Posts Tagged ‘celebrity’

I appear to have become the resident photographer at Jan Jacks Laughter House.  This is a good thing.  I get to see some of the top comedians in the country, and I don’t have to pay.

On the bill last night were Juliet Meyers, Andrew Watts and Steve Day.  They all put on great shows, but my favourite had to be Mr Watts.  The lady with her head in her hand was being picked / hit on by Mr Watts.  Superbly funny.

It was a rainy night in Salisbury and it was the second time this year I’d left home with the sole purpose of laughing at people for the evening.  The event was Laughter House in Salisbury which was taking place at the Milford Hall Hotel.

On stage were compare Phil Dinsdale, with comedians Jan Jack, Andi Osho and Mr Bob Mills.

The audience was partly filled by local business networking people.  A fiver from each of their tickets was being donated to the Pash4Cash fund.   Pash aka Sarah Howells is a local business woman and friend to many of us, founder of “The Passionate PA”.  The fund has been set up by a couple of her close friends so she never needs to worry about money again.  For those who don’t know Sarah’s story you can find her blog here.

Okay, back with the fun stuff.  Another fine evenings entertainment was had.  Although I’m still not quite sure I liked it when the compare picked on the photographer!  It’s funny really.  A few years ago I used to hide at the back of the room in comedy clubs, the thought of being picked upon almost scared me enough not to go into the room in the first place, now I’ve got so much more self confidence I’m up there towards the front shooting away.

Enough with my words, and on with a few photos from the night…

The comedy night was already planned, but it was my idea to suggest turning it into a little charity bash for my good friend Pash.  As I couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery I’ve asked someone who has taken on the challenge of organising me to help make the event a success and raise a a few quid for Pash.   Step into the spotlight, the one and only Nagging Sue Pell!

“It’s time for another night out, so…..

The date is THURSDAY 18 FEBRUARY, and the occasion is JAN JACK’S LAUGHTER-HOUSE COMEDY CLUB, the Milford Hall Hotel, Castle Street, Salisbury, SP1 3TE…..where the very famous BOB MILLS is appearing!

(Don’t ask “Who’s he?” – just look at the photo – you’ve seen him on telly!)

Also appearing is Andi Osho (She’s a girl, and winner of the Nivea Funny Women Award, and …yes, she’s been on telly too)….

…….and 4Ns own Jan Jack will be doing a brief turn too…….(no different from the usual 4N meeting then!)

BUT this is a special night, cos as well as giving us  all another chance to socialise and have fun we will be raising funds for Pash.,for those of you that don’t know Pash please have a look at http://www.4networking.biz/forum/5/51276.htm

The normal ticket price is £15 and Jan will donate £5 from every 4Networking member ticket sold to the Pash Fund.

We need to arrange bookings and payments to secure seats so please if you would like the chance to have a fantastic night out AND help someone that really deserves it please let us know your ticket requirements.  If that’s too complicated you can book online through www.laughter-house.co.uk but there’s a ticket agency who will charge a fee…

I will contact everyone individually that would like to book to arrange payment and advise ticket collection procedures.

Lets make this a South Coast 4Networking night to remember.   I WILL see you all there!”

Sue Pell
sue.pell@live.co.uk
07927 139047

Last night I was asked to do some photos at a comedy club in Basingstoke.  Now there was a time when comedy clubs scared me a little.  I was scared I was going to be the poor sap some mean comedian picked on for the evening.

Now though, I don’t care.  At least I don’t care when I have my camera in my hands.  I feel I have a proper reason to be there, to walk around, and stuff.  Also I feel part of the crew, I’m there doing a job, and the comedians seem to respect that and hence I’m not a target.

My visit to Jan Jack’s Laughter House (www.laughter-house.co.uk) last night was my first visit to a comedy club in about 8 years.  Then I was sat in the back row, scared shitless I’d be one of the audience the comic picked on.

The show was great, with host Danny Dawes introducing Matt Reed, Spam Ayres, Joel Dommett and the main act Bob Mills.

It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to photograph.  Normally at concerts and live shows the hit rate of acceptable shots goes down, but the lighting was just awful for me (great for the audience and performers) but for me, urghh, bad bad bad!

I had my Canon 5D Mark II up at 5000 ISO, I was shooting at f2.8 and I was still only getting shutter speeds of around 1/20th.  Flash, not that I had one with me isn’t an option at live shows like this.   My hit rate took a tumble, I must have deleted about 85% of the shots either on the night or in post editing.

Given the lighting, and it was the first time I’ve photographed comedy, I’m really pleased with the results.

Digging again through my archives I found these photographs I’d taken of living legend Rolf Harris when he played a gig at the Eastleigh Summer Festival back in 2003.   Concert photography is hard enough at the best of times, and its not made any easier when you’re shooting from the back row of the audience, from the wrong angle, and still trying to get some good shots off.

It was the second time I’d seen Rolf in concert, the first being on the main Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury festival a couple of years earlier.  He was there with his didgeridoo and wobbleboard, singing all his old classics, “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport”, “Sun Arise”, “Jake the Peg”, “Fine Day”, and “Two Little Boys”.

I was searching through some of my old photos to see what I could use for today’s almost daily photo when I came across some I took the day Formula 1 came to London.  It was back in the summer of 2004.  It was only a demonstration I believe to show the potential for a real race on the streets of the capital, but as you can see thousands of people turned out to watch, or more accurately to listen.  Getting a view was nigh on impossible for most people.

I’d forgotten about these photos until I found them last night.  I even managed to grab a couple of bad shots of Formula 1 legends Nigel Mansell and David Courthard.

Will Formula 1 ever return to the streets of London?  One can but hope, it would be quite a spectacle.

It was the first work day after Christmas, the rain was chucking it down, and I had a headshot photoshoot to do.  My subject was former SKY TV Gladiator Atlas, and current Southampton Mayflower Theatre panto (Santa Claus and the Return of Jack Frost) star playing evil henchman ‘Thaw the Glaciator’, Sam Bond.

It was the first time in years I’d been inside the Mayflower Theatre, as well as my first photoshoot there.  I love having access to buildings and places that you normally you can’t get into.

I’d decided before leaving home that I was going to shoot with natural / available lighting.  I was travelling light, with just my Canon 5d mark ii, and Canon 70-200 f2.8 lens.  Lighting in the auditorium was about as bad as bad can get.  The seats were lit by several lights high up on the ceiling some 30 metres away.  It was the daylight equivalent to shooting under the midday sun.

This was the second time I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sam, the first being on a lovely summers afternoon at Portland Bill, Dorset.  Then we were working with wonderful sunlight, a reflector and a stunning location.

Sam knows what he wants, he knows his angles and what works best for him.  This I like because it helps the whole process as it becomes more of a collaboration between photographer and subject.

If you have great lighting and an experienced subject then normally you’ll end up with lots of images to select from.  Poor lighting and an inexperienced model and the numbers go down drastically.  Today we had poor lighting but an experienced model, so we were somewhere in the middle.