Here’s a quick overview of the work I’ve done since then:

All Time Low at the Kerrang! Tour 2010

Athena in Cardiff Barfly

Sunset To Mourning in Cardiff County Battle of the Bands

Shaped by Fate at The Bronx’s All-Dayer

Athena (again) at Cardiff County Battle Of The Bands Final.

The year draws to a close, so here it is in review! I didn’t shoot nearly as much this year, because maybe there wasn’t a lot to cover, or I felt a bit reluctant to shoot smaller shows. However, there’s tonnes on the way for next year already, so I hope to cover more then!

January

The year started with the massive Kerrang! Tour with Mindless Self Indulgence (above), Bring Me The Horizon and Dir en grey – resulting in some of my most popular photos. This was the first time I used my Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 to good and bad use, with little experience I managed to miss opportunities but capture some great ones by accident. I also covered innerpartysystem, Middle Class Rut and My Passion at Cardiff Barfly with a flashgun and photo pit – my first experience with flash. Although determined not to use flash, I caved in when I knew there was no other option with gigs like that. Here’s a sample of innerpartysystem:

February

Only three gigs in February: Caesars Rome in Barfly, Stray Borders’ last show in Dempseys and Reel Big Fish in the Student’s Union (with Suburban Legends above). A flashless month after last, a lot of practice with low light with my Sigma.

March

Only one gig in March! F***ed up and Rolo Tomassi (above) was another practice in flash, and realising my sub-par equipment was not nearly as fast enough to capture everything. A good experience in punk rock though.

April

What on earth was I doing in April? Only one more gig, and yet another practice in low light with the Sigma.

May

One gig again in May, although triumphant with tonnes of shots at My Passion being of great quality. Probably had something to do with amazing poses, amazing lighting and a lot of new experience with low light and flash.

June

One gig in Buffalo Bar in very low light with my Canon 50mm f/1.8 being put to use.

July

Finally! Something massive. Covering Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction in the Manchester Evening News Arena was brilliant. You can see the results in an earlier entry. However, here’s the other gig I did in July with Athena. Flash and trail lights galore.

August

Only one gig covered, but a big one in Under Construction Festival. Loads of light was difficult in comparison to what I normally have! Enjoyable all the same though. Here Lies The Enemy headlined the day and kicked ass.

Nothing in September!

October

A massively busy month in comparison with the rest of the year! P.O.S. in Bristol, Noisettes in the Great Hall, another Athena gig, and finally the brilliant chance to cover Swn Festival ending in The Gate with Los Campesinos! and Dananananaykroyd (above).

November

Enter the flashgun! Finally acquired a Canon 430EXII to really rip the shreds out of low light and to capture the quickest of movements. Put to use only once this year with a gig in Barfly (Shame!) and Evilive above. I also covered Rise Against, Thursday and Poison the Well in the Great Hall (on my own in the photo pit, weird).

December

Only one gig covered in December, but what a gig! Finally managing to crack the CIA in Cardiff I covered Paramore. This year finally set me up on a professional level with not the multitude, but the magnitude of gigs I covered. Roll on 2010!

Favourite photo of 2009:

P.O.S. in Fiddler’s Club, Bristol – 2nd October

I don’t know what it is, but something about this photo makes me love it. It’s now my business card, so everyone who I introduce myself to can see it. An amazingly challenging but rewarding gig to cover.

Favourite gig of 2009:

Without a doubt, Nine Inch Nails. Definitely enjoyed The O2 more (as I wasn’t working!) but to cover my favourite band was an amazing experience.

Greatest achievement of 2009:

Finally cracking open the seemingly impossible Live Nation venue of the CIA with Paramore.

What you like to achieve in 2010:

More promos, more flash, more photo pits, bigger bands, better photos. And who knows, maybe publication?

Noisettes

Rise Against

Paramore (review)

Check out the full magazine here

I got the chance to cover my favourite band, as well as another of the most important rock acts of the past twenty years.

I’ve also never had the chance to take photos in such a massive venue!

Mew

Very difficult to shoot, with sparse lighting being washed over throughout the three songs we had.

However sparse the overhead lighting was, the front lighting was incredibly strong. I had a range of 1/80s and 1/1250s throughout. I kept to ISO 800 and f/2.8 to allow for this fluctuation.

Jane’s Addiction

Next up were Jane’s Addiction and a lengthy wait in the pit followed by a projection intro. The screen lifted up to reveal Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins (although he was so far away it was impossible to get shots of him!)

The luxurious light and brilliant subjects made this a joy to shoot – although the range between pit and stage made it a slight challenge as well as the quick movement and continuous smoke (which looks fantastic anyway). Focusing was a problem, but the shots really stood out because of their subjects. Kudos to Jane’s Addiction for being great entertainers – loved their set the following night! We only got to shoot two songs because of the length of the first – Three Days. Brilliant fun though. I didn’t deviate from ISO 800, 1/100s and f/2.8 once – thank goodness for RAW!

Nine Inch Nails

And for the main event, almost missed it as I was so into the start of the set! We shot songs 7 (The Becoming), 8 (I’m Afraid of Americans) + 9 (Burn).

Again, the smoke made it really difficult to capture things in focus, but as I had a good idea of how the songs would go down, I managed to catch some great moments. Again, amazing subjects putting their all into the music. Also found it hard to resist being stunned into shock by actually being able to photograph such an incredible band. The lights changed from near darkness to overwhelming white light making me jump from 1/25s at the beginning of song 1 to 1/500s during song 3. Also, because NIN were headlining, I spared no shot, often taking 3 or 4 versions of the same shot – just in case.

Soundscape Issue 3 is coming later this month!

P.O.S. at Fiddlers Club, Bristol

Feature on Under Construction Festival (bottom three thumbnails copyright Mangaka Maiden Photography)

1/100s, f/8.0, ISO 100, 24mm

I turned up to the shoot with my Canon 40D, Sigma 24-70mm, Canon 50mm and flashgun. I ended up primarily using the Sigma lens, rarely using the flashgun for darker areas.

The main problem was light, as the incredible graffiti and the backgrounds used were either in shadow, bright sunlight or worst of all – both as this image demonstrates:

1/100s, f/3.2, ISO 100,

However, I managed to correct the balance with the use of graduated tint:

1/100s, f/13.0, ISO 100, 24mm

The vivid images allowed me to experiment with HDR images. I recreated the image above using PhotomatixPro 3

Genetix was adventurous, not only climbing up this tin roof, but clambering up a billboard covered in graffiti:

1/100s, f/5.6, ISO 100, 26mm

This intricate background was great for wide shots:

1/100s, f/5.6, ISO 100, 24mm

Genetix also told me he wanted to rap whilst I took photos, to create action shots, straying away from the usual still promotional shots. This was a challenge to try and capture a clean image, but some were greatly successful. It gave me a chance to catch different poses and compositions without needing to direct the subject:

1/100s, f/5.6, ISO 100, 24mm

I shot fully manual, taking a few test shots in different areas to gauge the right settings, however as the light changed it was difficult to predict the changes I needed to make whilst Genetix was in full flow. I kept mainly wide angles, favouring to move closer or further away than use zoom.

I appear around 0:32, pass at 0:40 and line up a shot at 0:47

Still stunned by this opportunity… thanks to RMP London!

Full report coming soon!

Athena live shot + CSC photo

Athena Interview and Promo Shot 

Feature on Cardiff Skateboard Club

Stay tuned for my NIN + Jane’s Addiction photos and more…

More updates coming, I’ve been very lax, apologies.

once I’ve finished the mountains of work, I’ll get started on some photography blogs (including details on my new lens and use of a flash gun!)