Recent Stuff Update;

I've not posted for a little while but it's been a very full period. A number of shoots, including The Maccabees who I'm a fan of, plus meetings; new contacts and future work. Went to Kurran and the Wolfnotes gig in London, I shot them last year for a portrait shoot, and talked with Kurran after the gig - they are recording an album soon, so may do an 'In The Studio' shoot with them during the recording. Look out for them, a great new band.
Also went to my friend Roxanne de Bastion's single release party/gig. I shot the cover for the single (below).

Roxanne de Bastion 'Buckle Up'. 2011.
Photography © Michael Robert Williams

Also took a little, much needed, break. Just a simple week in Spain, drinking lots of wine and eating too much. Note to self - must make time for a proper, long, holiday next year. Took my usual snaps while travelling - here's an almost postcard picture from Malaga... It's really not a sunset - I just really like shooting into the sun :P

Malaga, Spain, Nov 2011 © Michael Robert Williams

Things I heard or saw recently;
Loved the movie 'Drive'.
Loving Lana Del Rey's song 'Video Games'.
Ryan Adams new album 'Ashes & Fire'.
Watching 'Boardwalk Empire'.
Listening to lots of Prince :)

mx

One From The Archives - REM, Live In London;

Michael Stipe, REM, Live in London, 30th August 2008
© Michael Robert Williams

I thought I'd pull another photograph out of my archives as I've been sorting them out recently. With the news a couple of weeks ago about REM calling it a day, this is a photograph I shot at what turned out to be their very last show in England. I don't shoot gigs very often now, I prefer to actually just watch the show when I'm at a gig, but as an REM fan I decided to get a pass for this one.

Mx

Guillemots Shoot;

Guillemots, 2011 © Michael Robert Williams

These are a series of portraits from my shoot with Guillemots this summer, photographed out in North London...









Mx

Archives & Unpublished Portraits:

I've been sorting out my archives, organising the files, etc. Not exciting work in one sense but its been interesting to see many photos I'd forgotten I'd taken. Often only a few portraits from shoots get used at the time and many others never get finished at all. If its a magazine shoot say, and they run four or five photographs from a shoot, there are others that are edited out and not used for whatever reason, maybe they didn't fit the feel of the feature, or were similar to another that was used.
I'll have to find a way to use some as I really like many of them. I'll just put up one example below. Its a shoot I did with Kasabian in 2006 for U.S. magazine Filter. A few portraits ran with the story, one of them is the landscape format portrait of the group on a city rooftop, below. The other two, the playful group shot, and the photograph of singer Tom Meighan on his own were not run with the feature, so I thought I'd share them here today.

One of the published portraits. Kasabian, 2006 © Michael Robert Williams


Tom Meighan, Kasabian, 2006 © Michael Robert Williams


Kasabian, 2006 © Michael Robert Williams

I may post others from sessions but I thought these may be interesting to see as an example. Some may be posted on my Facebook page too, here; Michael Robert Williams FB.

Mx

Behind The Scenes; Klaxons Shoot.

I've been spending a lot of time recently sorting out archive images, organising, etc. Getting new promo cards and stuff done too, and need to update, maybe completely redo, my print books.

While sorting through files I found these behind the scenes photos taken by my photo assistant Clare Lewington. They were shot during the 2010 shoot with the band Klaxons. I thought I'd post them here as I always like behind the scenes photo's myself :)

Below; one of the finished portraits of
Klaxons © Michael Robert Williams


Opening spread from a magazine feature.

Mx

Metronomy; How we wrote... The Bay

As anyone who follows my Facebook page knows already I love the new Metronomy album The English Riviera. I was lucky enough to spend a little time in the studio with Joseph Mount while it was being made and I heard a few things then and knew it was going to be great. I found this video on the Guardians website and thought I'd share it here too;

These are a few of the photographs I shot while Metronomy were recording The English Riviera
album.





Michael

Bob Dylan On His Work;

'I take (my work) less seriously than anybody. I know that it's not going to help me into heaven one little bit, man. It's not going to get me out of the fiery furnace. It's certainly not going to extend my life any and it's not going to make me happy.'
-- Bob Dylan, talking in 1966 (from an article on the BBC site here).

I Love This Song;

Dusk is dawn is day
Where did it go?
I've been laughing
Fast and slow
Moving in a still frame
Howling at the moon
Morning found me laughing
Up and down, down
Low low low
Night suits me fine
And morning suits me fine
I've been so happy
Way up high, high
In between
Down below
Low low low

Low - R.E.M.

Monarchy Portraits;

These are two of my portraits from my shoot with the electronic duo Monarchy. Their debut album, Around The Sun, is out next month.

Monarchy by Michael Robert Williams ©

Mx

The Pierces Portraits;

A series of portraits from my shoot with US band The Pierces;

The Pierces by Michael Robert Williams

Sisters Catherine and Allison Pierce, The Pierces, photographed in London. Their new album, You & I, was released last month.

A shortish shoot, a few props, two lights...

Michael

Today.

It's an odd feeling when you wake up and something in the world changed overnight while you were sleeping.

Garry Winogrand Quote On Photography;

'I like to think of photographing as a two-way act of respect. Respect for the medium by letting it do what it does best, describe. And respect for the subject by describing it as it is. A photograph must be responsible to both.
I photograph to see what things look like photographed.'
-- Garry Winogrand.

The Bends;

Its been a long time and there have been many others since but, after buying the 3 disc version and playing it all over again, I’ve fallen in love again with Radiohead's ‘The Bends’...

Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out), Live at The Astoria

That's it, all I have to say today.
M

Last Week;

Hi...

The last week has been good, a couple of shoots & meetings, but mainly planning next weeks crazy week of shooting. I did photograph one of my favourite new bands this week - a short shoot in Kentish Town with Two Wounded Birds just before their gig. Check out their songs, I love 'Night Patrol' - great band;

Night Patrol by Two Wounded Birds

Also while I'm talking about music - OK, so I love Rumours era Fleetwood Mac, but check out this great cover of 'The Chain' by Florence & The Machine;

Hard song to cover well - its so well known, and that bass line!

Michael

Facebook & Twitter Links;

Hi - I've been asked about these before in emails sent to me, yes I do have a Facebook page. I do use it for those shorter, random updates that don't go on here. There is Twitter too which sometimes gets even shorter messages, but really what can you say in 140 characters :P

These are the links to my pages on those sites;

Michael Robert Williams Photography on Facebook.

Michael Robert Williams Photography on Twitter.

Plus my website; www.michaelwilliams.co.uk

Recent work updates will be coming soon.
Michael

1970's Fleetwood Mac...

Just because;

Fleetwood Mac 'Rhiannon'

Fleetwood Mac 'Dreams' (Circa 1977)

1970's Fleetwood Mac :)
Stevie Nicks is one of the greatest singers ever (and one of the hottest, lets be honest). I want to go back in time Michael J Fox style and photograph Fleetwood Mac then, maybe document the whole Rumours period.
I'm having a major 70's music phase right now...

'It was my 16th birthday - my mom and dad gave me my Goya classical guitar that day. I sat down, wrote this song, and I just knew that that was the only thing I could ever really do - write songs and sing them to people.'
-- Stevie Nicks.

Michael

Website Updates - Feb 2011;

My website, www.michaelwilliams.co.uk, has just been updated. It's now had some new work added, including the portraits below of The Pierces, Klaxons, Carl Barat, and Underworld.

www.michaelwilliams.co.uk

The Pierces © Michael Robert Williams

Klaxons © Michael Robert Williams


Carl Barat © Michael Robert Williams


Underworld © Michael Robert Williams

January 2011.

It's the end of January already. Quick update; 2011 got started with a few shoots in London and one in Sheffield. After shooting in Sheffield I went for a drive across the Peak District and went to visit my family in Cheshire, shot the snap below of the sun setting over the Peak District - yep it was so nice & peaceful I even shot the sunset!

Driving across the Peak District, Jan 2011.

On my playlist this month has been; Band of Horses, Jane's Addiction, The Gaslight Anthem, Lissie, The Naked & Famous, and REM. I finally got around to watching 'The Social Network', which I really liked, and watched 'The Fighter' (Christian Bale is always so good), and watched the experimental film 'Howl', featuring a fantastic central performance from James Franco as Allen Ginsberg.

The website is being updated soon with portraits of artists including Carl Barat, Underworld, The Pierces, Monarchy, and Klaxons.

Michael

'Not all those who wander are lost.'

Happy New Year!

OK I know it's the 4th already but I wasn't going anywhere near a computer for the first few days - time off n all that...

Now I'm starting to think about work again. I have things I want to do this year. I'm planning. Thinking about work and personal plans - these things all kind of blur into one for me; 'life plans' I guess.


'When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.'
- Lao Tzu

'You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.'
- Albert Camus

'The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.'
- Lao Tzu

'Not all those who wander are lost.'
- J.R.R. Tolkien


I'm excited about what 2011 may bring.
Happy New Year everyone.

Michael