Jun 15, 2007
a steep learning curve - wireless friday
while i still cannot believe how well my snapping is progressing - i have to admit that this was my most daunting gig to shoot. having never shot a festival, and then being inducted at the wireless festival in london's hyde park, i had to learn pretty damn quickly.
this was a totally different ball game to what i am used to dealing with and shooting in. media tents, vip access, private super special gigs, photo escorts into and out of the photo pit, full time professional photographers, rules on what to shoot and when, high stages, daylight and sharing the pit with the photographic legend that is mick rock! but all of it was absolutely amazing, simply being that close (we were about 10 metres away in the photo pit) to such amazing performers was enough of a highlight in itself.
so onto the music... and the photos. kelis was simply stunning - radiating into the lovely warm afternoon sun.
the surprise of the festival was mark ronson. he is something of a producer "extraordinaire" and has taken a number of modern tracks and given them a complete big band sound re-working.
the big brass sound mixed with the lovely afternoon sunshine was a perfect combination. he had a cast of thousands to help him get the tracks right - oh and he doesn't sing, and isn't a girl, and cannot rap - so would be near on impossible for him on his own.
but the clear highlight was faithless. having been spoilt by watching faithless play a intimate set in front of 50 people earlier on in the day, i couldn't wait to see them in front of the gathering thousands on the main stage.
old maxi jazz was celebrating what would have to be his 40-odd-th birthday completely dominated the stage. the band sounded amazing live, playing all their floor stomping greats and the crowd lapped it all up!
so was an amazing experience - but now i have a taste for shooting festivals - i want more. I FREAKING LOVE THIS!
full photo set from the whole day is on flickr.
x
