Gig : King Creosote

Manchester Academy 3 - 30/1/08

If you haven't heard of this band / Kenny Anderson then you need to listed to the latest album Bombshell. Then look for KC Rules OK.
As the founder of musical initiative Fence Collective, he is included in that rare set of singer songwriters who seem to sum up feelings or emotions in a way that seems almost effortless.
Live, everything comes across as recorded. The nuances of the band, his guitar work, the enjoyment obviously there on record. All are present to make this one of the best gigs I've been to in a while. The only difference between live and disc is the humour between tracks. Kenny clearly is at home up there and even in the close confines of Academy 3, there is little else on this band's mind other than getting the music across and making sure everyone there feels part of it.

Oh, and for some reason it made me feel of this I shot earlier in the week.

Elliott

Picked up a PK-A 50mm f1.7 off ebay this week. Wanted to try it for the DoF which I'm not getting off any of the digital lenses. Taken a few of my kids today to try it out and although I've got to say my eye is hopeless on manual focus ( I'll get used to it... ), the sharpness and colour rendition from a £35 lens is at least as good ( if I'm honest it's much better ) than the 40mm limited I picked up a while back.
If the K20D is the right price or the knock on effect on the price of the K10D is like it should be, I know where the 40mm is going.

Sunset over water

Going through some shots taken last month and I hadn't noticed this one. Untouched except for a slight crop and straightened the horizon.

A couple more from Manchester

Smoke break - I'm slowly putting together a piece on all the people forced onto the streets for their daily drags. Walk through the city centre mid morning and it's incredible where they pop out from and what local features they've turned into their new natural habitat.

George's Barbers

Had an hour free while in the city so walked across it with the camera. Spotted an old barber's near Piccadilly and asked for the shot. George didn't say much but didn't seem to mind - I was polite, grabbed a couple of shots and thanked him before saying when the barnet needs a trim, I'll be back.
I wonder who uses the other chair - I hope George's legacy doesn't end with him as there aren't many of these barber shops left.

Tombs and trees

Shot as three exposures all 1 stop apart ( 0, +1, -1 ) then merged.
Came out pretty moody with the colour of the sky and the obvious content - posted it on Deviantart and within ten minutes the goths had snapped it up as favourites. Great taste I guess....

City gents crossing street

Seem to be thinking more and more in black and white from looking at what;s being posted on here. This was shot colour on the Pentax and then desaturated and tweaked in Lightroom. The contrast LR gives seems much better that Photoshop.
These three chaps were stood at the crossing chatting, I leaned back and got off a couple of frames before they marched across, got to the office and clinched a couple of deals....