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The local rounds of the British National Hill Climb Championship were always going to be a highlight in the Channel Islands Motor Sport calendar..... but we didn't anticipate just how special things were going to be in 2013!

For Rounds 19 and 20 the Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club had planned a special celebration of the 40 years that they have hosted British Championship rounds. A well attended, lively and interesting gathering and barbecue was held at the Marina restaurant after the Saturdays racing and this was the perfect end to the two days racing.

But it was on the hills that the spectacular was so special!

The soon to be legendary 'summer of 2013' produced the hottest conditions for years, particularly in Jersey on thursday where there was no breeze. The sun always raises people's spirits and they were running on turbo boost as the racing started. We knew we were in for a treat!

Guernseymen ruled the hill when it came to top performances in Jersey with Darren Warwick being the only Channel Islander to feature in both Top twelve National Championship Run-offs. This was a stunning performance when you consider the far higher power and technological specifications of the visiting National drivers cars. Well done Darren on an astounding result.

Other records were also taken by the small contingent of Guernsey drivers. We showed the Crapo's, eh ;-)

Then we moved on to the Guernsey rounds which were even more special for Guernsey fans... more on this to follow.

For now though, I have added a new picture gallery featuring the 2013 Jersey rounds of the British National Hill Climb Championships at Bouley Bay. Enjoy.
VIEW PICTURES OF THE JERSEY ROUNDS OF THE BRITISH NATIONAL HILL CLIMB

If you visited the Greenman Chaos Music & Bike Festival last weekend and didn't pace yourself I'll call that a big FAIL :-)

Why? I hear you ask.

Well if you enjoyed a few too many beers and a few too many of the sun's rays and if you took the early bus home you are sure to regret it when you hear what you missed! The 'hard-core' festival go-ers were rewarded and left drained and exhausted by Sunday's head-liners, Spunge.

The party/festival really kicked-off when Spunge returned to the Chaos stage for 2013 and by the end of their set the party had hit the stage itself after the audience joined the band in a massive send-off to the 2013 Chaos.

Words can't describe the atmosphere. My pictures might help you to see what you missed... but in the end you really had to be there!

Those of us who had the stamina got the prize... happy days!

I have just added a small picture Gallery giving a taster of what will follow, eventually. But for now I need to catch up with some sleep...
GREENMAN 2013... VIEW A LITTLE TASTER GALLERY

Sorry, no time to stop and chat....

I'm on the way to Guernsey's only three day Bike & Music Festival!

The 2013 Greenman Chaos Festival is promising to be the best ever. There is a fantastic line-up of Bands .... and all this takes place in one of the most spectacular settings on the cliffs at Pleinmont, Guernsey.

See you there...
VIEW PICS OF PREVIOUS CHAOS FESTIVALS

Yesterday this web site busted through its previous record of picture viewings in a 24 hour period when over 40,000 views were logged! This is an incredible number! But it has been worked for...

My time has been totally absorbed since the weekend by trying to catch up with three very busy days of shooting. I'm afraid I pushed the normal limits that control my photography... that is I shoot as few pictures as I possibly can!

This is usually a great plan. Why take three pics when you know that only one will be needed. This 'rule' of mine is always in the back of my mind and it works for me. I have often stood alongside other photographers, both professional sport and performance 'togs and keen hobbyists who fire off tens of pics to my one. That's not for me.... usually!

But I tripped up last weekend when photographing the Charity Hill Climb and Sprint. I seem to have miscalculated just how many runs each driver would get. The result was a lot of photos to sort through :-(

The Lock-in fights also produced a few more pics than I intended. For a start there were fifteen bouts and when combined with the weigh-in and atmosphere shots I had another pile to sort through!

Burning the midnight oil is the only answer in this situation and I have now managed to finish those Galleries.

Time for some sleep? Oh no. There is the Powerboat racing and the Elysium gig to get on with next!

I'm definitely going to keep my trigger happy finger under better control next time!

The completed Gallery is here:
VIEW THE COMPLETED LOCK-IN GALLERIES

As I have already mentioned in a previous blog, last weekend was an extremely busy one for me.

This is no problem at all when you are as lucky as I am. I love my job.

In the course of a working month my photographic work includes a surprising variety of shoots. The core work is for 'Commercial' clients and sees me capturing all aspects of Guernsey life including its people, properties and events. As well as that important category I also fill what spare time I have by pursuing things that interest me both as a spectator/audience and fan.

These 'personal projects' revolve around live performances, gigs and sports. The huge picture galleries on this web site are testament to how many of these occasions I photograph!

So I am now working through the third of the major events I photographed over the weekend. This was the highly successful Full Boar Motorcycle Club 'Lock-in Guernsey Round-2' at Beau Sejour. This was a repeat of last years event .... only BIGGER and BETTER! The Full Boar certainly have a crack team organising this spectacular and the whole evening ran smoothly with more Bouts than the first year and Champion fighters displaying their skills to an engrossed (and maybe a bit drunk) crowd :-)

Last year was my first encounter with this form of combative sport and I must say that I love trying to capture the action. There are many challenges including the speed, low light and of course the blasted cage... definitely better outside than inside though!

With 15 Bouts to edit it is taking some time so I have uploaded the first eight. This is to assure the guys who are chasing me for the uploads... I am on the case, promise:-)

Follow this link to view the first eight Galleries:
VIEW THE LOCK-IN GUERNSEY PICTURE GALLERIES

After completing two solid days of Charity Motorsport there were smiles all around the pits. It was agreed by everyone that this was the best fun ever!

Everyone was a winner as the whole weekend was about supporting three deserving Charities (Male Uprising Guernsey, Saumarez Park Playground & the Lions Club)... all this whilst having a great time. Win, win, win I think.

I have now spent a further two days editing my pictures of the racing and it dawned on me as I looked at the varied types of cars used during the two days that there was a very broad mix. In fact there was an amazing variety of cars. Certainly there was a bit of 'exotica', although not as many as I would have liked to see (come on guys bring out your 'treasures' next time).

Amongst the cars were a few AMG Mercs. I have a soft spot for these as that is what I drive.... mmmm, V8's :-)
There were also a few 'shopping' cars that had been 'borrowed' from the Mrs... I think they'll now be back on the driveways smelling of burning clutches. I hope you have your excuses ready lads!

But as I looked through my pics I began to wonder just who enjoyed the weekends racing the most?

There will definitely be passengers who have fantastic memories after donating cash to have a run up the hill with a local racer. But did they actually enjoy their run - or were they scared silly?

There will also be drivers of the faster (and expensive) cars who enjoyed 'giving it some' legally on local roads. But was their enjoyment tempered by the dread of stacking their pride and joy into one of the verges?

I think this photographer had a surprisingly good time too. As a Professionally Accredited Motorsport photographer I shoot a lot of racing.
I was expecting to find the days long, and to be honest a bit boring! After all these were road cars driven mainly by inexperienced racers. But I was completely wrong as there was some seriously good racing to be enjoyed and I had the added challenge, as a photog, of making the racers look as fast as they felt they were!

But, in the end I think my prize for the person who seemed to be having the most fun must go to Mathew Lesbirel who was driving a modified Transit van with a 3.5 litre V8 engine.

Not your average racing machine I hear you say. There is a lesson in there somewhere. I'll let you work it out for yourselves ;-)

My picture galleries are now featuring the Heritage Charity Hill Climb. Once again I will donate 25% of any sales to the chosen Charities.
VIEW PICS OF THE HERITAGE CHARITY HILL CLIMB 2013

Last weekend, once again, our little Island and its people have impressed me in many ways....

It is easy to forget just how small we are when judged by the amount of varied events that are on offer to anyone with an interest in taking the opportunities out there.

There is usually one overriding quality to all these Events and that is the standard at which things are organised and presented. Again it must be remembered just how small our population and resources are compared to much larger places.

So I have had a brilliant few days watching and photographing just a couple of the weekend's Events - and I even captured a few rays from the sun, as my face goes to prove ;-)

Of course, for me, it was a weekend 'at work' at the end of a camera lens... but how can it be called work when you are having so much fun?

The weekends list included the Heritage Charity Sprint at Vazon coast road followed by the Full Boar Motorcycle Club Lock-in Guernsey - Round-2 at Beau Sejour in the evening. That was a busy day!
Sunday it was the racers turn at Hill Climbing up Le Val des Terres. The weather wasn't so nice but maybe it helped me avoid getting properly toasted!

Also slotted into the Sunday was a quick visit to the shoreline of Havelet bay to take a few pics of the Guernsey Powerboat Association's race. This offered a ringside seat to the Hill Climbers who saw how things can go wrong in any Motorsport when Resolution IT crashed out in spectacular fashion.
EDIT: I had forgotten that my weekend had started on Friday night with the first weigh-in for the Lock-in at Beau Sejour followed by a 'best ever?' gig and the Fermain Tavern by Elysium!

Both the Heritage Charity Events were superbly organised and showcased how things can work so well when different Clubs combine their resources. Well done everyone and I'm sure your target of raising £40,000 will be smashed.

The Full Boar Lock-in was another fantastic success with visiting fighters commenting on how much better the standards of organisation and presentation were compared to what they often get. That's one more tick for our small Island!

But, to return to my first comment on how I am always impressed by the standards of performance in Guernsey. After the Powerboat accident the rescue crews and divers were on-scene incredibly fast and the Resolution IT crew and their upturned race boat were quickly and safely removed.... and the race re-started.
Job well done guys!

My weekends work amounts to many, many more shots than usual and I now face a few days of editing (a bit of an anti-climax really). But it has to be done and I've made a start.
First pictures feature the Heritage Charity Sprint at Vazon. I am donating 25% of any picture sales to this years Charities.

Check-out the first of many Galleries here:
VIEW PICS OF THE HERITAGE CHARITY SPRINT

Yesterday represented the biggest disappointment in my photographic year. At least so far!

This was due to the abandoning of the Condor Ferries British Sand Ace Championships.

No blame can be made for this unfortunate fail, it was simply a case of this sort of thing being a part of Motor Sport... thankfully very rarely.

I suppose the signs were bad right from the start as the morning's weather wouldn't of been out of place in November. This was such a contrast to 2012's Sand Ace in 'flaming June'.

Whilst the conditions dampened the initial energy and anticipation in the pits, once the practice laps began to clock up there was little doubt that we were going to enjoy a few hours of high class racing by a large entry which included some of Europe's top 500cc Solo Riders and 1,000cc Sidecar Crews.

As the qualifying heats began (heats as in racing - certainly not from the sun!) we were all distracted from the cold, the high wind and occasional rain. Everything was going well... and I was in my element :-)

Then the racing had a couple of spanners chucked into its spokes after two of the Sliders had nasty accidents that required hospital runs. These things happen sometimes with any Motor Sport but when you are racing on a beach the disruptions take on quite a different importance as the tide turns and makes its unstoppable advance back up the sand.

After much effort another Ambulance crew and Paramedic couldn't be arranged in time to allow the racing to continue.

So the British Sand Ace Championships failed to run to the promised climax. The end was as damp and limp as the weather.

Hopefully it will be judged as an unavoidable coincidence of bad luck. The Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club have decades of experience in running beach racing and can offer last years highly successful British Sand Ace Championship as proof that, given the chance, they can run a race meeting worthy of a National status.

We will all be keeping our fingers crossed for better luck in 2014.

I've now sorted my pictures of the Sand Ace... and I'm really pleased with some of them considering the low amount of opportunities offered by the limited runs and the fact that it was raining for many of them!

The Condor Ferries British Sand Ace Championship picture galleries are now on-line:
VIEW PICTURES OF THE 2013 BRITISH SAND ACE CHAMPIONSHIP

I can't remember any previous local Motorsport event having such a strong reaction, and it all seems to be positive!

The Guernsey Kart & Motor Club Reservoir Speed Event attracted a small amount of negative comments before the first runs last Saturday. I had heard some question safety due to anticipated high speeds. There were also questions about the lack of space for the pits.

In fact I was amazed when I arrived at the St Saviours event and walked down the hill past what seemed a never ending line of racing machinery. How on earth was this race meeting ever going to run through smoothly?

But things ran at a fantastic pace. The extensive planning allowed the competitors to all have their practice run and four timed runs resulting in a lot of happy chappies ;-)

The course also seemed to be fairly forgiving of the occasional mistakes and damage was limited to racers ego's and machinery... apart from Leigh Digard who now knows that he bounces quite well!

It was a relief when we had a visit from Leigh on Sunday at the Twisty Sprint after he was kicked out of hospital. I think he even fancied his chances on a bike... no-one would lend him one. I wonder why?

I have now finished the picture gallery for the Reservoir Speed Event which now features the Bikers and Karts.
Be warned, it's a big one:
VIEW PICS OF THE BIKERS & KARTS AT THE RESERVOIR SPRINT

I think that the air of excitement that surrounded the first ever Speed Event on the twisting road bordering the St Saviours reservoir must have rubbed off on me a bit too much.... read on!

There is no doubt that the competitors were barely able to hold in their eagerness to get started on this new event. The Guernsey Kart & Motor Club members really made every effort to support the Committee who had put so much work into making the 30 year wishes come true. There was great help with the set-up of the track and the very tight pits area.

As a Motorsport photographer I was really looking forward to having a new track to work on. I'd already walked the full length a few times eyeing-up the possible shooting opportunities. In the end, on the day, some of my planned shots didn't work out - but there were many more successes :-)

This is where I became a little over excited and I fired off a lot more shots than normal. It isn't only the racers who get an adrenaline rush it seems! The enhanced level of excitement and awareness is a good thing though as I certainly have to keep my wits about me when working so close to 'barely in control' racing cars, bikes and karts.

I've already spent over nine hours on the first edits from the weekends racing and have added the first pics to a new Gallery.

More Car pics will follow together with the Bikers & Karts....
The first to be featured are here:
VIEW THE FIRST RESERVOIR SPEED EVENT PICS

It must be about a decade since a race featuring Ocean going Powerboats was held in local waters so it was a pleasure to welcome them back last weekend.

The event was titled as 'The Venture Cup - Ocean Class Powerboat Racing - The Prologue' and the Guernsey Powerboat Association played a big part in helping the organisers arrange the logistics for their stay in St Peter Port and also had teams working in Race Control and up on Castle Cornet to ensure everything went smoothly.

This was just a 'warm-up' race to check on all the logistics ahead of the main race in 2014 when competitors will race from London all the way to the Med, a distance of 2,400 miles!

I was out and about for the various races in local waters and was impressed by the larger boats taking part. Actually, it was probably even more impressive that the smaller Ribs had completed the run across the English Channel... there wasn't much protection from the elements in those!

Unfortunately the weather really wasn't very helpful for us photographers as it was generally dull and grey. It was also a great shame that no dedicated Media boat was available as this greatly compromised the pics I could capture. I was actually out on a boat positioned at the finish line for the arrival of the racers but as the line was about three-quarters of a mile wide I was frustrated when nearly all of them crossed on the distant side :-(

Having said this, it was still nice to see this premier class of racing benefiting and enjoying our fantastic coastal waters... bring on 2014.
VIEW A GALLERY OF PICTURES FEATURING THE VENTURE CUP POWERBOATS

I'd like to ask you a question. If you don't go to gigs, theatre or any live stage performances this probably won't mean much to you ;-)

What I would like to know is, what do you think the most important aspects are that improve your enjoyment and memory of any show or performance?

I ask this as I have an opinion of my own.

If we were to make a list in the order of importance obviously the performers will have to be top the pile. After all, that is probably why you even bought a ticket in the first place.

Without trying to fill-in all the other ingredients that make a great show I will cut to my point.

My guess is that most of you don't really consider the lighting. The subtle changes. The not so subtle changes. The colour. The intensity and direction. I suppose if you were engrossed in the performance the lighting somehow 'disappeared' into the background. Maybe this is the success of great lighting?

My own enjoyment of any performance, however, is greatly affected by the lighting. This is because I am usually 'at work' trying to capture everything in pictures... and all I can capture is the light!

This blog was inspired whilst I developed my pictures of The Recks recent gig at the Fermain Tavern.

The gig was lit by Lloyd Hellyeah and he did a great job. This makes my job sooooo much easier and reduces the time I have to spend tweaking colours and tones. When the lighting is well controlled and responsive to a performance it raises it to a higher level.

But have you ever noticed this? Or is it something that only a photographer can see? I'd love to know what you think.

If you would like to make your own opinion about the lighting at The Recks gig my pics are now on-line:
TAKE A LOOK AT THE RECKS GIG... AND THE LIGHTING!

Last Sunday Jamaica rocked!

OK, to be perfectly correct I should say The Jamaica Inn rocked :-)

Billed as 'Chaos at the Jam' the event returned to a newly painted Jamaica Inn as a warm-up to the bigger Chaos Festival in July.

The afternoon offered time to chill to acoustic sets out in the sunny car park. Then things kicked-off proper when we de-camped into the bar.

Brunt bought something heavier to the party and were followed by Guernsey's favourite good-time band, RentOClean.... the party was swinging.

Make space for Heave to take to the stage.

Two guys - guitar and drums - but what a sound. Breaking the laws of physics Heave can fill any space with sound... and it's heavy. Love it.

Thanks to the Greenman for bringing us another great one. See you in July, if not sooner.

Pics of a few of the bands are here:
VIEW PICS OF BRUNT
VIEW PICS OF RENTOCLEAN
VIEW PICS OF HEAVE

Today I'm excited to say that this web site has broken through a new landmark figure.

We have now logged more than 4,000,000 viewings!

Yes, you read that correctly, that's FOUR MILLION VIEWINGS :-)

The latest MILLION has taken just over six months so we are well on target to match last year's figure of TWO MILLION in twelve months.

I posted a blog about six months ago when the THREE MILLION mark was smashed.
READ THE THREE MILLION BLOG HERE

At that time I tried to illustrate how the viewing figures could relate to time... how many views each hour or minute of every day. The results were quite surprising!

This time around I thought that maybe I would try to find how the numbers can be associated to something a bit closer to a photographer's heart. That is an actual paper print. But how thick is an average print?

The wonders of the Internet came to my rescue again and after a few minutes of research I had some figures to play with. It is difficult to find explicit references as there are certain variables - not least of which is the thickness of a sheet of photographic paper.

In the end I have been conservative and based my results on an 'average' that seems to be a fair and realistic number. From my searches I found the height calculated for a pile of ONE MILLION sheets of photographic paper varied between 350 ft and 480 ft.

So I am going to use a figure of 400 ft.

Now let's take things to the next stage and try to picture what this pile would look like.

Perhaps if you are a resident of Guernsey (our small but beautiful Island in the English Channel, near France) you will be familiar with the dramatic cliffs on our southern coast. The highest of these are about 350 ft above sea level.... that is less than the height of a MILLION PRINTS in this example.

Try and picture that... are you impressed yet?

No, well a try at this!

As you have seen, this web site has now had FOUR MILLION HITS since first launching. Take this number and work out the height of that pile of prints and we are talking TALL... LIKE 1,600 FEET HIGH!

If you find it difficult to picture how that relates to the real world, take a look at the picture at the start of this blog which shows the heights of some of the tallest buildings in the world.

NOW YOU MUST BE IMPRESSED!!

The shame is that these numbers are only picture views. They aren't going to make me rich, although I think I would be Epson's biggest customer if I had to produce a print for every web image viewed!

My Epson Stylus 4900 would be working night and day :-)

So a big thank you for spending time viewing my pictures. I am now chasing the next big number.... Pop back again soon.
READ ABOUT THE FIRST MILLION
READ ABOUT THE SECOND MILLION
READ ABOUT THE THIRD MILLION

It's been a while since I have written anything about the equipment I use and the workflow that goes into making the final prints that drop through your letterbox a few days after you place an order.

Today I'm not going to go into much detail about all my kit. However it might be of interest to know some key items.

I'm lucky to have the opportunity to use 'top-of-the-range' equipment from start to finish of the capture process. I feel that when shooting as a Professional Photographer, a high standard needs to be maintained all the way through from capture to the digital darkroom and on to the final production of a print.

I am a NIKON camera user and love the quality and handling that this brand offers.
My current kit includes a Nikon D4, a NIKON D3s and a NIKON D3.
NIKON creates the finest photographic equipment in the world as far as I'm concerned. I await your responses :-)

UPDATE 10-03-2014: I've now added the new NIKON D4s to my kit bag. First impressions are good but it will take a few weeks to fully test. Drop me an e-mail if you want to discuss the latest NIKON body EMAIL ME

I also use NIKON lenses and have too many to list but can call on everything from a 400mm f2.8, a 200mm f2, 24mm Perspective Correction, 200mm & 105mm Macro, 50mm & 85mm f1.4's and many others in-between through to the brilliant wide angle 14-24mm f2.8.
So I hope you'll agreed that there is no excuse to not capture the highest quality of image :-)

The digital darkroom work is carried out using the latest versions of Professional software like Photoshop and Lightroom and this is all viewed on twin 30 inch colour calibrated reference monitors.
All images are then Catalogued and referenced using IMatch allowing quick and comprehensive searching.
Lots of back-ups are then made.... you do back-up your own work, don't you?

But all the work and cost of capturing the sharpest, colour corrected images would fall at the final hurdle if the quality of the prints wasn't to the same standards.

This is why all prints up to the A2 SIZED MONTAGES are individually hand-printed by me in my studio on an Epson Stylus Pro 4900 Professional Large Format Printer using the latest 11-Colour Ultrachrome HDR Pigment Inks. This offers me total quality control of the final output.

This printer is regarded as setting new standards in colour precision offering one of the widest colour gamuts on the market and exceptional longevity of prints.

So be assured that when you order a print from TALLPICTURES every effort has been made to make it as good as it can get :-)

Details of the various print options can be found by clicking this link:
VIEW DETAILS OF THE PRINT OPTIONS

VIEW PICS OF MT. WOLF
The Carlton Hotel opened its doors to two visiting bands on Friday night and I'm pleased to say that there was great support from us Guern's.

I suppose that there was always a good chance that ticket sales would be OK as the headlining band had two locals in the line-up.
So perhaps Mt. Wolf can be thanked for attracting the punters but I have a feeling that the other two bands on the bill also played their parts by bringing their own following.

First on stage were Bright_Lights. I am really enjoying this Electro-Pop band and they were a great choice to open the night with a sound that easily filled the room and is surely crying out for a chance to feature on one of this summer's Festival stages... watch this space!

Next up was Lloyd Yates and again they could certainly claim a following amongst the 'gig goers'... even though their visits to our shores are rare. This shows that they have made a real impression on previous visits.

And so the night was completed by the appearance of Mt. Wolf. They were well received and their set showed that they already have songs that offer opportunity to make it on a bigger stage.
Looking at the gigs they have lined up around the UK during coming months the band clearly have ambition and are prepared to work for a break into the big time. Keep a ear to the ground to see if they can pull it off!

I've added new Galleries featuring the three bands:
VIEW PICS OF MT. WOLF

VIEW PICS OF LLOYD YATES

VIEW PICS OF BRIGHT_LIGHTS

So there we have it... another great night of LIVE MUSIC.
There really is NO excuse to spend your weekends sitting on the couch when there is such a great choice of live music just waiting for your support... See you next time?

Last of the Light Brigade have been in action at the Fermain Tavern to launch their new single 'The Door'.

The guys had put in a lot of work to promote the event and I was was one of many who lined the trenches ready to receive the best that the band could fire in our direction.

I've been a long term champion of the band and have enjoyed seeing them grow in confidence when on stage and at the Saturday night gig they achieved new heights. The line-up had been re-enforced with extra troops and featured Andy Coleman on keys and John McCarthy on guitar. But it was The Cavalry Choir that turned the campaign into something really special.

Even this platoon of troopers wasn't enough for their Commander and Tyler Edmonds had conscripted Mark Le Gallez and Colin Leach of The Risk and Chris Dean from... oh, too many... to join LOTLB on stage for the final push.

The result was a great showcase for a Band that is clearly ready for the next call to arms.

Support to LOTLB was in the form of Guernsey's own foot-tapping skiffle-country proponants. Their performance would have justified the couple of quid entry on its own. That is more than enough to prove that - if you missed it - you missed a great night when local music was called to 'action stations'.

Pics are now online:
LAST OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE LAUNCH THEIR SINGLE - THE DOOR

Pics of The John Wesley Stone can be found here:
PICS OF THE BARN-STORMING JOHN WESLEY STONE

The weekend saw the Greenman MCC change their home venue of the open cliff tops at Pleinmont for the confines of the Fermain Tavern.

The Tavern had no problem offering a perfect venue for this warm-up gig that heralded the 2013 Chaos Festival. The word is that the Greenman MCC have chosen this year to tweak and improve on the popular formula and they are promising that this years Festival will be the best ever :-)

So with this word going out before the Tavern gig we were all expecting a pretty good night. The line-up included a few of our known reprobates in the form of Sugar Slam and Of Empires. This was a good start and the boys played storming sets.

But the band I was looking forward to seeing was Jersey's Harlequin Knights. I knew very little about them other than I had seen and photographed some of the band members before - in different bands.

Their performance was a highlight of the night as far as I'm concerned. They have great energy and charisma on stage. The songs are very well written and the vocal harmonies were superb... all this from a band that has only been together for seven months!

I understand that they will return to our isle to play at Chaos 2013. So there is your first reason to book in the weekend of 12th - 14th July for the Greenman MCC Chaos Festival. Don't miss it!
Take a look at the Greenman MCC web site for more details: http://www.chaosevents.com/

I have uploaded pics of the bands here:
VIEW PICS OF HARLEQUIN KNIGHTS
VIEW PICS OF SUGAR SLAM
VIEW PICS OF OF EMPIRES

We British are not renowned for showing our emotions in public. Somehow we all get embarrassed with the realities of life. We don't talk about or face up to the simple truths... we are conceived, we live out our term, we die.

I have pondered on what to say about the weekends gig that I was privileged to photograph. Without a doubt it touched the heart of more than a few in the audience. I spoke to one lady who told me it had been a wake up to the reality of her own inevitable life cycle. None of us know what tomorrow brings?

The memorable occasion that I was photographing was the farewell gig by Wilko Johnson. We all knew that Wilko has recently had to face the knowledge that he is terminally ill. Thankfully few of us have been in this position and we cannot possibly imagine how we would handle such a situation. Of course everyone would react in their own personal way.

But perhaps we can all take a little strength and even inspiration from the way Wilko has chosen to look to the future. Wilko has decided that his time should be used to enjoy and share what has been a huge part of his life... the gift of making music.

So the sell-out of two nights at the Fermain Tavern in Guernsey was no surprise. Wilko has been a regular visitor on the stage at 'the Tav' over several decades and he was surrounded by old friends who gave him a send-off that will be remembered and talked about until it takes its place in musical folk-law.

Maybe it is difficult, given the circumstances, to make an unaffected critic of the gig but I will argue that the two nights were a couple of the greatest live performances I have shared.

Hopefully Wilko Johnson left Guernsey knowing that he had touched people with his energetic performance and song writing. He stimulated many of us to look to our own futures and how we should make the very best of our own time. It reminded me that the medium of music has so much to give. It can be the focus to bring people together. It can touch all sides of our emotions and, lets face it, it makes the world a better place!

Thanks for the memories Wilko.

A Wilko Johnson performance, for photographers, is one of the hardest to capture. He just won't stand still! It is a challenge to represent the essence of his show in 'still' images. But I tried, and have added a few pics to the Wilko Johnson Band picture gallery:
VIEW PICS OF THE WILKO JOHNSON FAREWELL GIGS AT THE FERMAIN TAVERN

A very select few Guernsey bands were given the honour of sharing the bill with the headlining Wilko Johnson Band when they played two nights at the Fermain Tavern last weekend.

Wilko actually gave local fans the special honour of playing for two nights at the 'Tav'. This was a bit special when you consider how few venues Wilko is visiting on his Farewell Tour.

Many of the Guernsey supporting act band members weren't even born when Wilko began his musical career! But they were given a rare opportunity to both appear on the same bill and to have a 'masterclass' in live performance from one of the true masters.

Whether you are a great fan of Wilko's music or not, it really doesn't matter because within a couple of songs you will not be able to take your eyes off him... you will be dragged into his space and he will be in control. Very few performers can wield that sort of influence on a crowd.

So there must have been a bunch of lucky musicians pinching themselves on Monday morning wondering if it had all been a dream!

Lucky for them I was taking a few pics so they can re-live the moment :-)
VIEW PICS OF LAST OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

VIEW PICS OF MEMOIRS BE

VIEW PICS OF THE PHANTOM COSMONAUT

VIEW PICS OF THE RISK


That's it for pics of Wilko's farewell gigs in Guernsey. Long may they live in your memories...