Becc Sanderson & Graeme Stephen at The Mill Sessions

The 3rd of The Mill Sessions was last week, and this time featured jazz singer, Becc Sanderson with guitarist Graeme Stephen. As before (see Beth Fouracre at the Mill Sessions and Sean Taylor and the Mill Sessions), time was set aside for me to take photos.

Both were quite relaxed in front of the camera, but Becc knew how to play to it - which was fun for me, as usually I have to spend quite a bit of time getting people to a point where they stop looking like a rabbit in the headlights.

As usual, click on any of the images for a larger version.


Graeme and Becc


Jazz guitarist, Graeme Stephen


Becc Sanderson relaxed in front of the camera


Taking this photo I was practically lying on the floor on my back to get the angle I wanted.


In every photo session, there's always a time when the person cannot keep a straight face.

Becc's dress, by the way, is a genuine vintage from the 1950s.

I am a photographer, and not a film maker. However, the camera I have does have quite a good movie capability on it, so I recorded one of the songs to give you a taster. This is "Cry Me a River". I especially love the breathy quality as she begins to sing.



If you're up in Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival this summer, then do keep an eye out for Becc who has is doing a show this year.

Meanwhile if you would like to experience more of Becc's singing, then visit her MySpace page, here. And you can discover more about Graeme on his website, here.

Tawona and Ernest - Seeds of Thought

Continuing the arrangement with The Bakehouse, in Gatehouse of Fleet (you might remember me writing about it when I photographed Bashabi a few weeks ago), on Saturday past I was invited to photograph guest poet, Tawona Sithole, and his brother, Ernest.

The brothers are based in Glasgow, though they’re originally from Zimbabwe. Along with artist, Tarneem Al Mousawi, they founded a group called "Seeds of Thought" combining poetry, music and art.

They took to the camera well, quite quickly overcoming any apprehension.





Although, they didn’t always find it easy to keep a straight face



They also play mbira (sometimes known as a thumb piano), which has quite an amazing sound.



Between The Bakehouse and The Mill Sessions, I’m getting to meet some really interesting people. It’s just as shame I only get to spend an hour with them.

For those on Facebook, you can find more out about Seeds of Thought here:
http://www.facebook.com/seedsofthoughtglasgow

Beth Fouracre at the Mill Sessions

The 2nd of this year’s Mill Sessions was on Thursday past, this time featuring singer-songwriter, Beth Fouracre. As before, a bit of time was set aside for me to take her portrait to build up images for The Mill, and my own portfolio.

Although she was a bit uncertain to begin with, it didn’t take long for her to relax and quite quickly she connected with the camera.



Unlike Sean Taylor’s request for Dark and Moody (see Sean Taylor and The Mill Sessions), Beth wanted a slightly lighter mood.



In fact, I have a whole folder full of blurred images where she found it impossible to keep a straight face and collapsed into laughter.

I’d decided the “house style” for the Mill Sessions would be black and white with a hint (18%) of sepia overlay. However, I have to say on only the 2nd photo shoot I found myself quite torn. What doesn’t come out in black and white is the fact Beth had vivid red hair, which really was quite wonderful.

Eventually I decided I would stick to my original idea, but here’s one to show you what I mean.



Until the evenings get lighter, I'm limited with the space and lighting I can use for these photo sessions. I have to bring along one of my lights and a reflector and I can use a room in the Mill that's currently empty, but only until it opens up again for the tourist season.


Light with umbrella diffuser - Beth - reflector, side on

As usual, click on any of the images for larger versions.

For those interested in her music, and Beth really does have a lovely voice, then you can hear some of here songs on MySpace, here:
http://www.myspace.com/bethfouracre/music

Sean Taylor and the Mill Sessions

As well as hosting my Staring Back exhibition, last year the Mill on the Fleet (in the nearby town of Gatehouse of Fleet) trialled the idea of becoming a venue for small, acoustic performances by local and up and coming artists, using the space in one of its galleries. It went well and plans to have monthly sessions are now underway, collectively known as The Mill Sessions.

In a similar vein to my arrangement with The Bakehouse (see last post), I will now be taking photos of guest artists prior to their performances to build up a “hall of fame” collection.

On Saturday, fresh from his concert at Celtic Connections and interview on the Bob Harris Radio 2 show, was Sean Taylor, an amazing bluesy singer and guitarist. His live performance at the Mill was superb.

A day or 2 before he came down I spoke to him on the phone to see if there was a particular style he fancied when we did the photo session. “Dark and moody” was his instant reply. This suited me fine – I like dark and moody.

As usual, click on any of the images for larger versions







You can hear songs from his album, Walk With Me, on his website. My personal favourite is “Hold On”

Life behind the eyes

Far too much portrait photography is little more than product photography featuring people instead of objects. Just like photographing a pewter plate, a necklace or a dressing gown, the idea is to create an image of the best achievable version of the subject. And any flaws still there after lighting the product as perfectly as possible, can be conveniently removed afterwards in the digital editing process.

This is why there are so many complete make-over and photo sessions around (do your hair, make-up and soft lighting), and why every model on every magazine cover now looks like a computer-generated, plastic doll.

What all these things lack is a real, human, emotional connection with the viewer. I find them flat, boring and, ultimately, sad.

However, getting someone to relax with you, trust you and buy into your vision as a photographer looking for something deeper, is no easy thing. Fears, insecurities and reservations all have to be overcome in a very short space of time. Months of psychotherapy are not available: at best I have a couple of hours.

Last weekend I had less than one hour to photograph Dr Bashabi Fraser before The Bakehouse event, at which she was the guest author.

I’ve begun an arrangement with The Bakehouse, where I will be taking portraits of their guest poets/authors/performers before the events, and over time this will build up a collection of images for a “Hall of Fame” for the venue, while it gives me the opportunity to photograph people who invariably have an interesting background and/or take on life.

Bashabi was the first of these and, given the time constraints and less control over the lighting arrangement than I would have in my own studio, it’s fair to say I was feeling the pressure.

Fortunately all my instincts and experience kicked in at the right time, and although I over ran a little, everyone felt it had gone well.

Rather than a bland, plastic, soulless portrait, I hope this hints at the intelligent, fascinating person she is.


(Click on the image for a larger version)

The Geese - CD Cover

The Geese are a local 3-piece “Indy-folk” band, with Alan on lead vocals and guitar (usually), Michelle on fiddle (mostly), and Harry on banjo (pretty much always).

Alan is one of these people I kept sort of half meeting on and off over a few years. Enough times to think, “he looks familiar” when our paths crossed, but not quite enough to remember his name.

A little over a year ago, I started seeing his band playing here and there, and discovered he was working on placement as a teacher at my daughter’s school, so thought I should make more effort to properly establish a connection. I consciously started making a point of saying hello when we were in the same places and loitering nearby in the hope of someone mentioning his name out loud.

Eventually it paid off and I felt quite pleased the first time I was able to say, “Hi Alan,” as my opening words to him.

Earlier this year when I realised I needed faces to photograph for my Staring Back exhibition, I asked him if I could do some shots of him and the band and in return, if any of them worked out, they could use them for publicity.

I took quite a few, although eventually the stand-out shot for me was one of Michelle, Alan’s wife and fiddle player of the trio. This found its way into the exhibition and, more recently, on to the cover of Prole magazine.

However, the other shots didn’t go to waste, and this month The Geese have brought out a 5 track EP on CD called, Cursory Rhymes One of my photos adorns the sleeve, with another on the back and the CD label.



My favourite track is the first one, Ariel, which opens with the wonderful line, "It was a dark and stormy night. I’m sorry, but it was." Alan is also a Storyteller and poet, so his attention to lyrics construction always makes for fun listening.

I did ask if it’s possible to buy the CD online, but at the point of writing the only options are to either turn up to one of their gigs with £5 at the ready, or to contact him through his MySpace page and in return for a cheque he’ll post one out to you.

Here’s a version of their track, Undiscovered Scotland, which will give you a bit of a flavour of their music, although Michelle is running a piece of pipe over a ridged metal thing rather than playing the fiddle.

I'm not sure if this will work in all browsers - I've just cut and pasted the code from MySpace.

However, more about The Geese and their music can be found here:
http://www.myspace.com/alanmcclure

Cover Art on Prole Magazine

Prole is a magazine publishing prose and poetry, where the aim is that all submissions are high quality and accessible.

I have to confess I rather enjoy the statement on their website, “Anything that sniffs of literary elitism is highly unlikely to make it through the editorial process […] Obscure references and highly stylised structures and forms that exist only to aggrandise the writer and appeal to the coffee lounges of our older universities are not welcome.”

And what I particularly like about Prole is they have used one of my images for the cover of Issue 3.



It seems they found me via a blogger friend of mine, Mary, and after a few email exchanges we decided to go for a closely cropped, black and white version of my photo “Michelle”, which originally appeared in my Staring Back exhibition last May.

You can buy printed copies or PDF downloads of Prole.

And if you take out a subscription they like you very much.

Prole Home Page
Prole Submissions Page

December Song

Jim Hamilton has released a single, “December Song”, in time to try and grab that Christmas Number 1 slot. His name might not be that familiar to most of you, but back in the 70s he was signed to EMI, toured extensively round Europe, and even had a Number 1 hit in Denmark with “Rock n’ Roll Marionette”.

So why am I mentioning this?

Well, Jim Hamilton is also the father of Richie, the lead guitarist in a fledgling band I’m in (we meet once a week on a Tuesday evening and are still working on what songs we want to play. We’re also looking for a drummer/percussionist who lives locally and ideally has a space we can practice in if you’re interested/know anyone).

Last week Jim and Richie came round for a photo session, giving me the chance to try out the new studio space. Jim’s a warm and friendly guy – the kind who shows interest, and makes you feel good about yourself. A fun time was had by all, especially when the sun came out and they discovered the venetian-blind effect.

One or two of my photos from that session are getting used in the publicity for the single, so if it goes truly viral and takes over the world, it will look good on my CV/résumé. So if you're feeling supportive...

You can download “December Song” at cdbaby, iTunes and other such sites:
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/JimHamilton1
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/december-song-single/id407350576

You can view the YouTube video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWVsv3qcXT0

You can add the "Jim Hamilton for UK Christmas Number 1" Facebook page to your “likes” here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jim-Hamilton-for-UK-Christmas-Number-1/144277205623721

And here are a handful of photos I took that morning.


Jim Hamilton


Richie Hamilton


Father and Son


The photographer having fun

The Sex Pistols Experience

I am an anti-christ
I am an anarchist
Don't know what I want but
I know how to get it
I wanna destroy passer by
Cos I...
Wanna be...
Anarchy!

Just over a week ago my son, Rogan, and I were up in Bathgate, Central Scotland, backstage with The Sex Pistols Experience - a tribute band to perhaps the most well known of all punk rockers.


Rogan with "Paul Crook", "Steve Clones", "Johnny Rotter" and "Kid Vicious"

As Dave, the drummer and founder of the group was keen to point out, the difference with a “tribute” band over a “cover” band is the effort is made to perform in the style of the characters of the original group as well as the music.

I’d noticed this when we saw them back at the Wickerman Festival in July (see Burning the Wickerman). We’d been impressed not just by the quality of the playing, but by the theatre of their performances – swearing at each other, goading the audience and the attention to detail in their clothes and sneers.

Dave had found my photos on the web and, as the band had recently acquired a new guitarist, and most of their photos featured the previous guy, he wondered if I’d be ok if they could use my images on their website and poster in exchange for being credited and a link to my website.

After a few email exchanges with images attached, I suggested next time they were in Scotland they should let me know and I could take some proper photos of them. And so it was, in the middle of November, Rogan and I found ourselves invited to join them in Bathgate.

The backstage area given over to them turned out to be a barber's shop just round the corner from the gig (owned and run by Skid, the lead singer in the support band, Cash from Chaos), as the only available space at the venue was too small to fit everyone in. It was warm, dry and had mirrors so was ideal.


Relaxing before the gig


Getting the expressions right


No holding back


Faithful renditions


I don’t know if I should say they’re a great bunch of guys, as that might appear to undermine their stage personas, but we had a wonderful time. And for a brief moment, at least, I think I managed a small amount of “cool dad” in the eyes of my son for taking him along.

I took quite a few more photos both backstage and at the gig, the best of which can be found on my Flickr account, here, or my Facebook page, here.

Photos in "Woodlanders"

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Woods and forests are magical locations - places of mystery and faerie tales; wildlife and free food; pleasant walks and sustainable resources.

“Woodlanders” is a new book all about life in Britain’s forests, with writings and photos about the use of wood in ancient and new eco-buildings, the people who live and work with wood, and the community projects replanting native species and introducing new generations to the wonders of the woodlands.



With sections on everything from craft workers to compost toilets and even a recipe on birch sap wine, it’s the kind of book that makes you want to surround yourself with trees and breathe in moss, leaves sweet sap.

Featured in this book (pages 150-154) is an article about willow sculptor, Trevor Leat, whose amazing creations I’ve photographed several times (see Burns Light Festival and Wickerman posts, for example). And to accompany the article I was asked if some of my photos could be used.

Although you have to search through the small print of the Acknowledgements at the back to find my name, it is there, meaning I’ve not only had my images in magazines, I’ve now got some in a book that wasn’t even produced by me. Which is rather nice.





For anyone interested, it can be found on Amazon here.

Or for a peek at some of the pages and an interview with the editor, visit the publisher's pages here.

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