30 June 2010 – Tonight I photographed Juliette Lewis at the super intimate Borderline which sadly is my worst place to photograph because its just way to small inside and there is just no space to move around. In saying that though it is one of my favourite places to see a band live and it’s hosted some of the best live shows I’ve seen.

Tonight was one of those perfect examples because Juliette is amazing, energetic and super passionate while she performs and it was great to see her in this intimate setting where she works so well.

I found a small space free just up by the stairs and never managed to move from there. The lighting is never the greatest here so these aren’t my favourites but I thought I would post a few of the ones that I am allowed to for now.

Make SURE to watch her live if you get the chance. You’ll appreciate it if you like her music or not.

31 December 2009 – I normally find “BEST OF” lists kind of cheesy but for this entire year I have been thinking of what my favourite shows have been, not only from a work point of view but taking into account the entire experience including things like the sound, lighting, venue, crowd, set list and performance.

I am a really big lover of music, especially live music, and I have a pretty open mind as to what types of music I listen to but there are obviously preferences to what really gets my foot tapping and I feel honoured to have worked with some of my favourite bands this passed year. Some of the ones disappointed possibly because I might have built them up too much in my head, while some lived up to the expectations I had and then there were ones that completely blew my mind.

This is not a formal post and doesn’t necessarily include my best photos for the year but just a personal Top 10 live performances for this year. It was an INCREDIBLY year and it’s only a few hours away from being over so Happy New Year everyone. Thank you for the support this year. Hopefully 2010 will be even bigger and better. I’d love it if you took the time to let me know what your favourites were. Till then, have a super one. Marcus

01) Editors
Hop Farm Festival – 05 July 2009

02) Gaslight Anthem
London HMV Forum – 04 June 2009

03) Bloc Party
Brighton Centre – 24 October 2009

04) White Lies
Brixton Academy – 19 November 2009

05) Billy Talent
Brixton Academy – 01 November 2009

06) Rise Against
London Roundhouse – 06 March 2009

07) White Rabbits
Monte Water Rats – 18 November 2009

08) Kristopher Roe
Camden Underworld – 23 January 2009

09) Steel Panther
Shepherds Bush Empire – 16 September 2009

10) Juliette Lewis
The Lexington – 14 July 2009

23 October 2009 – Tonight I photographed Juliette Lewis for the third time and again it was an absolute pleasure.

Tonight was the first London date since the release of her album Terra Incognita at the end of August. I shot with her just before the release at an intimate show that she did at The Lexington but tonight was a lot bigger at Shepherds Bush Empire. She was joined by her band The New Romantiques as well as a few other friends that really made for good entertainment. On top of that they were having the show filmed for a DVD which I have no details about but it will definitely be worth getting a copy of.

For some reason the last few shows that I have shot here have been really dark and badly lit and tonight was pretty much the same. I am not sure why it has been like this because I have shot some amazingly lit sets her during this year. I had a good look and realize what the problem is and it seems that the stage is really low (great) and the stage roof is really high so the lights are never really in the photo (background) unless you look upwards. Normally they add a bit of smoke to the stage which creates spotlight effects that make for amazing backgrounds (there are a few in here when I was lucky) and then the last thing is that most of the lighting is either red, blue or green with majority of the times having no front light and this is probably the biggest factor. Anyway, as always you have to make do with what you have and we were told from the start that no flash photography would be permitted because of the filming going on. Another thing that makes shooting in the dark quite hard is Juliette’s amazing stage presence as she makes the big stage seem almost minute running around like a gym instructor. It’s very cool to watch.

The show was perfect as always and these are just a few of the photos that I took and really like. Be sure to check out Juliette if you haven’t because she deserves the support.

Currently listening to : This City – We Move.

14 July 2009 – Tonight I photographed Juliette Lewis performing in her new solo project with The New Romantiques at The Lexington and it was just as good as I thought it would be.

This is the second time I had seen Juliette play and she is WILD on stage in a good kind of way. The lighting was REALLY crap but in a venue as small as that, where the show is extremely intimate, it is worth the sacrifice of good photos. For this reason please excuse the technical-flatness of these images but I had to still post them because the show was that good for me.

I am going to keep this short because my photos were used in an article for Clink Music Magazine so check it out.

Hope you are all well, Marcus