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!!!

Kate Southall
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