News from the Picturedesk

…and out of the chaos comes a half decent front cover! Brad from TG did a great job putting this one together – and an even better job blowing smoke up his arse!!

This is my favourite shot below and it was also the hardest to do.

I am still reeling from Bauhaus at Brixton! Either the lighting guy is a genius or he should be shot I am still working it out!!?? This has to be the first gig I have been to where I was happy with less light. Bauhaus are the definition of what Goth is all about – they pretty much invented it – so Marilyn Manson can eat it! The lighting was seriously dark, it was a total mare to shoot, but you have to hand it to whoever was in control of the lights because it was brilliant!

I still have lots of shots that I can’t upload just yet – once they are published I’ll get them up here.

It’s no secret that I love playing with matches! This is a shot I did at the end of last year with the band Akercocke. I had spent the previous evening testing different flammable liquids in the garden when Chris my assistant happened to mention that he had some fire chains. I wish I’d spoken to him sooner because I lost most of my body hair the previous night testing everything from lighter fluid to hairspray and deodorants.

The shoot with Akercocke was at Epsom Downs – I think we put off any potential ‘Doggers’ that night.

Did you know Sure deodorant is like Napalm?

Chris really should forget this photography lark and join the circus!

I have so many shots that I am just dying to get pasted up here – but I can’t! Due to magazine rivalry I have to keep things under wraps for the moment!

I have the best cover I have ever shot due out soon ( in my opinion anyway!). As soon as its on the news stands I’ll get it posted up here with some behind the scenes info!

I am still stupid busy at the moment with plenty going on. The ‘Bullet for my Valentine’ tour started well.
How lush is their tour bus?

Have a shoot with Fightstar at the end of the week that I am looking forward to. Just found out they are fellow fans of the Deftones so the music in the studio should be bearable.

Talking of the studio I had to stick up the shots below from the Darkness session. Brad from Total Guitar really was blowing smoke rings up Justin’s arse – well until Justin called us cheapskates for not hiring a smoke machine – He had apoint!

I think Brad used a Henry Wintermans for the effect below.

Following the smoke shots it all went a little hazy. Dan Hawkins decided the tree in the foyer would look better in the shots,

Justin disapeared and came back with a broom, Richie the new bass player gets a tree in the face.

Dan and Richie decide the one and only Gibson Les Paul we have (we were supposed to have 3!) would look better in the pot.

This is all playing out to ‘Trampled under foot’ – Led Zeppelin.

Dan looks kind of serious – I had given up at this point!

Phill and Brad from TG join in on the chaos.

I totally give up and tell everyone to ‘F**k off’ (true story). I think we are safe to say the shots above will never be published anywhere! All in all a perfect shoot.

The new Hammer came out today with the Machinehead shots that I did in NY on the cover! It looks OK but I am still unhappy with the way my digital stuff is looking once published. I have decided to spend some more money on processing power and Colour calibration at JMc headquarters and see if I can get this bastard to improve. Heard yesterday that Nikon have officially discontinued (bar the F6) all film cameras! Gulp…no going back then! I still can’t see how they can do this when they haven’t replaced the film camera like for like!!?? The D2X is OK but it has a 1.5x magnification on the normal (don’t know what is normal anymore?) focal length and the viewfinder is 1/4 smaller than traditional 35mm. I am determined to get things looking better than just OK – I guess like anything new it will take time! Metal Hammer cover below and as promised the Greenday B&W is back on eBay again and a limited edition run of Him prints are now on-line!