Bob Dylan @ Hop Farm

This picture taken by me at the Hop Farm Music Festival appeared today in September 2010 issue of Uncut Magazine on the Cover Feature.

In the last few weeks I have worked for the BBC, been to the Hop Farm and Womad Festivals (more soon) and have some weddings and portrait sessions coming up. I also have some really good shots of Sir Charles Mackerras that I will blog too.

Short and sweet, I know.

I'm In the Phone Booth the One Across the Hall

I like this picture. This is Debbie Harry from Blondie taken at the Hop Farm Music Festival July 2010. The line-up on the Friday included Los Lobos (whom I  missed) Dr John, Blondie and Van Morrison. Wow. 


All had shooting restrictions. For Blondie we were not allowed to stand directly in front of Debbie Harry but 10 meters to the left and right. We all suspected it was because she had left her right guard at home. You can just make out the dark patch beneath her arm. Who cares? 


The sound for Blondie was brilliant and they were one of the outstanding performers of the weekend. Great fun to shoot and great songs.

You can really feel her singing "Hanging on the Telephone". When I am in the "pit" I also like to look around the stage and see what interested items the band or artist had bought on stage with them. On top of one of the amps was this. Some really pimped up pandas.
I guess the initials are C C D for the 3 original members of Blondie. Chris Stein, Clem Burke
and Debbie Harry.

I actually shook Clem Burke (Blondie drummer) by the hand when he was watching the Peter Green gig on the other stage before his own set with Blondie. He told me he wanted to see Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac original) for years but never had. he couldn't pass up the chance.


Search Amazon.com for Blondie

Martin Simpson@Crawley Folk

Martin Simpson played a great set with his trio. Some good ol' fashioned folk songs and brilliant guitar playing. His set was in the grass banked amphitheatre at The Hawth in Crawley
and the lighting was harsh, strong and white and probably hot from the shinny look on Martins face.


I was able to shoot from the side of the stage which allowed me to get this shot with Martin giving his Melodian player Andy Seward the folk nod. I got this from Martin's Tweets

"Crawley Festival was very hot all day. I l loved playing but hiding in a dressing room is a strange way to be in the shade. Nettle bed next." I told you he was hot.

More Crawley Folk Festival Pictures at www.simonjayprice.com/crawleyfolk
or enjoy a rather lovely slideshow at www.simonjayprice.com/crawleyslide

Bad Shepherds @ Crawley Folk

The Bad Shepherds are a "folk" group who playing punk rock songs; Anarchy in the UK -the Pistols, I Fought the Law-Clash,  Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric and on it goes. 

The sound and arrangement is really effective, reels and jigs replace sweat and spit.  

Not sure they would totally get away with it if it wasn't for the presence of Adrian Edmondson..........Yes that Adrian Edmondson........Vivian from the Young Ones, .......half of Bottom,......................and other arf of Jennifer Saunders.

Great Light show and sound from the Buzz guys in Brighton and a big name opener for the upteenth Council funded Crawley Folk Festival, which is a good thing, it was packed out too.

Nice shot of Adrian in the lights, he can really play too and sing. There was also a lot of in between song banter with the audience which helped make a great atmosphere.


So that I could get a headstart on the other phogtogs at the festival my wife kindly came home from proper work early. We collected her from the train station but could not park the car because of others in the way. We walked to the platform and my little boy said of the car parked in our way "It must be a woman driver to park like that", quite out of the blue without any prompting. And it was. My little girl said "She must have two broken legs to park like that!" Poor woman had her window open and heard the whole thing admonished by two small children for her bad parking.

More Crawley Folk Festival Pictures at www.simonjayprice.com/crawleyfolk
or enjoy a rather lovely slideshow at www.simonjayprice.com/crawleyslide

Family Values

Recently I was on an afternoon shoot with the lovely Rodgers family from a local village. We found a great place to go and shoot. Riverhill Gardens. What a gem of a place to shoot (photograph not hunt), himalayan flowers, bluebell woods, yeti and the most important part of any Garden, the cafe with homemade spiced split apple cake.


Yeti?

Yesi !


You can check out more family shoots and portraits on my other site Portraits & Weddings www.portraitwedding.co.uk.

Like me, my not so little girl, starts a conversation not in the middle, but somewhere near the end and works backward. Sometimes it is not easy to follow what she says and when I tried to explain to her what she might sound like she said "What are you talking about".
I wonder where she gets it from, my poor poor wife.

The Proclaimers

My little boy said to me the other day "The faster you run the further you think you have gone".TM. Needless to say this is now a trade marked saying and will be staying in the family to use as titles for future autobiographies or novels. having just photographed The Proclaimers of 500 Miles (I have walked 500 Miles and I could walk 500 more) fame it seemed appropriate to mention it.

Craig and Charlie were great and still shout right down the microphone look how big they get open their mouths.

I had seen them some years ago at Glastonbury when "This Is The Story" album came out and it was just the two of them. Last night was a full band and very loud for a small venue
The Hawth in Crawley.

I had to put my earplugs in. I think I prefer the accoustic set.
Please do not use the pictures without permission. Thanks and Enjoy.
More picture can be seen at Simon Jay Price Photography

Life is a Drag

Grayson Perry from my night at the monumental marathon of photography that is the
RPS Awards. The pictures from the awards were sent to press/pictures desks around the UK and to a few countries abroad.

Hudderfield Examiner
Gramophone online (and will also use in print edition)
Classical Music online (and will also use in print edition)
BBC Radio 3 – listen again (Grayson Perry picture – to go with online speech)
Harrison Parrott website – Ollie Knussen
Wigmore Hall online
London Sinfonietta online
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival – online
www.leedsguide.co.uk
Finnish press attache – for Esa Pekka Salonen and Kaija Saariaho
BBC Radio 3 online/production.

I will add the links fully later on. I have decided I cannot postpone publishing because of absence of links. So many other commsissions to talk about as well. In the last few weeks I have had many private comissions for portraits and a few corporate jobs as well. 


We were also on holiday last week and had a sintillating time on the hot beaches of South Wales, and it really was hot. The children had agreat time with sandcastles, ice cream, burying Dad in the sand and waiting to see if they could spot Fireman Sam.
(Who is Welsh).

Hey Baby Your Standing in My Light

After making the children spaghetti bolognese, doing a slight bit of housework and trying to complete the tax return, I can now settle down to some web logging.

In my other life as a photographer one of the projects I have been involved with is working with the Royal Philharmonic Society. Here is a few pictures from last years awards ceremony. 


This year they have asked me back again. This is a different type of shoot to most of the others either concert photography or reportage. Here I am recording the event through two styles. The first is an off stage studio for most award winners with off camera flash on stands and shoot through umbrellas and the second almost TV camera style mounted on a tripod shot with a long lens to capture the speakers. Pictures are sent out on the press wire at the end of the evening.


So this year is my third in a row,  There is a great guest speaker who I am not allowed to divulge yet. More next week on this. The awards take place at the Dorchester Hotel on 11th May 2010.

Tyres

I was photographing at Silverstone Race Track on the day they were opening the new layout for a Motorbike Track Day. During the day I noticed the pile of old tyres getting bigger and bigger. So on asking "what was happening?" I was informed that because the track had a new layout all the tyre barriers had to be replaced too. So gone are the old F1, MotoGP and Touring Car rubber barriers made from all sizes and in their place brand new or scrub F1 Tyres. BBC News F1 Silverstone Track Layout


Talking to Don one of the track workers he said "why not take an F1 tyre home its like having a bit of the old Wembly turf". So I did. My little boy loves it to roll around the garden and bash into the neighbours fence and my daughter wants to put flowers in it.

Black & White

A few weeks ago I was invited to shoot Paul Lewis for the BBC Proms. They are using the pictures for a feature in the BBC Proms Guide 2010 and for press. The pictures were not allowed to be seen until publication of the guide yesterday (22/4/2010)

They were shot during a break in an album recording session. Paul is recording all the Beethoven Piano Concertos for Harmonia Mundi.  On this day, 8th March 2010, he was recording the 4th Concerto.

Paul was very relaxed and was willing to do whatever it took to help me get the shots.

A few times he was playing passages from the 4th Beethoven Piano Concerto I became mesmerised by his hand work and I totally forgot to click the camera.

The pictures were lit with 3 Multiblitz Profilux 400 lights (very versatile workhorses) 2 from the left one high above the piano and one on the side of Pauls face and the other down low behind Paul. The pictures appear on pages 40 and 41 of the BBC Proms Guide 2010

Other pictures of mine appear om pages 82/83/84 and 85. All of these pictures and more will be appearing on my website www.simonjayprice.com soon.