review : 2014

So I thought I'd put together a few of my favourite images of the year, they probably won't be in chronological order. I pretty much only know that the year started with the london jam & improvathon, from there I'll just wing it.

As someone who doesn't do this all the time, who can't chase all the photos I want to take, who really doesn't have much time attached to a camera, it's always a great honour to be asked to take someone's photo. Whether it be a friends' wedding (I don't do weddings!), a little person's christening or a theatre show, it's a huge responsibility to get it right and i'm always very happy when people entrust me with that responsibility, because quite frankly this is the thing that keeps me sane.

When I get the photographers equivalent of itchy feet I'm stupidly lucky to have a few friends who will jump in front of the camera for me and let me indulge my whims.

As such I treasure every image in this post, they make me very happy. Hope they're even a tiny bit interesting to look at...... Oh and I'm just going to put each image up in full so just go ahead and scroll....

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a frosty morning at the end of the year.

The amazing light made up for the cold....

Archive : Darren

Just over two years ago I photographed Darren Goldsmith between performances of Northern Ballet's Beauty and the Beast at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. Today, after 21 years with the company, Darren will take to the stage with Northern Ballet for the last time. He's dancing Hook in their fantastic production of Peter Pan at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. I wish I was there, I love Hook, there's a wig and a frock coat and something brilliantly arrogant, or arrogantly brilliant.

I first saw Northern Ballet at the Marlowe when I was 13 years old (it was Romeo and Juliet!), our class at school was invited to see the warm-up in the afternoon and I was instantly a fan. So I've watched Darren dance for all of those 21 years and his retirement will leave some very big shoes to fill, it has always been a delight to watch him perform. There's too many fabulous performances to list, but Scrooge in A Christmas Carol is something that will always be ingrained on my memory. And crawling down the back wall of the old Marlowe, the first time i saw him as Dracula. Oh and Tybalt and wearing a fabulous coat in The Nutcracker and being viscous and brilliant and vile in Hamlet.... but mainly Scrooge........ ......... and Dracula!!

He's also a really decent guy who's about as obsessed with cameras as I am, knows a stack about a lot of things and it's really nice to chat whenever our paths cross. 😀

This is a crop of one of the shots I abandoned from that shoot, looking back it's the shot I wanted to take, it's the framing I should have made in camera. I like the directness of his expression and the beginning of an almost-smile.

As they say, hindsight's a wonderful thing, or a bitch, depending on how you look at it!! ;-)

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So what do you say, to someone who's just been getting on with doing the thing they do?

Maybe just this...

Thank you. Watching you dance has been a blast.

 

Benjamin Scheuer - gig photos

On tuesday I had the very great pleasure of photographing Benjamin Scheuer and Jean Rohe at the St James Theatre studio, two great songwriters visiting from NYC. You can check out their fabulous music online...... 

..... this is my take on their excellent gig .....

Boys in blue.....

It's nice when a friend says "can you help my mates out?" and you agree and then those people turn out to be totally lovely and you end up having a lot of fun together. We made these images on a lovely sunny sunday back early in July, and they're finally live on their website so I thought I'd blog a couple.

Ladies & gentlemen, meet The 4 Tune Tellers …..

An angel of the first degree...

Gary is the 4th of the Rent @ Greenwich cast who I've photographed for a 2nd time since the show (he played Angel, one of the best Angels I've had the pleasure to witness). I've been wanting to photograph Gary again for the last 2 years and we finally got around to it a couple of weeks back on a rare sunday off.

With help from the brilliant make-up skills of Jamie Birkett and a large bag of silver ticker tape, we made some sparkly, shiny rockstar images.

These are a few of my favourites.....

I love how the light catches the sparkles, and makes Gary's skin all shiny.

Then we made this, which I love....

Altar Boyz - production shots

A few shots I made of the Altar Boyz, currently playing at Greenwich Theatre. The Altar Boyz are Liam Doyle, Jonny Fines, Jamie-Ray Hartshorne, Faisal Khodabukus & Alex Jordan-Mills. Directed by Steven Dexter and designed beautifully by David Shields (set & costume) & James Smith (lighting).

Roll out the barrel....

My friend Tom.... Carradine's Cockney Knees Up at the gorgeous Wilton's Music Hall bar. Pretty much does what it says on the tin, a fabulous evening of increasingly raucous singing. :-) 

Stupidly high iso, all the light was yellow, lots of fun.

Fairy-lights, bunting, crochet & tears - 'Beans on Toast' production shots

....so ok, the tears were mostly from me, but maybe from a lot of the other audience members also. I burst into tears at the finale, too much emotion. Such a beautiful show, I'm just going to post all the pics, I loved photographing these guys.

Scott loves Jen. Jen loves Scott. Jen is gone. Warm, funny and touching memory play by lamp-light; fragmented memories and live folk music. Created and performed by this year's graduates of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, this beautiful new musical play asks whether we should let go of what we have lost, or cling on to the memory if it brings us happiness.

'Beans on Toast' is directed by Alex Howarth & produced by Patch of Blue.