I have shot many gigs and festivals in the past usually from the pit, i love it but sometimes you need a challenge, so shooting for the organisers and pretty much having free rein to capture what i like, i set myself the task to capture shots artists just before or after they had been on stage, i wanted well lit, strong quick portraits.  There was no guarantee anyone would be up for it so each shot had to be set up, ready and done in 1-2 minutes tops.

The weather over the weekend wasn’t great for the punters with some massive downpours but perfect for what i was after, big rolling clouds and dramatic stormy skies.  Sounds great but shooting outdoors with a load of lighting kit and the possibility of rain at any moment meant portability was essential, so using Neil’s super powerful Elinchrom Ranger Quadra’s we were able to light the subjects, keep the skies in and shoot quick.

Big thanks to all the artists who stopped, humoured us, posed for us and gave us their time.  From a whopping seven seconds with Kissy Sell Out, to a couple of minutes with the wonderful Nina Smith, Alice Gold and The Rifles. Oh and Rizzle Kicks for being lovely blokes and putting up with the stinging nettles.

Strawberry Fields Festival will run on the the weekend of August 11th 2012 in Heather Leicestershire.

Since when have gigs started at 8?

Really enjoyed the sets from newcomers Bombay Bicycle Club, Emmy the Great, The Airborne Toxic Event and Leicester lads The Heroes who managed to beat the rest and get their photo into a national newspapers review of the festival…well kind of.
The Independent used one of my photos from the festival, it was supposed to be of Mr Hudson, the caption says Mr Hudson but it’s a shot of The Heroes (see below). Ok they got in by accident but hey ho.

For those of us that hit teenage years in the nineties we had The Charlatans and the brilliant St Etienne. (for those of you who remember Sarah Cracknell, yes she still looks great).

Whilst the Charlatans were running through there brilliant back catalogue outside on the main stage, the younger generation headed indoors and went a little bit mental for Mr Hudson.

Im not posting too many from this years festival as i have loads of new exciting stuff to post soon and also it seems so long ago, but heres a few.

If you want to see more, full gallery sets from loads of artists will be up here very soon.

Now in it’s fifth year at De Montfort Hall and Gardens, the festival brought with it a combination of real ale, loads of Celtic music, Billy Bragg having a cup of tea on half way through his set and Comedian Adrian Edmundson packing out the Big Top tent playing folk tinged covers such as God Save the Queen, Londons Calling and Teenage Kicks.
Strange but fun.

Jersey Budd, Headlining the Big Top Tent,

Eliza Carthy Band

Billy Bragg stops for a quick brew during his set

Baskery

Ade Edmundson and the Bad Shepherds

Images from the 3 day metal fest in Castle Donington

Faith No More reunited after 11 years and headlining the Main Stage

SlipKnot headling the Main Stage on Saturday night

Korn, Main Stage Friday

Sunset over Download

All images copyright darren cresswell photography, all rights reserved, Use by Permission ONLY

Jersey Budd

Kasabians New album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is out on 8th June

Check out the tour dates and album at jerseybudd.com

Jersey will also be supporting Kasabian for the first three dates of their tour which kicks off at Leicester De Montfort Hall on the 29th May 2009