GB Multimedia - Professional Music Photography and Portraiture by Gary Brown: April 2011

Monday 25 April 2011

Beautiful Accidents

When I'm milling about in nightclubs, bothering punters and setting off incredibly bright flashes in the faces of the hard working DJs and MCs, I try and use a few different techniques of shooting. This inevitably leads to me taking the odd picture using the wrong settings on the camera (I know many of you thought of me as a photographic demigod who never makes a mistake, and I am sorry to shatter that image).

These pictures end up as indistiguishable trails of lights and colours, and there was a time where I would instantly delete such an image, disgusted by my own unprofessionalism. However I have now come to quite like these beautiful accidents- each one is unique and impossible to copy due to the way they were produced- and I've found a half decent use for them as desktop backgrounds.

I have now put these online on my website- free for anyone- feel free to download and use if you like any of them :) (links at the bottom, in the order they're displayed)

Saturday 23 April 2011

New Drum & Bass Mix

I finally had the time to record a new mix! Decided to go daaaark for a change! Feel free to download & comment & share!

Schizophonic- Darkside Mix by GB Multimedia

Sunday 17 April 2011

...and now for something completely different (2)

So following on from my previous post about trying something different with gig/music photography I thought I'd share some of the shots from the recent massive freeparty put on just outside of Manchester. This was an epic night, where an alleged 5000 people turned up to dance through the night.

I had a camera on me but it wasn't mine. Bearing in mind the sometimes dodgy goings on at events like these, and the value of my usual equipment, I borrowed my mate's Nikon D40- the same camera I started out with- as it was much cheaper to replace if anything unfortunate were to happen.

So with the fairly basic kit involved I decided to shoot the whole night in B&W. It lent itself better to the quality you can get from that camera in really low light. One I was going through the pics they were pretty grainy- this reminded me of bad CCTV stills. Combined with the attention the police ended up paying to the event, I decided to make up the pics as if they were taken from police surveillance. I stuck a time/date stamp in the corner and some branding in the others.

As a final touch I decided to 'anonymize' everybody in the pictures with the classic black-bars-over-the-eyes look. I was a bit unsure whether to do it & whether everyone would get it, but it went down pretty well in the end- and I think about half of the people that went are tagged in the big group shot now!

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Annie Leibovitz- Genius, Legend

I'm currently reading Annie Leibovitz's 'At Work'. Its awesome.

She is an amazing photographer and has created an enormous amount of amazing photos and everyone who enjoys using a camera should read it.

This passage hits the nail on the head for me...

"As much as I love pictures that have been set up, and as important as those pictures are to me, I'd rather photograph something that occurs on its own. The tension between those two kind of photographs is at the heart of what I do. It's not a conflict, but sometimes it's useful to remember that things are happening right in front of you and that you don't have to complicate the situation. You can take what's given to you. You just need your mind and your eye."

Perfection

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Cool Tee!

I'm really digging this new T-shirt from the great guys at Me & Yu. Neitzsche had some great quotes about music- this is very to-the-point, but my favourite is, "We hear music with our whole body, and we are within the music when we enjoy a great performance".

Either way- buy one of these- or something else from their store. Its all good stuff!

http://www.meandyu.com/

Monday 4 April 2011

...and now for something completely different (1)

After shooting in clubs for about 2 1/2 years, its safe to say i have tried and taken, most of the styles of shots I can dream up. Theres only so many ways of shooting a person and 2 turntables (and about 1 way of shooting someone on a laptop, but don't get me started on them!). So I do try, when given an opportunity, to mix things up a bit with the processing/post production. At the very least somebody flicking through my albums may not get bored quite so soon...

With this in mind, I recently shot a Japanese fundraiser clubnight in Manchester- it was a very hastily arranged affair with some of the biggest DJs and Promoters banding together for the cause- and some 40 or 50 people wanting a go on the decks! I decided to shoot the night in black and white, but to also stick a large red circle over each picture, mimicking a japanese flag. I thought this would be a good idea to help raise more awareness and for anyone flicking through the pictures to have a constant reminder of the cause we were supporting.

The night raised the best part of £3000 for the Japanese Red Cross. A fantastic sum, and I have all the love in the world for those who came to support and help organise the event. x

Saturday 2 April 2011

I Love Me & Yu

I did a shoot recently for the clothing brand 'Me & Yu'. These guys are awesomely talented people who currently occupy most of the top floor of Afflecks in Manchester, as well as a small corner of the internet.

(http://www.meandyu.com/)

I love studio and fashion photography as its such a contrast to what I normally do. Music events are all about capturing the spontanaeity and energy of the event, and adapting to whatever light/space conditions are thrown at you. Fashion photography is about letting your mind run away with ideas- you can come up with nearly any concept imaginable and then, through careful control of lights, props and models, turn it into an image.

When I was planning the Me & Yu shoot, as well as the 'regular' shots you would see on most clothing websites, I wanted to do something different, something which reflected the artistry and consideration that goes into everything Me & Yu create. I came up with a short storyboard of a boy and a girl, creating the world around them by simply drawing it out of nothingness- I wanted them to create themselves, construct a man made scene, become tired and bored of this and start again, creating a green and flowering utopia. From the final story, its possible to draw all kinds of connotations- from a biblical 'genesis' story, to one reflecting societies move towards a greener and more harmonious relationship with our planet- but in reality I just thought it would look really cool, and be fun to edit the final images.

So here's what we ended up with.... im pretty happy with it and they were too! More collabs in the future I hope!