This blog be moving!!!!

Yes! I've gone and shipped everything over to a Wordpress type blog... it's just better you see. I can post things quicker (so it doesn't get so horrendously out of date), I can make it look nicer and it just seem to work a bit better!

To visit the new blog please goto:

http://inventoryphoto.wordpress.com/

This blogger blog won't be updated any more as it's horrendous!

Great service

Moaning is easy, but when I receive great service from a company, shop or otherwise I like to talk about that just as much. So here goes...

This summer I took delivery of a Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 DC telephoto zoom lens to use at festivals. I'd had terrible luck so far, with two lenses breaking in two months. My much loved Tokina 80-200mm f/2.8 had some sticky aperture problems, so I purchased a Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF second-hand, which broke within one day of use.

I decided on the Sigma, mainly because I was missing shots when performers came to the front of the stage (80mm was too long) and also because the AF was so sluggish on the old Nikon, that I though Sigma's HSM would be a very welcome addition.

I was very pleased with the lens for the day and a half I used it before my run of bad luck struck once more and the lens died (they say these thing come in threes!). Of course, I was disappointed, but then I suppose these things happen to the best of us.

I contacted Sigma support through their website, and they asked for me to send the lens in to be looked at, so I packed it up and posted it off, not expecting to see it for a good long while. To my surprise, the lens was returned to me in just over a week, functioning perfectly!

The picture on this post was one of the few I managed to take with the lens before it died. It's a great lens, very sharp and quick to focus. I'm very glad to have it back!

Architecture in Helsinki

Architecture in Helsinki
Originally uploaded by inventory

An image from last night's gig at the Plug in Sheffield. To be completely honest, this band aren't really my cup of tea, but the crowd seemed to enjoy them, and that's what matters after all... isn't it?

Even more busyness... just about caught my breath!

Two festivals in two weeks, that would be V in Chelmsford and the Leeds leg of the Carling Weekend, plus plenty of standard giggery-type fare in-between.

So what were the highlights for me? well:

The Ghost of a Thousand performing at The Leadmill in Sheffield
They put on a great show, to a fairly sparse audience. That audience was made a little more sparse by my early departure for another gig across town. Shame as I've enjoyed these both times I've seem them.

Municipal Waste performing at The Casbah in Sheffield
The venue couldn't have suited this gig better. The Casbah, for those who aren't familiar with it, is a small underground cellar-type venue. The low stage and complete lack of any security barrier fuelled the explosive atmosphere, where the crowd ended up commanding more of the stage than the band by the end of the gig.
I shot most of the gig using wireless flash, triggered with my camera's built-in strobe. As the crowd got rougher, my camera started to take more punishment though, ending with someone punching the pop-up flash clean off the top of my camera! It popped back into place just fine though, and seems to be working fine... thankfully.

Foofighters performing at V 2007 Festival in Chelmsford
It was just one of those moments where I realise, crap, it actually really is the Foo Fighters!

Rodrigo Y Gabriella performing at V2007 Festival in Chelmsford
Definitely the musical highlight of V 2007 for me. That should be no reflection on the lacklustre line-up. I would've loved their performance all the same if I'd seen them anywhere else.

Sepultura performing at The Corporation in Sheffield
This was quite possibly one of the most difficult gigs I've shot in a long, long while, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Cancer Bats performing at Leeds Carling Weekend
First band of the weekend after a delayed arrival, and they were great. Great to shoot.

Battles performing at Leeds Carling Weekend
Finally I got the shot of the drummer from Battles about to strike his highly placed cymbal I had missed on my previous attempts at shooting them. That made me a very happy snapper.

Crystal Castles performing at Leeds Carling Weekend
I really didn't think these would be my cup of tea at all. I couldn't have been more wrong. I enjoyed them immensely.

Grammatics performing at Leeds Carling Weekend
A great surprise from the Topman unsigned stage were Grammatics from Leeds. they have a very sophisticated sound for such a new band. They're definitely worth checking out if the opportunity presents itself.

Kaiser Chiefs performing at Leeds Carling Weekend
I got the obligatory Kaiser jump shot. Now I can truly call myself a music photographer! :-)

Nine Black Alps performing at Leeds Carling Weekend
Not so much a musical highlight, but more a spectacle of weird, for me at least. The guitarist, David Jones went to the same school I did. It was a bit odd to say the least recognising someone on stage as someone I remember from school! :-S

MuteMath performing at Leeds Carling Weekend
They put on a great live show, and I was quite chuffed with the shots I came out with. Happy days.

Tilly and the wall performing at Leeds Carling Weekend
I had earplugs, so everything was OK.

Here we go. That should be me pretty much up to date now. I've just discovered how the 'blog this' thing works on Flickr, so there should be no excuses for me not keeping this blog up to date from now on. Even if it is only, here's a picture. No time to say anything useful.

Crikey... too busy! So what've I been up to? Well...

The huge amount of general busyment I've had to contend with over the past few months has meant I haven't had time to keep this thing updated at all.

Hopefully I'll be able to remedy the situation once the festival season's over, but in the meantime I will still keep my website and flickr page up to speed with my latest work.

While I'm here, I may as well point out some of the highlights since my last update:

ATP - Weekend One, curated by the Dirty Three
It was my first ever ATP, which I photographed this for DrownedinSound.com (read the write-up here).

ATP festivals are great! If you've never been to one, I strongly recommend it. Held in a Butlins holiday camp, the atmosphere is incredibly relaxed, and the stages are excellent. Plus, staying in a chalet certainly beats sailing a tent down a waterlogged hillside anyday.


ATP - Weekend Two, versus the fans
About a fortnight later and I'm back in Minehead (again, for DrownedinSound.com, read the write-up here) for my second bout of ATP goodness. This time the line-up is part chosen by the bands, and part voted for by the fans.

The line-up was immense, and the atmosphere no less relaxed. Even the chips from the chippy seemed better this weekend!

Somewhere in between all this I also shot 65daysofstatic at The Plug, with Josh T Pearson and Rolo Tomassi (who I really, really enjoyed) in support. As per usual, 65dos were buggars to shoot, but one shot must've struck a chord, as they've nicked it for their myspace, no less (I'll get back on the subject of thieving Sheffield musicians later).


Download Festival - Donington Park
This was the big one I've wanted to have the opportunity to shoot since starting out in this music photography malarkey. After receiving news that my pass was confirmed, I was very excited indeed.

Just one look at the line-up, and anyone who knows me would understand my excitement: Megadeth, Dimmu Borgir, Dream Theater, Turisas, Korn, Dragonforce, Lamb of God, Machine Head, Napalm Death, Porcupine Tree, Priestess, Maiden (of course) and Slayer!!!!

DrownedinSound.com were again furnished with pictures after the event to accompany a write-up by someone who would rather stay in their hotel bed watching Hollyoaks than see any of the above leviathons. I camped. How good am I?


Hove Festival - Arendal, Norway
Norway is amazing. Pretty much everyone I met there is friendly and good looking. Returning home was like being slapped repeatedly across the face with the kipper of reality, even though it chucked it down solidly for most of the entire week.

The line-up was a mixed bag, but a good one nonetheless. What other festival do you know with Slayer, Mastodon, Gojira and Amy Winehouse (definitely not a typo, I assure you) on the rosta?

Even though alcohol is hideously expensive over there, those of us residing in the DrownedinSound house (yes, we had a house!) consumed more than our fair share, unperturbed. I especially ended up a little worse for wear after an encounter with a litre of Jager of the first night. Never again, never again.

Non-music highlights of the weekend include rushing into the moshpit after photographing Slayer, to be greeted with a friendly headbutt from an over-zzealous Norwegian metalhead, talking about gout, the free gruel, and 'Party with beer' on the TV. Surely, a classic in the making.

For the musical highlights, you're probably better off reading the full DrownedinSound account of the week, as I fear I wouldn't really do it justice not being a wordsmith or anything.

Phew. well how do you follow that? I'll tell you how I followed it, with a few gigs here and there, getting stuck in Nottingham for an evening and then a few more gigs.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club performing at the Leadmill in Sheffield was one of these gigs. I can't say they managed to bowl me over musically, but I did take some cracking pics (well, I'm happy with them!). Looky here

That's pretty much all for now. :-)

Drowned in Sound - Slow Club review

Drowned in Sound's Sheffield correspondent, Rob Webb, reviewed Slow Club's performance on The Steel Stage at the Leadmill in Sheffield. Of course one of my pictures of the night was used to accompany the piece.

The review of the evening can be seen here.

The night didn't start as smoothly as I'd hoped. A few of the usual Leadmill guestlist issues (even the band's manager was left off the list) had to be sorted, but eventually all was well.

Sheffield two-piece Slow Club combine harmonic vocal work with their own inimitable anti-folk style. Percussion comes in the form of 'found-stuff'. A chair and glass bottles, amongst other things are utilised. I for one really enjoyed their performance, as it seems Rob did too.

More information about the band and some tunes can be found on their MySpace.

Drowned in Sound - Decemberists review

Rob Webb's account of the evening can be seen here.

It tickled me that Rob, felt it appropriate to mention my frustration at the band's control over the venue that evening. When I arrived, the security informed me that I wouldn't be allowed into the pit, at the request of the band. No problem, I thought, I've shot many a gig from the crowd before, there's no reason why this one should be any different. It'll just be a little more stressful, that's all. Lucky I brought plenty of tobacco with me eh?

It was just as I was entering that I was then informed, "oh, and the venue is no smoking tonight, also at the request of the band."...

Arrrrgh!

To be fair, the Leadmill has never been such a pleasant place. The air was clean, and the crowd was attentive (except for a few fellow smokers, getting tetchier as time passed!).

Maybe this whole public smoking ban malarkey isn't such a bad idea after all. I'd better hurry up and quit in time!

Music Mart - February 2007 edition

The 'On Stage' section of this month's edition of Music Mart magazine contains an image I took at The Milburn Christmas Party, held at the Fusion and Foundry in Sheffield University Student's Union.

The accompanying review, written by Rob Webb, explains how Milburn have become 'one of those Marmite bands'. All things considered, it was a good gig. The crowd were as mental as they always are for Milburn's live performances, plus the tinsel and free festive headgear added to the fun.

The picture on the right is one I took of the setlist for the night. The tongue-in-cheek song name conversions pretty much sums up their attitude for the night. I wish more bands were able to take things a little less seriously like this!

Important news for Canon 24-105mm f/4L lens owners.

It seems this one slipped through most other photography website's nets.

Canon have issued a recall on certain 24-105mm f/4L lenses. Apparently early versions of the lens will exhibit excessive amounts of flare in strong backlit situations (like a gig for example). Further details of the recall can be found on Canon's website here.

Any of the earlier models affected can be shipped back off to Canon for a free repair.

Corrupted memory card? Fear not!

I discovered a great way to sort out corrupted memory cards in Windows XP, completely by accident, this weekend after photographing Jamie T at the Leadmill.

When I tried to transfer the RAW files to my computer for processing, Windows XP produced one of it's all-too-familiar Warning/Error messages stating that the files on my card were unreadable. The problem with shooting RAW is that none of the image recovery programs available recognise the files, leaving the information on the card ignored.

In a frantic panic, I frantically searched www.download.com for a solution to my woes, as if anything is available I'd find it on there, or so I hoped! So I downloaded a couple of freeware applications which professed to be able to retrieve the corrupted data, and drew many blanks. The final program I tried required a reboot before I could use it. I obliged and restarted the computer with my corrupted card still in the USB card reader.

Now the next bit was where the magic happened:

Upon restarting, the blue screen that you'd normally get if you didn't shut down your computer properly appeared saying that the integrity of the CF card needed to be checked using CHKDISK. Fantastic, it skimmed through the card, fixing any errors and restoring *nearly* all the lost data!

All the files I thought I'd lost had been restored, the only problem being that a few images had black space filling a band down one side of the frame. Sod's law dictated that these images would be the best of the night, but I was still relieved to have most restored to their former glory.

So what's the moral of this tale? Don't panic, just reboot and hope for the best! Just as any computer tech support person will tell you to do first time round, 'switch it off, then switch it back on again.'