Computer Freak Out HELL...

Got up nice and early and headed over to Retna's studio in Fulham. Did a shoot with Lost Alone this morning. They were very agreeable to all of Fishy's "bloody" ideas and look for us on their site. Chatted with Steve the singer about 24... There are more 24 geeks out there than I thought!

Headed back home and had a little mess up on the computer which fortunately was resolved. Thanks Andy!! Once all the files were transferred it was all good about 7 hours later?!?!

And here is the latest cover of Kerrang! with the Mastodon shoot from New York a few weeks ago. Looking forward to seeing them play again. If you get a chance GO SEE THEM!

Chin up,

And just a bit more tit, love! Took the train up to the Birmingham NEC for the photo gear geek show. Met up with Paul Harries and we had a quick walk around the event and proceeded to the bar.

Decided to do another stroll and came across a few deals and some great demos (pictured here!) Disappointed that the one booth we wanted to see was totally non-existent. Hit the bar again and all was forgotten...

A pot of Gold?

Well no pot of gold... But I did win a pot of 10p coins from the horse racing in the arcade!! Oh the joys of the Brighton Pier.

Off to Birmingham tomorrow to be a gear geek at the NEC with Paul Harries. We shall see if we last more than 5 minutes. Hopefully the pubs are good in Birmingham!!

Blue Steel?

No freak gasoline accidents here...

England is great for...

Vandalism! But also the mixture of sunsets and pouring rain happens way to often!!

Bring back the days of old!

Well at least the Karaoke days of old!! Many moons ago every Saturday evening Carly and I could be found at the Marble Arch (Karaoke bar) in Vancouver.

Being the fantastic boyfriend that Simon is to her he booked us into Lucky Voice in Soho for her surprise Birthday party. The lot of us butchered many different songs (highlights: I Shot The Sheriff, Informer, and Like A Prayer!) And finally stumbled across the street to Bar Saaqi where the drinking and pegging continued...

So many birthdays at the moment...

Tonight was Mr.Hughes birthday drinks. Met up with everyone at the Pembroke Castle in Camden and drank the night away! (Get to do it all over again tomorrow for a surprise karaoke party...) But I did see a sign in the pub's window and they are having an all free drink night next Tuesday!!!

Brought back the ruthless game of pegging and if you look closely Matt has one in the pic above... At least I wrote Happy Birthday on it!

No idea why, but this clip makes me howl with laughter!

difficulties

Am I picky? No idea but saw a few flats today and if I could transport them closer to the tube that would make life so much easier!

Bumped into Gez, Tom, and Andy from Ghost Of A Thousand at the train station today. They invited me to the gig at Water Rats this evening which was an absolute blinder of a gig! If you get a chance GO SEE THEM! Oh and they are based in England's best city. Speaking of which here's a shot of the Cancer Bats in Brighton from last December. Stay tuned as there is more with them across the pond in a couple of weeks.

And a Happy Birthday to my sister who turns 12 today!!

more hunting

Here is a pic of Mastodon from New Jersey in this week's Kerrang! Finished the p-shop on it this afternoon and it came together quite nicely.

Started looking at boxes I mean "rooms in flats" today. (Wouldn't that be a good name for an emo band?) Comments, queries, complaints, feedback, and any ideas are welcome...

room hunting

Fun... Oh yes such fun. Starting to look for places to live. Hard in London as there are so many different areas to be. Comments? Any ideas?

Almost finished the Mastodon post which is coming together quite nicely. Looks like a week of p-shop and house hunting. Here's a shot from Billy Talent on the weekend that turned out ok...

rudeness to the max!

Now I thought the people in NYC were rude last weekend. Well London put itself back on top with the staff at the Koko. Maybe when you are sober you notice rudeness that much more? Another British term I have learned and can put to good use to describe these people is "Wankers!"

Met up with Carly, Simon, Jamie, and Andy for the Billy Talent show at Brixton Academy. Thanks to Steph for sorting out some good access to the show. After the show went over to Klub Kerrang where we unfortunately missed Ghost Of A Thousand's set. Saw the Blackout who were entertaining but it was a little overshadowed by the extremely rude security and bartenders. I should have pulled an Andy and found a corner to fall asleep in! Tonight confirmed why people don't tip in this country...

But I must say the evening ended nicely because of the lovely Bangladeshi cab driver who fondly retold stories of his ex-girlfriend that lived in the neighborhood!

ummmm

Go SEE this MOVIE!! It has been a long time since I've seen a movie where the preview didn't give it all away! Fantastic, probably the best horror, action, comedy ever made...

Going to Klub Kerrang tomorrow where Ghost Of A Thousand and the Blackout are playing. Looking forward to seeing them both live. Here's a shot from the Blackout shoot earlier this year...

Don't do it...

A little tip... Today don't bother! It's just a regular day like any other. How about another pic of that French bitch? (Oh I'm sorry is that rude?)

Gutter ball?

Made my way down to Bloomsbury Bowling lanes underneath the Tavistock hotel. Did a shoot with Madina Lake who were great. Very easy to deal with and were more than happy to have their photos taken. Managed to rifle through 5 different set-ups in a couple of hours which is very rare as most bands want to bugger off after an hour.

Hung out with the Pirate for a bit who confessed his mad obsession with the smell of leather. Only though the type of leather he was referring to was when it was worn and mixed with sweat!?!

Waiting...

Dares are a good way to pass time at the airport. I actually did quite a bit of work! Fell asleep for most of the flight once we finally got on... Missed the meal services and landed at Heathrow around noon.

Headed back up to North and then got right down to the computer. Also had to charge up all the batteries as I'm doing a shoot with Madina Lake tomorrow at a bowling alley which should be interesting.

I dare you to...

After an early breakfast and a climbing dare at a restaurant I couldn't resist we went down to the Statue Of Liberty. Why is that with two brits, I was the one to notice Posh Spice walking away from the ferry?!?

Took the ferry over and went for a wander around. Saw a couple of guys taking pics of every angle possible so I offered to get a shot of them in front of the statue. Got chatting to the boys from Bangalore and then they wanted a pic with the three of us!!

Got back into town and went for a stroll down Broadway. Past the very sad Ground Zero and through New York to Times Square. Had fantastic sushi along the way!!

Once we did a quick walk around the "square" it was time to head to the airport. The flight was delayed by a few hours because of some mechanical failure while they found a new plane. Oh the joys of flying...

The NY work day...

After a good night's sleep in a room build for a dwarf it was off to New Jersey for the Mastodon shoot... Picked up the rent-a-car and did all the driving as Em needed her paper license so they wouldn't add her as second driver.(A paper license never heard of it!)

After an hour's drive turned up to the venue which was in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but trees and a locked junkyard around. Mastodon are a great band to work with as they are up for anything. (Just like last time at the Natural History Museum) Set-up a backdrop in the venue, did a few shots around the place, and then quickly finished outside in the freezing cold forest!

Drove all the gear back to town and after a quick rest it was back to the venue for the show. A funny thing happened though and here is a little tip for new photographers... Always be nice and never dismiss someone who approaches you at a show! It may be a punter but it may also be the art director of a magazine that you would love to work for!!!!!

Off to the Big Apple

Awoke super early this morning to check-in at Heathrow and head over to New York. Met up with the team of Dan, Emma, and Fishy and got out to New York by lunch time. Checked into the hotel and had a quick meal at the Tick Tock Diner and then it was up to the top of the Empire State Building. Great view from the top but the freezing windy weather made us get back down pretty quick!

Went out for dinner and managed to hook up with an old friend/favorite make-up artist Jon Hennessey! (Above pic: Fishy) Had a fantastic round of sushi and then joined Jon (who was working in NYC for Fashion week) to an after party. The night ended watching a very well-dressed model type projectile vomit into the street?!

Snow in London?

Got the last minute call to fill in on the photo desk at Kerrang! as Scarlet was snowed in at home. Last time I saw snow in London was in 2000. Crazy how everything really shuts down with it!!

Rushed back to North, grabbed all the gear and headed out to my sis's as I am off early tomorrow morning to New Jersey for the weekend to do a shoot with Mastodon. Should be c-c-cold!! Rumor has it that it's well below zero...

How about another little shot from the Hinder party last night? Nice guy Blower just giving guitars away!

Girls and Booze equals

Hinder!! They did the label showcase tonight at the Roxy which was very intimate. Sounded great and then the entire party migrated over to the infamous Stringfellows. There was a great celebrity siting on the 2 block walk to the club in the form of Jerry Sadowitz on Oxford Street!!

Had a little dinner, drink and look at the scenery. But the best entertainment of the evening by far was watching Paul and Fishy mess around with the band. Especially Blower! (pictured above by Cody!) We are still trying to figure out why he is the one that the band treat like a human punching bag.

Now having been to a few strip clubs I thought Stringfellows would be at the top of the pack. Well to describe the place/women in one word I had to use my favorite new british term "minging"!

More Bad movies

After a long day what better to cap it off with a bad movie... Rocky Balboa was all that and then some. It was boring enough to put a lively "Pirate" to sleep!! Umm less acting more montages please?!

The shoot with Hinder today went well apart from the disappearing light game at the end of the day. Although the crazies of Camden keep it entertaining with a chorus of "Fuck-Off" for a good 15 minutes.

And here is the pic from the Kids In Glass Houses shoot that will be in Kerrang this week...

Who did I see?

Ricky Gervais Obviously?! Good show but my only complaint was that I wish I wasn't as big a fan as I had heard about 25% of the material before on the radio show!!! Still great to see one of my favorite comedians performing live. Now if only Robin Williams would head over this way...

Doing a couple of shoots with Hinder over the next couple of days which should be fun. Well if it was anything like last time I'll need a few days to recover!

One of the reasons I...

Wouldn't want kids! Or at least part of it. Check out the video as I'm sure the big baby doesn't want it's arm put around another.

Did a little surprise and picked up the "Pirate" from the airport. And I couldn't resist to have a little go with the Orange characters in p-shop!

Upcoming compuer daze.

There is too much touch-up and p-shop to do over the next few days. Must get down and get on it as a big shoot is sorted for Tuesday with Hinder. With 3 ideas/concepts rejected they finally settled on one that hopefully will turn out ok. CIWWAF shots are looking great. A quick idea on the spot has made the images look more realistic!!

Got an email from my good friend James that the Police reunion are doing rehearsals in Vancouver. Now the question is, will it be a happy reunion when this super group meets again?!?! (Photo:BENN!) C'mon L-Squared, leave a comment!

Cute Is What I Aim For...

Got up early and headed down to Camden for a shoot with the band Cute Is What We Aim For. Did a fun concept after the feature shots were done. With a little p-shop trickery should look good! Without giving away too much from the shoot here's an idea of what we did... (Photo: Fishy)

Once everything was finished stuck around the studio and gave Paul Harries a hand with a couple of shoots.

After that it was off to the Intrepid Fox as it was the leaving party for the features editor Luke Lewis. Long day that was loads of fun but there was one "small" topic that kept coming up again and again! Take a little time to see the documentary...