By yours truly, for narcmedia.com
The first time I saw Babyshambles was in a half empty tent at Leeds festival, and everything about the performance suggested that it wasn’t just a clever name for a band. A couple of years and many line-up changes later, and I am sitting in the Green Room in Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena with guitarist Mick Whitnall and drummer Adam Ficek, discussing just where it all went right for the band your gran loves to hate.
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Think back to your youth. Think back to a time when you took part in something – a school sports day or a football match perhaps. Think of a time when you didn’t win. I would bet my last pound that when you got home, your mum attempted to console you with the famous words “It’s not the winning that counts… it’s the taking part.”
This is bullshit. Sorry to burst the bubble and stuff.
After reading Khoi Vinh’s piece (As Seen In Magazines) over at his excellent Subtraction blog, it made me think about why I do what I do. Vinh remarks that “there’s nothing quite like seeing your name in print”, and I am inclined to agree. There is an immense thrill to opening a publication, and seeing your name staring back at you. The combination of the intrinsic validation of one’s work by whichever editor chose to publish it, and the plain, simple truth that if it is printed, the intention is for people to read / view it. Your own name is proof that you are good enough. To me that is worth more than anything in the world.
I am driven by achievement. I make no bones about it. I constantly strive to break new ground, and improve myself. Seeing my byline is a way of checking off these achievements. In the past year or so I have graduated from online publications which no-one reads, to print media that few people read, to print media which is widely read in the local area. Next month, for me at least, will come the ultimate validation, when the German edition of Rolling Stone prints a selection of my shots from the Maximo Park homecoming show at Newcastle’s Metroradio Arena. I know one of these at least is going to be a full page image, and I am excited by this. Rolling Stone has always been the bible as far as music journalism and photography goes, and the thought of my name appearing in its hallowed pages, less than two years after my first bylines appeared on eGigs.co.uk, is quite simply exhilirating.
Surely it is no surprise that when you give a person the choice of whether to pay for something, or get a pretty similar product for free, the free product is going to win hands down. Sadly it seems that Trent Reznor wasn’t expecting this with the interesting system employed for the release of Saul Williams‘ latest album ‘The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust’.
I was recently commissioned to provide PR shots for Strangers in Polaroids, a very promising band from Newcastle Upon Tyne. Some of the shots can be found in the Gallery.
I have started to add links to work of mine which has been published online, starting with many of the pieces for eGigs.co.uk. Take a look at the Written Portfolio if you would like to read examples of my work.
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