Latest Forum Posts: Re: Anyone got any Questions from the Bristol Shoot?: Hi Chanelle, I wish I'dspent a bit more time with the guys and gals that were using flash and clearly

... SEARCH

Find us on Facebook

The Photography Parlour

The Photography Parlour has 385 fans

Susanna Laura Wayne Tamsin Hannah

Mike Steve Lyanne Miho Ruth

Like

Facebook social plugin

@LucyWhittington I love my TomTom Live! It has great google search if you don't know the address and live traffic with fastest routes!

@tpphotography thanks for the RT! :)

Top advice on the site today from the one and only @jerryghionis | The Photography Parlour http://bit.ly/cGTL3B

@alexbeadon oo nice, enjoy!!

Behind The Scenes At Liverpool Sound City With Music Photographer Matt Thomas

ADDED JUN 4, 2010, UNDER: BEHIND THE SCENES, INDUSTRY INSIDER

Liverpool Sound City is an annual 4-day music, conference and

exhibition festival spread across Liverpool City Centre, UK. It s

in its 3rd year now and has grown and grown and now features

over 400 bands across 35 stages to approximately 30,000

people.

Wednesday is day one of the festival, after a big launch two

weeks prior by Gil-Scott Heron and a pre-opening bash last

night with Afrika Bambaataa. After meeting with my client and

accompanying reviewer Amy Roberts, I pick up the pass from

the brand spanking new Hilton on the Dock road where many of

the conferences are being held.

Inside the Hilton some of the other photographers are around

and we sit and have a chat about what s good to shoot, where we re shooting and arrange the all

important pre-gig pints. Incidentally it s at this point that I m introduced to one of the godfathers of Hip-

Hop, New York based photographer Ernie Panicioli. He s casually walking through the registration,

camera slung over shoulder, fingers covered in tasteful bling. We then talk about the exhibition he has

uptown as part of Sound city and I vow to see him later.

Feeling a little starstruck I hit a coffee shop and draw up a battle plan on what to shoot, a mixture of

THE PHOTOGRAPHY PARLOURWhere aspiring photographers click with the pros

Welcome About Forum Shop Advertise Media Center Contribute Contact

BUS INESS HOW TO INDUSTRY INS IDER MARKETING MONDAY PRO INTERV IEWS REV IEWS STARTING OUT

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 1 / 12

Shooting a Documentary Wedding by @kevin_mullins | The Photography Parlour http://bit.ly/c5iUth

Book of the Month

The Complete Guide to Professional Wedding Photography: Creating a More

Profitable and Fulfilling Business

Lowest New Price: 8.90

Lowest Used Price: 9.00

POPULAR RECENT COMMENTS TAGS

LinksEnterprise Nation

Start & grow your business at home

client requests and my own decisions.

Next up its over to the Screenadelica Exhibition which is taking place in the now empty but still

Liverpool famed, Rapid Hardware store. It features concert poster artwork from some local and

international artists. It s pretty amazing stuff and I see some of the posters from gigs I ve shot or

attended which makes it a bit more special. One being the Daniel Johnston show (probably my

favourite show of 2009).

Also featured is photography from fellow photographer Mark McNulty alongside Ernie Pannicioli s Hip

Hop photographs. They re displayed in the shop windows and are already gathering quite a crowd.

Ernie is outside too, talking people through the photos with visitors. It s brilliant being able to hear the

stories behind the shots. Ernie has a big presence and great humour too. I ask him for his portrait and

he gladly agrees suggesting that he poses like the chap on his shirt. Brilliant.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 2 / 12

It s now time to shoot a gig. In the O2 Academy are two shows in different rooms tonight. Headlining

are post-punk legends The Fall and alternate dance band Delphic. Starting off in the smaller room I

manage to see The Temps and Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies. Its a good start, the lights are

OK, way too red, but isn t that always a problem!

I shoot a lot of live photography in black and white, so I shoot in monochrome picture style on the

Canon 5D. This isn t massive act stadium photography, so its shooting right open on a Canon 35mm

f2 and a Canon 50mm f1.8 for most of the night. I shoot with prime lenses pretty much all the time. I

love lightweight, quick gear and these lenses are both really excellent both in quality and value for

money.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 3 / 12

Following Pete Bentham & The Dinner ladies I dash upstairs and shoot Everything Everything who are

playing in the big O2 Academy 1 room. They re up and coming and a request from the client. The

usual 3 songs, no flash applies and there s a good few of us in the pit for it. I get bashed on the head a

few times by someone with a big ol Nikon D3, but otherwise its pretty good and I get what I want.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 4 / 12

I watch the rest of Everything Everything and then hang out at the bar waiting for Delphic to come on. I

hope that I ll be able to shoot two songs of Delphic and run downstairs to catch The Fall. Unfortunately

it doesn t quite work out. Delphic were great, well lit and I had a relatively easy time shooting them.

The Fall however, I couldn t get near. The room was completely rammed and a lot of elbows and

shoulders in my face from angry punks stopped me getting near to the photopit. Gutted. It looks like

singer Mark-E Smith is sitting at the back of the stage in the dark so I m not too displeased. I ll catch

them again soon.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 5 / 12

I head home and process through the shots selecting between 3 and 6 from each band and then send

them off to the clients. I get a request for some shots to go to The Liberator which is a daily

newspaper produced each day of Sound City, so off they go in time for their 1am deadline.

Day two starts with blogging the previous nights work. There s not a lot I need to cover today apart

from Canadian electricians Holy F**k who are playing the Stanley Theatre in the evening. I spend most

of the day working on commercial work and playing with my daughter.

I meet up with Liberator journo Peter Guy and photographer Mark McNulty for dinner and we discuss

who we ve seen, who we enjoyed and who we didn t. I have a master plan for tonight that involves

venue hopping around to catch different bands of my choice around the appearance of Holy F**k on

the far side of town.

This rapidly all goes wrong as up at the Stanley Theatre all the stage times have changed, not once,

but twice. Tied to the venue (which is like shooting in a primary school gymnasium) I shoot support

band Shadow Cabinet. They re great, but they re playing in pitch black. The other bands I want to

shoot are across town and I can t get there and back in time, so I stick around until Holy F**k come

on. The lightings not bad, colourful, but with next to no front light. Still I enjoy them and get some good

results, so I m happy. Shots go off to client. Client happy. Job done.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 6 / 12

After the quietness of Day 2, I m determined to photograph as much as possible. After meeting with

some of the festival delegates, photographers and journalists, I see some of the previous nights work

in the daily mag. Scottish Hip Hop to start (?!) followed by a blast of metal and rock over at The

Masque with Leeds based Chickenhawk.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 7 / 12

I then catch the Canadian showcase in Ink next door. The Pack AD play with a single red light in the

corner of a room. I choose to not use flash, I m not a big fan of using it at gigs I much prefer capturing

atmosphere and lighting as they are. (I m not against flash before all the strobists fire up!) A few more

bands get photographed in and around The Masque before heading down to The Kazimier to

photograph Esben and the Witch. Along the way I stumble across Shoshin who are playing a guerilla

gig in the street. People gather round and I grab a few shots. I love the vibe they create, it would be

nice to see more of this type of gig on the streets next year!

Arriving at the Kazimier, Flashguns are just finishing their set. They look particularly energetic and I

get a few frames off before they finish. Esben and the Witch warm up and sound check, the audience

is getting restless and there are a few louts who want their picture taken at the front of the stage. It s

best to keep them happy since in a few minutes I m going to be ducking down in front of them! The

lights are very dark, but there s a smoke machine which makes the background look nice and

atmospheric.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 8 / 12

Day four arrives and I shoot two commercial jobs during the day and hit Soundcity in the afternoon.

There are two matinee shows that are repeated in the evening so I figure it d be nice to shoot the

afternoon shows and then get onto editing in the evening. Los Campesinos! are a big band, a 7 piece

and are supporting The Maccabees at the O2 Academy 1. They look great and are having fun so the

vibe is brilliant. The lights are pretty excellent too. I shoot the whole show again with prime lenses on

the 5D. It s nice to get a few more crowd shots too, something I wish I d done more of over the festival.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 9 / 12

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 10 / 12

Posted by: Matt Thomas Matt Thomas is an editorial, commercial and music photographer based on the Wirral and working throughout the UK.

VISIT MATT'S WEBSITE. VIEW OTHER POSTS BY MATT THOMAS

2 Comments Already! Because we love getting comments and we want to help photographers, all our comments are set to be indexed by Google and will help your SEO, all we ask is that you comment using your real name! :)

The Maccabees are the final band I shoot, the crowd goes bonkers for them and they ve got a great

background and lights. They re easy to shoot compared to some of the lower lit venues.

It s been a fun 4 days and I have escaped unscathed but my 35mm f2 has taken a big ole bash and

stopped focusing. This probably happened pushing through the crowd. The highlights of the event for

me were Ernie Pannicioli, Chickenhawk and The Pack AD. The shots are edited up and delivered that

day and I kick back with a beer or two with a few local bands. Good times.

Thanks Matt for sharing this awesome behind the scenes look at shooting Liverpool Sound

City!

Check out Matt s site at http://mattthomas.co.uk and on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/m4tt_thomas.

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 11 / 12

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Leave a Reply

CATHERINE says: June 4, 2010 a t 9:04 am

Love the behind the scenes concept and seeing other styles of photography . Wonderful im ages too!

MAZ HAWES says: June 6, 2010 a t 5:28 pm

Fascinating insight in to a very d if ferent k in d of work place (for m e , anyway!) Love the shot of Ernie

BEHIND THE SCENES AT LIVERPOOL SOUNDCITY | LIVERPOOL PHOTOGRAPHER MATT THOMAS says: June 4, 2010 a t 7:44 am

[...] Parsons over at The Photography Parlour invited m e to write a Behind the Scenesdiary whilst covering Soun dcity . [...]

NAME REQUIRED:

EMAIL REQUIRED:

WEBSITE O P T I O N A L

COMMENT REQUIRED:

55

66

Send Comment

THE PHOTOGRAPHY PARLOUR Home About Info for Advertisers Contact Media Center Bio : Rosie Parsons and The Photography Parlour Quotes Stats Shooting for the Moon in a Cloudy Economy

http://www.thephotographyparlour.com/2010/06/behind-the-scenes-at-liverpool-sound-city-with-music-photographer-matt-thomas/2158 Page 12 / 12