Esben and the Witch

In this brief moment that I find myself with internet connection (my silence thus far is that I've, alongside moving flat with no internet connection, have also been on Scandinavian adventures and spent recent days pool-side, on night occasions staring at the firmament, doused in nothing but sunscreen and cricket song, photographing a wedding in the Spanish mountain tops) I would like to tell you about the brilliant Brighton based band Esben and the Witch. Yesterday was the day they announced to the world their signing to the wonderful Matador record label (lookie here!) and showed the world their new, rather powerful video (not for the faint hearted) to the haunting magnificent Marching Song. Brilliant I think you'll find...

I was very lucky to shoot the band last year for The Stool Pigeon and some of the photos below ended up being used for the band's promo shots. Now there's a new start and may I add some beautiful new shots taken by the very talented Jonathan Hyde and Adam Kola, I thought I'd put some of these old ones up on here.

Black and white shots photographed on Kodak TriX expired film on my Holga.

And here a few snaps I took at the recent Field Day 2010...

And then a few snaps shot backstage taken on my little LC-A+...

I seriously urge you to go see them play or listen out for the upcoming album (due out next year)... I think its going to be something really special.

Owen Pallett

To move the tone away from sad things, I had the great pleasure of meeting the lovely Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) towards the end of last year for a shoot for The Stool Pigeon. The wonderful people at Domino were fantastic as always and were brilliant in showing me into a disused office space next door to their own offices where I decided to take a few snaps... Admittedly the sunlight was VERY strong so making the overall image very contrasty (a fucker to print I'm sure), but I liked it.

You can listen to Owen's beautiful music here:

http://www.myspace.com/owenpallettmusic

So much to say so little time

So much has happened lately in terms of interestingness and I feel I've had no time to blather on about it, unless in conversations where there has been gin or wine involved.

Breakdown:

Birthday (turning 28). Standing next to Bridget Riley in a small gallery space listening to her speak about how her work is heavily inspired by Cezanne (and thus Matisse) whilst also discussing the hypnotic influence of listening to Jazz as she works (and leading me to then think about the similar methods of one quite brilliant Jackson Pollock who did the same).

A few minutes after leaving the gallery seeing these:

(Big dead turkeys, taken on my LC-A+)

Quite.

Right, now so memory... hmmmm, this is where I suffer from goldfish syndrome.

I photographed a lovely exhibition launch in Pimlico, exhibiting the work of Tim Richards. There I heard the wonderful Dan Cruickshank speak about the rebuilding project of the mighty Euston Arch (which once stood rather near where I went to secondary school).

Here's the lovely man himself with one of Tim's pieces:

(Dan Cruickshank behind Tim Richard's model of the Euston Arch, photo copyright Lucy Johnston)

I saw the Kienholz installation at the National Gallery and was left deeply moved and pensive by what I saw and experienced whilst walking around The Hoerengracht. I urge everyone to see this work. Its free and its very very interesting (try and get there before the crowds so you don't hear annoying people say loudly and uninterestedly 'Why have they got that metal thing on their faces?' and want to smack someone and shout ART IS TO BE RESPECTED AND EXPLORED AND ISN'T JUST A SPECTACLE TO TICK OFF A TIME OUT LIST. A subject I have since discussed in length and will not bore you on here with and isn't a question of being snobby - far from it, but seriously, read the fucking intro on the wall yeah?)

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/kienholz-the-hoerengracht

Then there was the Warp20 event, where I shot some live photos for Warp (was lovely to be asked by the kind folk there!) Lights were a shocker to shoot in but we got some alright shots at the end of it and highlights definitely included seeing Nice Nice live and dancing to Plaid djs.

(Broadcast @ Warp20, photo copyright Lucy Johnston)

And then it was ATP 10 years, which I only got back from yesterday. My body is tired and my mind somewhat all over the place. I was asked to submit some shots to NME and get them through to them 10am yesterday (which meant working on shots of Lightning Bolt at 4am - HUZZAH). Gutted I didn't get a photo of the Todd Trainer wall - apparently some of my shots were up there... and I spent the whole weekend 98% sure that it was my photo of Todd Trainer that made the overall shot but apparently it wasn't... DAMN.

Photos to come as soon as I finish them off. I think ATP deserves a whole entry all on its own.

One of the best gigs I've been to this year:

http://wildbeastshoxton.dominorecordco.com/

Genuinely, one of the finest live performances I've borne witness to. It was a sheer joy seeing these lads perform one of the best albums of this year in my childhood stomping ground (yes, Hoxton!). Two Dancers is really a work of sheer brilliance, in my personal opinion.

So second to Kraftwerk in Croatia, this one is up there in my top five gigs of the year.

Aaaaaand if you watch in full, you'll see me get in the way of the camera man... sorry. I was taking these 3 photos...