Bartolomy’s Diary

I have been repairing the taps (one little washer was needed yet 4 shops could not sell it to me), I had sewer blockage again, so needed to sort that out (”nice”………………) and I did some prep for tomorrow’s beauty shoot.
I still will have to go into the attic and get a bunch of new ducting in there as the current one is riddled with holes.

I am shooting a pink/red rose based story with Olivia Ferrer tomorrow, and a purple/yellow Iris story on Friday with Shelly Manser-Cavanaugh.
Tonight I am shooting, hopefully as ya never know ;), Story One and Cheap Hotel @ 93 Feet East.

I am going to be near Liverpool St station to meet a new client this afternoon, then back home and then later on pick up my copies of North mag and then see Alicia Aimee again near Old St.
I did a few film strips for the portfolio showbiz section, hopefully I will have the lot redone by tomorrow morning otherwise Wednesday.

Here is the North Mag. article, the cover I already posted roughly a week ago.
The paper is very nice.

Just like the header says, I worked on the Chris Robinson shots and dropped them off at Cio Magazine and did not much else, besides sorting music stuff out for the website, the entire showbiz section needs redoing.

Monday I have a few meetings, and am picking up some issues of North magazine with my interview in it.

I have two editorials in the pipeline, don’t know when and if they are going to happen but both ideas wouldn’t look amiss in my folios.

Furthermore I am shooting beauty Thursday and/or Friday and it will all be flower based. This could become quite a project as it will be taken over several days, spread over several months………………..

Have two gigs line up (Wed. and Sat.) and Thursday eve is the opeining of the AOP Portfolio gallery part deux with 6 prints of yours truly included.

Some point this week I have to get my folios printed as they need to be ready as the hunt for clients is on as well…..

I have also taken the unprecedented step of taking Apartment’s (David Caggiari, Liam Fletcher, Davide DeSantis and Tom Gillet) management Kuba Music (run by Jack Steven) to the small claims court for copyright infringement. I don’t know the date yet, so watch this space.

Besides that, loads of paperwork left to do today and tomorrow…..

Kaputt played @ Madame Jojo’s last night and I took a few….
The set started soundwise absolutely rubbish, it was terrible but by the start of the 2nd track things did get sorted eventually, and even the band managed to crack a smile and enjoy what they were actually doing…..good show.
The XFm show has been delayed till mid-March, so maybe gonna catch up w. them when they rehearse on Sat., and otherwise in Camden on the 3rd. Wanna take some individual pix. Something black and white maybe……

Kaputt @ Madame Jojo’s

Here are two shots of Diane Birch retouched…..

Looks like yesterday’s entry evaporated without a trace, hmmmmm
Anyways a lil’ recap…..on Monday I had a a few meetings, such as with Alicia Aimee, who I will be doing a bunch of stuff with over the next few weeks, just before that I saw Micahel Czerwinsky @ the Design Museum. The plan is, to start shooting all the big wigs in the design world who are coming over for talks/exhibitions, this will hopefully accumulate into a nice collection over the next year and a half, which then perhaps can be exhibited by itself, who knows.
I am already chuffed being given the chance to do this.
Yesterday I worked on the AOP portfolio exhibition prints, there is still a bit left to do this morning and then I am of to drop it of there. The opening night is March 1st.

And also yesterday I did my first job for CIO magazine (mag. for IT managers) and photographed Chris Robinson inside the office @ High Holborn. Took me about an hour, and brought my blonded lighting kit with me, and they have come out well I must say. Shooting peeps like this can be hit and miss, this time definately a HIT

In the evening I was going to an event where Dirty Pretty Things were playing, but I blew that because of the rules and regulations (2 songs, no flash and no permission to publish without consent yahda yahda) were just plain restrictive and not worth the bother…..

Tonight Kaputt play Madame Jojos, so am going to see/shoot that.

Last night I took a bandshot of Kaputt, Silke Steidinger (vocals, guitar), Andrew Fordham (bass), Robert King (drums) and Matt Yeates (guitar) which I like a lot. The live stuff came out even better than I could have hoped for, some terrific blurs there……they do need a good viewing tho, some of them are great double exposures.

I thought this show had a lot more ooompf to it than the 93 Feet East gig. I stuck around for a beer and then went back to Terri who is still ill and has been most of the last 5 days in bed.

Kaputt @ Archway Tavern

I shot this Thursday eve in Green Park, could easily be mistaken for Italy, can’t decide for now which one to pick. Right now I am leaning towards the first one.

Paperwork and tonight it’s of to Archway to photograph Kaputt, try and take some time lapse shots near the roundabout and inside.

I have a new meeting scheduled at The Design museum to see and discuss bits on Monday, and on Tuesday I am doing a job for CIO Mag., which does IT.

Anechoic (Rob Leach -Vocals, Guitar, Synths, Tom Butler-Vocals, Electric Piano, Bass, Andrew Lindsay-Guitar, Synths, Vocals and
Pete Saul -Drums, Vocals = “an-e-ko-ik” adj - Neither having nor producing echoes: sound absorbent: an anechoic chamber. they hail from Leeds and played The Purple Turtle last night. Personally I couldn’t follow it all that easy (I am showing my age here obviously) as their music isn’t that straight forward. They played for about 30 odd mins and managed to snag a few decent shots.

I was supposed to go to Kent and pick my stuff up for the AOP Portfolio exhibition, but that has been delayed till Monday morning as Mustafa at Aydin colour aint around at all…..
Design Museum tonight…….

This is the new cover of North magazine which will be out on the 26th of Feb., nice combo the red with the b/w.
This was taken in Dec. 2006.
Styling: Alicia Aimee
Hair & Make-Up: Olivia Ferrer
Model: Natalie Sexton @ D1 Models

I am shooting Anechoic tonight at the Purple Turtle.

Tomorrow I am roaming in Kent, Old Street to pick up and deliver prints for the forthcoming AOP exhibition and London Bridge at the Design Museum.

The missus is ill in bed, and sleeping like never before, bless her, so I am keeping an eye out for her.
Meanhwile here are some shots I took in the past few days in Wales and in London, I just missed this lesbian couple snogging away in the crowd at the Taint show, JimBob saw them too
Actually when it comes to capturing snoggers for the-kiss it is more miss than hit to tell you the truth, you would need to have yer camera ready at an instant……most of the time I am just too complacent and have it stuffed inside my bag

Paperwork today, calls and other stuff, I am going to Luton Airport for a sec. clearance and then I hope to shoot one more band at the Purple Turtle and Friday I am supposed to go to the designmuseum.

Meanwhile I am updating the showbiz section of my website and hope to have this sorted by Monday. And I will need to sort prints out for the AOP exhibition.

Plenty to do……..

I was held up at a different job in Green Park and managed to miss Diane Birch’s entire gig, as a matter of fact when I arrived she was chatting to a lot of peeps, and it took me 20 odd mins to get her to come along so I could take her portrait downstairs, I am very chuffed with these pix, so they make up for missing her show.

I have added the Taint live show pix gallery to the entry of Feb 11th and here are some shots from the Pennard Castle day, where all of us were a tad hungover (thank f*ck we drank bottled lager!!!) and it rained for most of the time……
Some of these shots are very Terrorizer mag. no doubt (something the boys from Capricorns would love to achieve ), but the landscape shots show where they really come from….Wales.
Make sure to check out the gallery as they contain seried pix of the snow shots, which are quite fun to look @.

TAINT @ Pennard Castle

First of all, I feel lucky………not only have I won on the Euro millions lottery for the fourth time in a row (only tenners and twenties…still) I found 20 quid in the snow in Swansea on Friday eve….double whammy;)

Terri and I slouched about all day and managed to finish the second series of The Sopranos and then got ready to go to Brick Lane to see Kaputt-Silke Steidinger (vocals, guitar) Andrew Fordham (bass) Robert King (drums) Matt Yeates (guitar) whose single “Dishes” is very impressive (it’s on my profile @ myspace btw), time to see/shoot them live so to say.
The event itself is dancey and I am wondering what they actually do on this bill, they themslves admit that the gig they did there a few weeks ago was more fitting.
The band play about 30 mins and the sound could have been cranked up a notch, in my mind it was just a lil’ too on the soft side, volume wise. Lightwise, well I can keep on about this, but this time it was getting almost as difficult as Neurosis (the difference was I could use a flash here), a lot of backlighting and only just the odd projection lighting them from the front. Setup wise they reminded me of Apartment where the keyboard blocked a certain area of, besides that it was hard to capture Matt Yeates.
I am shooting them again in Archway this Saturday and maybe at the XFM session they do later this month.

KAPUTT @ 93 FEET EAST

Left Friday afternoon with JimBob from Taint to travel by train from London Paddington to go to Swansea, I sit opposite James and he tells me just when the train leaves from Paddington that the gig may be canceled as people have a rough time getting through the snow with the equipment and the promotor wants to blow the gig…., I am not fuzzed for a minute and after hearing more doommongering while he is on the phone for another hour I decide enough is enough and go for a kip, I wake up 90 mins later and he is still on the phone and tells me the gig is on for 90%………. there ya go, only if ya keep the faith a lil’ and look what happens
We arrive in Swansea where we hook up with bassplayer Chris and it’s slush galore (a good sign!) by the time we reach the venue, via two pubs for food and drink, my feet are soaking, luckily the promotor has arranged one of these heating canons so I end up my drying my socks and shoes in front of it, I am not the only one drummer Al joins me too.
The soundheck sounds mwah and none of us is really convinced about this much, add the fact that the stage was just loosely pulled together and only after mentioning the word “deathtrap” they finally decide to get some nuts and bolts out and tighten the lot, the dressing room is still in building progress but a tidy up and shifting of some crap out of the way could have done wonders, no one seems to be bothered…..
The support band is Black Eye Riot, I get introduced to a few members, Stuart who plays guitar used to play with Capricorns bassplayer Dean Berry in a band. They are on at about 11 and they kick of with “The Cunt” a brilliant opener, as a matter of fact I am sold the second they start till the end of the set. If ya have to compare then they fall in the Cro Mags, Crumsuckers, Life Of Agony etc etc catogory, loadsa energy and just full on hardcore punkrock, great show.
Taint start about at midnight and the place has filled up nicely, my best guess somewhere between 150/200 punters witnessing the show. The sound is excellent, as a matter of fact it is crystal clear, James’ Gibson guitar sounds brilliant.
The only negative is that there is only one light on the entire stage. I thought some London club venues are shittly kitted out but this is definately the winnah!!!!! I have been told that this is only the second show they have organised in this venue, still running a few cables and hanging up a few lights aint like curing aids is it……..
The pix turn out fine, the set is about just short of an hour and they even play an encore (James; “we never do that actually but as it is our home crowd…..” which is “Drunken Marksman”
The next morning we are of to Pennard castle and do some shots, everyone is in fine form, especially Al who has barely slept. At the end of the shoot we see a small patch of snow and Al wants to kick some of it and JimBob holds one aloft, Al completely misses his bit and falls to the floor in dramatic fashion, lots of laughter follows……I shot that and the next bit where they threw “rocks” towards me with the motordrive on, make sure you check the gallery to see the whole sequence

TAINT

I used to pas Nambucca many times when I lived in Finsbury Park and walk with Terri to Holloway Rd. flea market, I thought it was a dive and it sorta still is, especially the stage area. Later on I am told there is water leaking into the mixing desk area…………..
Anyways, I am there to see White Light Parade (Dan Yates - Lead Guitar & Lead Vocal, Jono Yates - Rhythm Guitar & Backing Vocal, Nici Todd - Drums, Tom Emmette - Bass Guitar) from Bradford, Leeds. I get introduced to the band members who are very nice and welcoming. We do some bandshots and also some individual ones near the toilets, which turn out good.

I thought the band were on at 8, as I was going to go to The Fly to shoot Joanna and The Wolf again but they started at the same time, so I had to give Joanna a miss, for now….
The gig after the shoot starts with some technical troubs but after that it flows rather nicely. I hear a lot of The Jam and The Clash influences for sure but no bother to me whatsoever, in short a good band to catch when they are around and lets face it you don’t get to see a band with three blokes and a female drummer who does an outstanding job every day……add on that northern swagger which London bands simply do not have and you have some cool entertainment for sure.
I see they are in London again in March, hmmmmmmmmmm.

WHITE LIGHT PARADE

It has snowed in London like hardly ever before, so much for the twits who kept screaming “because of global warming it will never snow again”, I am so fed up with these media tossers who keep coming up with stories of this type of nature. It’s baseless, and has absolutely no merit whatsover….I mean global warming fair enough, but these so called predictions……STFU!!!

Must go and see Brian Haw and shoot snow pix…. On top of that he won an award yesterday from Channel 4; Most Inspiring Political Figure of the Year

Yesterday I wasn’t really going to go to any show, but because of the debacle from the night before I checked out some of the bands that were playing through Curious Generation that night and I really liked listening to Saint Jude (Lynne Jackaman-Vocals, Jo Wadeson-Bass”, Adam Green-Guitar, John Robertson-Guitar, Elliot Mortimer-Keyboards, Lee Cook-Drums) a lot on myspace. So I fancied shooting them and made my way down there.
Last time I was at Purple Turtle was in the summer when I saw Apartment (David Caggiari, Liam Fletcher, Davide DeSantis and Tom Gillet) play a blinding show (probably the best they did in my opinion) and I took some great shots there as they had some nice lights there.
Terri and I saw two acoustic folkloristic type bands, and boy was it sleep inducing. Some people get of on this, but not us.
Saint Jude start at roughly 10:30 and best to describe them is that they are heavily influenced by 70’s style rock, such as Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, MC5, Patti Smith and above all Heart (from that 70’s era) and with Lynne Jackaman on vocals they have a trump card, an absolutely brilliant singer, a lot of power and melody (think Janis Joplin and Ann Wilson together, also an element of gospel). Their set lasted about 40 mins, and it was excellent. well worth catching live!!!
What wasn’t excellent is the photography, as a matter of fact I am livid. The light show did not change once, it was static, and the band deserved more than that. On top of that the new memory card I bought earlier this week, and tested beforehand produced a load of corrupt files and therefor a lot of my shots ended up being scrapped, or only available as jpgs, a massive downer.
I shot the band before the show which came out okish, there is just no place to do a decent bandshot in there…..

SAINT JUDE

That’s twice in a week, I am being “sold” a load of fanny by some representative/P.R. this time from someone close to Wallis Bird, about pix already being done for Curious Gen. blah blah blah, it is starting to become boring and I am sticking to rock/rap bands, and I mean bands who are all willing/eager to coorperate, I am staying away (with a barge poole) from girlz and an acoustic guitar……….

No pix therefor from her, or any other act as I lost my apetite as well on this one………..
I am supposed to shoot one band at Nambuca on Thursday and then shoot a group shot of Joanna and The Wolf later on @ The Fly…
But I am not holding my breath on this heh heh, not by the way things have been changed/canceled already…

Today I hope to finish the fence of which Terri started, the coloring is dark brown but the stuff stinks everywhere, last night when we walked home we could smell it 30 yards away from our house……,
The stairs need one final sand of, Nicholas Jones is coming over tonight to discuss bits for the website, which is in the final stage, and he will bring me the laquer that will serve as a protective layer for them, and then we can start worrying about spindles etc.
Soon that will be done and the fucker will finally be finished and then we will replace our doors/handles and get new carpet upstairs, this will make the gaff a whole lot more presentable.

I am shooting some bands tonight at Spitz in Spitalfields market, besides that the shoot with Mexicolas tomorrow has been canceled due to time restraints, too bad.
That gives me time to sort paperwork out, coz I have way too much left to do anyways.

I have made it to the 2nd series of Sopranos now, and it is getting better all the time. I did remember quite a few bits, then again I’d forgotten the other

Yesterday I dropped of the disc with images @ Angel/North magazine and after that I had a meeting with Michael Czerwinski at the Design Museum, this could be an interesting collaboration indeed. There are some plans on the table for later this year and besides that some portraiture of the people that come over and do their stuff/talks, which means some bigwigs in the design world, this could become an interesting series if all goes according to planning, we shall see in a year or so……

Yesterday and today is DIY day, been stripping the banister of the stairs, sanding it today and Terri is putting a coat on the fence.
I have to get a disc with pix ready for the Angel Mag. feature and then also do some more paperwork.
Tomorrow I am meeting Michael Czerwinsky @ the design museum about some possible collaborations later on this year. A few gigs this week as well @ Spitz and Nambucca, then Wednesday and/or Thursday some shots of Mexicolas, and Friday I leave for Swansea to go with Taint shoot some band shots out and about, and Sunday it is Kaputt @ 93 feet east.
An interesting week……meanwhile Matt Charlton has been busy working on a new portfolio flash site for me, sofar so good, and hopefully in a week or so I shall be able to present it to everyone…..watch this space………..

I have woken up tired but am hella satisfied.

The interview with Mark Kebble went well, according to him, and after that I left for Dublin Castle to meet the Mexicolas (Jamie-guitar and lead vocals, Tim-drums and vocals and Del-bass and vocals) and their manager Steve Skelding. The band had just arrived due to traffic probs, they setup mega quick and did the fastest soundcheck I ever witnessed, they did not even play a whole song, just a few chords and pack most of it all up again to let the other 3 bands on.
We retreat to the front (the pub) and just yack and get acquainted. After a few hours we shoot some band pix and personal shots which turn out nice. And then it’s back to food, drink and chats basically, and I must say it is a nice civilized time, there is industry shoptalk but not just that and that’s what differs this lot from a lot of bands that I see, it’s all very amicable.

I tell them that the last time I was in Birmingham was when I was on tour with Apartment (David Caggiari, Liam Fletcher, Davide DeSantis and Tom Gillet) in July, “oh yeah we played with them @ The Barfly”, which was the same gig we played at but as we got such a horrendous treatment from the people @ Barfly that we packed up and left right away. Strange how certain things ‘come round…..
The band is on late @ 10:45 and the place is nicely packed, and the first thing that shows is that Jamie is a pussy magnet
The set is about 40 mins long and it’s tight, the band go down well. I must say I like them.
I have been invited to see them next week in Chiswick where they are mixing their debut album and we gonna try and do some shots inside, outside, wherever…..should be cool.

MEXICOLAS

This morning did an interview with Mark Kebble of Angel magazine, the magazine is freely distributed around estate agents and such, and has a circulation of 45.000 copies. I have been promised the cover and two pages which will contain pix of my latest work and loads of drivel, no idea how one gets to talk 75 minutes about himself and get away with it
Gotta do this more often

I have been checking the myspace stuff as Curious Generation has a load of gigs listed I wish to cover, I catch this band called Kaputt, and OMFG this band absolutely kicks arse…..I added their song “Dishes” to my profile on Myspace, click on the right if you wish to hear it.
I have been in contact and would love to shoot them on the 11th at 93 Feet East, it’ll be the day after coming back from Swansea shooting Taint and no doubt I will be a tired old man, but this is worth getting out of bed for…..

I am getting my kit ready for the Mexicolas l8er on.

Had a great time yesterday watching three good bands @ Waterrats when I stumbled in Big Wednesday (Kevin Andrews - Vox’s/Rhythm Guitar, Brian Flack - Lead Guitar/Bv’s, Jon Hamler - Bass/Bv’s, Steveo - Drums) were playing, and I managed to catch their last three songs and their harmonies and confidence on stage were well impressive, a band to keep an eye out for, at least I will for sure. They play in Fulham next week, I am shooting Taint instead that day otherwise I would have gone and see that show.
I took a quick shot outside.

BIG WEDNESDAY

Next were Unkle Bob: Rick Webster (gtr/ vocals), Stuart Cartwright (gtr/ banjo), Tad MacDonald (bass), Ron Yeadon (drums), Geoff Widdowson (piano/ organ), they were less rocky but a good sounding band in its own right. The crowd lapped it up too, which consisted of many industry peeps checking the acts out that night. I shot them live and also took a quick bandshot right after the gig in the tiny corridor next to the stage.

UNKLE BOB

Last were Envy & Other Sins: Alister M. Forbes on Singing & Guitar, Jarvey Moss on Piano and Synthesisers, Mark E. Lees (snr) on Bass and Jim “McDrum” Macaulay on Sticks and Skins. Who played a 45 minute set and played some great stuff too, it’s kinda odd listening to tracks you have never been exposed to before, but like I said all three bands were all good in their own right….

ENVY & OTHER SINS

The lighting was, and always is in small clubs, hella boring there is just no way around it….still there is some decent stuff.

I shall post galleries later on, no time today as I am out being interviewed and then off shooting the Mexicolas for the remainder of the day.

I get @ 93 Feet East for 9 pm and Terri shows up about an hour later, as I came from the west end.
I realise I have been there before, it must have been called differently (which in uber trendy Shoreditch is no suprise) as I shot a Gola Footwear event there.
I meet Akira The Don (his real name is Adam) backstage and get him to do some shots for me, it’s all easy and he is a real nice guy (he resides in Stoke Newington just like me).
I like the pix I do of him.
When I leave the dressing room I see Piney Gir are onstage and shoot the last two songs of ‘em. This aint my cuppa at all, but I do like some of the shots I took.

When Akira The Don appears onstage about 30 mins later it is quite fun to watch (I am not a real hiphop fan but I can listen to it) but the sound in this venue is anything but good, when I retire to the back it is even worse, but the jokes he throws out are a good laugh and they are the bits I can actually understand.

Piney Gir

Akira The Don

Tonight it’s of to Waterrats to shoot Unkle Bob and Envy & the Other Sins. Tomorrow morning I am doing an interview with Mark Kebble of Angel Magazine, which will do a feature on me and my crappy photography…………..