2011 // Highlights
31 January 12
2011 was an interesting and inspiring year. I continued to work with some of my long established clients and sadly had to say good bye to others. But what made it most memorable was the friendships made, the photographers I got to work with, the new business partnerships that were formed, and the opportunity to shoot so many official festival photo galleries for some amazing events as well as the opportunity of learning to manage photographic teams, photo edit under extreme pressure and develop new business!
This post highlights the best bits of my amazing journey last year.
Jonathan Whiskerd
Last January I had the opportunity to work with the talented Singer Songwriter Jonathan Whiskerd. As an unsigned artist embarking on his first EP, Jonathan had limited resources, being able to combine all my creative skills I put a package together for him including, press shots, website, logo and live shots. It was really great to work on a combined project like this.
EllaPaige
Another promo shoot, again for a young unsigned singer songwriter. What made this one particualrily special is that EllaPaige is also my daughter. She is only 16 and an absolute force to be reckoned with. Determined as well as talented I am sure that everyone will be hearing a lot more about her in 2012.
Youth Sport Trust
I continued to work with the Youth Sport Trust in 2011, now my 6th year working with them. They are an amazing charity that works in all kinds of ways to support sport in schools and communities throughout the UK. Over the years I have shot images for their Annual Reviews, photo library, national press as well as all the many publications they produce. Last year I worked on various events ranging from their 2011 Sports conference through to their Young Ambassador programme where I not only got the opportunity of working with some of our most amazing Olympic Champions but also some really inspiring teenagers. In the summer for the second year running I also ran a sports photography masterclass for about 30 secondary students. Here are some of my highlights.
PGL Aspiration Camp
As part of the PE Change Team programme the 2 day camp supported groups of young people to work effectively with their teachers using the Olympic and Paralympic values to improve the PE experience in their schools. These kids were amazing, and really inspiring to work with.
FESTIVAL SEASON
Towards the end of the summer 2010 I started shooting official festival galleries with Andrew Kendall and the Digital Photo Gallery teams. In 2011 I continued to work with Andrew and the first event of the summer was Download.
Download Festival // Official Photographic Team
Download was a real turning point for me in various ways ... I got the opportunity of working again within a team which I love, with some amazing photographers but more importantly I learnt 100% what it takes to shoot an official gallery for an event of that size. 20 hour working days, more rain than you know what to do with and the kind of artists that spew fake blood at you whilst rocking about in monster suits ... this definately was not SGP or Latitude, but it was an invaluble lesson for me on all levels. I also realised that I no longer wanted to shoot festivals in the traditional way. The adrenalin of working with a team and shooting official hires image galleries was just the best feeling ever (regardless of the lack of sleep) and in respect of the festival, just the best way to tell the true story of an event.
Rob Zombie // Stage 1
Chthonic // Stage 1
Glastonbury Festival, Somerset, UK
I have photographed Glastonbury for the last 3 years. I was in two minds whether to shoot it or not as I was shooting for syndication in the US. In the end I couldnt resist the lure of The John Peel stage which was always my favourite stage of the festival. This year however I only shot one band there, the lighting just wasnt cutting it.
U2 // Pyramid Stage
Pendulum // Pyramid Stage
Bombay Bicycle Club // The Other Stage
Noisettes // The Other Stage
Kaiser Chiefs // The Other Stage
Pulp // Park Stage Special Guests
Wireless Festival // Official Photographic Team
After Glastonbury it was great to get back to shooting official galleries again. Pulp was the highlight of the weekend, just amazing and a rare treat to shoot them two weekends in a row.
Naked and Famous
Pulp // Main Stage
Truck Festival // Official Photographic Team
I have been shooting Trucks official photo's for some years now. I have also been going for the past 9 years and over that time it seems to have become a big part of my life. My husband was their lawyer for years, a lot of my friends are somehow connected to the festival, I have seen some of the best indie bands play their breaking gig there (Foals, Rolo Tomassi, Wild Beasts), I did my first NME commission there, I have taken some of my favourite live shots at Truck and just to top that off my husband proposed to me at Truck in 2007, in front of 16 of our friends! So there is real history there. After Wireless and Download I really didnt want to shoot it in the conventional way again so persuaded them to let me bring a photographic team on board and shoot a high res gallery.
Caitlin Rose
Gruff Rhys // Main Stage
Dreaming Spires // Main Stage
Roddy Woomble // Main Stage
Shambala Festival // Official Photographic Team
Shambala Festival is a small boutique festival on a beautiful country estate in the Midlands. We were contacted to do an official photo gallery as they had seen the Secret Garden Party galleries and realised how powerful it could be visually for their festival. We brought on board a small team (just 3 of us) to shoot it. It was an amazing weekend. Shambala really is a totally unique experience, and caters every headset from the cool to the outrageous. During the day you can head to a favourite music tent or participate in one of the many workshops or just hang in the hot tub overlooking the lake. By night the entire site melts into one massive underground party which fades into the early hours of the morning. It really is something quite special.
The Correspondents // Main Stage
Bestival // Official Photographic Team // Get Involved
I first pitched an official photographic gallery to Bestival back in 2010 and although they loved the idea it was just too close to the festival to organise. So it was amazing when after 12 months we were finally booked to shoot the official photos and do a high res gallery. Working in tandem with Get Involved PR who handle both Bestival and Camp Bestival, myself and Andrew Whitton set up a team of 6 photographers to cover every aspect of the event. It was 5 days of full on 20 hour shifts but what made it the absolutly best way to finish our UK festival season was the stats ... over 500,000 page views of our gallery by the end of the Monday and we have had over 19 million photo views to date ...
The Gents
Public Enemy // Main Stage
Chromeo // Main Stage
Frank Turner // Backstage // Sailor Jerrys
Kellis // Main Stage
Zoe Ball
Dressing Up Tent
Four 23 // Oakley
In November I got the opportunity to work with creative agency Four 23 on an event for Oakley and the Launch of Shaun White's, (2010 Snowboarding Gold Medalist and all round superstar) new range for Oakley. It was held at their flagship store in convent garden. I got to work along side my festival partner in crime, Andrew Whitton and my brief for the night was to shoot polaroids of all the guests including VIP's and to build a polaroid wall within the store! This really was a dream job and so much fun!
Heather Nova // La Scala
I have been photographing Heather for the last 10 years, I started touring with her way back in 2002 after I bought my first pro SLR. I always used to shoot her using HP5 pushed 2 stops so I also try and get the same grainy, contrasty images as I am now obviously shooting digital! Here are some images from the last night of her 2011 tour at La Scala.
Jingle Bell Ball // Global
In December I was brought on board to edit the official live shots, photographed by Danny North and Richard Johnson over the weekend for the Jingle Bell Ball. I also got to shoot the Capital Video interviews with Roberto and all the artists which were going out live on the internet during the two days. It was a great weekend and a really fun way to finish the working Year.
Ed Sheeran
JLS
Jessie J
1 Direction
Rejkavik // Iceland
The day after the Jingle Bell ball I left for Rejkavik in Iceland. A well earned few days of with my camera and husband. We arrived to cold snowy conditions which was unusual for that time of year. Iceland is a unique and beautiful country and I can't wait to go back.
