Photos Blog

Concert and Railway Photography.

Crimson Sky, Sea Mills

 Jane Setter of Crimson Sky at Sea Mills, Bristol

Some photos from a few months back, Crimson Sky playing their home town of Bristol back in May 2012. The gig was a double headliner with Winter in Eden, held in the Sea Mills community centre after the original pub venue went out of business. It was a stroke of luck that an alternative if unconventional venue was available at short notice.

I was an assistant roadie for the band for that gig, and one of the reasons I never reviewed it at the time was because I was focussing on helping load out afterwards I found I couldn’t remember enough to be able to write a coherent review. One thing I do remember, though, was how cold the venue was. At one point I had trouble operating the camera because my hands were frozen.

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Farewell, Jessops

Torquay harbour, June 2009

This was the first photo I ever took with my current camera, taken minutes after buying it from Jessops in Torquay in 2009 after my existing camera died on me while on holiday.

Today came the news that Jessops is to close all stores, putting 1,370 people out of a job. Jessops had been ailing for some time, and there was always a gut feeling that it was only a matter of time before the chain went under. The suddeness of the end still came as something of a shock. Debate rages over whether their downfall was due to the rise of smartphones replacing “real” cameras, competition from Amazon, or simply poor customer service.

The Torquay branch where I bought the camera had already closed before today’s announcment. So had the Slough branch, over a year ago, where I made my last significant purchase from Jessops, a fast zoom lens.

I’m lucky that in Reading there are a couple of other camera shops including a branch of The London Camera Exchange. But there are many other towns and cities where Jessops was the only photographic specialist on the high street. What does this mean for photography?

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Further Up North

Northern Rail's 156448 enters Haltwhistle with a Newcastle to Carlisle train, on the northermost of the trans-Pennine lines.

A few more photos from my trip up north in June 2012. This one shows a Northern Rail class 156 at Haltwhistle on the northernmost trans-Pennine line, the one running from Newcastle to Carlisle. The station retains the old North Eastern Railway footbridge and tall signalbox.

Jazz four-piece Brass Jaw play an impromptu set on the concourse of Carlisle station to promote the Glasgow Jazz festival.

So there I was, drinking a coffee at Carlisle station, when suddenly this happened. The jazz combo were Brass Jaw, promoting their forthcoming appearance at The Glasgow Jazz Festival with a set at each major station between Glasgow and London

Freightliner Heavy Haul's 66553 pauses at Carlisle on a northbound train of coal empties returning to Scotland.

This was more the sort of photo I was expecting to take at Carlisle. Freightliner Heavy Haul’s 66553 on a northbound train of coal empties, which will probably have come off either the Newcastle-Carlisle or Settle-Carlisle lines, having delivered it’s coal to one of Yorkshire power stations.

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North York Moors

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Some photos from The North York Moors Railway plus a few of Whitby, taken in June 2012, on one of the very few days that year when the sun actually came out.

Veteran class 24 locomotive D5061 at Pickering having just brought the first train of the day down from Whitby. This locomotive is almost as old as many of the BR Standard steam locomotives on the railway,

They’re not all of kettles; quite a few are of the veteran Class 24 D5061, which is probably as old as the 9F

The long-disused viaduct that once carried the Middlesborough to Scarborough coast line across the Esk at Whitby.

I do like this shot, taken from the train window, of the long-disused viaduct that once carried the coast line between Middlesborough and Scarborough across the Esk just outside Whitby.

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And finally, the ruins of Whitby Abbey, taken at sunset, after first taking precautions against being bitten by goths.

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Mostly Autumn at Bilston Robin 2

Mostly Autumn's 2012 Xmas Show at Bilston Robin 2

Some photos from Mostly Autumn’s Christmas show at Bilston Robin 2. With the sleigh bells and Santa hats towards the end, it’s very obvious what time of year it comes from. Musically it was superb; as the fifth of six back-to-back gigs the short tour probably peaked with this show, with the band full of energy, playing a setlist drawn heavily from the new album “The Ghost Moon Orchestra” mixed with plenty of old favourites, and of course those Christmas covers.

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Chantel McGregor, The Flowerpot, Derby

Chantel McGregor at The Flowerpot Derby in December 2012A few photos from the fantastic gig by Chantel McGregor at The Flowerpot in Derby at the beginning of December. If you haven’t seen Chantel live before, her guitar-shredding mix of blues and rock is not to be missed.

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Panic Room – Bilston Robin 2

Panic Room's Christmas gig at Bilston Robin 2 on 2nd December 2012

Some photos of Panic Room, as well as the supports Morpheus Rising and Howard Sinclair, taken from the stunning Christmas gig at Bilston Robin 2 on December 2nd.

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Thunderer at York

Preseved Class 50 locoomotive 50008 Preseved class 50 locomotive No 50008 “Thunderer” standing in the December sunshine outside the National Railway Museum in York. It wears the “Laira Blue” livery from the locomotive’s final months in main line service, where it was used as a dedicated railtour locomotive after the class were withdrawn from regular service. It’s a sobering thought that this locomotive has now been a museum piece for almost as long as it was in traffic now.

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Nightwish from the Photo Pit

Trebuchet Magazine have published my review of Nightwish at Brixton Academy, with their new singer Floor Jansen.

It was the first time I’ve got a pass for the photo pit at a big venue, which was something of an experience. I’ve done plenty of concert photography in the past, but it’s all been at small club venues where I’ve been shooting from the front row of the audience. Seeing a major band on a big stage at close quarters in front of a huge crowd is something else entirely. The only downside was missing a couple of songs after the three songs in the pit while I deposited my camara in the cloakroom – we weren’t allowed to keep our cameras with us for the rest of the show.

One thing I found notable was the equipment other photographers were using. I was expecting to be outgunned by the pros, with my gear being an entry-level DSLR and a second-hand 28-75mm f2.8 lens I’d bought for £199 two days before. But the two-grand bazooka lenses I’ve seen at Mostly Autumn gigs were conspicuous by their absence.

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Class 08 on the blocks

First Great Western's 08836 on the blocks at Paddington at a quarter-to-midnight having top-and-tailed the empty stock for the evening's

Chance photo taken on the way home from a gig, when I had my camera with me. It’s First Great Western’s 08836 on the blocks at Paddington at a quarter-to-midnight. One of First Great Western’s oldest locomotives, it had brought in the empty stock for the evening’s “Night Riviera”.

I took this photo hand-held without a tripod at a ridiculously slow shutter speed, taking advantage of the in-camera image stabilisation of my Sony DSLR.

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