Top Photos From 2015

1 January, 2016

I went to over 180 gigs this year and had a camera with me at the majority of gigs. I also had decent cameras with me at many of these gigs. So I took loads of photos this year.

January

I chose this photo as my favourite from the month. It was a photo of the FAUNS playing Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen.

But I also liked a few I took at the Hinds gig. They’re a fun band and I think these photos capture the atmosphere of their performances.

February

I love crowd surfing photos. I rarely catch good ones as I’m usually using a pocket camera. But this one came out okay.

Public Service Broadcasting featured heavily this year. But because of their stage setup, I didn’t get many great photos of them. But this one I thought came out really well.

March

My best photo from March was a mini technical triumph. The Spectres played in near darkness at the Lexington. With only a pocket camera it was a challenge to capture anything. But using the flashes of some of the photographers with big flash guns and my camera set to long exposures, I managed to capture a few ‘ghostly’ images of the band.

Another photo where I was pleased to get something despite the limitations of the technology I had with me. A room filled with smoke and back lit, isn’t easy to photograph.

I also photographed a Daylight Music in March and managed to get some reasonable shots, this one I quiet like

Bo Ningen are interesting to photograph because they always put so much energy into their performances. I took quite a few decent photos at their Hoxton show.

April

At the time I thought April was a bit of a poor month for photos. But looking back, despite my position in the crowd for the Wolf Alice gig, I managed to get some interesting shots. But this shot of Saint Saviour was the photo I selected as photo of the month.

But I think if I’d spent some time processing these Wolf Alice gigs, these could have come out better than they did.

I noticed later in the year that the band had posted this photo to Facebook, generating a massive amount of likes. I suspected it was more for the singer than the photo

May

May featured lots of gigs, the Great Escape Festival and Primavera. But as often happens at festivals, I was limited by my position. So I didn’t get many decent shots. I gave the photo of the month to a shot of God Damn. Loking back, I’m not sure if this was the best shot. I think shots of Baby Godzilla were better. I think at the time, I was impressed that I’d managed to a get a shot of a band member in the crowd at the Shacklewell using a pocket camera.

But looking at these Baby Godzilla photos, I think these are better shots.

And despite the limitations of my pocket camera, there were also some decent shots from the Great Escape

June

June saw a good few chances to take some interesting photos as I saw a number of my favourite bands who always put on good shows. My photo of the month was this one of the British Sea Power gig. There were quiet a few decent shots taken at this gig, despite being limited to a pocket camera.

Bo Bingen who provided support, also provided a number of decent photo opportunities

The BSP B-Side’s special in-store gig a few days later also provided lots of opportunities to capture interesting photos.

The Field Day Festival featured several bands I’d seen before. One, Spring King hadn’t impressed me on a big stage a the Great Escape but on a small stage they were so good to photograph

For some reason, the Lexington has been a difficult place to photograph this year. They have the lighting, but just don’t seem to want to use it. So I’ve struggled whenever I’ve photographed bands using only my pocket camera. But I liked this photo of Kikagaku Moyo relaxing before playing.

The local Rhythms of the World festival was also a decent opportunity to capture some reasonable images from the crowd

I also love these images of Wolf Alice and the mosh pit at Rough Trade! Something I never expected to see.

Another shot with a pocket camera that came out remarkably well and has been used by Daylight Music of their most recent flyer was a shot of a dancer at a Daylight Music in June

I also took some nice shots of the Riddles at the Shacklewell.

July

August

August was a quiet month with a switch away from indie to classical so photo opportunities were scarce. It didn’t help that the gig I did have, was at the Lexington with it’s eversion to lighting. So I gave the monthly award to this photo. Taken without a flash, it’s ‘grimyness’ I felt reflected Girl Band.

September

September was a busy month and a pretty decent month for photos. I gave the monthly award to this photo of Black Honey, but there were numerous other photos that could have won this month.

Bo Ningen headlined Stolen Records Anniversary gig and as usual provided ample opportunities to get some great shots.

Kingsley Chapman is always good to photograph and his gig in September was no exception.

Torres, possibly my artist of the year, also played in September and put on a good show

Despite only being two of them, the Picturebooks were also really interesting to photograph

October

Another busy month and some reasonable photos. I thought this photo of VANT’s young crowd captured the enthusiasm of their fans.

Black Honey have been one of my favourite bands to photograph this year. Great band with an expressive lead singer

November

My favourite photo from November was from a Daylight Music session. I was using a 30 year old manual focus lens and managed to get loads of interesting lens flare.

December

This shot of the lead singer of BSP on drums was my photo of December, but there were several good shoots during December. A new camera contributing to the improved quality as it’s capability in low light is so impressive that even the poor lighting in the Lexington offered little resistance.