Danny North

Danny North

Danny North is a photographer that predominantly takes photographs of musicians. The photographs above are from when he photographed The 1975, Kaiser Chiefs, HAIM and Jared Leto.

One thing that I have noticed about North’s work is the fact that he alternates between on location and studio. This shows that he is an adaptive photographer and can be both comfortable in front of a backdrop within a studio but also outside. I am personally a fan of the band “The 1975” and so I follow them on social media. The band shared the photograph above on their Instagram account and explained within the caption that they were at the BRIT awards. This means that Danny can work within any situation and has probably brought a portable lighting kit and studio to this event. I like the fact that Danny has taken the photograph by using the mirror in the room, this way he has used a creative way to make sure that all of the band are within the shot.

The photographs of the Kaiser Chiefs is not my favourite one by Danny North. This is due to the fact that I don’t believe that it reflects the band very well. The set is covered with books and they appear to be in a classroom themed shoot, I fail to see the correlation between this set and the band. It could possibly be related to the name of an album or song, however, I would not know as I do not listen to their music. I feel as though this is a striking photograph and could really work for anything else, other than for this band.

Whilst researching North I found that he also worked with the band HAIM. The photograph that he took for them can be found above and it has quite a candid tone to it. Personally, I think it is one of my favourites. Too many photographers dive straight into the studio without giving location shoots a second thought and so when certain photographers escape the studio and enter the streets or parks, they get photographs that are completely different to the stereotypical studio shoot. I believe that there are so many restrictions within a studio i.e. space, the fact that it is indoors and so no experimentation with fire or other factors can be played with and the fact that a photographer is limited to a certain amount of colourful backdrops. I am unsure as to where this photograph was used but I feel as though it would be suitable for a number of purposes… Merchandise, album cover, social media etc.

Jared Leto is another musician that has been photographed by Danny North. Leto is in the band 30 Seconds To Mars and the symbols tattooed onto Leto’s arms are quite commonly associated with the band as it features on album covers. This simplistic photograph would not really work for anyone other than Leto and only fans of his will understand why he has those symbols tattooed. However, just people some people would not understand why he has those symbols imprinted on him does not mean that it should not be photographed, they still make for a striking image. These tattoos also fit in with the colour scheme of this photograph (black and white) and make the photograph symmetrical.

I decided that it was suitable to research Danny North for this unit as for one of my events I am going to shoot a gig. A full page of North’s live music work can be found here: Danny North Music Photos. (Danny’s website restricts the viewer from copy and pasting and so I have provided a link). I am already inspired by the photographs that Danny takes whilst at gigs as he makes the most of the performers and the way they move around the stage to capture eye catching photographs. One thing that Danny does that I would like to incorporate within my own photographs for this event is focus on the colour of the lighting. It is not uncommon to see people standing in front of a strong coloured light within Danny’s photographs and this is an aspect that I would like to trial out at my own gig.

By looking through some of the work that Danny has produced I am really impressed. I believe that he is one of the strongest music photographers that I have seen as his work ranges from studio to festivals to gigs. His resilience as a photographer and his eye for action within a music gig really makes his work stand out. With his vantage point always changing, he makes sure that he never misses a moment. This is the final lesson that I have learnt from North- never keep in one place during a gig!

Ant Clausen

Ant Clausen

Originally from New Zealand but now based in Liverpool, Ant Clausen is one of the most well known event photographers in Liverpool. Clausen never misses a moment within Liverpool and has photographed many different events such as the Queen visisting and The Giants etc. (further events that he has photographed can be found here: Ant Clausen Photographs).

My favourite phootgraph of Clausen’s can be found above. The photograph of the Queen and mayor Joe Anderson exhibits a warm exchange. There are smiles on both of their faces and so the tone of the photograph is that of a happy/positive one. This would be the kind of photograph that I would aim to capture if I was ever in the position to photograph the Queen.

Another photograph that I like that Clausen has taken is the one of the Giants. They visited Liverpool in 2012 and then again in 2014 and Clausen’s picture really gives them justice. Firstly, it shows the height of them. They were very tall and could be seen from a while away and so the angle that Ant has taken this at can show people that never got the opportunity to see them just how tall they actually were. Secondly, it shows how popular they were within the city as a crowd watching in awe can also be found in the background of Clausen’s photograph. I also like the fact that Ant has managed to include the Liver Buildings within this image as it shows people from outside of the city where about the Giants visited.

Timing is quite an important thing within photography. If a shutter button is pressed a second earlier or a second later then a whole other aesthetic can be achieved. Whilst looking at Ant’s work I have came to the conclusion that he must have his camera set on “continuous shooting”. I believe this as all of the subjects within his frames move, to only take one photograph would not be sensible as they could be out of frame/focus and so this is why I am led to believe that he uses continuous shooting so that everything that needs to be within the frame is within the frame. When I go to Smithdown Road Festival I will make sure that I will also use continuous shooting.

I decided that I would research Ant Clausen for this unit as his main focus is to capture events that occur in Liverpool. For my outdoor event for this unit I have decided that I am going to attend Smithdown Road Festival. Since this is an event happening in Liverpool, I thought that it would be appropriate for me to research into a photographer that does this for a living.

One thing that I have noticed about Clausen’s photographs is the fact that they are very edited. Ant appears to spend a lot of time in post production trying to get his photographs the way that he has envisioned them. This is something that I do not do very often as I am usually quite happy with the aesthetic that I have achieved in camera. However, for this event I am going to try and edit my photographs for a change as inspired by Ant Clausen. The difference between my photographs and Clausen’s will be the fact that I will convert them into black and white as this is also something that I do not do very much. I am aiming to make the photographs from the indoor event from this unit and the outdoor event very different- one with the focus of colour and the other with the absence of it.

In conclusion, I believe that Ant Clausen has a very strong portfolio. Not only does he create eye catching photographs for events but he also produces work of food, people and interiors. He also has a section on his website that is purely dedicated to the photographs that he has produced within a studio environment. By working within both a studio environment and on location it shows to his clients that he Ant is a very adaptable photographer as he is not limited himself by specialising in one aspect of photography. One thing that Clausen does that is relevant to this unit is that he runs a blog. Blogs are becoming more and more popular and they are becoming the contemporary way to present an online insight into how photographs on a photographer’s website has been produced. Clausen has inspired me to attend more events within my city as there is always a photo opportunity at an event. I do not attend many events and so this is now a thing that I would like to change. With my camera and a good eye for photo-worthy moments, I hope to achieve some similar photographs to Ant.