Top Photos From 2015

I went to over 180 gigs this year and had a camera with me at the majority of gigs. I also had decent cameras with me at many of these gigs. So I took loads of photos this year.

January

I chose this photo as my favourite from the month. It was a photo of the FAUNS playing Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen.

Fauns at the Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen

But I also liked a few I took at the Hinds gig. They’re a fun band and I think these photos capture the atmosphere of their performances.

Hinds at the Boston Music Room

Hinds at the Boston Music Room

Hinds at the Boston Music Room

February

I love crowd surfing photos. I rarely catch good ones as I’m usually using a pocket camera. But this one came out okay.
Bloody Knees supporting Honeyblood at the Oslo

Honeyblood at the Oslo

Public Service Broadcasting featured heavily this year. But because of their stage setup, I didn’t get many great photos of them. But this one I thought came out really well.

Public Service Broadcasting at the National Space Centre

March

My best photo from March was a mini technical triumph. The Spectres played in near darkness at the Lexington. With only a pocket camera it was a challenge to capture anything. But using the flashes of some of the photographers with big flash guns and my camera set to long exposures, I managed to capture a few ‘ghostly’ images of the band.

Spectres at the Lexington

Another photo where I was pleased to get something despite the limitations of the technology I had with me. A room filled with smoke and back lit, isn’t easy to photograph.
Mickey's 9

I also photographed a Daylight Music in March and managed to get some reasonable shots, this one I quiet like
Daylight Music 21st March 2015 - Lutine

Bo Ningen are interesting to photograph because they always put so much energy into their performances. I took quite a few decent photos at their Hoxton show.

Bo Ningen at Hoxton Square

April

At the time I thought April was a bit of a poor month for photos. But looking back, despite my position in the crowd for the Wolf Alice gig, I managed to get some interesting shots. But this shot of Saint Saviour was the photo I selected as photo of the month.

Saint Saviour at Wilton's Music Hall

But I think if I’d spent some time processing these Wolf Alice gigs, these could have come out better than they did.

Wolf Alice at The Junction

I noticed later in the year that the band had posted this photo to Facebook, generating a massive amount of likes. I suspected it was more for the singer than the photo

Wolf Alice at The Junction

May

May featured lots of gigs, the Great Escape Festival and Primavera. But as often happens at festivals, I was limited by my position. So I didn’t get many decent shots. I gave the photo of the month to a shot of God Damn. Loking back, I’m not sure if this was the best shot. I think shots of Baby Godzilla were better. I think at the time, I was impressed that I’d managed to a get a shot of a band member in the crowd at the Shacklewell using a pocket camera.

God Damn

But looking at these Baby Godzilla photos, I think these are better shots.

Baby Godzilla

Baby Godzilla

Baby Godzilla

And despite the limitations of my pocket camera, there were also some decent shots from the Great Escape
The Great Escape - Jpnsgrls

The Great Escape - Black Honey

The Great Escape - Fable

The Great Escape - Fable

The Great Escape - The Picturebooks

The Great Escape

June

June saw a good few chances to take some interesting photos as I saw a number of my favourite bands who always put on good shows. My photo of the month was this one of the British Sea Power gig. There were quiet a few decent shots taken at this gig, despite being limited to a pocket camera.

British Sea Power at the Roundhouse

British Sea Power at the Roundhouse

Bo Bingen who provided support, also provided a number of decent photo opportunities

Bo Ningen supporting British Sea Power at the Roundhouse

The BSP B-Side’s special in-store gig a few days later also provided lots of opportunities to capture interesting photos.

British Sea Power B-Sides

The Field Day Festival featured several bands I’d seen before. One, Spring King hadn’t impressed me on a big stage a the Great Escape but on a small stage they were so good to photograph 

Field Day 2015 - Spring King

Field Day 2015- Savages

Field Day 2015- Savages

Field Day 2015- Savages

For some reason, the Lexington has been a difficult place to photograph this year. They have the lighting, but just don’t seem to want to use it. So I’ve struggled whenever I’ve photographed bands using only my pocket camera. But I liked this photo of Kikagaku Moyo relaxing before playing.

Kikagaku Moyo

The local Rhythms of the World festival was also a decent opportunity to capture some reasonable images from the crowd

Such Strange Arts

Scar City

Scar City

My Baby

The Fierce and the Dead

I also love these images of Wolf Alice and the mosh pit at Rough Trade! Something I never expected to see.

Wolf Alice at Rough Trade

Wolf Alice at Rough Trade

Wolf Alice at Rough Trade

Wolf Alice at Rough Trade

Another shot with a pocket camera that came out remarkably well and has been used by Daylight Music of their most recent flyer was a shot of a dancer at a Daylight Music in June

Lucy Claire

I also took some nice shots of the Riddles at the Shacklewell.

RIDDLES

RIDDLES

July

Daylight Music 4th July 2015 - Rodney Branigan

Savages, A Dead Forest Index and Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome at the Barbican

August

August was a quiet month with a switch away from indie to classical so photo opportunities were scarce. It didn’t help that the gig I did have, was at the Lexington with it’s eversion to lighting. So I gave the monthly award to this photo. Taken without a flash, it’s ‘grimyness’ I felt reflected Girl Band.
Girl Band at the Lexington

Girl Band at the Lexington

September

September was a busy month and a pretty decent month for photos. I gave the monthly award to this photo of Black Honey, but there were numerous other photos that could have won this month.

Black Honey at the Garage

Bo Ningen headlined Stolen Records Anniversary gig and as usual provided ample opportunities to get some great shots.

Stolen's 10th Birthday: Bo Ningen

Stolen's 10th Birthday: Bo Ningen

Stolen's 10th Birthday: Bo Ningen

Stolen's 10th Birthday: Bo Ningen

Meilyr Jones

Kingsley Chapman is always good to photograph and his gig in September was no exception.

Kingsley Chapman and the Murder

Torres, possibly my artist of the year, also played in September and put on a good show

Torres at Scala

Despite only being two of them, the Picturebooks were also really interesting to photograph

The Picturebooks at the Horn

The Picturebooks at the Horn

The Picturebooks at the Horn

October

Another busy month and some reasonable photos. I thought this photo of VANT’s young crowd captured the enthusiasm of their fans.

VANT at Dingwalls

Prom supporting Girl Band at the 100 Club

Girl Band at the 100 Club

Rockaway Beach Day 1: Du Blonde

Rockaway Beach Day 1: John Knox Sex Club

Rockaway Beach Day 1: Telescopes

Rockaway Beach Day 1: Membranes

Rockaway Beach Day 2: The Band Of Holy Joy

Rockaway Beach Day 2: Teeth of the Sea

Rockaway Beach Day 3: Young Fathers

Black Honey have been one of my favourite bands to photograph this year. Great band with an expressive lead singer

Black Honey at the Sebright Arms

Black Honey at the Sebright Arms

Black Honey at the Sebright Arms

Black Honey at the Sebright Arms

La Luz

November

My favourite photo from November was from a Daylight Music session. I was using a 30 year old manual focus lens and managed to get loads of interesting lens flare.

Daylight Music 207 - Grasscuts

Eagles of Death Metal

John J Presley at the Lexington

Kingsley Chapman and the Murder

Goldray

Sunflower Bean

December

This shot of the lead singer of BSP on drums was my photo of December, but there were several good shoots during December. A new camera contributing to the improved quality as it’s capability in low light is so impressive that even the poor lighting in the Lexington offered little resistance.

Jock Scott with British Sea Power (South) at the Lexington

Josh T Pearson at Rough Trade

Savages at the Dome

Savages at the Dome

Dronningen

Queen Kwong at the Barfly

Queen Kwong at the Barfly

Membranes

My Top Photo

My favourite photo of the year was this one of Black Honey. I just love the colours and the expression on Izzy’s face.

Black Honey at the Garage

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