This year has given me some fantastic opportunities in the creative music photography field. I make no apology for heavily featuring the band Vega in this blog post - we have a very close working relationship and I've been on two of their tours this year alone so they are bound to feature amongst my best of 2016.
The year began with a photoshoot for Vega's latest album, "Who We Are" in York. Here is a collage which wasn't used on the album but the photo's are favourites of mine:
Vega Collage
The next photo, from the same shoot, is one I took in an old garage just behind their recording room in York. I used a smoke machine and speedlights as the garage had very little light and it was a dark evening in January! Very atmospheric though. The image went on to be used as a tour poster.
Vega Garage
Finally from that session (and one which is the subject of an earlier blogpost of mine here) is the composite image of the band against a barely recognisable Newcastle landmark. This image was run in numerous magazines across Europe including Classic Rock:
Vega Composite
Next up was a behind-the-scenes shoot for Vega's big budget video for "White Flag" which took me down to Cardington Studios in Bedford. This studio was used in Star Wars "A New Hope" and the latest film, "Rogue One". A fantastic place and some great images resulted:
Dan: White Flag
In the image above, behind Dan are two giant doors. 40 years ago behind those doors stood a small band of Rebels...
(not my image, I was 7 years old when this was taken)!
On to the Vega tour in May which took me and the band around the far reaches of the UK for three weeks. The image below is from London's Islington Assembly Hall. A great venue and one of the early signs that the band were going down a storm with new fans. Here is Nick feeling the love caught from behind the stage.
Vega Islington.
Mid-tour and Dan needed publicity images for his sponsor, Diril Cymbals. Edinburgh Garage provided the backdrop as the side of stage. I lit Dan with a key light to the front and a rear speedlight gelled yellow to the side.
Dan: Diril Cymbals
The final date of the summer tour took us to Royal Leamington Spa. Here is Marcus Thurston soloing like a monster
Marcus Solo
Another project came my way with long-time associate Stoneham Amplifiers. Again, you can read a full blog post regarding this shoot here. A favourite from that day is shown below with the Angel of the North:
Stoneham Amplifiers
Mid-summer took me to Steelhouse festival where Thunder were the headline act on the Saturday evening. A great location and full of happy memories spent with family and friends. Oh yes, I managed to take a photo or two along the way:
Thunder Steelhouse
On to Autumn and an opportunity I'd been looking for for a long time, to photograph Lordi in all of their on-stage gory, sorry, GLORY. I particularly like these two photographs from that set:
Amen Lordi 1
Amen Lordi 2
On to the final image of the twelve that I have selected for 2016. This was taken on Vega's December tour at the Underworld in London. The main dressing room was very much suited to this fisheye shot of the band and has become something of a location for bands such as My Chemical Romance to shoot promo images. This setup was achieved using a bounced key light front and a rear speedlight behind the band for added drama! This is my personal favourite of the year and a fitting note to end on.
Hope you have enjoyed this brief selection. Please "Like" or Comment or head over to my Facebook page for regular updates here
Vega Underworld