Also from last week I got asked to do some publicity shots of Big Wow performing at the Unity Theatre and also saw the guys performing The Art Of Falling Apart on Saturday.
The theatre was packed out and I believe there are a handful of tickets available for the final run of shows this week. If you can, get along as the show was brilliant. Great script from Bob with superb characters and acting by Tim and Matt had everyone laughing throughout.
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A little tidy up from the weekend and some more shots of the boxing at The Olympia on Friday, this time with the matches prior to the main bout with Derry Matthews and Emiliano Marsilli.
Great to do some boxing again after a bit of a break (and a bit easier to focus with than poking the camera through the cage for the MMA work) and the TV lights didn’t half help make things nice and bright.
Hope the eye of Ryan Tom (third from bottom picture) has settled down now after it swelling to the size of a golf ball…shudder.
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A very exciting evening of boxing was held at The Olympia last night with the top fight for the vacant IBO world lightweight championship between Emiliano Marsilli and local boxer, Derry Matthews.
I met Derry a couple of weeks ago for a magazine shoot and it was good to be invited to do pictures of the evening. Also good to have the tv there so we had nice bright lights to work with.
The atmosphere in The Olympia was absolutely intense as Italian and local fans shouted out for their respective boxers and after a quiet opening round things started to heat up as both fighters traded punches and being fairly equal after the third round.
Sadly for the local fans Emilliano started to make his presence felt in the following rounds and by round 7 it was all over for Derry as his cuts became too bad for him to continue.
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Nice photo shoot tonight for Big Wow at The Unity Theatre. They currently have their ace show of ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’. I was treated to a preview of some sections from the production and it was amazingly fast, frenetic and very amusing.
Here are some portraits of Tim and Matt, the more theatrical ones will come soon but I’d strongly recommend getting a ticket (soon as the shows are almost sold out).
More info here.
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Big Wow (aka writer Bob Farquhar and performers Tim Lynskey and Matt Rutter) return to the Unity Theatre (for whom I did these photos for) this week for a run of their new show ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’). The show is described as “following a number of out-of-sorts people living out-of-kilter lives, all against a backdrop of a city on the edge of badly organised chaos.”
The show follows on from their previous sell-out performances Insomnobabble, Dark Grumblings and The Friendship Experiment, and brings their trademark fast-paced and anarchic comic theatre to a piece on how we all cope with just being alive.
It was highly entertaining watching the reaction of the public as we trailed around Liverpool one a late October Friday afternoon with Tim and Matt dressed with their sandwich boards and trouser legs rolled up. Brave men indeed doing this and coping with the laughter and abuse!
More information can be found here, it’ll be a great show to see.
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Last month I did some photos for a modelling agency and one of the models was this young lady, Louise. We did a range of shots including a section at the end with Louise doing some boxing shots in a Wavertree gym – a bit different to the usual photos I do with the boxing stuff but good fun to do.
Hopefully some other shots will come out soon from another shoot just before Christmas.
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Christmas has been and gone and now it’s preparations for the New Year; hope everyone has had a good time.
Second half of the year brought along a diverse range of work and photo opportunities so here we go with July. The month started with an interesting project documenting an event called Curious Minds looking at creativity in education. The sessions ran over two days (one each at the University of Lancaster and Liverpool Hope University). Some very interesting debates took place and good to see social media forming an integral part of what was going on. Also, it was another trip down to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. I rather liked the chap who was watching a talk by Martin Brundle with Lewis Hamilton hovering behind him.
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August was a chance for a holiday and a tour around the Baltic regions. Sadly the weather was rather variable (only to be expected I suppose) so St Petersburg didn’t shine as well as it would do. The highlight of the trip had to be The Church Of The Spilled Blood though which had magnificent painted walls and ceilings and was truly breathtaking. Stockholm was also a fantastic place to visit especially seeing all of the little islands as we came into port. The month also had two photo shoots with folk musician Andy Steele, whom it was great to hook with after not seeing him since school days, and did some photos for his Nightfishing album.
The standout event for September had to be a stellar night of music at The Olympia in honour of the 96 victims at Hillsborough. A variety of Liverpool musicians took to the stage including John Power, Ian Prowse’s Amsterdam, Pete Wylie and The Farm before being joined by former Clash man Mick Jones – great memories and all for a worthy cause. Great to see this go out as a national tour earlier this month too.
October was a busy month with event launches and cage fighting but it was lovely to do photos for Liverpool Design Festival and cover the three days of the event at St Georges Hall. I also did another photo job for the Unity Theatre for the Big Wow show coming up next month which drew some funny looks from passersby as the two actors wandered around the city centre with sandwich boards over them – all good fun of course though.
The highlight of November was taking photos of the celebrations of the centenary of the Liverpool Playhouse. The day included a children’s puppeteer, a theatrical performance that covered the 100 years of the venue (including a very brave actor playing the guitar in the open air in just his boxer shorts and then there was the four foot cake which came out at the end of the brilliant Ladykillers show).
December closed (similar to the start of the year) with more cage fighting and some work with a model agency which will hopefully see the light soon. All the very best for 2012 everyone and thank you for looking at my blog.
Always good to review your work and 2011 has been an interesting one for me with a range of different clients and jobs to do. I’m going to split the review into two (so this is January to June – with an appropriate ending) and then the second half of the year will be next week.
January started with a wedding the day after New Year (a quick sobering up after the celebrations) before a photo job for Fighting Fit magazine in Sheffield with Commonwealth Games silver medalist (and former Celebrity Big Brother contestant and part-time model), Anthony Ogogo for a boxing article.
Keeping up the fighting portrait theme in January I was doing some promo shots for the cage fighting at The Olympia and got this pose from Danny Sweeney (he usually does this sort of thing when he comes into the arena).
February was more boxing and mixed martial arts work for magazines but I also had an interesting shoot with a model I’d met at the Liverpool Design Festival a few months before. We went to Hilbre Island (very local to me) and spent the afternoon wandering around and trying various idea out. This one was a bit more experimental but glad it wasn’t me going topless as it was distinctly chilly out there.
Also this month I did a music magazine shoot at Leaf and it was great to see and hear Karima Francis again – she’s got great songs and a wonderful voice; well worth checking out.
The next month I was in Manchester, next to Manchester City’s football ground, for a shoot with wrestler and cage fighter, Michael Grundy for a series of challenges with other mixed martial arts stars and some more portraits.
I was also asked to do some promo shots for Oliver Lomax who was after a bohemian sort of feel for his pics. Ol is well steeped in the arts and is involved in music, visual arts and poetry so it was appropriate when we found a closed pub around the corner from his exhibition to do a series of shots for him.
April Fools Day brought ace comedian and impersonator Peter Serafinowicz in front of my lens for a Club Geek Chic ‘In Conversation With’ evening. Peter was great to meet and his vocal skills were amazing covering The Beatles, Terry Wogan and Darth Maul – a definite highlight of the year.
Carl Froch was next up for a shoot that ended up on the front covers of two magazines. Great chap to work with and he knows how to do a good pose for the cameras. Hope he gets his boxing title back next year.
April was also another comedy hero from my youth this time with Alexei Sayle who was guest speaker for a University Of Liverpool debate on the current economic situation and how the Arts are being affected by Government cuts.
April was beautiful for weather and so was the first week in May when I shot an article on Catch Wrestling (a now dying wrestling form but kept alive in a small gym in Manchester by Ian Bromley). Ian was a really modest chap but with such great character, absolutely wonderful to photograph.
A bit of glamour came my way in May too with Miss Liverpool finals being held at The Olympia. We also had a touch of local celebrity with Danielle Lloyd and Jen Ellison judging – scouse brows were not in evidence however.
May weather changed from sun to rain and it was a long, arduous trip to Sheffield in the pouring rain to a lovely little gym to photograph former professional middleweight boxer turned trainer, Brendan Ingle. His successful proteges include Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham, Johnny Graham and Prince Naseem Hamed.
Keeping up the boxing theme and I shot an article for Liverpool boxer Tony Bellew training at his gym before heading over to his home in Old Swan to meet the family and get some pics whilst his kids played with my camera.
My girlfriend loves The Pierces so we headed over to Manchester in June to see them play in a small club. It was quite amusing when Cat Pierce waved at me and said ‘Hello’ – I then felt the burn in the back of my neck as my girlfriend swiftly stopped this new found friendship developing any further!
I’d photographed David Morrissey for the launch of his Creative Arts schools in London the previous year so it was great to see him again at FACT as he did a talk for the northern version of CAST (before quickly running over to the Everyman Theatre for his appearance in Macbeth).
One of my favourite portraits of the year was of World Kick Boxing Champion, Michael Page. In his early twenties and he’d already amassed a series of British and international titles.
Last one has to be a pic of Terry Titter which I shot for the Unity Theatre for his Christmas Show (which has been a great success). We had great fun in the hotel where we did the shoot but it did feel a bit odd doing a Christmas shoot in June!
Probably the best time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and have a good time.
I’ll do a blog for the second half of the year next week.
Saturday night was the return of cage fighting at the Olympia with Amateur Fight Championship 6: Natural Born Killers (the lower league version of the OMMAC Championships).
Here’s a selection of pics from the fights (plus the ring girls) and the photos can also be purchased as prints or downloads here too: http://www.brianrobertsimagesstore.com/galleries/afcdecember2011/
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It was very sad to hear that local music venue, The Masque, closed last night and was being mourned by many on various social network sites.
I was there only last Thursday to do some live shots for a new line up of The Last Gambados (right at the end of this post) so it feels very poignant to look at these pictures now in retrospect. The Masque holds many great memories for many people and here are mine:
The new young bands who all came on with great enthusiasm, some to go onto big things in the Liverpool scene and some to fade away. Here’s an early shot of mine of the Liverpool band The Metropolitans.
There were loads of great bands who graced both of the stages including an amazing set by the Black Lips, at one point the guitarist leapt over the barrier and was playing in the crowd right next to me.
And then there was nearly being hit on the head by Ivan from Dirtblonde with his guitar.
And from the same gig the amazing energy of the Bombay Bicycle Club zipping around the stage.
It wasn’t all music though and there were some great revue and comedy nights including one of the last appearances of Chris Sievey (Frank Sidebottom) before his untimely death and John Cooper Clarke forming a Manchester double act.
Probably the most memorable gig from The Masque, for me, was to see Daniel Johnston at Liverpool Music Week. A great guy who inspired Kurt Cobain and the theatre was packed that night as everyone came to see him perform in the wee hours of the morning. Other venues even closed that night to let people experience Daniel – mega gig.
And so to the last set of pictures I did at The Masque of The Last Gambados. Good luck to everyone who has worked at The Masque and hope things work out for you soon. You’ll hold a special place for many who loved music and a good night out.
Friday was spent in the company of the Liverpool Playhouse as they celebrated their centenary as a theatre. It was great to see all of the history, plays, actors and directors who have passed through the doors on display and there were some great experiences involved for those who came to the party.
After a short story telling section for the younger people in the morning (followed by a rehearsal for the presentation of the 4 foot splendour of the birthday cake) there was a run through the history of The Playhouse by the High Hearted Theatre company. This included a very amusing (and brave performance) by one of the cast outside the building on a cold November dressed in just boxer shorts. The reaction from the general public was hilarious as the story continued about the theatre.
Later in the afternoon Ros Merkin launched her book on the history of the first hundred years of The Playhouse and was joined by artistic director, Gemma Bodinetz and the legendary Patricia Routledge.
I was then treated (along with a sold out theatre audience) to a brilliant performance of Ladykillers with the grand unveiling of the cake as everyone sang Happy Birthday.
The amazing day was topped off with after show party and the joining of a few more well wishers to make things swing along that bit more.
Happy Birthday to The Playhouse.
Saturday night was the 12th round of the OMMAC cage fights and some cracking fights were in there to entertain the crowd. Plenty of action going on and, for a change, not an awful lot of blood in evidence so a good time was had by all.
Prints and downloads of non-watermarked versions can be ordered through my site: http://www.brianrobertsimagesstore.com/galleries/ommacnovember2011/
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