How to correct an extreme white balance
The Lucy Spraggan Effect
For those that don’t know, Lucy Spraggan is a singer songwriter who was first on the radar (for me at least) after being on X Factor in 2012 performing some of her own songs (and owning them!) Getting a top 40 single and album independently before the show. Now on her 4th album, Lucy released …
The Brits List
Because the Brits is long here’s a bullet points on what you ‘missed’ out on. Little Mix can’t dance nor sing. Emeli Sande wins best female but hasn’t done anything in 4/5 years? Better candidates out there. Breakthrough artists all look promising. Like legit! The 1975 “hack” was funny and made everyone talk about it. …
The three basic camera settings you need to know!
There are three basic camera settings you need to know when starting out, ISO, shutter speed and aperture. So lets start at ISO, ISO is how sensitive the sensor or film (if you’re old mature or a hipster). So the higher the ISO the more sensitive it is (so the brighter the image!) The base …
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Mystery holiday to somewhere in the world…
My brother works for a travel company so can get some good deals. He decided to take me on a mystery holiday to somewhere in the world… He actually didn’t know for definite where we would be going until 48 hours before flying! This is due to some rules to the way the discounts work …
Some Time Today music video
In September I was approached by the band Some Time Today about making their music video for their single Another Way. The song is about the bombed out church in Liverpool, Church of St Luke. There were talks of the church being turned into a hotel and basically ruining the unique look of the church. …
New year, new stuff.
It’s this time of year everyone makes new year resolutions and then smoothly forgets over the next few weeks/months. So here’s what I want to start/continue this year! 1. Continue to shoot awesome artists and bands (duh!) and tell their stories. This year I want to photograph a load more people I’ve not shot before …
How to Photograph Fireworks
The British Musical Fireworks Championship in Southport are this weekend! Three nights of great firework displays done to music by the top companies in the UK. Always attracts huge crowds but the question is can I capture a good photo of fireworks? The answer is yes. The best way is with a camera with manual …
I’m angry.
I woke up this morning to the news Christina Grimmie had been shot at a post-show meet and greet. The Orlando police later announced Christina had died, she was 22. Just let that sink in, 22. For those who don’t know, Christina was a singer who rose to fame posting her videos on youtube. She …
Why Millennials are going to be the best generation
So 2016 sucks, right? Celebrity after celebrity, legend after legend, icon after icon’s are dying. The likes of David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Paul Daniels, Sir Terry Wogan, Ronnie Corbett, Victoria Wood and most recently Prince have left us. It would seem God is planning one almighty festival in heaven this year! Now the question keeps …
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Know Your Photography Rights and Laws
There is often a misunderstanding of the rights and laws for photographers so here’s a quick breakdown for you. 1. In the UK you automatically have copyright of any photograph you take and no need to apply or pay a fee. 2. Except if you are hired to take photographs then the copyright falls to …
One contract you shouldn’t sign
I’ve never really spoken publicly about contracts for photographers before but I feel now is the time to speak out. In early 2014 I contacted Boyce Avenue’s management about shooting one of their UK shows as press. The reply I got was “Your photos look awesome and we would love to have you photograph at …
Lucy Spraggan
Last night I went to photograph an artist where I only knew a couple of their songs. I came across Lucy Spraggan due to Spotify, where I selected an artist and asked it to make a playlist with similar artists and it added Lucy. I wasn’t too sure what to expect last night but it …
Stop looking bored on stage!
I’ve photographed many punk, rock, metal and what ever else bands. You know the kind of bands who say how they are so excited for their latest gig and can’t wait to party with you etc? I’ve noticed the bands that progress and start to live their dream are the ones who show how excited …
Why You Should Take More Photos
There are two train of thoughts when it comes to documenting your life with images. Either you take photos of everything from your lunch to a selfie while in bed or of just the “important” moments in life. Why? Why only important moments? Don’t you reckon there are hundreds of important moments? If I was …
The Fratellis
When you hear that the Fratelli trio are heading out on their ‘Eyes wide, tongue tied’ UK tour you can’t help but start to hum to “Chelsea Chelsea I believe..” but there is much more than their infamous hit Chelsea Dagger to this band. Jon Fratelli’s slick look and his buttery smooth performance show just …
Amber Run are on a… run
I’m not sure how you’d describe Amber Run, like who do you compare them to? You don’t, that’s the point. You will start comparing other bands to them like “XYZ are like Amber Run with less talent”. They are currently taking the music scene by storm, the momentum is totally with Amber Run right now. …
How to stay focused
As I travel to a festival called Momentum I started to think about how I focus on the job at hand, which for me is to take awesome photos of the festival and show it’s incredible atmosphere. The first thing for me is to understand what your goal is. If I’m going to shoot from …
The Selfie: The good, the bad and the perceived ugly
I have recently started using Snapchat loads but one reason I didn’t like it to begin with was you are expected to snap interesting photos, funny photos, or selfies. That last one I struggled with, as I have for a long time hated the way I look. So I would take selfie after selfie, hating …
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Taylor Swift’s bold move away from Spotify
In the last couple of days there has been many reports about Taylor Swift taking all her music off streaming services such as Spotify. Now as a fan of Taylor Swift and a Spotify user you may be annoyed to find you now can’t listen to her latest and greatest album. Before I was going …
Tom’s Top 5 Tips Not Making a Fool Out of Yourself
I was speaking to my mum about the time she met her idol Donny Osmond this year. She burst out crying just as she said hello to him but luckily for my mum he has dealt with this kind of situation before and knew how to handle it. So here are my top tips for …
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Tom’s Top 5 Tips for Gig Goers
So you want to go see your favourite band and they are playing near you. Now what? Here are my top 5 tips that you may not of thought about. 1. Buy your tickets together Find out who wants to go and buy them all together. Why? Cause you’ll save money on the “handling …
‘Wires’
Last night I was at a gig and yeh I got a bit emotional but first let me start with what happened a few weeks to put it in context. I was listening to the song ‘Wires’ by Athlete. The song is written by the lead singer, Joel who’s baby daughter was born prematurely but …
Why Photography?
When ever I speak to a photographer I always ask what got them into photography. Often it’s the enjoyment of it or the sense of achievement when they capture a great shot. For me these didn’t come into play as much as you may expect, so here is the real reason I started photography. While …