Polo Club

I shot my first gig for Tone Deaf over the weekend, and it was, erm, different. HA! Let's just say I've never willingly sat through 3 hip hop sets... By the end of the evening I wouldn't exactly call myself a hip hop fan, but I did have a great time. Polo Club were energetic and entertaining and a lot of fun to shoot.

Here are my favourite shots of the evening.

And the full gallery in up at Tone Deaf which you can find here: Polo Club Gallery

The Superjesus

A couple of weeks ago I tagged along with a friend (read, pleaded him to let me shoot with him ha!) to shoot The Superjesus during their recent reunion tour.

It was a fun night, great crowd and atmosphere, cold beer (in a VERY warm Gershwin Room at the Espy) and Sarah McLeod is one enigmatic and dynamic frontwoman. They played all the singalong faves and the punters seem to thoroughly enjoy the reunion of an Aussie institution.

Thanks Sime for letting me shoot with you. Let's do it again soon, ok? x

GRINSPOON!!!!!!!!!!!!

3rd time's a charm huh? My 3rd proper music shoot was last night and it was Grinspoon and that makes me so happy I don't even have the words to explain it. I was going to the gig last night as a fan anyway, as I've loved their music since I was in my late teens/early 20s. And I wasn't going to miss their comeback tour. Being able to photograph it was like a little dream come true - to photograph a band that I admire - just wow. My friend Simon told me he had a similar feeling when he shot Alice in Chains many moons ago (admittedly AIC are slightly more awe-inspiring than the Grinners - even I can admit that), he couldn't believe they were right there, and for a time he forgot to even shoot and just let it all wash over him. When he told me that story last year I was completely awestruck and I knew I wanted that feeling. And even though Grinspoon are just an Aussie band that most music fans in this country have seen at least once it was still amazing.

Next stop, Pearl Jam. Hahahaha. Dream on.

Anyway, enough gushing. Here are some of my shots from last night. Full gallery is up on FasterLouder HERE.

Cat Power @ The Forum Melbourne

A couple of weeks ago I was given the amazing opportunity to photograph Cat Power for FasterLouder. It was a last minute thing, so my gear wasn't all that up to scratch (no time to hire) but I was relatively happy with what I shot. I felt very privileged to be close to Chan (and I was super close!), she is a very talented woman.

Here are just a couple of images.

And the link to the full gallery is HERE.

And not only that, Chan herself liked my photo on instagram. Heheh. Cool.

Manic week of awesomeness

This week just gone has been amazing:

* I photographed my first dirty pub gig, and I got squashed, bruised, other people's sweat on me, and I freaking loved it.
* I saw Garbage at the Forum here in Melbourne and then proceeded to hang out with the guitarist Duke Erikson for several hours afterwards, and meet and converse with Butch Vig.
* I then went to Soundwave yesterday and was front row on the barrier for Garbage and scored a setlist for my dancing, singing, crazy escapades. Also managed to get close to the god of music Mike Patton and his band Tomahawk, which was a bit mental. Saw plenty of other bands yesterday but those were my highlights.

So much awesome in only 4 days. It's safe to say I'm completely exhausted! But happy. So happy.

Enjoy some photos. First up, Fucked Up at the Prince of Wales on Tuesday:

You can see the full gallery at Faster Louder (who I was shooting for) here: Fucked Up

Here is a couple of my favourite images from the night, from the band O'Brother:

Massive thanks to my friend Simon who leant me some gear and a lot of moral support. Thanks Sime, you're a legend. x

Next some Instagram photos of my manic week!

Edit: my little sister sent me this photo of us hanging out with Duke. Thought I should post it here, seeing as it was part of my awesome week! As well as his autograph which I made him write for me (fangirl!)!!

Sade - Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne)

Over a year ago I was lucky enough to be asked to photograph Sade for Beat Magazine. I never blogged the photos (to be honest - it was a shit time of my life and blogging was the very last thing I wanted to be doing) so thought I would share a couple now.

Photographing live music is something I am VERY keen to continue, so if you like what you see here and would like me to shoot for you, please get in touch via email: mandyc1978 [at] gmail [dot] com

a city stroll

I've made myself a vow to explore fair Melbourne Town in a way I never have before. I'd love to train my photojournalistic eye and practice "seeing", as I do truly have a passion for street photography and photojournalism and I know that my heart lies in this direction. But I figure I have to start at the start - and to follow the well beaten path trodden around Melbourne by many before me. It's an important step - learn to see where there is much to be seen. Then allow myself to look further, try harder and move into more difficult places to photograph. After all, a person with a camera slung around their neck in Melbourne looks just like the next person. There's not much risk. It's a good starting point. Next week I'll push myself out of my comfort zone a little more. And work from there. Plus I promised Wayne I'd come back and see how his paintings and Christmas cards are coming along.