Back in August i had the pleasure of spending three days providing photographic coverage for Strawberry Fields festival. As this took place a few months ago I’m not going to blog endless shots of bands onstage, there’s plenty on the Strawberry Fields Website gallery with work from myself, my co shooter for the weekend Neil Plumb and our assistant Alex Rooksby. Rather what I’m blogging is some of my favourites that capture the spirit of this great festival and a few portraits of artists who performed over the weekend.
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.
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