Big Day Out, Sydney 2008

For 11 years I have somehow avoided Big Day Out. The crowds, the train, I have much preferred go to the side shows, prefering the more intimate environment. Finally this year I bit the bullet and applied for a photopass through Drum Media.











Enter Shikari were amazing. There has been a fair bit of speculation, the phrase 'best thing since Sex Pistols' floating around.





Pnau were amazing as always, Nick Littlemore(singer) even gave me a shoutout when he spotted me in the photopit (that would have to have been the highlight of my day).





lady saw was as dirty as a sexy man and as sexy as a dirty woman.


Arcade Fire





Battles





Please click on any of these photos to view more BDO pics on flickr

pnau (part i)

Press shots taken for Pnau's latest album release, self titled Pnau.

Niko Littlemore first came to my photo studio over a year ago, for a shoot with his now deceased band Teenager. The beautiful Pip of Ladyhawke was the other half of this one of many of Niko's side projects.

Arias 2007 & the wonders of photoshop

Photoshop. Brings the world together!

For the second year running I was asked to shoot the Arias cover for Australian Street Press. This includes Inpress, Drummedia and Zebra throughout the nation.

The only thing was, three musicians were to be shot in my studio, and two were to be shot backstage at their gig up in Toowoomba QLD. Somehow I had to shoot all people as though they are together, interacting with one another...Photoshop to the rescue!

Connie from Sneaky Sound Systems, Mr Dan Kelly and the always beautiful Sarah Blasko came to my photo studio in Chippendale. I photographed each person separately, using identical lighting and camera setup. This was so I could easily replicate the same effect in Towoomba, despite the vastly different location.

Three days later I flew up to Brisbane and was driven by a lovely Drum staff member to Towoomba. It was a stunning drive, such different scenery from Sydney.

We arrived in Towoomba, where Powderfinger and Silverchair were playing their National Tour, Across the Great Divide.

As you can see in the pictures, I actually shot Ben Gilles and Bernard Fanning outside a demountable backstage. Using the same lighting and camera settings, I was able to simulate the same lighting as in the studio in Sydney.

It was then up to Justin Malinowski, my right hand man to work his wonders on photoshop and bring all the participants together. Team work is always the best.

DAMN ARMS PHOTOSHOOT

I re-found these images from perhaps one of the funnest shoots I took last year.





The boys from Damn Arms Damn Arms were up in Sydney from their hometown Melbourne on tour. We took a tour to Bourke St, got them all kitted up in fencing attire (thanks USYD fencing society) and let them at it outside of the quaint little shop 'ici et la.'

When we first pulled up, a cop car slowed down and asked us

a) what we were doing

b) if the boys intended on using their swords.

Good to see the boys in blue are keeping an eye on our town.









After we stopped traffic on Bourke St I brought the boys back to the studio for some stark white shots, against the cyclorama.







I also took some last minute shots of them in their casual attire,for variety.

cut

unfortunately this photo wasn't used in the magazine due to political reasons involving one of the musicians photographed.

It was quite upsetting, as this was but far my favored image for the double page spread used in the opening of the feature





Here are a few of the pics that didn't make the cut.

fbi magazine issue one

I was asked to feature in the brand spanking new FBI magazine. Originally the plan was to use some of my existing band photographs that I have taken over the years for FBI, but as it turned out, we organized a two day shoot, featuring some of Australia's up and coming musicians in some of Australia's coolest fashion.

It was a wonderful experience, and the shot of Ladyhawke and Kirin from Mercy Arms ended up being the cover of the magazine! A great honor.

We shot over two days in two locations, though we made it look as though it was shot in the same place.

Firstly we went on a road trip to Kurnell (a wonderful beach side suburb in the south of Sydney, shadowed by the monstrous refineries behind, and illuminated by the glowing lighting of the airport across the water). Catcall, Anna Lunoe and Kato, Nik from The Lost Valentinos and Tom and Alex from Red Riders came along for the ride

The second location I shot at was on the opposite side of the bay, closer to the airport, just off La Perouse. This featured Ladyhawke and Kirin from Mercy Arms. We shot scenes right on sunset, so as we created a similar feel between the two locations.