News from the Picturedesk

Come on Lordi! Not sure how but Lordi are representing Finland in this Saturday’s Eurovision song contest!?

Had the pleasure of shooting some press pix for them last year! Lets hope they go all the way! Lets face it the UK entry sucks!

These shots were taken in Lapland within the artic circle. It was -24c – frigging c c c old! Check out the dude on the far right below. He is the only one who doesn’t have stacked shoes – after the shoot he had mild frostbite! All in the name of art! I had about seven layers on and was a little too warm, I didn’t tell him that!

Loads of stuff to upload next week – Coheed, Lost Prophets, AX7 and some pictures I can’t tell you about just yet!

Who…?

Well that’s what I said when I got the commission! I knew very little about this lot and after shooting them I know even less! However the band are absolutely awesome. The gigs in the US are totally sold out. I think they have become a bit of a cult and it is all just about to explode for them. Shot them in New Jersey – that night they played to about 8000 people. This band are going to be huge. Just don’t try and work out what they are about or what any of the songs mean?

The cover shot was taken backstage at Asbury Park, NJ. I had 10 minutes to do the shot. The cards were wired onto his hands and the wire removed in photoshop! Not sure why I bothered shooting the band on location because Hammer decided to cut them out in the end! Oh well!

I’ll post some of the Coheed band shots in the next few days!

The main site is now up and running! It was a mammoth effort to get everything together but it is finally on-line! Thanks to Marcus at WEB3QM for all his hard work!

www.picturedesk.co.uk – Click Ozzy to go there now!

There are 3 main portfolio galleries – COVERS, PORTRAITS & LIVE. They will all be updated hopefully every week – keep an eye on this news blog for updates. I still have masses of pictures which are in files at various magazines which I will be retrieving very soon. There are some great shots with ‘My Chemical Romance’ at the Warped tour last year, more behind the scenes with the Foo Fighters and Lacuna Coil in Venice. I couldn’t face diving into my live file so I will only be updating the LIVE section with new pictures. As the site has only just gone live we may have the odd bug to iron out. If you have any problems navigating or viewing let me know either on the FORUM or via email. For the best possible picture quality view the site in the Hi-Res mode. I Hope you enjoy the site and thanks for looking!

JOHN Mc…

Here is the latest Metal Hammer cover with Bullet for my Valentine – I shot the cover picture with Matt in Cardiff and the inside feature in Amsterdam. I had to go to Wales because apparently you can’t fly with a real gun!

The gun is a Smith & Wesson Magnum 3.75. It is very real and was loaned under license to me for the day.

The lipstick on the barrel was added as a subtle after thought!

Bullet dressing room – Amsterdam

Cross process shot

I shot thees portraits in the dressing room next to Bullets. It is probably the most grotesque wallpaper I have ever seen so I had to use it as a backdrop! I also ate most of the support bands rider while taking these pix so if you supported BFMV in Amsterdam then thanks!

Bullet in the neon streets of Amsterdam.

It’s an A

This is very ‘League of Gentlemen’, I am on the East coast of the US and it looks like Royston Vasey! Everything is shut for the day or forever and the people here are either super rich, poor or gay. I am neither of the above and feel a little out of place. I am shooting a band and it is the perfect location! Everything is dilapidated, there is not a soul about and the weather is stunning! Bingo! The band shoot goes very well – even if I do have a US record company PR barking in my ear ‘how long?’ every couple of minutes. I don’t know if she even knows why she was asking me ‘how long?’ All I do know is that she made the job much more complicated and made the day last longer!

I’ll put the pix up when published.