Fun at the Memorial Park

Friday afternoon of last week, I met up with a friend at Coventry's War Memorial park to photograph her son. We had brilliant weather for the shoot - a bright, sunny autumnal afternoon - and my model was brilliant, full of energy and more than keen to pose for me. We started off by playing with some of the many leaves that had fallen from the park's trees - cue lots of leaves taking to the air and lots of smiles.

Next up was the War Memorial itself, and impressive monument and perfect for running around...told you he was full of energy!

My man has a great smile on him, which he was only too happy to show off for the camera.

We then headed off to the adventure playground and I managed to get a few pleasing shots of my model enjoying himself on the slides, rocking things and whatever else was there.

In case you were wondering, my model was born deaf and that thing on his head is actually a processor that allows him to hear, but from how he talks, if that processor were invisible you wouldn't be able to tell that he has a hearing impairment at all. My man actually does a lot of modelling work for the deaf children's charity, so that explains why he is so natural in front of the lens. I captured some great black and white images during the session as well, these three being among my favourites.

Before wrapping things up, I also got some shots of my model enjoying himself on his bike, shots that I was really pleased with - espeically this next one.

Thanks a bunch for having me come and do the shoot, I had a great time and I'm really pleased with the images that I've ended up with. This last one is my favourite from the day - what a great smile!

The Datsuns in Coventry

After a week where I'd shot metal, emo, post-hardcore, nintendocore, pop metal, indie, and whatever else, Thursday night it was off to Coventry Kasbah for some no-nonsense rock and roll courtesy of New Zealand's The Datsuns. I was shooting and reviewing the gig for Birmingham Live. First up was local band Thoria, who gave an absolutely excellent performance.

The band were backed by a substantial group of local fans, and as such went down really well. I very much enjoyed their grungy sound, and their energetic performance was superb - they were a joy to watch.

If you recognise the name Thoria, then you probably remember them from a few years ago, when Kerrang gave their debut album 4 out of 5 and they had a video all over MTV 2. On Thursday's evidence, there's no reason why they can't get back to that level in the near future.

Well done to the Thoria guys, I look forward to being able to see them live again soon.

Next up were London-based Sons of Albion, who were pretty good musically, but really failed to keep the attention of those watching. Not the right time for them really.

Fair play to the band, they gave it a good shot, but it can't have nice seeing so many people leave during their set. As I said earlier though, their music was OK, and I wouldn't mind hearing some more of them.

Here's a couple more of Sons of Albion...

Finally it was up to The Datsuns to try and get some life and some people back into the room. I'm sorry to say that, ultimately, the band were fairly disappointing; while their performance was incredibly tight, there was no crowd interaction, they raced through their set, looked pissed off at being in Coventry, and the only thing that they said all night was "We've got 2 left". Not the way to really put on a show.

It's a real shame that this one didn't live up to expectations, because it could easily have been something quite special indeed. But it wasn't, instead it was a mixture of a great performance without it being a particularly good show.

It was good having a well-known name play in Coventry, and obviously being able to shoot them was great for me and my portfolio, even if I would have like to enjoyed it more.

Here's just a few more of the Datsuns...

This week is a lot quieter than last, just the one gig to shoot and also the fireworks next weekend. However, the week after that one is another mad one, which is fine. More bands to watch and shoot, and lots more blog posts for you all to read and enjoy. See you soon.