An appropriate theme for a music photographer at this years MTB World Cup — for some reason they themed everything as if it were some kind of music tour, and apparently they had live bands and whatnot going on at the bottom of the course to keep the lazy gits in the grandstand entertained while there was nothing happening on the big screen.

Not that I noticed, and not that it really matters. It’s the riding that counts, and what a downhill final in the mens event! Event favourite Steve Peat just wasn’t on form at all; with a time of 4:44.27, he’d have done very well any other year, but the competition this year was very fierce, especially from some of the rookie riders. The Brits’s were on form in the women’s downhill though, with Atherton and Mosely taking 2nd and 4th respectively. 4X wasn’t quite as exciting this year, with Jared Graves and Jana Horakova taking the victories.

Results

Men’s Downhill

1. Gee Atherton (GBR) — 4:35.70

2. Cam Cole (NZL) — 4:36.18

3. Greg Minaar (RSA) — 4:36.91

Woman’s Downhill

1. Sabrina Jonnier (FRA) — 5:11.37

2. Rachel Atherton (GBR) — 5:12.68

3. Floriane Pugin (FRA) — 5:16.44

Men’s 4X

1. Jared Graves (AUS)

2. Joost Wichman (NED)

3. Michal Prokop (CZE)

4. Romain Saladini (FRA)

Woman’s 4X

1. Jana Horakova (CZE)

2. Anita Molcik (AUT)

3. Romana Labounkova (CZE)

4. Anneke Beerten (NED)

That’s it for another year then. Thanks again to all the marshals (especially the one that gave us a lift right back down to the arena to save us walking) and to Singletrack Magazine, who live-tweeted all the downhill results keeping me (and a few others) bang up-to-date with what was happening.

Remember, there’s always more shots on my Flickr photostream as well!

Don’t worry, fans — I haven’t died or anything. Just not had any gigs since the Editors came to town. However, very soon I’ll be jetting off to the always very sunny (ahem) Fort William for the Mountain Bike World Cup — it’s always an absolute blast and I’m looking forward to it.

The event takes place on the weekend of the 5th of June, so I should have a bit of coverage on the Monday when I return to civilisation (and therefore an internet connection). I’ll also keep you up to date via Twitter, so follow me @thomasbisset for your fix!

(If you’re curious, the image above is of David Fletcher, who was a medallist in the World Championships in 2007 in the junior XC. Its an image I’m very proud of as it was featured in Singletrack magazine issue 38!)

Edit: The eagle-eyed among you may have spotted a small advert up near the top of the page and wondered what that’s about. Well, I’m now officially represented by MusicPictures.com, so all my music shots should be available to license through them. Awesomeness!

I have a big “thank you” to say to a gentleman named Chris Cope. He runs a website that’s just recently started up — only this week in fact — dedicated to the music scene in Scotland. Bands on tour here, new talent and so on. As a journalist who’s worked for a number of different music publications before he knows his stuff, and the way everything is going to be organised looks very interesting.

The best bit though is his taste in photography. I know this, because he’s featured me as the first photographer in his “Photo Friday” feature! I’m thrilled to bits by this, particularly as I’m well away from most established venues down in the south of Scotland — if I were to be honest, I would have never thought to look around for gig photographers in Inverness. Glasgow, Edinburgh, at a push Aberdeen, but definitely not Inverness.

Once again, thank you!

Go check out the site guys — it’s The Daily Dose, and you can get directly to my little feature right here.

Well this was a very welcome surprise…

I’ve been badgering the Editors’ management for three months now trying to get a photopass confirmed, and it’s finally paid off — I got word at lunchtime that I had a pass waiting for me at the Ironworks for their gig that evening. Rock-climbing can wait…

But all was not plain sailing. I was given the pass to shoot only the main act, and not the support acts. Normally, this isn’t ideal, for various reasons (and it makes for a nice photo-tip for beginners too): The support is an ideal time to get the camera dialled in to the correct settings so there’s less faffing about when it’s important to get the shots right, and it can also lead to getting some good shots of a band on their way to stardom. Where are newspapers and magazines going to get photos of the hottest new bands? From you, that’s who.

Of the two, The Strange Death of Liberal England would be the better of the two bands, but the songs didn’t exactly leave me feeling like I just had to go out and buy their CD. They’re lacking something, and unfortunately I can’t put my finger on what exactly. What they do they do well, but I think they need to start sounding less like other bands and try to develop an identity of their own.

On the other hand, Cold Cave were quite frankly awful. Given the choice of shooting them again, I’d jump at the chance — but I’d be using a Smith and Wesson rather than a Sony A700. In the past, I’d always thought that whenever there were lots of people enjoying something I hated I was the one in the wrong; this time, I know there’s something seriously wrong with the locals…

Anyhow, on to the Editors. They were fantastic, put simply. Although their newer songs are lacking a bit of punch compared to what’s on The Back Room, they went down very well when played live. In addition, the band (and Tom Smith in particular) are very expressive and are a joy to shoot. They’re not usually on the tip of my tongue when listing bands I like, but I’d very much like to see them live again sometime soon.

As usual, more on Flickr!

What a night, and not for the best of reasons. If you don’t like moaning Scotsmen doing what they do best, just look at all the pretty pictures…

Was working yesterday on the normal 9:00am to 5:30pm yesterday, and unfortunately since I can’t drive yet my only means of getting to and from my job is to use buses. Buses which, thanks to Stagecoach being complete and utter morons, seem to come and go at the most inappropriate times. Seriously, who the hell thought it would be a good idea having a bus leave town at twenty-five past five when all the shops close at half past? Why force us to wait another thirty minutes for the next one? And why cut it to one bus an hour after half seven?

Sorry, you’re right, it’s a photoblog, I forgot. The long and short of it is that because of the way the bus times work, there was little point in me heading home; I’d just have to pack up and leave again as soon as I walked in the door to get to the Doll and The Kicks gig at Mad Hatters on time. The alternative is to wait at work (since there were people there to talk to until 8pm), head to the venue when they left, and then hang about in the pub downstairs for an hour or so before the gig, the route I opted to take.

It’s then I find out nothings happening until 9:30 which actually, would have given me enough time to head home for a nice meal and a shower. Hindsight’s a bitch, huh?

10:30 comes along and only now do the support act take to the stage, playing to a near empty room. Apparently, Little Buddha have just about enough pulling power to attract one super fan (to say he was a little bit weird would be in the same league as describing Katie Price is a “little bit annoying”) and a few stragglers from the bar down the stairs.I must admit, if I were to put it kindly I would say I’m not a fan of their music. I’m going to leave it at that.

I was, however, looking forward to DATK. I’d heard some of their tracks on their Myspace page before the gig to get a flavour of what to expect, and it was exactly the kind of music I like — a kind of indie/art-rock/pop hybrid that works very well for the likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Sounds and Deluka, for example. Thanks to all the delays before though, they only took to the stage at 11:15pm — precisely 10mins before the very last bus back home. Roughly, that works out at 2 1/2 songs and an embarrassingly sharpish exit…

Needless to say, I’m going to be investing in some driving lessons and a car very soon, and I’m most definitely going to be looking out for DATK for any other gigs in the area in future, a prospect that doesn’t look very likely due to the abysmal turnout that night. They’re a fantastic band and they deserve a better reception than they got last night.

More on Flickr as usual.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Unless you’re single, in which case you can not only be jealous of those who have girlfriends and / or boyfriends, but you can read on and be very jealous of me, seeing as I spent my evening in the company of the fantastic Ocean Colour Scene…

Very little else needs said really. The Moons were supporting tonight, and are also worth looking out for if you see them near where you are — a nice mix of ska and britpop got everyone going nicely.

The only downside? Some very odd choices in lighting ruined things a bit for me. Blue with purple doesn’t seem to play well with my camera. I also think I overexposed a few shots, so there’s not as many usable shots as I’d like. C’est la vie.

I did promise it would be a big update. More shots on my Flickr page as normal, Doll and the Kicks next week.

Hello kid’s, Happy New Year and all that. Back to the hard life of a gig photographer…

I’d never been in Mad Hatter’s before last night. In fact, I didn’t know where it was, despite me having lived in this area all my life — it’s only very recently I found out it was the second floor of Hootenanny’s in Inverness. The inaugural Rawk Night was held over a year ago at the Ironworks and although it wasn’t my first stab at live music photography, it was the first in a proper, purpose built venue. It was the night the bug was bitten.

Fast forward a little while and we have a change of venue, but the band’s are virtually identical with Stolen Order and Ketimine Deco taking to the rather small stage (The Xylophone Race are absent this time). Mad Hatter’s, as it turns out, isn’t a patch on the Ironworks for lighting and size but it certainly betters it for atmosphere.

Some fairly standard challenges to contend with here — and some weirder ones too. Because the stage was so small, microphone stands and cables were everywhere and it made it incredibly difficult to get good clutter-free shots. Worse were the speaker’s to the side and the lack of illumination on the periphery of the stage — unless someone was in the middle, they were not possible to photograph! Still, I managed with that.

Weirder was crowd members oohing and aahing at the photos as I quickly checked them between songs, or the young couple getting me to model their hat’s as I crouched in front of them. A good response mind you — I’d get pretty pissed off if I had some pillock running about in front of them while I’m trying to enjoy some music…

So, that’s the warm-up done. Keep your eyes peeled in February for the main act, coming soon to a web-browser near you, and while you’re waiting you can see the rest of the shots on Flickr

Well hello again, long time no see?

I’ve been neglecting my site recently, only visiting to get rid of some of the spam that’s been building up. Between the new job and Modern Warfare 2, I’ve been kept pretty busy. I did manage to sneak in one gig, and one which surprised me. Let me explain.

I’ve photographed The Xylophone Race once before — they were playing at the Ironworks in Inverness sharing the bill with a few other bands — and I couldn’t help but be very impressed. It’s very rare seeing such a young group playing the kind of funk/rock hybrid, and even rarer seeing it played was well as they do. So when they asked if I could shoot a few more shots for them at the Loft in Dingwall, I jumped at the chance.

What I didn’t realize is that Dingwall isn’t really like Inverness when it comes to gigs. Where I expected reasonably sized crowd, with varying lighting and the good ol’ photo pit, I found a room barely bigger than most people’s living rooms filled with beanbags and other soft furnishing in the loft space of a local shop… Oh, and by the way, did I say it was acoustic?

That threw me big-time, and I’m blaming that for the lack of decent shots that night. The lighting was simple to say the least which although made it easy to work with, it didn’t lend itself to good gig photography conditions, and with the small space it was very difficult to move, so I landed up holding my ground nearer the back so I could get access to my gear and not get in everyones way. Unfortunate, because I really enjoyed myself that night — whilst funk rock played acoustic doesn’t sound like a good idea on paper, The Xylophone Race pulled it off, and well.

This was the first ever gig at the Loft (Above the Greenhouse), but it certainly won’t be the last.

Update — Due to the quite frankly ridiculous amount of spam I seem to be receiving for this particular post, I’m closing the comments. Apologies for any inconvenience!

I’ve been struck down with one, yet again. I must have been last in line when God was handing out white blood cells to everyone. Every year, I get one at around Standard Grade exam time (although I believe that technically, it’s called Hay Fever, but I’d never joined the dots until recently) and another one as soon as Autumn starts again. I’m absolutely shattered and I have work tomorrow, so I’m going to go to bed after I’ve written this lot out.

Yesterday makes up for the inactivity though. I managed to repair the hard drive that died on me a few weeks ago — the one with all the pictures I’d taken since getting my first digital camera. Thankfully, it was just the caddy that broke, so I removed the drive from the enclosure and swapped it into a new one. All my pictures have now been backed up onto a new 1TB drive, and I’ll probably get another one soon enough to act as the backup’s backup.

I also managed to write a little Bash script to automate putting watermarks on my images. I’ve pretty heavily based it on someone elses script that I cannot find right now, but if anyone wants to try it for themselves, just get in touch. I love Linux and how it makes this kind of thing so easy to do!

Still waiting to hear back from some people about getting pit passes for some gigs coming up; might jar the relevant people again to see if things kick start.

I’ve also re-edited one of my favourite images from the 2008 MTB World Cup. I think it sums up what 4X is all about, and why it’s my absolute favourite discipline to watch. Congrat’s to Steve Peat too, for at long last becoming World Champion — for those not in the know he’s probably the most down-to-earth guys on the circuit, and has been so close to it before he’ll have smelled the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (jersey).

And that’s about it for today. Off to bed now to carry on coughing, trying to breath and generally not get any sleep. The joys…

First thoughts? Well, it’s better built than my Sigma lenses I can tell you that. Feels really nice to use, and although you do need to stop it down a little bit to get the best from it (as with many zooms, to be fair) you can get some very clear and sharp images. I’m now desperately trying to find any excuse to get out and use it…