Walthamstow Dog Stadium..

... is closing after 75 years.
You've got until August to experience a night at the country's best Greyhound racing stadium, complete with it's iconic 1930's architecture. And with minimum bets of 20p, you can't really go wrong.
I'm trying to document a bit of this local history before it disappears, so let's all see it off with a last Hurrah!

I'm on top of the World, Ma!

This was the best job I've had in ages. I'd been asked to photograph the refurbishment work being carried out on a central London building. After my H&S briefing, and donning my hard-hat, boots etc, I was given free reign over all the scaffolding to get the angles I needed. It was like a giant climbing frame for grown-ups! Brilliant! I realised how high I was when I looked across and saw a crane driver snoozing in his cab below me.

Here's my first attempt at a 360' panoramic shot, a view of London from the building's rooftop helicopter pad!

Isle of Wight festival

I was working for Carling at the Isle of Wight festival. Unfortunately, my brief there didn't require me to cover the stages so I had no press access. The Carling area, which was outside the main arena, closed between 5-10pm each night, so I thought I'd be able to relax and enjoy a festival as a punter for a change.
But I came to realise that I'm not very good at separating work from pleasure when I've got a camera in my hand. I found it really frustrating watching bands and not being able to photograph them. Maybe it was compounded by the fact that there wasn't anyone on the line-up (Sex Pistols excepted) I really wanted to take time out and see.
The pics above are of The Wombats, who played a secret gig for competition winners in the back of a Carling articulated freezer truck! And John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols - taken on a 300mm ƒ2.8 lens from the middle of a heaving mosh pit!

Cannes 2008

A good year for Cannes. It seemed less hectic than previous years, but had a good turn out of big names: Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Dennis Hopper, Madonna, Sharon Stone, Robert De Niro ....
Angelina was promoting three films there. I never thought I'd get to the point where we'd be saying 'all right Angelina, we've done you, now move along please.'

The Beard is back!

When applying for my Cannes pass, I sent in the profile pic above - just to see if they'd use it. They did, so I felt obliged to resurrect 'the Pugilist', on the grounds that I might not get in if I didn't look like my pass.
Quenten Tarantino was so impressed he came and sat with me (and a few friends) for a picture!

Ballroom Blitz

What a great party theme! A 1940's Blitz Ballroom party, in aid of V Involved - a charity encouraging youth volunteer projects.
I'm a fan of that era's look anyway, and with a cool line-up of bands, including one of my current favourites The Enemy, it almost didn't feel like work. Almost.

St. George's Day

Why is it this country is almost embarrassed to be patriotic? This picture was of a stunt by Umbro to hang their England football shirts out in Carnaby Street as bunting for St. George's day.
When I checked the next day's papers (on St. George's Day) I was amazed by the almost total lack of coverage for what is supposed to be our National day. Personally I'm in favour of any excuse for a celebration, so feel sad for our country that it's an opportunity missed. Come on England, let's celebrate St. George's day - maybe then I'll get a picture used...

Tony Curtis

Tony Curtis was in town to promote his paintings.
He's still got the humour, charm and an eye for the ladies.
And, yes, he did shag Marilyn while filming 'Some Like It Hot'.
Hats off to you, Tony.

The Wonder that is Terminal 5

Two weeks before Heathrow Terminal 5 was due to be opened, I was booked to photograph Penny Lancaster there, as the 'face of World Duty Free'.
I couldn't take an assistant on the day because they couldn't get clearance in time, so I lugged all my cameras, lights, stands etc from pillar to post while we checked in with site security, then terminal security and finally departures security. Even though the terminal wasn't open, we had to go through the scanners as if were flying - and of course all the equipment had to be unpacked and checked.
Finally, we got to the duty free concourse where the shoot was taking place - only to find that there were no publicly accessible power points! Doh!
Bearing in mind that Penny is a photographer herself, I must have looked really professional setting up my little AA battery powered 35mm flash-gun on a stand, and having to wait in between shots for the batteries to re-charge!
But that's part of the challenge, being able to think on your feet and make the best of a given situation. I think I got away with it. Just.

Early start

This was a 'living billboard' on the A4 in Hammersmith, where morning commuters were entertained by people acting out topical questions - in this case "Are foreign footballers the most exciting in the Premiership?"
In order to get there in time for the rush hour, and early enough to balance the light before it got too bright outside, I had to get up at 5am for 3 days. Thanks chaps.

Fashion Week

I don't get to do much at Fashion week any more (I used to cover it for a Japanese mag called Spur, which was the cause of much embarrassment when I was regularly misquoted as working for 'Sperm Magazine').
This was a different take on the catwalk, where a model appeared in near darkness and a dress was drawn on her in lasers. There was a whole list of technical problems: the distance from photographers to model, the pitch darkness, and that the laser design was being drawn incrementally, i.e. not all at once. So, even after handholding my long lens on a slow shutter speed (to allow enough of the lasers to register), I still had to crop into the image and wrestle the contrast to bring it out. This was the best of a bad bunch, and while still a long way from technically perfect, there's something about it I like. I enjoy fashion week in the same way I like doing live music, in that it can be very hit and miss, but with good lighting and a bit of luck you can get some dramatic photos.

Berlinale Film Festival 2008

It's rare for Madonna to do photocalls, but this was her first outing as a film director (which was subsequently panned and then went straight to video). Nevertheless, it was a good opportunity to get a clear portrait. I was sat on the front row of the photographer's podium, right in front of her. I even wore a white shirt so I could shout 'look to the white shirt' at her to get an eyeline.
"Madonna, could you come over to your right a bit?"
"Madonna, could you step away from the wall a bit?"
"Madonna, could you look this way please?"
Each time I spoke she'd hear me, we'd make eye contact, and she'd do as I asked.

Then every time I put the camera to my eye, she looked away!
I've got a great set of Madonna looking up, down, left and right at all the other snappers sat around me - but not one clean 'down the barrel' shot.
That'll teach me to keep my big gob shut in future.

The Rolling Stones were there too, and true to form Keith was pie-eyed. That's not just group bonhomie in the picture, it's the rest of the band holding him up.

Harder than I thought

A large communications company was moving from it's hum-drum, industrial estate offices to some swanky new premises, and they wanted some before and after shots to highlight what an improvement their new offices would be. To this end, my brief was to make their current offices look as scruffy and unkempt as possible. This is the complete opposite to most of my jobs, where I spend all of my time making things look their best, and finding angles to avoid including distracting clutter (fire escape signs and red extinguishers constantly try to creep into my pictures, like some kind of fiendish Dr.Who baddies). Try it - taking a 'bad' picture is harder than you'd think.

Where's Wally?

I'm a bit humbug about the ever earlier start of Christmas festivities/marketing opportunities, in that I really believe Christmas shouldn't be mentioned until the 1st of December. Until the first door of your mouldy chocolate Woolworths advent calendar is opened, I don't want to know.
But the switching on of the Bond St Christmas lights is one of those annual jobs that mark out my year. They close off the street, pump out fake snow, and draft in loads of entertainers to create a proper festive atmosphere. It's almost enough to make me swallow my humbug for the evening.
It wasn't till I downloaded this picture from the camera that I noticed Santa and his Elf waving at me from the crowd.
Sarky git - he still hasn't brought me the Lone Ranger figure I've been asking for since I was 8!

Quick & dirty

I got a last-minute call from Maybach saying that Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis, from the TV programme Dragons’ Den, were having a meeting at the Grosvenor Hotel in London - could I pop down and do a quick profile photo of them with their cars?
As is often the case when dealing with high profile businessmen, I was warned I'd have a couple of minutes tops to do this in
(in my early days I once had to do a portrait of the head of Dixons DURING a board meeting, because he couldn't possibly spare a minute for me before or after. In my fluster, I forgot to load any film and started snapping away. I realised my mistake just as he motioned that he'd had enough of me. Mumbling something about having to change film from B&W to colour, I loaded a fresh cartridge into the empty camera and snapped 3 frames before he barked me out of the room. Luckily one frame was all they wanted, and I got away with it. Just.)
Anyway, while Theo and Peter were in their meeting I asked their drivers to put the cars into a V in front of the hotel. I knew direct flash would just reflect off the cars' bonnets and licence plates, so got my client to act as a mobile light stand, holding a remote flash up and off to my left. I metered the ambient light, setting it slightly under on my camera, and made a few test exposures for the flash.
When the boys came out to play I shot some variations on this theme, changing my angle of view and height - but, as briefed, was all done in under 2 minutes.

Just because

I went to Warsaw to shoot Soulwax/2ManyDJs. This pic was shot using a remote flash perched on the edge of the record decks.
I'm struggling to think of something clever to say about the trip, but can't because nothing particularly clever happened. I can't even say "I saw Warsaw", because I barely did.
The real reason I've posted is just to show this picture below, because it makes me smile.

GQ Awards

It's the GQ Awards at the Royal Opera House. A big event, at a big venue, with some big name celebrities. Elton, Madonna, Kanye, and so on.
I'm shooting in-house, running backwards and forwards between the speeches on-stage, and the 'boards' - the area off-stage where presenters and winners go for their post speech pics and interviews.
But the boards room isn't big. In fact it's tiny. It's the only area close enough to catch guests coming off stage, yet separate enough to conduct interviews, but basically it's a small lobby between the banquet room and the stairwell.
If you look at the picture below, of Lily Allen with Kanye West and Kaiser Chiefs, you'll get an idea of how small the 'room' is.
Note the disabled toilet door on the right, which periodically opened while we were taking photos if some lacky accidentally leaned on the automatic button!

I never thought I'd say it.....

.... but I'm glad that Festival season is officially over!
I love music fezzie's, but by the end of summer (especially when we haven't really had one!) I do start to feel a bit jaded.
And I've just landed a gig doing 10 nights as set-stills snapper on a live music programme, at various venues all over the country. So I'm swapping mud, rain and damp tents for a warm studio and hotel bed.
I think, this summer especially, I've earned the right to a few creature comforts.
Now where's my slippers......

p.s. the snap above is Kate Nash, from the first episode of C4's 'Transmission with T-Mobile'. No story, I just like the picture.

Say what?

Last weekend I was at the Lovebox Weekender for Rizla. They had a natty wee area with an old van converted to mobile DJ booth, deckchairs scattered around and a roving entertainer who would cut out festival goers silhouettes from paper, 1920's style.
Anyway, I was in the booth with legendary DJ and film-maker Don Letts, and mildy in awe. Then he suddenly shouts " I want a silhouette!". "Oh" says I, "hold on, I'll go and find the guy". So off I trot to find the sihouette fella, drag him back and present him to Don.
Don looks at me, and repeats, slowly "I want a CIGARETTE".
I didn't do any more pictures after that.

It's all in the details

This is my favourite picture of the year so far, but not because of any skill on my part.
Last week I was working for Vodafone, covering some of their Somerset House concerts, and this was taken during Amy Winehouse's set.
It's a nice enough picture of the crowd and venue, but nothing special.
...but then I noticed the splash of light in the bottom left corner. I zoomed in, and found:



And she's even using her mobile phone to take her picture. I wonder if she's a Vodafone customer?