Its been far too long but on Friday 1st February I had the opportunity to try out my shiny, new camera under gig conditions for the first time at David Ford’s gig at the Sugar Club.

Armed with my zoom lens and refraining from the cider so that I had no excuse for blurry shots (at least for the first few songs!), I headed down to the front where I was surprised to realise that I was the only “professional-looking” photographer there. Thats not to say that there weren’t a fair few flashes going off. David Ford is, luckily for his fans, actively encouraging of people taking photographs, and even videos, of his performances. His die-hard fans therefore never seem to attend his shows without some kind of recording device!

David did not disappoint and thrashed out a good number of his hits including the jaw-dropping “State of the Union” and “Requiem” which provided a fantastic end to the night. I could have stayed at the front all night, snapping away to my heart’s content but after only the first two songs, I decided to head back, grab an alcoholic beverage and enjoy the remainder of the gig. Its not very often that I get to see this guy after all!

I don’t know what I was thinking. The offer of some free tickets blinkered my vision and I failed to spot the possible pitfalls and problems!

Over the weekend, I had managed to secure some tickets to the recording of the first episode of Imeall Geal, a new Irish language music show. Director were to be playing, as were the relatively unknown Mary’s Great Idea. “Nice”, I thought. “A day away from Dublin and some free live music to boot”. Unfortunately, being the first show, the production team were, lets say, a tad disorganised! The recording ran over by more than 2 hours and after 4 hours in our seats, applauding on queue, it wouldn’t really matter how good the music was as we were all desperately longing for our beds! Luckily for Director, they played at the very beginning therefore demanding our full attention and the new song “Moment to Moment” promises some good (if mainstream) things from the next album. Mary’s Great Idea weren’t so lucky and had to wait until the very last moment to perform. Their song “Follies and Foibles”, although very pretty, meandered along very gently and lead singer Ciara’s voice was so soothing that I would have drifted off to sleep right there and then had I not been aware of the cameras pointing at me from every angle!

But don’t let my experience put you off! With artists such as The Flaws, The Delorentos and Foy Vance lined up for the coming weeks, it could well be worth applying for some free tickets. After all, the production company must have ironed out all of the hold-ups and will have the show running like clockwork next time…right?!

Last week I was privileged to be invited across to London by the BBC to take photos of a radio session with Crowded House.

The “Four Seasons in One Day” crooners may not be to everyones taste but I think they’re fantastic! And what could be better than seeing a band that you admire play a sensational set? Seeing them in a very intimate setting, having the freedom to wander around the studio taking as many photos as you desire whilst occassionally swapping photographic tips with the bassist and discussing Dublin life over coffee and croissants! It was a good day!

My photos are now up on the BBC website so please take a look. And while you’re at it, you may be interested to see the last session and festival that I covered for the BBC!

Its always nerve-wracking turning up to gigs on behalf of Analogue. Whether interviewer or photographer there is always a sense of… what if the band doesn’t want to co-operate / pose for photographs / answer questions?! What if they are too busy, obnoxious or arrogant to even notice us?!

Perhaps it’s a testament to the bands that Analogue wishes to cover but I am still waiting for that to happen. So far I’ve been incredibly lucky. People have been, at worst, happy to sit back and let me get on with taking photos and, at best, actively enthusiastic to pose. The best example of the latter has to be Radio Soulwax!

They performed at the Ambassador on Friday 26th October and we were lucky enough to spend a few moments with them prior to the show where they were more than happy to regale us with fascinating stories and bust a few moves in front of the camera! In addition, we were treated to as much chicken and champagne as were able to manage and were made to feel right at home! The result of their relaxed demeanour and my slightly tipsy snapping? Some rather entertaining photos!

Taking photos for Analogue has so far been a completely new experience for me! I’m used to photographing well known artists in huge venues and on big stages so the swap to snapping lesser well known acts in often more intimate locations has called for some changes!

My first assignment was Devotchka. It was fantastic to be able to get up close to the artists and their array of wierd and wonderful instruments.

I thoroughly enjoyed the set but from a photographers point of view there were a number of obstacles to overcome! Firstly, the band would not stay still! Of course, this made for a fantastic show but caused me no end of headaches. Photo after photo was coming out blurred. The mood lighting didn’t help! For a while it seemed as though the only decent photographs I could take were of the band’s feet and pedal boards!

Luckily I managed to grab a few decent shots which were included in Analogue’s first edition.

Seasick Steve provided me with my first opportunity to grab some personal rather than live action shots. It really is a strange feeling when you’re required to order a musician around! Consequently I took fewer shots than I would have liked because I was becoming more and more aware that we were keeping the poor guy from his bed!

Last weekend saw me head of to the Hard Working Class Heroes event at the Pod complex. A myriad of mostly unknown bands (to me at least!) squeezed into three action packed nights and therefore there was always something to keep you amused! Unfortunately, due to the miniscule sets (each band played no longer than about 20 minutes) it was diffcult to catch too many bands. The Tupelo Honeys, twins from Sweden, were interesting to photograph purely due to their stage outfits!

Channel One stayed pretty static allowing me to grab a few close ups.

I didn’t really know what to expect from DisFunktional but they kept me thoroughly entertained! It was just a shame that there were so few people in the venue to witness them. But from my point of view it provided me with the opportunity to wander around the venue taking photographs from more or less wherever I pleased!

Saturday evening was brought to a close by You’re Only Massive. Packed to the rafters, it was difficult to obtain a huge variety of different shots and the low lighting caused yet more problems!

So far, each and every event has been fun to photograph, despite the headaches caused by low light, energetic performances and, occasionally, over-enthusiastic audience members!!!