Tag Archive for "Music Photography"
I have been recently drafting a blog for future publication about some of my favourite music photographers. However, I saw that one of the biggest influences on my photography, Steve Gullick, has got an exhibition on at the moment in the Rough Trade East shop in London.
As such, there are quite a few recent articles about it on the internet, best of which is the downloadable podcast on The Quietus, a great new music website with loads of old UK music paper writers from back when the UK music papers were a good read. Although they’ve put playable sound clips throughout the article, they’ve been taken from the full interview, so I recommend you just download the whole 32MB, 46 minute podcast. You get to hear all about photographing David Yow’s rectum and what he really thinks about Anthony Kiedis and Lars Ulrich…
I guess I was lucky to grow up in an age when at various times he was photographing for Sounds, NME and Melody Maker. It’s hard to believe it when you look at his work and you look at NME (the only weekly music paper left in the UK) now.
After leaving the mainstream music press he struck out with former Melody Maker writer Everett True and together they started their own music magazine, ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives‘.
What I love about CTCL is the thinking - you could almost call it a manifesto - that lay behind their intentions; to bring down the UK music press with twelve issues of a bi-monthly magazine that counted down from 12 to 1 and then ended.
In the final issue Everett True wrote:
Don’t mourn for us. We set out what we intended to do. Exist for 12 issues, and stop. Prove that it’s possible to put together a great magazine with few resources, aside from enthusiasm and talent and a passion for music. Cover the music we love in a manner we felt was befitting - words unhampered by thoughts of shifting units, photography that never once resorted to gimmickry, illustrations that burned with a desire to communicate. Our design was clear and bold, rooted in the belief that we were proud of our words and photography and illustrations, and that we had no desire to hide them behind ’sexy’ layouts and lurid headlines. No press photos. No ringtone adverts. No full-stand displays in WH Smiths. No consideration for content beyond that we were listening to, and moved by at the time.
So we didn’t bring down the UK music press.
We still fervently believe we’re right.
This whole approach strikes a huge chord with me.
As does Steve Gullick’s photography. It’s beautiful, emotive, evocative, gritty, dirty, passionate, vibrant, compelling, strong, iconic; it’s everything photography should be and what I strive to do with my own photography. It’s an antidote to the throwaway images in the mainstream music papers that are just tomorrow’s chip papers. When you look at something like Getty Images’ music photos, it’s just pretty horrible stuff; are there really photographers whose goal in life is to be a Getty photographer? It would bore me to death; if photographic blandness could kill, photo agencies like Getty would be the prime suspects.
If you’ve liked what you’ve seen so far of Steve Gullick’s work, I thoroughly recommend his book ‘Showtime’. If you’re cheap (like me…) you can get it from www.oldies.com for a bargain price of US$3.95 (+P&P…)
Wikipedia tells us that the latest Queens Of The Stone Age album, Era Vulgaris refers to the Latin term for Common Era. The entry continues by saying that the title was chosen by Josh Homme because he thought “it sounds like ‘the Vulgar Era’, which I like, because that sounds like something that I would like to be part of…”.
After last Thursday experiences I can confirm that Mr Homme is definitely part of ‘the Vulgar Era’ he so wants to belong to…
My Thursday went as follows:
- Promoter rings me up at about 3pm and says be there at 9:15pm;
- Get there at 9:15pm and notice the signs saying that their set starts at 10pm;
- The box office call through to the tour manager/promoter rep/whoever, who tells them to tell me to come back at 9:30pm;
- Come back at 9:30pm, guy turns up, hands me a one page contract with very little white space on it;
- Start reading. Guy tells me it’s non-negotiable;
- Get to Clause 2; it says I transfer copyright to them for use throughout the universe for whatever use they want etc;
- I tell the guy this. He smugly tells me that I can use the photo once in the named publication but ‘they’ (whoever they is; I couldn’t actually find it on the contract…) own the photos;
- Guy tells me sign or I’m not coming in;
- I tell him I that I don’t think I’m going to come in;
- Whilst in the process of folding up the contract to put in my pocket he rips it out my hands, passes it over to the box office girl;
- I ask can I keep the contract;
- He tells me to get out.
In part I felt empowered doing it, but at the same time I was very seething, although I think was mainly to do with how this guy treated me and spoke down to me.
The only other photographer there, a woman photographing for a music website, didn’t even read the contract, signed away and told me it was just a standard contract. I told her it wasn’t as you were giving them copyright. She shrugged her shoulders and walked in… it’s kind of sad that photographers are willing to sign contracts without reading them and without caring for the rights that they have signed away.
I emailed my Editor first thing Friday morning to explain what had happened and why I wasn’t sending though any photos. Not only did she agree with me 100%, but she sent an email of complaint to the promoter; a big deal considering it’s a major promoter.
I don’t feel it’s a missed opportunity as the guy had already told us the pit was too small and we’d have to shoot from the staircase towards the back of the room… but no photos, not even rubbish ones from miles from the stage to show you. But, most importantly, no regrets whatsoever.
Remember kids, just say no…
See a slightly bigger/more readable version here or the full contract text and discussion from the ‘Concert Photography’ Flickr group here.