Caught a cab over to Hampstead Heath to do a shoot with Glamour Of The Kill. The driver talked for the entire ride and was cracking jokes every minute!! Absolutely non-stop, if you wanted a good laugh then Danny was your man. Hilarious!

Met up with Mr.Hughes at the tube and we wandered over to our favorite spot on the Heath. (No we aren't regulars!) Did a quick set-up and then got right into the blood and shovel idea! Wonder how many CCTV cameras caught me wandering back to the K! office with bloody shovels??

An outtake from the shoot with Fair To Midland that I thought turned out quite nicely...

Woke up super early and went into the Brockley area today. Spent the day assisting Paul Harries on a press shoot which was interesting to say the least. The venue was an old ballroom in Southeast London and had quite a bit of character including the owner Bill!

Got all the details through for this weekend and it will be another really early one getting over to Heathrow and off to Sweden for a shoot with a band called Sonic Syndicate. Last Swedish band I did was Memfis (pictured) who only taught me one word in Swedish... Berg!

You know all I want to do is nerd out and watch the athletics (track and field) as I said before the coverage over here is unreal. They will actually show you almost every heat!! Missed most of it as it was a shoot today with the Used. After last night's show it was nice to have a chat and get some interesting pics. Funny guys who were well up for anything that included Jeph with his cup of tea and Bert with a bottle of water. Ended up all soaking wet by the end of it...

Kerrang! finally came out with the hilarious Blackout/Faith No More re-creation. If only every band would drop trousers!

Met up with Chris and Mike in Clapham to do a shoot with Hannah Kirton today. Had a couple of great ideas that we managed to execute without too much trouble.

After the shoot went out for dinner with a good crowd of peeps in Islington and then onto the Used show who were great. It's funny when security scream at you thinking you don't have the right pass to shoot and then when they need a hand you are there to help them out! Only to make them feel extremely embarrassed of course...

Was emailed this pic to day from the Kerrang! Awards or as Larissa put it, Ashley Squared!

Chilled out and caught up on all the images from the awards and shows recently done and of course spent too much time watching the athletics... (A pic from when I went a few weeks ago!)

Went over to Scarlet's for an amazing BBQ today. Had the biggest cut of sirloin, did a bit of Wii and then figured why not go to go to Reading to see NIN play.

Now this is the way to go to a festival... Drive up 15 mins before the band you want to see and take off right after. Didn't have to sit through any of the shit which was refreshing, although NIN did get a bit boring for a couple of songs... Three men rocking out in front of computers was a little too Kraftwerk and sleepy for me!!

Took it easy today apart from editing all the pics I have been falling behind on... Also nerded out as it was Day 1 of the World Championships in Athletics! (Track and Field) Watched quite a bit of it and coverage over here is fantastic as they almost show every heat! Well enough about that because I'll put money on that fact that it will probably get mentioned again, again, this week.

Here's another pic from the Kerrang! Awards after show of Carly, Jeph, and Sean!!

Went into the office to fill in for Scarlet. Was fairly quick as only two pages of the awards needed to be in for news by today.

Wandered through Soho and bumped into Jared Leto who actually came up to say hello... Asked him why he wasn't at the after show and he explained how they had to leave after the awards so he could get to Belgium for night filming on a movie! And then back to London, crazy crazy...

Another funny shot from last night! Always good to have a t-shirt that goes down a storm!

Kerrang! Awards, need I say more? Well actually in all fairness when Lisa Johnson took this photo the awards part was finished and that was my first drink of the night! I did play catch up on the drinks at the after party though!!

Earlier in the day went for a big Mexican lunch on Charlotte Street to help line the stomach!! Bumped into way to many people at the awards that I knew which made for a great night. Could have done with a little Biffy or the Answer though!!

After party was a load of fun as along with my sister hung out with the Bronx, the Blackout guys, and Cancer Bats too. So it was a great old reunion!! Luckily the pics needed to be in by tomorrow otherwise it could have been really messy!!!

A morning of running around and then off to do a shoot with Angels And Airwaves who were lovely guys. Once Matt got past the color of my eyes we were off and rolling!! Was supposed to shoot outside but because of the "summer" rain went over to Chiswick where Tom's shoe company Macbeth resides. Was refreshing to work with a band that really put in the effort and had some great ideas... Best shot was definitely a quick one done in the hotel lobby before they told us to stop! (To be revealed at a later date.)

After the shoot made my way over to the Brixton Academy to do some live shots of another band who don't like having their photo taken... I don't think I have ever encountered such rudeness from any band tour personnel before. (Load of Tools!) Don't get it why they don't pull a Prince, get one photographer to shoot great photos and then just give those out. Would make much more sense than treating photographer's like shit and telling us we don't belong in the photo pit... Pleased to hear that band won't be at the Kerrang! Awards tomorrow! Can't wait!!

An outtake of the Blackout from the studio shoot at the beginning of the month. (You can never have enough cow bell!) The real hilarity will happen with the re-creation poster in next week's issue!!

Up to the office early to do a shoot with Set Your Goals. Ran through a few ideas and they were up for them which made it quick and easy. But what is up with these bands having 6 members?? Seems to be the popular number at the moment. Wandered around town and then up to the Barfly for Aiden.

It was a really packed show again which was great, and was fairly easy to shoot as the crowd surfing was kept to a minimum. Laughed at the end of the evening when WiL modelled K! photog Lisa Johnson's fanny pack which is definitely not the right description in England!!

A day of retouching, and posting funny pics... Or just showing the way opening acts from last night can get one back on the uninterested crowd! Taking it easy as there are 4 shoots in the next two days...

Over to the Barfly for Bullet For My Valentine. Met up with Matt and a few others for drinks first. Oddly enough Joel and Jane from Canada were there so it was a March reunion of having breakfast at their place in Toronto! The Barfly was packed to the rafters with people going off which even included Bullet's manager Craig crowd surfing!

Hard work being the opening act (Architects) when the peeps in the front row don't pay any attention (pictured) Tomorrow's pic will be how they get there own back on the uninterested kids!!

Caught the last train home and pulled a rerun of a few weeks ago and did it totally free. The best was when one of the conductors at the second to last stop opened the door to try and wake us up, he even knocked on my window and all I could do was laugh and say I have no ticket as the train sped away!!

A day of wandering and looking for a few things... 2 for 1 on shoes which was handy!

Don't know if this is the best choice names for a van with tinted out windows!!

Last day doing the office job which was easy. Used to the pace of a weekly so working a monthly goes as fast as my mate from the sidewalk this morning!! Going to take it easy this weekend as next week is looking really busy. Had a shoot cancellation for Monday but that works out OK as there will be way too much to do otherwise...

Took a bit too long of a lunch break today but in fairness it was to do with the mag I am filling in for!! They needed some new images and it just so happened Paul Harries was doing a shoot with the Foo Fighters so went down to the hotel and gave him a hand...

Been meaning to post this one from the Pride weekend two week ago!! Hilarious!

Office work: Computer freezes, the CD you need gets stuck in the drive. IT take a while to show up, all you can do is drink tea and check out page 3!! Next week is going to be very busy which is great and it looks like a trip back to Germany at the end of September is possibly on the cards...

Now I know all the pics have been of signs lately but there are too many good ones over here!! There are so many I could post one everyday!!! And tomorrow more of the same I'm sure.

Spent the day working in the special projects at Emap. A little back and forth pulling shots from the K! offices. Went for a nice lunch as it was Paul Brannigan's birthday!! Happy Birthday to the Big Cheese!! After work did the British standard and hit the pub for a quick few and then made my back through town... Chilled and did the usual chick flick/wine combo with my uncle! For some reason we always manage to see them on TV!!! What can I say Pretty Woman never seen it the whole way through!

A live shot of Turisas from the Day of Rock last week...

So since this week on the schedule was looking pretty quiet, last week got the call to fill in for Dave Brolan on special projects at Emap... An easy little office job starting tomorrow until Friday. Next week looks much busier with a press session and a feature for Kerrang! Oh and KJ was asking about bands and strip clubs, well here's a picture answer for you!!

Chilled.

Looks like a very lazy weekend ahead... Went to go beat the old ladies at Bingo again but it didn't happen although did see a woman with Nikki Sixx hair, an old lady playing with a doll (for luck?), and a woman that had perma-frown! Time to write a book about the hall as the people are so fascinating!!

OK this is only in England isn't it, no other country would put a headline and a photo like this together... Perhaps I should send it over to Jay Leno!!

Three days after looking around Denmark street at guitars and Laurence sends me an eBay link so...

Went up to Norwich to acquire the new beauty from Mark who was quite sad to see it go, don't worry it's gone to a good home!!

Going to have a fairly chilled out weekend which should be nice... Apart from a few deadlines it could be a load of Guitar N' Wii!! Although a break will be taken as my Fish and I may rock the Bingo again!! I believe it's her turn to win?!?!?

Up early after the late one last night to get all the pics in from the Day of Rock. Funny wasn't very hungover at all today after having way too many drinks!! Maybe those little hamburgers were filling after all but it still didn't stop us from looking our drunken best!!!

Finished the first of three books by Philip Pullman from the His Dark Materials trilogy entitled Northern Lights. The book is everything that HP and LOTR wishes they were but Mr.Pullman delivers so much more!! Before tackling the second book I thought I would have a little break with the light humorous writings of Hunter S.Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...

Spent the entire day at the Virgin Megastore on Oxford street for Kerrang's Day Of Rock.

A nice varied mix of bands... Turisas, Kids In Glass Houses, The Answer, Fightstar, and Enter Shikari sounded very different from one another which gave it the festival feeling or perhaps that was from the length of the day!! After not drinking for most of the day due to work, ended up closing down the rooftop party with all the usual suspects.

Waiting around an empty Victoria station for the last train turned out to be interesting as some little boy managed to get his knee jammed between a pillar and a metal bar close to the platform... Didn't know whether to help or laugh! From the train it looked like they popped it out with a bit of Vaseline after cutting his jeans with scissors!! Brought back a hilarious childhood memory of my sister getting her head stuck in a rocking chair and having to be sawed out!!

Here's the Madina Lake cover that was shot a few weeks ago...

Did a shoot with Turisas who were an interesting bunch from Finland... They taught me one word which I can't repeat in Finnish and put on a good show for the photos. Not interested in doing too much outside of their realm but hey what can you expect from a band that is known as battle metal!!

Went for a dangerous stroll around Denmark Street and had a look at all the guitar shops, did I mention I was on the look out for a Gibson Les Paul Standard?!? Always wanted one and figured why not so if anyone is looking to get rid of one let me know! While in Guitar Row bumped into Jamie from King Blues and we had a quick chat. Told me how he walked out of a shop without paying for Kerrang! because he couldn't believe he was in there!! Hilarious but in true good guy fashion he went back with the money for it!

Tomorrow I'm told really is a day of rock... That's probably because the Answer are playing!!

Trouble afoot...

I purchased a Wii today so if you haven't had any emails back, the blog isn't updated, or facespace never checked you now know why!! Here's an outtake from the Madina Lake session that runs this week in Kerrang!

Crawley, Go Karting! Need I say more??

Had a whole crew of us which was nice and we even got Max to come out again who had a spectacular crash last time and said he never wanted to go again. Well on a way harder course he rocked it no problem... I'd never been on one with an overpass which was interesting as you had to floor it to get the karts up it!

A Twat In A Hat?

Met up at TGIFriday's (WHY??) for Terry and Jo's birthday party. I think had they known the hats they were going to be made to wear by the staff they might have chosen a different venue... At least there were loads of witnesses and photos taken but they didn't even get a free meal out of the deal!!

Wandered over to the Crobar afterwards which smelt like one big fart, I guess once smoking was banned the real smells seep through! Carried onto Sin nightclub for a quick lap and then bailed out as there was only one room that had an air-conditioner!!

Had a lazy day today which was nice... Went up to Crystal Palace for the Super Grand Prix of Athletics. (Basically a very high calibre track and field meet!) Was great to see it live and most of the big stars were there getting ready for the world championships in Osaka later this month, and all you thought I was only into was photography and music!! If you'd watched it live on TV you may have seen the streaker!

Had a nice visit with Laurence and Max this afternoon and it looks like we are all going to go-kart on Sunday in Crawley which should be fun.

Over to Islington and the Academy to see Fair To Midland who were opening for Dir En Grey. Was really busy especially being the second of two nights. Had a quick meal with Anna and the Fish and ran into loads of peeps inside. Finished off with a few too many drinks at the Angelic across the street from the venue before completely forgetting how I arrived home!! Can't help but take a picture anytime you see one of these signs...

Stopped by the office on my way to Cardiff today to pick up a few things and it was off to Wales to do a news shoot with the Blackout... Because they were in such good form we did a few other setups and an homage to Faith No More which I'm sure everyone will appreciate.

No one really spoke Welsh but all the signs included it. Reminded me of Vancouver where no one really speaks French but they seem to put it on signs around the airports...