Archive Glimpse - February
Hello again, welcome to another blog from the inner workings of the NathanPhoto, as this is the fourth one of the month and in following my new formula, this musing is going to be a glimpse into the archive. For this second one of these archive explores, thought I’d seek out a specific part of the work I did and that focusses on Music.
Music was a huge part of my career (verb not noun) it featured quite heavily and ranged from live, portraits and reactions to. For this one I’m going with the live side, now I’m trying to recall exact dates for this, think that my main role in photographing live music ranged from the late 90’s up till, up to till well I’m really not sure*.
For the sake of progression I’ll pin it down and say that I photographed live music from the late 90’s to the mid 10’s. (Again if you want me to photograph your band then I’ll be up for it, if just so I can say I photographed live music till 23!)
During this time I photographed some quite major artists, so much so that one of my proposed biography titles was called ‘60seconds with Beyonce’. Here’s a little backstory here if you care to listen, when Beyonce appeared in Manchester, I was the only photographer allowed in (local news allowance) but I only had 60 seconds of her performance, I think that was quantified with someone stood next to me timing it on a stopwatch. I was on a long lens (300mm) with a doubler. She arrived on stage backlit, then had fireworks/pyros then the crowd all put their hands in the air then well I was led out to rapturous applause. Last bit possibly not quite true but think I did alright though, (Next time she appeared In Manc (a few years later perhaps) the time rose to 120 seconds so I either did a good job or a bad job, who knows) alas the pictures can’t be used as I signed a waiver so I’ll save them for when I’m gone and hopefully my kids can make money off them.
Anyway when looking through the archive, looking for a February live music shot cuts down the selection a bit as most of the gigs happened from March to December, that was the traditional time for ‘em wasn’t it? Find some I did though and for the final selection it came down to three images, in fact these choices really sum up how eclectic the subjects I photographed are, The choices were Kanye West, Shayne Ward and our old friend Pete Doherty!!
In fact to show how ranged the performers are, I’ve looked through the recently backed up archive and I’ve got, in no particular order:
Oasis, Monday’s, Steps, Iggy Azealia, Andy Williams, Avril Lavigne, Beck, Bjork, Dolly Parton George Benson, Britney Spears, Happy Mondays, James Dean Bradfield, Daniel O’Donnell, Katie Melua KD Lang, McFly, Moody Blues, Kris Kristofferson, Neil Young, Pete Doherty, Pete Doherty, The Spice Girls, Public Enemy, Radiohead, Razorlight, Jay-Z, Sam Sparro, Russell Watson, The Cheeky Girls, Scouting For Girls, Shayne Ward, Simple Minds, The Stone Roses, Solange Knowles, Soweto Gospel Choir, The Charlatans, Eagles, Rapture, Willie Nelson and The Streets.
As the eagle eyed amongst you will see Pete appears twice in that list so feel that this could be a sign to choose his image for this piece, plus he always looks like an old friend you sort of know, think all in all I’d photographed him about six times. The old caption to this image reads:
Babyshambles lead singer Pete Doherty at The Manchester Apollo. Ordered. Taken on the 17th of February 2007.
That makes it about 16 years old, unusually it’s quite square on for the Apollo shots so not sure if I was at the mixing desk or if I was in the pit and they were a ways back off the front. That was usually cause the crowd was a little raucous, in fact weren’t the BabyShambles crowd a little feisty back then? Full of vigour, vim and a little bit arrogant, as the saying goes?
Pete Doherty at The Manchester Apollo. Taken on the 17th of February 2007.
Anyways it’s a moment captured, quite like it as a standalone shot, think it sums up the types of images I was asked to produce. This one is tightly cropped in, that was in case it was a small usage. This was depending on the size of the personality, which was in turn based on what ‘they’ had heard of, I’m not sure Carl was on the radar back then? (By ‘they’, I mean the readership that ranged from grannies in Eccles, workers in Stockport and heads in the N4, which is sort of how it was communicated to me)
I quite like the positioning of the hand after a cord has been struck possibly, can you almost hear that in the image? I think it partly shows his character at that time too, he was a cheeky chappie, sort of a bad boy, made people laugh especially women (just ask Kate), he is in most accounts I’ve heard, a true entertainer and obvious you see similarities with another Pete? Can we see all that in the image or is it hyperbole?
Think that’s part of the debate of if it’s a Nice shot / not Nice shot then? Don’t seem to remember getting any praise or anything for this shot from the commissioners of it, perhaps that’s another sign, if you take that on board then I’d have to put it down as a no then.
Ah well I’ll let you make up your mind and ask.
What do we think? Is it any good?
As we’ve largely discussed images for this musing then to balance that out I should definitely leave you with words as the opposite is customary. I shall do that and leave you with a couple, these come from Theodor Adorno, in particular his essay:
‘On the fetish character in music and the regression of listening’
which is possibly now more apt than ever:
“The new phase of the musical consciousness of the
masses is defined by displeasure in pleasure.”
AND
“Vulgarisation and enchantment, hostile sisters, dwell together
in the arrangements which have colonised large areas of music.”
And as an extra I’ll sign off with this beauty of a wordy composition that has me thinking along these lines and which appears in a later essay where it states that:
“All mass culture is fundamentally adaptation.”
Thank you for reading. And if you have any feedback, thoughts, comments or anything’s, then please get me though the usual channels.
*Part of the reason is due to a side story about long term commissioners and getting _______ sadly it’s a not a new story, it seemed common practice in happening to lots of people but its negativity brings nothing new to the table, so I feel that this may not be the best arena to discuss but if you’d like me to, then I can, just let me know.