Blog

Check in here every now and again for updates on my comings and goings.

The Charlatans at the Powerstation, Auckland

Great night last night at the Powerstation in Auckland, one of the best live venues ever, not just in New Zealand but anywhere I've been to. Small, intimate and a fantastic vibe, it's pure magic. The Charlatans were outstanding as always, with Tim in a particularly fun and lively mood, and the setlist was a belter; they played loads from the album Between 10th & 11th which is a particular favourite of mine.

I try not to be one of those people with their phones constantly out at gigs but in my defence - and my other line of work - I am a live music photographer, so I used the iPhone 13 Pro to see how it handled the challenging low-light conditions. It actually does a very decent job so long as you shoot in RAW and edit afterwards (and don't look *too* closely), but it's no match for my real gear. I won't be turning up to a paid job with only an iPhone in my hand any time soon...

I'm a bit deaf in one ear today but it was well worth it.

Liam Gallagher at Spark Arena

Unfortunately I didn’t get to shoot this one professionally (a bucket-list gig!) but instead went as an ordinary paying punter which was actually better in a lot of ways as I got to enjoy the gig properly - a few beers and a good singalong made the night a special one. Magic stuff. I did manage to grab a couple of shots on my iPhone 13 Pro though and test out the camera’s capabilities in low light and I gotta say, it performed brilliantly. Nowhere near as good as my ‘real camera’ by any means and I didn’t expect it to, but it did do a fantastic job for something that fits in your pocket. I shot in RAW and edited in Lr afterwards but it only minimal tweaks. Very impressive.

Liam Gallagher on stage at Spark Arena singing in orange lights

Liam Gallagher on stage at Spark Arena bathed in blue light and in front of a large, happy crowd.

L.A.B. at Claudelands!

Had the absolute pleasure of shooting the sellout L.A.B. gig at Claudelands Arena this Saturday. Great tunes, amazing band, and a crowd of almost 7,000 happy fans made it an outstanding night - what an atmosphere! Hard work as always but I had a blast, especially hiding on-stage behind the drummer to get those unique shots; always great to get those different angles.

Thanks to the team at Loop Media for their hospitality and for asking me back to capture the evening - most appreciated.

SIX60 Saturday

Last Saturday saw the biggest concert in Hamilton’s history - SIX60 (plus support) at Claudelands Oval. Man, what a gig. Great weather, great crowd and great music. It really was spectacular! I was fortunate to be asked to shoot the day which was no mean feat: 10 hours of non-stop walking around, fighting through crowds (“Hey, photographer dude - take our photo!” every 5 mins); climbing stairways and crawling through hatches to get shots from the arena roof (what a view!); and squeezing into the busy photographer’s pit to get a quick few shots before being guided out politely. It was fantastic.

Very difficult to not keep repeating images over that period of time, and trying to get interesting venue shots between bands when nothing interesting is happening was challenging, but I got what I could and am very happy with the results. Towards the end of the night when the sun had truly set and I was ushered back into the 25,000 strong crowd I soon realised that carrying two cameras, lenses and other equipment meant it took about 20 mins to move 20 meters - it was that dense. Everyone having the time of their lives, bouncing, jumping and singing along to the tunes coming from the stage - a rare sight around the world these days. And it was magic.

L.A.B at Claudelands Arena

Here’s a bunch of shots of the fantastic night at Claudelands Arena on July 11th. Such a great lineup culminating in the L.A.B guys bringing the house down in front of 4,500 very happy punters. Magic.

Wish You Were Here

Had a great opportunity to shoot the Pink Floyd Experience gig at the Claudelands Arena here in Hamilton last Saturday. Wow, what an experience! I’m not a massive fan of their music - not because I don’t like it, I just never got into them. What I can appreciate is great musicianship and an amazing show, and these guys really delivered on both counts. Such a fantastic gig perfectly performed and executed, and the crowd certainly had a night to remember. If you ever get the chance I highly recommend seeing them live.

From a photographer’s perspective this was a dream - lots of lights, musicians, theatrics, costumes and props. Perfect for someone like me who likes to get as many interesting shots as possible. There’s always challenges shooting dark, indoor gigs as the lighting is never the same from one minute to the next and trying to be as stealthy as possible so as not to disrupt the paying punters is a real skill. Still, it’s the kind of photography I love. Looking forward to the next one…

Blowing off the cobwebs

No matter how many times we go to Queenstown it never gets boring. Depending on the time of year it can seem like a different place; winter has the snowy mountains and the fantastic Winter Festival; summer makes it feel as though you’re in a completely different country; autumn and spring are just great because of all the colours. Either way it’s a great place to eat, drink and take the camera. I love trying to capture something different each time we visit and this time we had a couple of great misty mornings to give the place an otherworldly vibe, almost prehistoric. Magic.

Can’t wait to go back.

*Click on the images to see full size

Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat.

Last night was kinda epic. And by kinda, I mean completely. Getting to shoot one of your favourite artists from the last 20 years is a bit of a blast and not something I’ll forget in a hurry. Fatboy Slim is a name we all know and I’m sure you have at least one track you can call a favourite, although it’s hard to believe that You've Come a Long Way, Baby is now over 20 years old! Crikey. Anyways, the set was fantastic, the crowd a good mix of young and not-so-young, and the venue spectacular; Claudelands really knows how to turn it on (and up!).

It was quite a challenge shooting in those conditions though. The light is never the same which makes it hard to time your shots just right - rapid fire is the order of the day (as well as constantly adjusting settings on the fly). That said, I’d do it all again tomorrow ;)

*Click on the images below to see full size

Hallowe'en, Monsters and an American Psycho...

This is a shot I did a while back now but thought it was worth a revisit with new text and a couple of tweaks. I’m a big fan of Bret Easton Ellis’ work and especially American Psycho; the movie adaptation was great but omitted a lot of content from the book for obvious reasons (it’s horrifically bonkers). This shot was done with lots of corn syrup and food colouring - fun but messy. And it made operating the camera pretty difficult!

Canon 5D MkIII | 50mm 1.8 | 1/200 sec | f/3.2 | Off-camera Speedlite x 1 | Edited in Lr and Ps

They say travel broadens the mind...

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” - Mark Twain

They say travel broadens the mind, but I feel that doesn't really come close. It's almost doing it a disservice. Travel ultimately defines who you are - it changes your general outlook. For me, travelling is not just about the destination but the getting there (and back, unfortunately); the airports and taxis; walking the streets and seeing what's around each corner (ok, maybe not every corner, especially in NYC); eating different foods - good or bad; checking into the next hotel; watching and meeting people from a part of the world you've never been before. It's everything. It's also about the photography. I often ask myself why I'm carrying a big, heavy DSLR around with me every time we leave the hotel for the day when it's stinking hot outside and I'd rather leave it behind, but when I see something that catches my eye and take a quick shot then edit it later it's all worth it. Just.

Chigago. What a place...

I'd never been to Chicago before. Always wanted to, mainly from seeing it in so many movies over the years - Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the Blues Brothers being the main classics - so it was quite surreal to finally walk the streets and see what all the fuss was about. Thanks to the perfect weather, clean streets, amazing architecture and friendly people we had a fantastic time, capped off with seeing Beyoncé and Jay Z at the legendary Soldier Field; such an amazing show.

We've now moved on to NYC, but Chicago will forever be in our hearts.

It's coming home...maybe.

I love a good World Cup and this one has been a cracker so far. Lots of the big teams are out and some of the little teams have provided the best entertainment (*that* Japan game!). Even England have decided to have a go this time 'round and, who knows, maybe luck is on their side for once - we'll see how tonight's game against Sweden goes before getting TOO excited.

Anyways, all this has reminded me of some shots I got from when the Fifa U20 World Cup was held here in 2015 and I was lucky enough to blag accreditation to shoot the games held here in little old Hamilton. Great memories from that tournament even if it was very cold and very wet most of the time but it was a bucket-list item for me - to shoot a major sporting event (the U20 competition is second only to the big one we're watching now).

Hope you like the images!

Queenstown wins again.

Well, that was Queenstown (again). Went for a few days to unwind and blow off the cobwebs and as usual it didn't disappoint. Always a great time down there and with the Winter Festival on it meant there was lots of entertainment, The Black Seeds being a highlight. Never really been a fan before but they were outstanding and got the (very cold) crowd moving. No snow unfortunately, although it was promised and the hills and mountains were covered in the stuff. Maybe next time...

I made a point this time of not taking too much photography gear with me and in the end just ended up using the little 50mm 1.8. Such a great lens and nice and light too which meant I could hold my beer easily ;)

Wedding Bells!

This weekend I was fortunate and privileged to shoot a wedding for an absolutely fantastic couple, Rachel and Richard. It was such an awesome day full of great laughs and lots of love; they were super cool and relaxed as were the wedding party and guests. So stoked to be asked to capture their special day for them. Now comes the process of sorting through all the images I shot but in the meantime here's a sneak-peak shot which I've already supplied to them...many more to come. Congrats, guys!

Time is relative. And I have a lot of it.

I like to try different things with photography and I especially like messing with lighting; gels, strobes, speedlites, etc. Ideally I'd take more shots of actual people but I'd need a willing model for that. Few and far between. In the meantime I'll have to make do with inanimate objects like my watch. I tried a 'product photography' aesthetic with this one and for a first attempt I'm quite happy with it.

Click the image for a more detailed view.

Not a Narcissist...honest!

Channeling my inner rock star on this one...
Messing with strobes again - Speedlite from top through 120cm softbox with grid at 1/8; Speedlite camera right below at 1/32; Canon 5D MkIII; 50mm; 1/160 @ f8 ISO 200.

I don't really have anyone else to shoot if I just want to do some portrait testing with lights, etc, and trying out ideas, so it's just me, myself and I :)
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#strobist #photography #selfportrait #rocknroll #canon5dmarkiii #lightroom #adobe #notanarcissist #rayban #leonbarrottphotography

It's cold out there...but don't try this at home.

This cold snap got me thinking about our visit to London a couple of months back - it was freezing there too, way colder than tonight. Like. Every. Single. Day. Anyhoos, it reminded me of this shot I got in Trafalgar Square of a very brave/daft street performer. If only he'd put a jumper on he wouldn't have to resort to this kinda behaviour...

There's also a couple of other shots I got whilst walking around what is arguably the greatest city in the world (that I've visited/lived in anyway). Well, that's just my opinion. I'm sure there's many that would disagree ;)

Enjoy the pics and KEEP WARM!

A Slow Process...

Now that we're well and truly back from our big adventure it's now time to go though the almost 2,500 images I shot, which takes quite some time. Great to look back on the stuff I'd forgotten about and to finally work on images I actually remember taking!

Anyway, here are four of my favourites so far - there's plenty more to come.

Busker - Dublin

Chess - Venice Beach, LA

Underground - London

Walkie-Talkie Building - London

Italia!

Well, Italy was beautiful. It was cold, but it was beautiful. Great food (so much pizza!), great wine, and amazing sights - what a place. Here are a few shots of what we saw there; the Vatican being the highlight.

My Yorkshire Battery has Been Recharged!

Well it's now time to move on the next leg of our trip - Italy! It's been a great week or so in my home town of Leeds (despite being told repeatedly that I have lost my accent and that I now sound like a Kiwi - I don't), spending time around the shops and local points of interest, most of which I haven't seen in over 20 years or so. So much has changed. Caught up with a lot of family at the wedding last night which was fantastic - big congrats to my cousin Neil and his beautiful wife! Such a great night.

Anyway, here are a few shots of the last week, most of the time it was absolutely freezing. Looking forward to the Kiwi summer when I finally get back...