebook page.

Finally a new post!!

Well sorry about the delay in my posts and thank you for giving me over 1600 page views on my Download review featuring Slash on the Zippo stage! Means a lot to me! I have been very busy these last few months both with my education and also photographing bands and a festival for the Olympics (not as exciting as it sounds). Anyway I was a photographer at the Sheftival festival in Sheffield at the Don Valley stadium and it was a fantastic weekend for two reasons; the first being our Jess won gold and the second there was a great selection of bands across two stages. I won’t be posting a review on the festival on here but if you go over to The Sheffield Scenester you can see my review on there plus loads of my photos that I took for them.

So I am thinking of getting a new SLR camera as mine is really outdated for what I need it for (live music photography) so I was thinking of upgrading to the Canon 6D or the canon 5D mark 3 by Christmas time and hopefully a good 2.8 F/ lens by next summer in time to shoot Download festival or Sonisphere festival if they get their act together...

On to the next thing and that is my experience I had with shooting The Cult a few weeks ago (again the review and photos can be seen on The Sheffield Scenester website). It was horrendous, I had to sign a photo release which stated they owned all the photos and then to also find out that it was BS as they went against what they said in the release. Shooting from the crowd and fighting for the best shoot position isn’t fair on their photographers or on the crowd who have paid for the ticket! No pit access was allowed and we eventually had to shoot from the back... good job I had my handy 200mm lens with me with an F/4. Killing Joke had already backed out so it was just the right grabbers and The Mission to shoot who, by the way, posted on their site an apology about the shooting situation stating it was all The Cult’s managements fault for the whole matter.... unreal.

Well coming up this week I’ll be shooting W.A.S.P at the Leeds O2 and then on Saturday I’ll be shooting a new and upcoming band Swiss Lips at Sheffield’s own Leadmill, and I wa requested to cover the night by the PR company Hall or Nothing... I felt chuffed when they asked me to.

Until then...

Don’t forget to check out my Facebook, my Twitter @myleswright90 and TheSheffield Scenester for my reviews and photos!!