Last Month I Was Mostly Doing;

Life in Michaelville has been kinda busy recently, with the promotional stuff being done and new promo material being planned, and of course the shoots. Recent shoots have included portraits of new UK bands Dog Is Dead and The Heartbreaks, Conservative peer Lord Lamont, and corporate whistleblower Michael Woodford among others.

This is one of my Dog Is Dead portraits, and the others below are of Suzanna Aztoria of Trailer Trash Tracys, photographed in a recording studio in London.

Dog Is Dead © Michael Robert Williams

Suzanna Aztoria, Trailer Trash Tracys, In The Studio, London

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Dizzee Rascal Portraits;

I was watching The South Bank Show on Sky Arts this week, the episode was all about UK Grime music. It was an interesting documentary on the origins of the sound and interviews with its pioneers, including Dizzee Rascal. I photographed Dizzee Rascal in 2004 in London around the time of his debut album 'Boy in da Corner'. I'd loved his track 'Fix Up, Look Sharp', with its edgy sound and attitude, it felt like London, it wasn't trying to be American - the UK now had a young rapper who could compete with anyone and had his own voice. Dizzee was still young but you could tell from his music and from talking with him that he'd seen a lot already.
This documentary came at a funny moment as in the same week I'd been sorting through my portraits of Dizzee as I was re-editing a lot of my work for my new website (going live in a couple of weeks). Only two of these have been seen much before, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to show the portraits here as an expanded set.

Dizzee Rascal, London © Michael Robert Williams

 

 

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Famous Music Locations In London;

Music is something I'm extremely passionate about, and it's a large part of my work. Something I do sometimes when I'm out and have some time is to photograph London locations which have become famous in music. I'm getting quite a collection now gradually but I've also recently started taking quick photos using the Instagram app while I'm taking the main photographs. I thought I'd share a few of the quick ones here.

A London location made famous in music;  'Savoy Steps' - The alley in London where Bob Dylan made the Subterranean Homesick Blues promo video, filmed by D. A. Pennebaker. It was one of the very first music promo clips and the cue cards idea in the film has been 'borrowed' by many others.

'Savoy Steps, London' 2012 © Michael Robert Williams
Shot using Instagram.

'Denmark Street, London WC2'.
'Denmark Street' gave it's name to a song by The Kinks, but the street itself has a long history with British music dating back to the 1950's. The Rolling Stones recorded their first album at studios on Denmark St, Jimi Hendrix too, and Elton John wrote 'Your Song' there. It's also home to a number of music shops.

'Denmark Street, London' 2012 © Michael Robert Williams

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May - A Few Words & Pics;

A few more recent shoots; sessions with UK band Dog Is Dead in the recording studio, and portraits of Toni Warne from The Voice TV Show, social networking expert Christophe Langlois, and UK band Catfish & The Bottlemen.

  Motorway & Services, 2012 © Michael Robert Williams
Shot using Instagram.

April News;

Time I think for an update of what I've been up to recently. There has been a number of interesting shoots over recent weeks, mainly music based. A few recent shoots include music legend Joan Armatrading, US group Crocodiles, and new artists Man Like Me. I'll post some new work here soon.

I've been taking lots of snaps with Instagram too, seems I'm a convert.

In my downtime personally I'm very happy to have Mad Men back on the TV, one of my favourite shows. I'm enjoying Game of Thrones too, and started watching Friday Night Lights from the beginning.

Violet Hill, London, April 2012 © Michael Robert Williams

Henri Cartier-Bresson On Photography;

'The eye does the framing and the camera does the work. It registers the decision the eye makes. You see a photograph all at once.'
-- Henri Cartier-Bresson

February News;

Daytona Lights © Michael Robert Williams

February just kinda flew by, some shoots but also so much time spent on the website / promo material. Many late nights, lots of coffee / wine & much music listened to. Edit is now pretty much done, but still the build to complete. Still hoping to be finished and online in March sometime.

Listening to a lot of Bowie, The Horrors, Arcade Fire, Lana Del Rey, and Depeche Mode. Saw Cloud Control's show in London too. Also good to read a lot of good things about Daytona Lights recently, I shot them a while ago (above), really nice guys.

Saw 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' and loved the new version as much as the original, maybe more - David Fincher is one of my favourite directors. Must admit I'm excited too that Mad Men returns soon.

Lastly, this is a recent portrait, I photographed Tim Jackson (author, economist, and founder of RESOLVE), for Australian magazine 'In The Black' - see, I don't only photograph musicians :P

Tim Jackson © Michael Robert Williams

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