Shinedown and Disturbed Rock Birmingham

Last Friday I was back at the Birmingham Academy to watch the show by Disturbed, and review it for Birmingham Live. However, before all that got underway, I was also there to inteverview the support band, Shinedown, for Powerplay Magazine. The interview went really well, they were top guys, and I was also lucky enough to grab some cool band shots deep in the winding coridoors of the Academy backstage labyrinth. Here's some of my favourites.

And so onto the show. Quite simply, they were superb. Despite the crowd initially seeming like they didn't care, within a few bars of the first song Shinedown had won them over, and found themselves with 3000 new fans. Good effort!

Amazingly, Shinedown are about to release their third album, and even more impressive, their first two went platinum and gold in the US! Quite how they've got this far without the UK knowing about them is beyond me, but hey, better late than never!

Vocalist Brent Smith has an excellent voice with a hugely impressive range, and he was also a great frontman, whipping the crowd into a frenzy, and talking lots in between songs allowing the band to strike up something of a relationship with their new fans.

This was the last date of the band's first proper UK tour, and they're coming back next January with a string of headline shows. I'll certainly be there to catch them.

Because they're very nice chaps, you can actually download a free 4 track EP of Shinedown here, and having heard the whole album, I can definitely advise you to do so. This is the crowd going bonkers for them.

And so onto the headliners. I used to love Disturbed when I was 16, but I've kind of lost track of them since then, and in my opinion, they never bettered their debut album. That said, they are still a great live band, and frontman David Draiman set the tone by being wheeled on stage in a straight jacket and Hannibal mask - quite metal and very funny!

While I'm certainly not their biggest fan, Disturbed did put on a good show, and I'm very pleased to have some decent images of them for my portfolio.

This was actually the first time I'd ever seen Disturbed live, and it was worth it just to hear material from 'The Sickness' album - those numbers still sound as awesome as they did when they first came out back in the nu metal days!

I love this next shot, his face just says RIFF all over it!

I'd not seen the Academy as full as it was on Friday for a long time now - great to see the balcony being used again as it had been empty the last few shows I had been to. It really makes for quite a sight from the photo pit.

Draiman's attempt at the YMCA didn't catch on...

Anyway, that's it for this post. Another enjoyable show, and lots more pics that I'm happy with. You can't ask for much more than that now can you?

Chilis, Dogs and Running Water

Well I've been keeping myself busy this week with a variety of different pictures. I started off on Monday morning by taking a table of things out to my garden and experiementing with a bit of macro photography. The chilis in these shots were all grown by my Grandad - pretty impressive I think!

For the rest of the week I've been at Ellie's house, acting as dog-sitter for her Grandma's Westie while she's away on holiday. As well as meaning lots of walks, I've also been able to get some good shots for my Pets gallery, here are my favourites.

Most of the aforementioned walks have had some point where I've gone over to Kenilworth Common, and I wasn't going to let those photo opportunities get away now was I? I finally managed to have a go at shooting moving water, and was pretty pleased with the results.

And that's about it really for this week. Tomorrow I'm meeting Shinedown when they play in Birmingham, while Saturday I've got, not only my first baby shoot, but I'm also shooting the two sons of a family friend. Busy, busy, busy - excellent! This final image is from the Common and is the result of merging 9 seperate images to create the final one.

Sunset near Bulkington

Although I don't do it very often, I do quite like to do a bit of landscape photography occasionally, and this evening I decided to nip over the fields that surround Bulkington and snap a few frames, mainly because I haven't taken any other pictures this week. I only took a few shots, and here's my favourite three.

This week I'm interviewing the band Shinedown for Powerplay Magazine as well as shooting them live, and next weekend I've got my first ever baby shoot! Hopefully this time next week I'll have added another string to my photographic bow.

I've gone barking!

I've decided that, as well as shooting music and lifestyle portraits, I'd also quite like to get into shooting people's pets. As such, I did a quick practice shoot with my own dog, Monty, this afternoon, and here are some of the best shots.

If you'd like to see more of my pet photography, then check out the new Pets Gallery on my website.

If you have a pet that you would like me to photograph, then please feel free to get in touch and we can sort something out. Hopefully your pet won't look as stupid as Monty does on this next one.

Birmingham Live re-launch - Video Interview with the main man!

Just in case you haven't checked out the revamped Birmingham Live site yet, here's a video interview with the man behind it all - Mr Steve Gerrard.

Steve Gerrard interview for Created in Birmingham from Created in Birmingham on Vimeo.