2015.
It’s only now that I realise that despite the best intentions, I’ve not blogged even once in 2015! I’m going to put that down to living one heck of a crazy, awesome year though. Here are just a few of my favourite moments and photo highlights...
January
I started 2015 with the familiar, catching Royal Blood’s rescheduled date at the O2 Academy Oxford and, having already caught the same tour in London the previous year, I knew that not only would Mike and Ben totally nail it (they did) but the lighting would be an absolute dream (it was).
Another early highlight was Funeral For A Friend at the Electric Ballroom. They were the first band I saw live as a teenage, but somehow I think shooting a proper FFAF headline set had escaped me until this point. It was really nice to finally do, particularly with the announcement that they’re calling it quits in 2016. I’m hoping to make it out to one of those shows in April but they’ll be bitter sweet.Â
I also had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful Tellison gents and taking some promos for them. Then they returned the favour by turning their camera on me, you can see me looking nice and awkward in the ‘Tact Is Dead’ video if you’re inclined. I definitely know which side of the camera I prefer to be on!
February
In February I was back to the Electric Ballroom to catch Marmozets. Having shot their brilliant live show numerous times, it was great to mix things up, actually say ‘hello’ and do some quick portraits for DIY Magazine in the venue before the gig.
Also this month, Andrew Mcmahon finally ventured back to these shores with his new ‘In The Wilderness’ project. It should’ve been a tough shoot, the stage was super high and from most angles the man himself was concealed by a microphone huge grand piano, but the sheer emotion in his music made it a delight.
March
I shot plenty of artists in March but I’d be lying if I said that Charli XCX wasn’t the most fun. I caught Charli and her band both in Oxford and London, and they slayed both times. More zebra print, glitter and air guitars at more gigs please.
April
I grew up listening to My Chemical Romance so when DIY asked me if I’d like to take some portraits of Frank Iero whilst he was touring his solo project FRNKIERO ANDTHE CELLABRATION, I obviously jumped at the chance. In a weird turn of events, I actually ended up taking Frank’s photo a handful of times over the year and as you’d expect, he was an absolute pleasure to work with, just so chilled and polite. What really struck me though was just how much of a music fan he is, he’s not too cool to talk about other bands with the same excitement and passion that people have for his music, which was super refreshing to see.
Another band I got to see a bunch of in 2015 was PVRIS. I’ve loved watching their crazy journey this year, which doesn’t seem to be showing any sign of slowing down. Here’s Lynn giving soundcheck the thumbs up in Oxford.
Wolf Alice have had a good year too (definitely an understatement), and I feel like this shot sums it up nicely. Excitement and glitter.Â
May
May began with an adventure to Belgium to Groezrock festival, which has become one of my highlights of the year. The line up is always brilliant, there’s amazing vegan food and the fact that there’s no photo pit on some of the stages allows for some awesome close up shots of bands and fans alike.Â
Closer to home, I headed to two days of Sound City festival in Liverpool, with a detour to Slam Dunk Leeds in the middle and Slam Dunk Wolverhampton on the way home. I got so little sleep that weekend but photographed such a huge array of great bands, it was totally worth it.Â
I just love these shots of Twenty One Pilots, their live shows are both so fun and visually striking and I wanted to achieve the same feel with these portraits. With the red, black and white, cheeky grin and kooky sunglasses I think we nailed that!
June
This shot of Refused was taken for the cover feature of the very first issue of Upset Magazine. I’m still so excited by what all the team are creating, I absolutely believe in its vision and I can’t wait to see where we go in the year ahead!  A massive thanks to both Stephen and Viki for not only having me on board, but trusting me to create part of the first impression people would have of magazine.
July
The DIY team took me to Latitude again this year, which as well as all the great live sets, gives some opportunities to take portraits of so many artists I otherwise might not necessarily see, such as Soak, in beautiful Suffolk instead of dingy backstage corridors!Â
I also heard a rumour that Ed Sheeran would be playing a secret set, which left me spending most of Alt-J’s headline set scouring twitter for details as to when and where! As soon as it was properly announced, I ran over to the stage to grab some shots but was told they were limiting photographers so I grabbed this one from the crowd.Â
In July I also headed over to Bilbao BBK, which was a super chilled festival in the beautiful, (mostly) sunny mountains of the Spanish town. Oh, and Muse were there.
August
George Clarke of Deafheaven. I could never line up the flare from the prism in the photo so perfectly again if I tried.
Being from the town I might be slightly biased, but Reading is my favourite festival. I love the mix of world class legends such as Metallica mixed with the most exciting new bands like Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes.Â
September
Brand New are somewhat renowned for being evasive of the press so it was great to finally get to photograph them. It was a bonus that the production for this tour was absolutely beautiful.
The Creeper gig at The Old Blue Last was just so busy, people were so excited and things were getting a little rowdy so I took a step back and just admired the spectacle. I’m really, really excited for their next EP ‘The Stranger’ which is out next year. You should be too.
October
A running theme of this year has been working with artists that I couldn’t even have dreamed to be working with when I was first starting out . This was taken for a feature for Upset Magazine, and whilst I was setting up, the brilliant Sarah Jamieson was carrying out the interview for which these shots would later accompany (it’s in the December issue, check it out!). Now, I’m paraphrasing but Sarah and Patrick were discussing how the band have grown to play these huge venues and how he hasn’t always felt comfortable with getting up on stage, how it used to make him nervous until he realised that actually, if this is a thing that he’s actively seeking out then on some level he must be comfortable with it so there was no need to feel like that. I felt a real affinity with that. I was really nervous before this shoot because I really respect the band, their music and what they’ve achieved and I just wanted to do the shoot justice. Hearing that just totally eased my nerves though, and it’s absolutely a perspective that I’m definitely going to take into the future with me.Â
November
November saw me make not one but two trips to Alexandra Palace for CHVRCHES and Bring Me The Horizon. The production for both these gigs was insane. I love shooting punk shows in little pubs but I love the challenge of working with a whole stage show, there’s so many possibilities and it keeps me on my toes!
December
It was really nice to close the year with two bands I’ve shot numerous times, finally playing massive headline gigs. More of that in 2016 too please.
