I had heard of Duffy’s name, but not her music so was quite excited to see if she lived up to the hype! I wasn’t disapointed, I was truly wowed by it. Only got to do two songs in the pit instead of the usual three, there was a lot of blue light too!

It was amazing to see such a small dainty girl produce such a rich rounded voice, well worth seeing even if it’s not your usual cup of tea. She had a cool dress too! It is great to go and see acts who I wouldn’t normally consider seeing, and finding something new.

Still at SWNS in Bristol having a good time chasing after various people and hanging out on the beach… Will put some of them up in the next week or so I expect. Adam Gasson is now the king of all papers, having conqured even the Guardian double page spread, well done Adam!

I was recently fortunate enough to place in the final six of the Times Young Photographer of year competition. It was a great experience and I hope to try again next year, hopefully when I am not in the middle of my University finals! Here are two of the images I entered:

This picture of Mike Vine was the one published in The Times (UK). It was taken at Dinas Powys skatepark and I used 3 flashes to light the skater and freeze his motion. Mike took some nasty slams on this one, but I think it was worth it!

This photo was taken looking into the crowd at a Sum41 gig in the students union in Cardiff. The kids worshiping their heroes. No flash was used in this photo, just the light coming from the stage.

You can read more about the competition on the Times site. You can also view the images on Flickr by clicking on the images.

I took photos at the Cardiff University Summer ball last night, I will be putting galleries up in the next few days. There are a lot of photos so bare with me.

Dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip shot to fame last year with their track Thou Shalt Always Kill, receiving NME praise despite denouncing it along with the Smiths and Nirvana mid song. They aren’t your average Barfly indie visitors, their first song dealt with why you shouldn’t slash your wrists. Why? It’s harsh on your sister. Their on stage furniture; including a TV and reading desk add to the feeling this isn’t just a group, but a statement. All this done in good humour with eyes half open and bottle of wine in hand of course.

Dan le Sac speaking his mind

The crowd knew exactly what to expect and couldn’t have been happier to indulge a 6 foot bearded man preaching to them about the darker points of life, electronic samples pumping out in the background. The tiny stage of Barfly was host to a TV broadcast from the reading desk, shown on the television whilst the show continued, both members taking breaks to relax in the armchair when it all got a bit too much to handle. A different take on UK hip-hop if that’s what it is, less guns and bitches, more home truths; a refreshing change! Their debut album Angles is out on May 12^th.

Scroobius Pip tuning in the TV

Photos and review from the Cardiff Barfly on 24th April 2008. More pictures below:

This article also appeared in Quench magazine, my first published review! First of many? Only time will tell…

20th Feb 2008 was the night of the NME awards tour, the usual Indie music tour, not really my kind of thing but the lighting wasn’t too bad, makes it a lot more fun! The Cribs were headlining, but first up were Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong. Then Does It Offend You, Yeah?

What’s up with bands with such long names? Above singer from Does it offend

The headliners The Cribs the took to the stage.

Drummer shots rarely get into publications but I always like to get a couple, sometimes they work out. Perou originally gave me the inspiration to look beyond the lead singer and guitarists! It’s always a challenge to get focous on the drummer amongst the kit, but it worked out here.

Can’t remember too much of the gig, and forgot to write anything down at the time, hence the sparse wording! A couple of these appeared in Quench issue 64.

The Cribs are are actually quite listenable

The great thing about shooting gig photography is that exposes you to a lot of music that you would otherwise not listen to. I don’t tend to listen to the radio a whole bunch due to not wanting to listen to the rambling of most DJ’s and the lack of fresh, good music. Sometimes you can miss a band which you really like.