Category: photography

Danson Festival: Leogun, Craig Charles.

Steve Hickey
Craig
Craig Charles, backstage at The Danson Festival 2013

Summer returned to the UK last week and last Sunday (7th July) I photographed the Danson Festival for Bexley. Very hot, unlike last year when it rained so much that my camera stopped working (Canon 5D mk11), fortunately last year I also had my 1Dmk111 which carried on regardless. Anyway back to this year. I followed and photographed the Mayor of Bexley, Cllr Sharon Massey,  around the site for a few hours while we both (and the tour group) slowly wilted in the heat. The Mayor meeting and greeting etc. We finished and I said goodbye to the Mayor and then spent the afternoon doing some general pics around the festival.

The day always ends with bands on the main stage and so there I found myself shooting the local London band Leogun, not the headline band but well worth a look in my opinion.

The heat of the day faded as I stood in the shade at front of the stage. This is where I switched into ‘gig’ mode: a history of shooting hundreds of gigs in the 70’s and 80’s (and a bit of the 90’s) came into play, it’s second nature, it’s like I am 25 again. After a hard day toting gear around in the heat this, for me, is a refreshing way to finish. The day ends with Craig Charles and The Fantasy Funk Band. After Leogun finish I catch a quick pic of Craig backstage before going out front to shoot the rest of the show.

Leogun
Tommy Smith of Leogun at the Danson Festival 2013

The 80’s, Talk Talk, Wimbledon ?

Steve Hickey
talktalk
Talk Talk, the New Forest , UK, 1983.

Recently I was photographing an 80’s themed event for a corporate client. The weather, unusually, remained acceptably warm so the event was held on the office rooftop overlooking London. After a while I started to take notice of the background music, and thought to myself:  photographed that band, and that one, and them, seen them, met him, etc.

A couple of days later I thought that maybe I should do the occasional retrospective in my blog. So here it is, 30 years ago this week I drove through Wimbledon in the early morning, passing the fans on their way to watch the tennis. I was on my way to shoot the band Talk Talk, one of the iconic bands of the eighties. I met them at their manager’s house and then we drove down to somewhere in the New Forest for the photos. One of the photographs from this shoot  was used last year in the unofficial biography ‘The Spirit of Talk Talk’.

Driving there and back through the Wimbledon tennis traffic has forever linked that shoot with  Wimbledon fortnight for me.

Tube Ad

Steve Hickey

tube

Coming back from a job in Reading this morning, feeling a bit annoyed as I discovered before I left for the job that a courier had  ‘lost’  a new camera I had just bought. Standing, as you do, on the tube , not making eye contact and trying to blend in. Looking around I noticed an ad, and thought – that’s my shot! You might wonder how someone with 40 years in photography is still amazed at seeing their pics in print. Well it’s because a lot of stuff I do I never actually get to see in print. I don’t do much that appears on the street and if it’s in a publication I don’t go out of my way to find a copy – so this was unusual. So forget about blending in, out comes the camera and a few shots quickly rattled off.

The ad was for part of the Prostate Cancer UK’s Father’s Day campaign and features a shot of Ray Winstone taken during filming of the Father’s Day movie.

Father’s Day – The Movie

Steve Hickey
Neil
Neil Stuke on set during the filming of Father’s Day.

This week saw the launch of the film Father’s Day – a short film made for Prostate Cancer UK by Coast. The cast includes Ray Winstone, Charles Dance, John Simm, Neil Stuke, Stuart Laing, Cyril Nri, and Tamzin Outhwaite. The television company ITV has teamed up with Prostate Cancer UK and the film will air on ITV4 at 11.15pm Sunday 16th June as part of ITV’s ‘Stand By Your Man’ campaign.

I was asked by Prostate Cancer UK to shoot some stills on a couple of days of  filming back in March and also at the launch preview this week.

It was a great experience to be on set during the filming and meet some of the actors. Although I have worked with actors in theatre for many years it was a different experience watching actors work on a film. They have an ability to repeat scenes for different camera angles and make it virtually exactly the same every time, even when shooting the same scene on different days, it’s fascinating to watch.

I’ve just seen a few snippets so far. The film was on screen at the press reception at The Groucho club but I was working so couldn’t watch it all –  from what I saw it looks excellent  and so I for one will be watching ITV4 at 11.15pm this Sunday.

Father's Day
Neil Stuke, Tamzin Outhwaite and Cyril Nri tuck into popcorn at the screening of Father’s Day.

The Princess, The Chairman, The Mayor and the lift

Steve Hickey
chairman2
Councillor Alan Pett, the Chairman of Sevenoaks District Council.

This month I photographed Princess Anne, The Mayor of Bexley and The Chairman of Sevenoaks in the space of a couple of days, and I got stuck in a lift with one of them.

Well I’ve had my fair share of tricky moments with dignitaries over the years – even once having Princess Anne hold a door open for me. Being stuck in a lift is a first, nearly stuck anyway – as we got out quite quickly.

It took about 30 seconds before it dawned on us that the lift doors weren’t opening. First thoughts were – am I claustrophobic? Don’t know, maybe I am. What about the person I am with  – are they? So I put my camera gear down and prepared for a wait, should we press the alarm?

It was an interesting minute or so as I considered what might happen – how long we might be stuck there. Not that it was a serious situation, to be honest I just wanted to do the photographs I needed to get and then move on to the rest of the day. However the thought that this might involve a lift engineer battling his way through Friday London traffic briefly flashed through my mind  – slightly alarming.

Anyway, I pressed the alarm button and the doors opened in a few seconds – phew!

We took the stairs on the way out.

Zen and the art of rearing chickens

Steve Hickey

april13

Earlier this month I went to a residential service for people with disabilities. I’ve been there a few times over the years and I was there again to do some new photos. Rob, one of the residents, had some real eggs for Easter and they had now grown into 5 week old chicks. While I took the pictures he taught me a few things about how to rear chickens from eggs – things like the expected success rate, when they will start to lay, and so on. Rob had kept various exotic animals and birds for years, so he understood them well.

My brief that day wasn’t necessarily to photograph Rob and the chickens. The chickens were there and we chatted about them while doing other photos. I went in with a brief and a sort of plan, but things change as they always do and so I try to keep in the moment and respond accordingly. It’s an approach that, for me, generally makes for better photos.

The day reminded me of why I like doing what I do, why I like photographing people. It’s about the unpredictability and it’s about making contact, not a superficial photographer/subject contact but something on a more human level. Of course that kind of contact doesn’t always happen, but when it does I know I get better pictures. It’s a natural result which comes from that human interaction.

So I had a lesson in how to rear chickens from eggs, not a bad idea perhaps but I think for now I’ll leave that to people who know what they are doing, like Rob.

Clear out the trash

Steve Hickey

SCREEN
When I looked at the trash folder on my mail today and saw 33182 message there I thought, hmm, maybe I should delete those. What am I keeping them for? They’ve been there a while, it’s not like I haven’t noticed them pile up. Perhaps there’s a gem of an idea in there? A treasure trove of lost contacts? But  most likely it’s all junk, just junk.

The messages are still there just in case I need to re shoot the photo for the post. Why? I’m staring at the image I just shot, it’s on the screen now. Right I’ve deleted them. No I haven’t – still can’t quite bring myself to delete them. They say perfectionism is the excuse of the procrastinator – maybe I could tweak the shot a little? Perhaps I’m just a hoarder?

Now I’m not suggesting that having thirty three thousand messages on my mail will slow down my computer as they take up no space but it reminds me that I need to keep my machine in the best condition possible.  Keeping it running smoothly so that it doesn’t decide to give up at a crucial moment. That’s happened to me more than once and when it does happen it can mean working late into the night to meet a deadline, fingers triple crossed that nothing happens to cause more delay.

So no more putting things off, it’s nearly spring and time for a clear out.

Just deleted the trash.

A ‘smashing start’ to the year…….

Steve Hickey

shpbob

Well in  a way, as Bob Harris demonstrates  in the photo.

I have started this year,  close enough to the start anyway, with a new look for my website. Perhaps it’s more of a blog site as  now it features a blog, of which this is the first post. In the future I’ll include a selection of current work, hopefully stuff that is interesting or informative. Here is a shoot from the start of the year.

Smashing walnuts for Prostate Cancer UK, celebrities turned up at The Nutcracker Suite in Holborn for the event – the venue having been transformed from an old opticians. As you can see BBC radio presenter  Bob Harris (vintage readers may recall The Old Grey Whistle Test) gets particularly aggressive with some nuts. Shooting this close did, of course, mean being showered in bits of walnut! A great event, everyone had a good time and raised a lot of money for the charity.