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

pink/punk princess

That's my girl. Of course she's been casually and subtly guided down a music loving path, choosing offbeat fashion and not caring about looking/acting different. Not that she is different - she's pretty much the same as her little kinder friends - into pink and fairies and princesses. But she also loves playing zombies and ninjas with the boys, headbanging to music in the back of the car (fast and noisy is her musical preference), and if she doesn't like what you have to say then you'll well and truly know about it.

When she grows up she wants to be a rock star, a princess and a shark.

One day I decided that I'd had quite enough of the Disney princesses getting a run in my house so I introduced her to She-ra Princess of Power and I think she's watched it every day since. She carries a toy sword around in the back of her jumper.

So when I came home with some temporary hair chalks in every colour of the rainbow she was most excited to try them in her hair. Because rock stars have cool hair and she's gonna be a rock star like Dave Grohl one day you know - one who plays drums and guitar and sings.

This kid. Seriously. She smashes my heart into bits.

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.

pretty noose

Diamond rope silver chain 

Pretty noose sells pretty pain 

And I don't like what you got me hanging from

(Pretty Noose, Soundgarden)

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Music lyrics have always sucker punched me, but I find it amazing that even after loving a song for nearly 2 decades (holy hell, I'm getting old!) I can still find new things to admire in a song, still be inspired and still be shocked by the meanings of words as lyrics/poetry. And finding new meaning depending on my mood.

I seem to have picked up my selfies project from a little while ago. I'll see if I can maintain some kind of enthusiasm for it, it's been a long time since I've felt vaguely interested in picking up my camera. Sometimes it's easier to create an image than think of the right words I think.

*** disclaimer for parentals and anyone else freaking the fuck out that I have a noose around my neck: this is a composite of about 4 or 5 images and some crafty photoshop work. Yes there was a rope around my neck but it wasn't tight so chill. :-p

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