2009 Photoblog
Previous years: 2006 , 2007 and 2008
I tried to write a little more this year, so maybe it's a bit of a bore, but there's still some pretty photos to look at if the writing drags on too much for you...
Right now I'd say this is everything but the more I look at it the more I realise theres stacks of stuff missing photo wise but they're on the external harddrive and the thought of looking at more photos right now kind of makes me wanna cry. I may come back to this at some point and add more...
January
Hxc DVD marathons.
Kerrang Tour. Jimmy and the Oreos. Lomo photos that my not so brilliant machine at work ruined. Steve was hilarious, but damn that marker took ages to come off.
LUCY - that girl has been my rock this year...so freaking glad we finally met up - she said it herself the other day, I can't get rid of her now!
Ticking another amazing band off my 'shot' list - AAR; in the Gayrage, insane but so wonderful. Tysons shoes...I still want them.
NEW CAMERA - its my baby, best 900 quid ever spent.
February
AlkalineTrio/BroadwayCalls/Audition Tour. Ten shows in just under 3 weeks (so...pretty much all of Feb was on the road). Alk3 Soundchecks. Shooting multiple shows. Hanging out with friends in almost every major city in the UK, making so many new and awesome friends everywhere we went. That dude. Weird extra shows in clubs. Dictation and The Sumbags. Random/cute shoutouts. Danny lulz backstage in pretty much every city. Outright weird interviews. Valentines Day. AWESOME afterparties. TELEGRAPHS - Hattie being so incredibly drunk and adorable.
March
ANTIFLAG. Srsly one of the best shows I went to this year. Hands down most insane show at the ABC but so much freaking fun.
FOB at the MEN. Brilliant girly hangs. Scariest shooting experience ever, BUT I think I learned a lot from it, so it works out. Scary drinks in the hotel after though...I think I'm still recovering from that. Totally didn't get to hang out with my Shake and Bake nearly enough this year...we need to work on that next year.
Twinny at QMU. Legit so proud of those boys. It was an incredible show and I'm so glad I got to see that and most of their other shows this year. I love the pride we have for our local boys and I can't wait to see what they achieve in 2010
I also discovered that month that a little Zoo was hiding about twenty minutes down the road from me. It's amazing and I need to visit it more.
April
Silly photoshoots with some amazing friends who I miss going on coffee dates with. Seriously since Pam got a real job I've barely seen her and I only see Bea at work (and tbh I think we get on way better away from that place!)
Crazy birthday party where I decided stealing rubber ducks was a good idea...But I got to see old friends I hadn't seen in forever so that was pretty brilliant. Well untill I started falling asleep on a couch at 3am.
My cousins little girl had her dedication ceremony and I took lots of photos at the luncheon after...that was pretty fun (as was laughing at some relatives turn down white bread and real butter but scoff all-butter sponge caked with a thick frosting...)
Little Benji died. This was extremely sudden and sad. I didn't expect it to hit me so hard considering he went by the nickname Vicious Little Bastard, but I guess it was a bit of left over upset from Sooty (what with me kind of missing when that actually happened.) Anyway. We now have a little Chinese Dwarf called Remy. She's utterly precious and surprisingly social. I just wish it was much easier to photograph her.
SO MANY SHOWS! GIAN Into and Incomming, Madina Lake, Von Bondies, Lost in Audio...A lot of fun was had. Brilliant interviews with a lot of up and comers - work overload for VLS!
Last minute trip down to Manchester for the last day of the GIAN 'festival' best decision ever (totally wouldn't have done it had it not been for some great PR people pulling some strings though!) Again it was a brilliant learning experience for shooting in a festival type environment and I def learned that that type of situation is farrrr too stressful for me - I'll stick with tours and 4-band lineups max thanks. Big Hands was BRILLIANT that night though. Hangs with old friends and some favourite boys. I miss them so, but I'm pleased we got to talk for a little at least (even if the usual moves on the other family member were made...)
May
Busy month part two. How many gigs did we do? HOW MANY!?!?!? Evidentally we're insane, but considering we only really cover stuff we want to I think we do pretty good.
Hamsters Don't Go On Tour Tour. Words cannot express how much fun that tour was. Not even my photobook can show you. Maybe Lucys vblog of it can though...
I drove to London - and survived! This needs to be noted. Audition release show was epic! As was hanging with London Jen and lolzing about the Preston Mafia (so excited that we get to do that again next month. We'll go sit in the Barfly, right?)
Slum Dunk was wicked if not atrociously hot - I swear I thought I was gonna melt. Got to see some brilliant bands though - even if I did have to run around the Leeds Uni like a headless chicken for most of the day. Still sad I missed the two biggest events though: Danny breaking that chicks arm and Ben singing Katy Perry (at least I've heard a little of it before...)
This was also the month I first experienced concert photography on a stool...not as fun as it sounds, although admittedly that show at 'Clwb Ifor Bach' was pretty awesome. I hope to never be force fed chocolate cake ever again though. But I wouldn't say no to another hilarious afterparty where I drink that many Red Bulls and then try to drive to Birmingham at 3am.
June
Safari Park. Traumatising incident with a Lion on the road in front of me. I kind of don't want to go back to Blair Drummond for a while... Loved the meercats though, of course!
Summerlin shows - surprisingly fun! Even if My Passion really aren't my thing both those nights at GRV and Ivory Blacks (where I took photos on a stool again...) were pretty awesome. Again I have to thank Glasgow Jen SO SO MUCH for putting up with me that night. Couldn't have done it without you. Seriously.
This was also the month where I spent a hell of a lot of time harassing Fereuse and making her play model for me as I got to grips with the basics of the 430EX mkII. Such a help seriously, and I think the photos were pretty dece really!
July
Uh...what the hell did I do that month?! OH I got a tattoo. And Jeremy Swed was totally hilarious. As if he did some of that ink on that old buddy from Jacksonville. Talk about a small world!
Went to TBS too. But that whole evening was a bit of a joke. Not because of them but because that moron stuffed up all the press for Twinny and caused literal chaos for a bunch of people that night. I guess I was super lucky we got it fixed and smothed out for the following month...
August
Drove to Leeds to try again with shooting Twinny and TBS. I hate driving in Leeds HATE. It's a place I think I wouldn't mind living (hello that Subway makes the best sandwiches EVER), but I'd have to walk. One way systems are not on my side. HOWEVER the lighting Gods were totally on my side that night and some reasonably impressive photos happened that led to an insane opportunity (Fazzi is my hero!) and now a pile of my shots are used by Taking Back Sunday...still feels kind of unreal!
Tried my hand with Studio Lights....I'm still not too sure how that went really.
EdFest trips with Miss Lucy. Cocktails and silly photos happened. Like always, of course.
Amanda Freaking Palmer show. One of the most amazing perfomances I've ever seen. She's too wonderful. Even if she did grab my face and kiss my cheek (which, tbh, I'm not complaining about at all!).
LONDON. CAMDEN LEISURE PIRATES! I miss those Aussies of mine. MUNCHKIN AND DOROTHY REUNITED (...again!) Some brilliant times were def had. Most notably that semi drunken cab trip across the city to Brixton just to hang with our Oregon boys for twenty minutes. Expensive but totally worth it. Eat and Two Veg. Picnics in the park. Cupcakes. Starbucks. Lattes with benefits. Squirrel Sprawls.
READING. Seeing Jacks Mannequin for the first time at long last. So amazing and worth the long wait. Tim Minchin still making me laugh like no-one else. Brief Shake and Bake hangs. Watching Aussies dance to Aussie bands. The amazing vegan stall that saves us from starvation every year. That weird tent where we couldn't see a bloody thing. More hangs with the Oregon boys, their set was so awesome, but what a terrible set time. Lostprophets making me fall in love with them all over again when Emma and I went into the front pitt.
Flying home from London was tough as hell, but the hetic plans for that night put a lot of it out my mind at the time. But honestly I'm still insanely gutted that things got sorted so late in the day for Jacks Mannequin. It's the first time I've been in a situation where I have a pass and no camera. I legit could have cried. Luckily I was with two brilliant laydees who took my mind off it as we danced in our front row balcony seats and made the most of the evening. Natually the icing on the cake was Lu being a QMUstudent and sneaking us back in to go meet Andrew. Most amazing.
September
'Helping' Lucy move into her flat. MUSHY PEAS. Oran Mor with Lucy and Jen (reading through this is making me realise how much time we actually all spend together - slightly insane...) We're too pro at this short notice thing. Also I need a set of 'shitfaced' tumblers. For real.
DISNEYLAND DISNEYLAND DISNEYLAND. As if I can sum all of it up. It was so much fun. As was FINALLY getting to go up the Eiffel Tower. I love it (though I still generally dislike the behaviour in France). Fake Birthday dinner ruled, but I'm still scared of Aladin...for the rest of my life.
Proper birthday hangs the night of The Used. Wetherspoons must be sick of us. I think this was when I fell in love with Monster (right?). Great night at the Gayrage that evening, even if we got a little carried away with the screamo.
ATL mini tour was dead fun. Friday Night Crackheads. Polaroids. Uhm. I think that's all I have to say on that.
October
Maybe the busiest month I've ever experienced for shows that wasn't a full blown tour. I went to something like ten shows in nineteen days or something equally ridiculous. The list of bands I shot was pretty insane for one month: Twin Atlantic, Hey monday, Every Avenue, Lost In Audio, Papa Roach, Bowling For Soup, All American Rejects, AntiFlag, The Ghost of A Thousand, MC Lars, Zebrahead, Alexisonfire, Four Year Strong, American Steel, Upwelling, My Passion, and Summerlin. Sort of overwhelming really...So if you can't tell my month was fairly show centric. But I could never say no to hangs with my favourite girls, and for free...well why the hell not!
Saw Tim Minchin twice more also. Amazing to see him down in Newc with Shake and Bake (TGIS and laughing till we cried...oh and hey that morning I woke up with Molly the dog sprawled out on me...slightly unsettling) THEN. Then Fereuse and I went to see him in Edinburgh...3rd row centre was sort of amazing, if not kind of insane because I actually ended up sitting beside a girl I literally met three days before for the first time. Another case of small world I think!
Night out at the Gayrage was fairly memorable. One doesn't forget getting covered in whiskey...but aside from that it was quite a laugh, even if I now know for sure I'll never be a metal kid. Ever. We still had a right laugh though. My Passion are some...dancers...
November
Show season started to wind down. Though after getting over my fear of the Barras the previous month I'm so freaking glad we went back and that I shot Rise Against there. It was brilliant. As was seeing a really intimate Blackout show at King Tuts - anything a dude with a Welsh accent says is automatically hilarious. I'm sorry Sean Smith but it's true.
I FINALLY GOT MY CAR REG. Whoops I'm still going on about it even though I've pretty much promised not to go on about it anymore. But really it's wonderful.
December
Work always takes over my life in December. The hours havent gotten completely insane yet but oh boy I know its getting there. For real this is my last Christmas in retail for a while, I'm not slipping back into this happening next year. No freaking way.
Trip to London with Fereuse. Detour to Oxford to see the Oregon Boys. So freaking good. Not enough of the 'semi Crunk' crowd appreciated them, but don't you worry I sang my heart out as always. They make me so happy its ridiculous. Back to London to catch an evening of culture - woo Wicked. So amazing, the whole production was incredible. As was that ice cream lunch...I still regret it but I believe it had to be done.
Final King Tuts hangs of the year and the last gig - Set Your Goals, Fireworks and Broadway Calls. Couldn't have asked for a better end. Nachos for dinner and photos with Santa hats in a backstage stairwell after the show. Silliest, but a wonderful end to a fairly hectic year.
All thats really left is back to back shifts at work, our ritual Cocktail session (and a trip to VivaMexico!), and that whole Christmas thing...
As much as I moaned...in hindsight 2009 has been a pretty good year for me. Sure A LOT of things fell though and left me disapointed, but I think I squeezed a fair amount into the year. I can't wait to see what 2010 brings considering I've already started making big changes. It's going to be pretty different from this year...but that's the point, right?
I tried to write a little more this year, so maybe it's a bit of a bore, but there's still some pretty photos to look at if the writing drags on too much for you...
Right now I'd say this is everything but the more I look at it the more I realise theres stacks of stuff missing photo wise but they're on the external harddrive and the thought of looking at more photos right now kind of makes me wanna cry. I may come back to this at some point and add more...
January
Hxc DVD marathons.
Kerrang Tour. Jimmy and the Oreos. Lomo photos that my not so brilliant machine at work ruined. Steve was hilarious, but damn that marker took ages to come off.
LUCY - that girl has been my rock this year...so freaking glad we finally met up - she said it herself the other day, I can't get rid of her now!
Ticking another amazing band off my 'shot' list - AAR; in the Gayrage, insane but so wonderful. Tysons shoes...I still want them.
NEW CAMERA - its my baby, best 900 quid ever spent.
February
AlkalineTrio/BroadwayCalls/Audition Tour. Ten shows in just under 3 weeks (so...pretty much all of Feb was on the road). Alk3 Soundchecks. Shooting multiple shows. Hanging out with friends in almost every major city in the UK, making so many new and awesome friends everywhere we went. That dude. Weird extra shows in clubs. Dictation and The Sumbags. Random/cute shoutouts. Danny lulz backstage in pretty much every city. Outright weird interviews. Valentines Day. AWESOME afterparties. TELEGRAPHS - Hattie being so incredibly drunk and adorable.
March
ANTIFLAG. Srsly one of the best shows I went to this year. Hands down most insane show at the ABC but so much freaking fun.
FOB at the MEN. Brilliant girly hangs. Scariest shooting experience ever, BUT I think I learned a lot from it, so it works out. Scary drinks in the hotel after though...I think I'm still recovering from that. Totally didn't get to hang out with my Shake and Bake nearly enough this year...we need to work on that next year.
Twinny at QMU. Legit so proud of those boys. It was an incredible show and I'm so glad I got to see that and most of their other shows this year. I love the pride we have for our local boys and I can't wait to see what they achieve in 2010
I also discovered that month that a little Zoo was hiding about twenty minutes down the road from me. It's amazing and I need to visit it more.
April
Silly photoshoots with some amazing friends who I miss going on coffee dates with. Seriously since Pam got a real job I've barely seen her and I only see Bea at work (and tbh I think we get on way better away from that place!)
Crazy birthday party where I decided stealing rubber ducks was a good idea...But I got to see old friends I hadn't seen in forever so that was pretty brilliant. Well untill I started falling asleep on a couch at 3am.
My cousins little girl had her dedication ceremony and I took lots of photos at the luncheon after...that was pretty fun (as was laughing at some relatives turn down white bread and real butter but scoff all-butter sponge caked with a thick frosting...)
Little Benji died. This was extremely sudden and sad. I didn't expect it to hit me so hard considering he went by the nickname Vicious Little Bastard, but I guess it was a bit of left over upset from Sooty (what with me kind of missing when that actually happened.) Anyway. We now have a little Chinese Dwarf called Remy. She's utterly precious and surprisingly social. I just wish it was much easier to photograph her.
SO MANY SHOWS! GIAN Into and Incomming, Madina Lake, Von Bondies, Lost in Audio...A lot of fun was had. Brilliant interviews with a lot of up and comers - work overload for VLS!
Last minute trip down to Manchester for the last day of the GIAN 'festival' best decision ever (totally wouldn't have done it had it not been for some great PR people pulling some strings though!) Again it was a brilliant learning experience for shooting in a festival type environment and I def learned that that type of situation is farrrr too stressful for me - I'll stick with tours and 4-band lineups max thanks. Big Hands was BRILLIANT that night though. Hangs with old friends and some favourite boys. I miss them so, but I'm pleased we got to talk for a little at least (even if the usual moves on the other family member were made...)
May
Busy month part two. How many gigs did we do? HOW MANY!?!?!? Evidentally we're insane, but considering we only really cover stuff we want to I think we do pretty good.
Hamsters Don't Go On Tour Tour. Words cannot express how much fun that tour was. Not even my photobook can show you. Maybe Lucys vblog of it can though...
I drove to London - and survived! This needs to be noted. Audition release show was epic! As was hanging with London Jen and lolzing about the Preston Mafia (so excited that we get to do that again next month. We'll go sit in the Barfly, right?)
Slum Dunk was wicked if not atrociously hot - I swear I thought I was gonna melt. Got to see some brilliant bands though - even if I did have to run around the Leeds Uni like a headless chicken for most of the day. Still sad I missed the two biggest events though: Danny breaking that chicks arm and Ben singing Katy Perry (at least I've heard a little of it before...)
This was also the month I first experienced concert photography on a stool...not as fun as it sounds, although admittedly that show at 'Clwb Ifor Bach' was pretty awesome. I hope to never be force fed chocolate cake ever again though. But I wouldn't say no to another hilarious afterparty where I drink that many Red Bulls and then try to drive to Birmingham at 3am.
June
Safari Park. Traumatising incident with a Lion on the road in front of me. I kind of don't want to go back to Blair Drummond for a while... Loved the meercats though, of course!
Summerlin shows - surprisingly fun! Even if My Passion really aren't my thing both those nights at GRV and Ivory Blacks (where I took photos on a stool again...) were pretty awesome. Again I have to thank Glasgow Jen SO SO MUCH for putting up with me that night. Couldn't have done it without you. Seriously.
This was also the month where I spent a hell of a lot of time harassing Fereuse and making her play model for me as I got to grips with the basics of the 430EX mkII. Such a help seriously, and I think the photos were pretty dece really!
July
Uh...what the hell did I do that month?! OH I got a tattoo. And Jeremy Swed was totally hilarious. As if he did some of that ink on that old buddy from Jacksonville. Talk about a small world!
Went to TBS too. But that whole evening was a bit of a joke. Not because of them but because that moron stuffed up all the press for Twinny and caused literal chaos for a bunch of people that night. I guess I was super lucky we got it fixed and smothed out for the following month...
August
Drove to Leeds to try again with shooting Twinny and TBS. I hate driving in Leeds HATE. It's a place I think I wouldn't mind living (hello that Subway makes the best sandwiches EVER), but I'd have to walk. One way systems are not on my side. HOWEVER the lighting Gods were totally on my side that night and some reasonably impressive photos happened that led to an insane opportunity (Fazzi is my hero!) and now a pile of my shots are used by Taking Back Sunday...still feels kind of unreal!
Tried my hand with Studio Lights....I'm still not too sure how that went really.
EdFest trips with Miss Lucy. Cocktails and silly photos happened. Like always, of course.
Amanda Freaking Palmer show. One of the most amazing perfomances I've ever seen. She's too wonderful. Even if she did grab my face and kiss my cheek (which, tbh, I'm not complaining about at all!).
LONDON. CAMDEN LEISURE PIRATES! I miss those Aussies of mine. MUNCHKIN AND DOROTHY REUNITED (...again!) Some brilliant times were def had. Most notably that semi drunken cab trip across the city to Brixton just to hang with our Oregon boys for twenty minutes. Expensive but totally worth it. Eat and Two Veg. Picnics in the park. Cupcakes. Starbucks. Lattes with benefits. Squirrel Sprawls.
READING. Seeing Jacks Mannequin for the first time at long last. So amazing and worth the long wait. Tim Minchin still making me laugh like no-one else. Brief Shake and Bake hangs. Watching Aussies dance to Aussie bands. The amazing vegan stall that saves us from starvation every year. That weird tent where we couldn't see a bloody thing. More hangs with the Oregon boys, their set was so awesome, but what a terrible set time. Lostprophets making me fall in love with them all over again when Emma and I went into the front pitt.
Flying home from London was tough as hell, but the hetic plans for that night put a lot of it out my mind at the time. But honestly I'm still insanely gutted that things got sorted so late in the day for Jacks Mannequin. It's the first time I've been in a situation where I have a pass and no camera. I legit could have cried. Luckily I was with two brilliant laydees who took my mind off it as we danced in our front row balcony seats and made the most of the evening. Natually the icing on the cake was Lu being a QMUstudent and sneaking us back in to go meet Andrew. Most amazing.
September
'Helping' Lucy move into her flat. MUSHY PEAS. Oran Mor with Lucy and Jen (reading through this is making me realise how much time we actually all spend together - slightly insane...) We're too pro at this short notice thing. Also I need a set of 'shitfaced' tumblers. For real.
DISNEYLAND DISNEYLAND DISNEYLAND. As if I can sum all of it up. It was so much fun. As was FINALLY getting to go up the Eiffel Tower. I love it (though I still generally dislike the behaviour in France). Fake Birthday dinner ruled, but I'm still scared of Aladin...for the rest of my life.
Proper birthday hangs the night of The Used. Wetherspoons must be sick of us. I think this was when I fell in love with Monster (right?). Great night at the Gayrage that evening, even if we got a little carried away with the screamo.
ATL mini tour was dead fun. Friday Night Crackheads. Polaroids. Uhm. I think that's all I have to say on that.
October
Maybe the busiest month I've ever experienced for shows that wasn't a full blown tour. I went to something like ten shows in nineteen days or something equally ridiculous. The list of bands I shot was pretty insane for one month: Twin Atlantic, Hey monday, Every Avenue, Lost In Audio, Papa Roach, Bowling For Soup, All American Rejects, AntiFlag, The Ghost of A Thousand, MC Lars, Zebrahead, Alexisonfire, Four Year Strong, American Steel, Upwelling, My Passion, and Summerlin. Sort of overwhelming really...So if you can't tell my month was fairly show centric. But I could never say no to hangs with my favourite girls, and for free...well why the hell not!
Saw Tim Minchin twice more also. Amazing to see him down in Newc with Shake and Bake (TGIS and laughing till we cried...oh and hey that morning I woke up with Molly the dog sprawled out on me...slightly unsettling) THEN. Then Fereuse and I went to see him in Edinburgh...3rd row centre was sort of amazing, if not kind of insane because I actually ended up sitting beside a girl I literally met three days before for the first time. Another case of small world I think!
Night out at the Gayrage was fairly memorable. One doesn't forget getting covered in whiskey...but aside from that it was quite a laugh, even if I now know for sure I'll never be a metal kid. Ever. We still had a right laugh though. My Passion are some...dancers...
November
Show season started to wind down. Though after getting over my fear of the Barras the previous month I'm so freaking glad we went back and that I shot Rise Against there. It was brilliant. As was seeing a really intimate Blackout show at King Tuts - anything a dude with a Welsh accent says is automatically hilarious. I'm sorry Sean Smith but it's true.
I FINALLY GOT MY CAR REG. Whoops I'm still going on about it even though I've pretty much promised not to go on about it anymore. But really it's wonderful.
December
Work always takes over my life in December. The hours havent gotten completely insane yet but oh boy I know its getting there. For real this is my last Christmas in retail for a while, I'm not slipping back into this happening next year. No freaking way.
Trip to London with Fereuse. Detour to Oxford to see the Oregon Boys. So freaking good. Not enough of the 'semi Crunk' crowd appreciated them, but don't you worry I sang my heart out as always. They make me so happy its ridiculous. Back to London to catch an evening of culture - woo Wicked. So amazing, the whole production was incredible. As was that ice cream lunch...I still regret it but I believe it had to be done.
Final King Tuts hangs of the year and the last gig - Set Your Goals, Fireworks and Broadway Calls. Couldn't have asked for a better end. Nachos for dinner and photos with Santa hats in a backstage stairwell after the show. Silliest, but a wonderful end to a fairly hectic year.
All thats really left is back to back shifts at work, our ritual Cocktail session (and a trip to VivaMexico!), and that whole Christmas thing...
As much as I moaned...in hindsight 2009 has been a pretty good year for me. Sure A LOT of things fell though and left me disapointed, but I think I squeezed a fair amount into the year. I can't wait to see what 2010 brings considering I've already started making big changes. It's going to be pretty different from this year...but that's the point, right?