Resolutions?

They are quite funny really. Why does everyone think that they are going to make some changes for the better on this day? Fuck that do it everyday! I guess my New Year's Eve was September 30th and October 1st was all about change!! Ummm tomorrow I think I will be hungover as I sorted the resolutions a few months ago...

Now Larissa are on our way out and ready to rock. Who knows what lies in store tonight? (Not getting in anywhere, getting rained on, but no I'm sure we'll have a memorable time...) Well at least we had a filling dinner!

Almost finished!

Too much work done today!! Needed to finish off all the little things so I don't fall behind. My "hair twin" Larissa will be here tomorrow and what kind of a host would I be if I had to work the entire week she was here!!

Editing loads of live music images for the website... Any requests?? Also if anyone has any suggestions for New Year's Eve in London I am listening. As you can see we can bring the party to you!

The Move...

Finally rocked over to the Pirate's "ship" where I will be for the next month. Nice little neighborhood which I'll explore soon but for the moment I have too much work to do. More updates to the site and a couple of deadlines for the mag must be done before Saturday morning... In the meantime I have changed the "other" gallery into a travel one. Hopefully fill it with loads more places in 2007?!

A little view from Shoreham-By-Sea...

Put on the gloves.

Drove down for a Christmas visit with the G-Ma. An interesting lady who loves to talk about the same subjects all the time but I guess that's what happens when you are 80. Spent the day in Shoreham-By-Sea at her lovely house right on the English Channel.

Trying to get these updates done before the New Year. My hair twin from overseas will be here in 4 days so hopefully get it finished before then. Fashion updated but I really need to shoot more of it. Loads of beautiful people, I think so!!

Now this has to be the most creepy road sign in England!! What the hell does it mean?? A few things come to mind...

That day...

Merry Christmas and all that... I know it's a bit cliche but all we could do with is a little peace and it would all be good! Looking for any last minute gifts well this one would be welcomed my way!! Ho Ho Ho!

Thought I would put up a pic that represents a nice green English Park at Christmas... Well actually this is a regular occurrence!

Rolling Football?

So tell me when do Barnsley win Ian?? Went out to see Ian Winwood's beloved Barnsley play against QPR. Met up at the Walkabout pub in Shepherd's Bush. (If you need to get laid ladies I hear this is the place!) The most unlikely foursome for the match consisted of Fishy, Ian, his lovely mum Kathy and I. Took the quick cold walk and headed down to Loftus Road Stadium and sat in the "away" section. A couple of hot chocolates later and a goal for the home team the game ended with the usual Barnsley tears. Still fun though to see old men screaming their heads off!!

The real highlight of the day came when I managed to sneak some shots of Mick Jagger at a pub in Kent!! The Ronnies (my uncle's band) did a show with the second set dedicated to the Stones with the best Mick look-a-like I've ever seen... You be the judge!

Burning of the Clocks

Went to the Burning Of The Clocks parade in Brighton. The pseudo-pagan theme was simple. Creatively build a lantern loosely based on a clock, parade it down the streets of Brighton, and then cast it into a fire! It was a cross between the Illuminares at Trout Lake and the Parade Of The Lost Souls in Vancouver. Highlights were definitely the penguin above...

Senses Fail in Tokyo around the Shibuya crossing. Tourists!!

Trying to do a few web updates before the New Year... Commercial gallery sorted.

Christmas pegging!

Had the K! freelance Christmas party tonight which was fun. We adopted the crazy old game of pegging and some people got it a little worse than others... Last time I did this was on the set of some crappy zombie film that shall remain nameless only because they still owe me money!!!!

Speaking of which who's up for donating $5 US in the new year on their credit card?? I have to really nail those lovely people in Dallas who won't pay so if anyone is up for it let me know...

Hate Maile!

Finally got some real hate mail today! Can't really do anything but laugh. I could care less what excuses you have and where you got the photos from... YOU STOLE THEM! (If you look right at the website there is a big copyright notice!) These are probably the same little shits that illegally download songs and wonder why their favorite band is dropped from the label after one album!

Anyways enough of that... Bit too much P-shop this weekend but rocked through most of it. Cancer Bats are looking great! Really quite pleased with that one which was shot in Brighton. Off to the Kerrang! christmas party tomorrow and I hear there is a quiz and a magician... Little does he realize he has some big shoes to fill from the last magic show I witnessed!

How about a few more favorite pics of the year? You really can't beat the old welders hat look! (photo: Ria) Anyone else got this type of shot? The "Can you believe what they are wearing quick take a photo?"shot! Classic!

Check it...

When you are out all week you just want to chill at weekends! Finally got a night just to do nothing. Popped on some Nusrat and wobbled out... Now there is a musician I wish I got a chance to see!!

And hey it's finally out... Strutter Magazine! A new FREE mag that is worth picking up! Did a few shoots for them way back in March. My personal fav for them was with Kill Rhythm having a little walk through Granville Island Market!

Great magician!

Went for an indian meal here first!! (the photo) If you want to see the best magic/comedy show ever go see Jerry Sadowitz! Hands down better than any other magic show I have seen! And I love how the magic is an excuse to do the most offensive comedy you've ever heard... No one is safe from that man. NO ONE! He even had a go at Canadians which was hilarious!! (How many seal clubbing, moose fuckers do you know?)

Speaking of FUCKERS in general... All the little shits that hacked into Retna's site and took all the Paramore pics are going to get what's coming to you!! Any lawyers want an easy case to nail some people to the wall and make some good money??? First come, first serve!

more shoots less p-shop!

Went into Notting Hill for a shoot with Frank Turner today. Worked outside quite quickly as the rain looked like it was on it's way but came out with some great shots. Nice guy and thanks to Dani for making sure my lightstands didn't blow over!

Headed back to drop off all the lights and then off for a few drinks in King Cross and then over to Camden to shoot the Cancer Bats and Moneen. Cancer Bats were a great mix of punk, southern metal, and didn't stop moving the entire set. Check them out if you get a chance.

And see not all sushi is faceless!

From London to Brighton

To Brighton today as the shoot of the Cancer Bats for Kerrang! was moved up a day. Great guys and a really easy shoot apart from waiting around on a really windy beach for a few starlings to turn up! It's always nice to photograph some fellow Canadians. Talking about how no one knows what a touque is over here and even Relic from the Beachcombers came up at one point!! Back to London only to find a couple more jobs for tomorrow which makes a busy week, but hey I'm not complaining one bit!!

Another pic from the "Memphis" weekend...

Mega hangover travel

Not Recommended!

That great airline did manage to delay every flight throughout whole the weekend. We even managed to miss two scheduled ones there and on the way back. But all we could do was laugh when we came up to the final gate in Chicago. It was conveniently titled L8 !!!

An EVEN longer day...

Managed to sleep pretty much jetlag free and got up in time to catch the end of the buffet breakfast. After breakfast saw the craziest tradition ever at the Peabody Hotel where they setup a red carpet and parade 5 ducks into the lobby fountain!

The four of us (Paul, Scoot, Tom, and I) set out on a Graceland adventure which was pretty surreal! (Thanks for the tickets Scoot!) We toured through the Presley mansion, garage, trophy room, racquet ball court, and finally the grave. Weird place but I learned loads about the King... (A black belt in Karate I had no idea!)

Then it was off to the venue to start drinking (oops I mean working) Got there and figured out a couple of locations outside which worked well. Had a few drinks with Cody, Focker, Scoot and Paul and then after soundcheck did the session with three quick set-ups.

Went out for dinner with everyone after that where the daring and eating began! After ordering the smallest steak on the menu (16oz!) watched Blower eat a chili pepper whole with a hot sauce chaser. Back to the bus where he then was shot 5 times by a pellet gun. All the while everyone was drinking heavily. Almost show time when I stumbled out of the bus and into the venue to shoot the show. Great show and had access everywhere so the shots came out great.

After an autograph session and pulling out the chosen women for the night about 20 of us poured into a limo and headed for Memphis' finest strip club. Came in put my coat down and then was taken to the back area for a lapdance with a women wearing a pink Borat outfit. She started to do her thing and said you really aren't into this are you? All I could reply was "Not Really!" This is where I asked her why she did this and she went on some long rambling thing about divorced, two kids, good money and in the end I should have charged her for the therapy session! Ended up hanging at this place for hours and after many drinks, fake rock hard tits, and dancing took the limo back to the band's hotel where Paul laid down the highlight of the weekend and challenged the band (Well Blower!) to drink more!! (As if we all hadn't drank enough!) Too bad they had all found female friends along the way otherwise we probably would have pulled an all nighter. It's a crazy world that Hinder live in! The above shot I had to get in shows all the Sex, Booze, and Rock N' Roll on a Sunday nonetheless!

LONG day.

Stayed at sister Carly and Simon's as they live really close to Heathrow. Checked in all ok and on time with Paul and Scoot but then the delays began... Left London an hour late so missed our connecting flight to Memphis and had to wait around Chicago. The next flight beat the first delay and took off 2 hours after it should have!! After arriving about 5 hours later than we should of Scoot's bag didn't show up at reclaim... It was conveniently stuck in the conveyor belt and was still in Chicago!?!

Luckily Tom from the label was at the airport so we could quickly check-in at the lovely Peabody Hotel. After dropping off the bags we went for a few drinks at the Flying Saucer which had an impressive beer menu of 4 pages. Hadn't seen Barley Wine in a while so it was an easy choice going with the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot. Ended up crashing finally after being up for about 25 hours, 20 of which were travel time!

But as you can see from the pic, tomorrow can be a better day! (pic: Paul Brannigan!!)

C U Next Tuesday!

Off to Memphis tomorrow for Hinder. With all these crazy restrictions for carry on luggage I'll leave the laptop at home thanks. How can they expect you to trust that it will come through in one piece on the other end? Absolutely crazy! Bonus as I won't have to use adaptors to charge all the electronics for a weekend!

It's been a while since I went to the US-and-A but here is a shot from the last visit in September of the Peace Arch crossing...

Funny, Funny, Funny

Went out to the Drum and Monkey pub in North London for the Just Funny Business show. It was co-hosted by fellow Kerranger the hilarious Simon Young. Loads of different acts some funny and others not so much. But all the power to them for getting up there as I know I couldn't do it!! They say the number one human fear is public speaking well I'd have to agree. It's much easier to hide behind a laptop and write this! And I was honestly sorry to miss the final act but had to catch the last train!! Count me in for next month's show...

more UV than meets the eye

North London... I'm a fan! More room and everyone seems a little more friendly. Staying over at the Pirate's worked out well last evening... And I even made one of the local shop keepers double take when I asked him how he was doing in Hindi!!

Nothing but an afternoon at the screen on the p-shop retouching and sending images some of which are for next year which is always good! Looks like I wasn't the only one happy with the Enter Shikari shots as they are going to get used for 2007 winter/spring tour promotion...

Jack

ass...2!! Hilarious! Sometimes you have to subject yourself to watching dumb fun... Well they did it again and it was well done. Ended up at James "The Pirate" Sharrock's after the film. We drank too much beer and watched the Machinist which is an amazing film. Can't believe I never saw that one when it came out! After almost falling asleep to videos on work tv went to bed!

Tomorrow the UV Enter Shikari shots should be out. Was happy with the final result on that one. Just hope the printing wasn't too merciless!

US-and-A work!

Heading out to Memphis, Tennessee this weekend. Never been that way before but should be interesting as it is the home of Graceland... And didn't they steal the grizzlies from Vancouver?? Maybe I'll just go chill at the Fed-ex head office!!

There to photograph Hinder who I did back in June and are great guys. Hopefully they pull out the dares to eat spoonfuls of wasabi again and I'll put money down that it will be a weekend sponsored by Jagermeister...

Looks like I am going to finally see that award winning classic movie tomorrow that is Jackass 2! And at least I won't have to go alone as James "The Pirate" Sharrock and my sister are in!!!

Cleaner but smaller...

Was the place for gig number 2. Not bad at all!! Just wish I had a little more energy...

This week will be catch up week as there are so many things that are backlogged! Had a chat to the oldies today who sounded in good spirits yet being completely covered in snow. And wow Vancouver first you can't drink the water then second a major snow fall! Did I leave at the right time or what? Missing a good ski season though?!?! Well that's something I've learned is that you can't have it all...

Here's a shot from the Natural History Museum I like form the other day...

a weekend away...

Went up to Bath today and had a rock and roll weekend with Moderate Scene Of Injury! Not one but two gigs in two nights. First gig tonight was at a very dirty place. The bathroom was definitely one of the dirtiest I have seen in England. You could have pissed on the floor as there was a hole there that would have drained it!

Earlier in the day met up with Joby and his friends at the Pig and Fiddle and had a great lunch where I came across this great poster... Then up to soundtrack and finally gig one of two. Not bad but the dude's hair in the band after them made me laugh. Nice and big!

Capped off the evening at the Hobgoblin with a load of people but it was Claire and Chris and I that agreed on a few things that should have happened!!