In February of this year I spent the day with the 3 winners of the Brighter Sound International commission: 3 Cities. We started off with a little photoshoot around the Northern Quarter to get some press shots and the spent the afternoon documenting them working together to create new music for their upcoming gig in Berlin.
Here are a selection of some my favourite photos from George’s christening, which was held earlier this year at All Saints Church in Sale.
There are LOTS more photos in the full gallery – which you can view here if you are a friend of the family (you’ll need to ask Claire or Russ for the password)
The second of my two days documenting the Beth Orton residency of the Both Sides Now programme was spent at the Old Granada Studios. The day centred around setting up the stage and running sound checks and rehearsals. In the evening came the launch party. 100’s of VIPs flooded into to the cavernous studio space to join the event, which was hosted by Miranda Sawyer, and included speeches from composer Anna Meredith (also a Both Sides Now ambassador) and Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. The evening culminated in an incredible one-off live performance from Beth Orton and the participants of the residency. You can see some of my favourite images from the day in the gallery below.
Both Sides Now is a three-year programme from Brighter Sound. Funded by The Arts Council, it’s aim is to support, inspire and showcase women in music across the North of England. To kick start this ambitious new project, Brighter Sound commissioned Both Sides Now ambassador, Beth Orton, to run a week long residency with emerging female musicians, vocalists, writers and visual artists, culminating in a performance of their original work at the Both Sides Now launch party. I was invited to join Beth, and the 12 talented female artists chosen for the residency, for the last two days of the project. Here are some of my favourite images from the first of these two days, when the group were still finishing of their pieces – and even writing some new ones – at Chethams School of Music, Manchester.
In mid November I found myself in a recording studio and abandoned dance studio on the coast of the River Wear in Sunderland, to document the latest of Brighter Sound’s residencies for up and coming musicians and vocalists. This time around the directors were the hugely acclaimed Field music – aka brothers Peter and David Brewis – who were mentoring 10 emerging musicians and writers in the art of record making. The group wrote, created, adapted and recorded old and new works over the course of 5 days. I joined them on day 4 of the residency. A selection of my favourite images can be seen below.
Sing City is a weekly song writing and performance workshop for young musicians. It’s run by Brighter Sound and is held at Manchester’s iconic Band on the Wall. The young people who take part are mentored and supported by acclaimed local musicians, Natalie McCool, Phil Howley and James Holt, alongside occasional special guest artists who run one off masterclasses. I went along to photograph one such masterclass, hosted by the Beats and Pieces Big Band – a jazz collective, originating from Manchester who hosted Sing City during a month long European tour. Here are some of my favourite images from the night.
Visited the Island of Crete in Greece and found sunshine, beaches, mountains, goats and cats, lots of cats….
A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of photographing the legendary saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis as part of Brighter Sound’s 9th Artistic Director Series, FUNK: Foundation. Pew Wee was a major part of James Brown’s band in the 1960s and co-wrote several of the Godfather of Soul’s greatest hits. Alongside the supremely talented trumpeter Gary Winters, Pee Wee worked with a group of 15 young musicians over the course of 4 days to create a roof-raising funk-tastic one-off performance at Band on the Wall.
I’ve collated a selection of my favourite images from the residency in the gallery below for you to enjoy. Stay funky people!
Alongside my usual documentary-style photography of the ‘Eska: Are You Here‘ Artistic Director residency from Brighter Sound, I also took some footage to create the following cinemagraphs (featuring the hugely talented Tal Janes, Tomas Pocinho, Marcus Joseph and Joy Ellis).
Earlier this year I took a short trip down to Cornwall, one of the prettiest counties in Britain. It’s also one of the least built-up regions in the UK so it was a great opportunity for some landscape shots and astrophotography.
