Fez is one of my oldest and favourite clients in Sheffield. This time, they are throwing a party at Foundry & Fusion inside Sheffield Student’s Union, where my other beloved party organiser The Tuesday Club is hosting the events.
The reason I love this venue is the proper high up stage they have just makes a music photographer’s life much easier. Thinking about 20 fan boys and girl all squeeze in a tiny DJ booth in the club….. Eek, I can never get a proper shot of DJ without lots of admiring heads in. Some might say it captures the amazing atmosphere. Well, as long as the artists don’t mind about crazy fans jumping around and rubbing behind them! (I recently watched a video clip that a DJ literally stopped the music and shouted at the girl just randomly kissed him) However this will never (hopefully) happen when there is a proper stage!
When Skream was in town last time, as a Music Photographer Sheffield I photographed him at Fez Club. I changed my slightly for most of my music clients this year, adding a touch of milky black with grain in shadow and making it extra sharp. This applied quite well especially at venues like Foundry & Fusion and O2 Academy.
Luckily the amazing videographer Oscar who was also working at the event, lent me his 24mm 1.4 lens so I could have a try on some low light non-flash shots. The outcome was awesome. I tend to minimise my intervention when I’m photographing an event so people will act in the most natural way and the artist can focus on spinning. This lens really helped! With a decent wide-angle and super big aperture I managed to get loads cool shots of Skream. Especially the red silhouette one with smoke coming out from his back (see below).
View the full album and don’t forget to check out this awesome video made by Oscar.
Did I mention once upon the time I was a huge fan of Hip-Hop? (Yes when I danced for my high school team and battled with the rival dance crew….) My passion of Hip-hop was definitely reignite again at Tuesday Club when I saw the legendary M.O.P performing an incredible show!
Also when they asked me where to go for the after party I suggest the Sheffield’s one and only Carver Street (where I worked after the show). Just imagine when they hear their own songs playing and watch the crowd dancing to them at The Viper Rooms!
As a club photographer in Sheffield, this was not the first time I shoot at O2 Academy Sheffield, but definitely the longest period of work ever (for one single event). From 10:30 to 4:30, I captured nearly every moment of Anime Edge & Dance, Sion and Clouded Judgment on stage, also the crazy crowd at O2.
I was surprised that this 6 hours photo marathon didn’t worn me out, even when I had to shoot a wedding the next day. I very much enjoyed it through out the whole night. Unlike the nightclubs I used to shoot, there was a lot more variance in lights and scenes which means a lot more challenges for me to photograph as well. The visual artwork was incredible, nice work Matt!
This year we’ve seen hundreds of black swans in smokey eyes and lacy black gloves, Walter White aka Heisenberg cooking the legendary blue meth in the clubs, ginger bread man giving out an early Christmas vibe… and now it’s time to witness Halloween in Chinese Style!
What’s in the video: lots of fake blood, lots of red, my best dance buddies Alan and Donald dressing as sexy police woman and witch, guys squeezing Alan’s massive fake boobs, the vampire who is not scared of cross, hundreds of monsters and ghosts jumping up and down at the packed Crystal Bar Sheffield….
Well, I guess that’s enough for the spoiler. Special thanks DJ Phat (the one in the video) for the emergency song choice advice.
It’s a Sheffield Thing! I was over the moon when Tuesday Club contacted me for this great chance. Two years ago I was the girl waited outside Octagon Centre for an hour just to see Toddla T performing at Tramlines. Now I’ve met him in person, shook his hand and even accidentally seen him getting changed in to his new Hendersons Relish top behind the decks! Oops.
Just a little funny story here: because I was shooting for Boxfresh this time, they tended to avoid other brands showing in the pictures. But there were so many wicked shots of people dancing, shouting, raving… with their logos on their tops (even Shy FX had a massive one on his shoulder!) So I edited out every single logo on their clothes and hats with Photoshop so they could be uploaded to the official Boxfresh site.
If you noticed that your beloved brandy items being changed slightly because of that, you can still head to Tuesday Club’s Facebook page for the completed version of your outfit :)
Hope these pictures remind you the awesome time at Tuesday Club, WHAT A NIGHT!
“We came, we conquered. Sheffield, thanks for having us.
