So, after shooting my last gig of the year a week ago, I thought I’d take a look back through my first full year of concert photography and pick out the highlights.
January
Only two gigs in January – Teen Spirit (with Saving Aimee, above) and Stray Borders at Tommy’s Bar – read my very first review here
February
From the dark of The Mentalists at Chapter to the light of Lemons in the Old Church Rooms and the warmth of Yeti (above) in Barfly to the fantastic Working Class Heroes in the same venue.
March
My biggest act to that date – Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (above) in Spillers Records, where I became a regular during 2008 as well as a rather rowdy gig at Barfly with The Metros and The Clay (read the review)
April
The month of the photo pass! Dashboard Confessional (my first US band), Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (with I Was A Cub Scout, above) and The Automatic. This month also held the first few round of theSprout.co.uk’s battle of the bands which I became involved with and met a good number of new bands.
May
The start of my exams prompted a slowdown, but that wasn’t enough to stop my half term exhausting me with the fantastic experience of helping to put on a gig with two of my favourite bands Vessels + Stray Borders. (See the blog) as well as attending Teen Spirit (with Mass Appeal above), Lightspeed Champion and the final of the Battle Of The Bands in the same month.
June
Again, hindered by two weeks of exams, I focused all my energies into the second half of the month to attend a number of gigs. The incredible set of The Music (above) produced fantastic photos, Attack! Attack! in Clwb Ifor Bach had me speechless and a spur-of-the-moment gig at Barfly with innerpartysystem and Caesars Rome rounded off a fantastic month.
July
A quiet month, despite being off school for all of it thanks to my exams, I still managed to fit in an all-day festival which had me simultaneously photographing it and running the main stage. Finishing off the month strongly again with a rather varied gig in Buffalo Bar and a fantastic set from Ulteria Motive (above)
August
Although it doesn’t look like it from my calendar, August was a packed month. The Big Weekend with a whole host of bands headlined by Ash, my first promo shoot (finally published here), another spur-of-the-moment gig with Future Of The Left, The Red Festival at the end of the month, which was a fantastic (very long and loud!) chance to improve my skills. The highlight of this month though was the above photo – Aaron North of Jubilee.
September
The start of a new school year, and only two gigs. The Red Festival again was another chance to improve my portfolio and skills (headlined by the fantastic Working Class Heroes) and another American band graced Cardiff – The Academy Is… (above) put on a show to burst your eardrums – from the crowd screaming.
October
Disappointingly only one proper gig throughout the whole of October, what was I doing? Vessels returned to Cardiff with the impressive Talons in tow. I also managed to see Attack! Attack! yet again in Spillers Records with a drastically different acoustic set (above). October was also the month I started using my new Canon 40D with impressive results.
November
Another pretty bare month, but with a few good shots from the 40D from both TheSprout.co.uk’s launch and the Outcry Collective gig with PublicAsylum and Monday Massacre (above).
December
With an epic amount of bands at The Red Battle final and a great couple of passes with The Futureheads and Attack! Attack!, a great way to end the year. To round it off, above is a look at things to come – more energy, wider angles, more awesomeness and more awesome bands like Ulteria Motive.
1/100s, f/3.2, ISO 100,
