Right now, i'm pissed. I started writing this post on a windows machine. Of course, it crashed and i lost all my work. Lesson learnt - for now! Back on a real computer now, you know the ones? California? Assembled in China by the lowest, non-suicidal bidder? Good. So.

2016. What of it? 

The first half of the year was quiet. I spent the first few months completely not active. Then spend some weeks frequenting the airport, honing my skills of shooting the big metal birds. Music was what i wanted to get in to, and thats where the second half of the year took me.

I hit up my first press pass in June, for a local music festival. I had no idea what i was getting in to really. I knew how to take pictures obviously, but the different lighting scenarios were an unknown to me. Luckily, i know some guys in a band, who were playing the week before the festival. They let me tag along, and i got myself straight! 

The festival went well. I got to shoot in various conditions of light. From inside a dark hall, to outside in bright sunshine. It all went well. I had the bug.

As a new kid on the block, after the festival, no one was really willing to give me photo passes without some serious ass-kissing, but i managed to open a couple more doors. Long story short - from starting small some months ago, my next scheduled shoot is Green Day, for a magazine.

Sticking with the music. What have i seen this year. Who would i see again?

Well, I discovered a band called Augustines. Sadly, they've split up now. But what presence they had on stage. Wonderful to watch, super entertaining.

Palace. Now there's a thing. Remember that name. Palace. They're new, fresh, and fucking marvellous! If there was one band i could see again right now. Photograph again. Go on tour with. Do their promos. It would hands down be these guys. Keep an eye out! They could go real far! Palace. Get on iTunes. Get some tickets (they're touring in the new year). Get them seen. Palace.

Who have i seen this year that i would care not to see ever again? The worst of the year? Well, sad to say it's The Temper Trap - and it's not due to the music. I'm actually a fan of their stuff, so i was more than happy to get the chance to shoot their show. Shit. The only show i've fucked up! To make things worse, i was shooting for a magazine. I couldn't deliver a single image. Not fucking one!

The venue was a bad one. I knew that already. I've been there a couple of times and knew the lighting there isn't great. Isn't great - but manageable nonetheless. Temper Trap however decided to play the first three songs in near darkness - save for a couple of red LEDs. As security escorted the photographers from the pit, the lights fucking came on. Those fuckers done that deliberately! 

No-one shooting that show got a single shot! Seconds within leaving the pit, the light show started and that was it. Never again! Total bastards. 

That brings be back to a point i've made a couple of times previously: From my deep knowledge of music, and somewhat burgeoning knowledge of music photography one thing is clear to me - the biggest cog in the marketing machine of a band are photographers. So why do so many treat us like shit? 

Well, that's that rant over. 

I've busied myself with a couple of other shoots recently. A band that loved their pictures and displayed them proudly on social media, and a guitar shop that loved the pictures and hasn't posted a single one since - maybe the customer wasn't so happy? Maybe the guy lost the disc and didn't want to say anything! My line of work is like 50% (probably more) networking. When people don't share my images, i'm not networking. No networking = no new opportunities. No new opportunities = people go hungry in my house. See how it works? Anyway...  

I'll try and devise a more fail-safe method of delivering pictures in 2017 lol!

Well, The Temper Trap and the 'missing' guitar shop shots were the only real negatives of the year. Fairly large negatives sure, but worse could always happen of course. No equipment failures, no lost, broken, damaged or stolen gear - so that's a big plus.

The couple of months of the year i'm hoping to be busy with a new (full time) project. January and February see shoots with Green Day, The 1975 and Kings of Leon on the schedule - so that's all good too!! In the mean time...

Be good. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Love those close to you... and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ant