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The Wonder Stuff – Islington Academy

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Last night I shot The Wonder Stuff at Islington Academy. To cut to the chase, the gig was great. First up was Erica’s band EN, not being familiar with her new album I was pleasantly surprised, fun quirky and very rock influenced, just look at Erica, it’s what you’d expect isn’t it.

I’ve seen Erica play with both Miles and The Wonder Stuff many times before and although an integral part of the band she is always in the shadow of Miles larger than life personality. It was great to see her stand up in her own right enjoying the moment getting into her music and letting go. We all found out the Erica has another talent too, she can play guitar pretty well as well as the violin.

After a brief respite it was time for The Wonder Stuff to take the stage. The band kicked off with a track from the new album Oh No It’s The Wonder Stuff, then straight back into the old favourites from the first three albums, Eight Legged Groove Machine, HUP and Never Loved Elvis. The crowd wasted no time in getting into the groove, it didn’t take long for the mosh pit to take shape, maybe not quite as energetically as first time round as most of the crowd are in their forties now.

The band seemed to be enjoying themselves too, each having their own feature. New boy Stevie Wyatt doing an excellent job on lead guitar. I even saw Mark McCarthy smile more than once, there’s a sign if ever there was one that things were going well!

Photographically this was a fairly straight forward gig. Shot with the Canon 5d mkIII Tamron 24-70 and Canon 70-200 all at f2.8. One thing that I learnt was to always check that the camera is in autofocus, I must have knocked one of the switches on the Tamron when changing lenses. Consequently One of Erica’s songs is slightly out of focus.

 

UFC on Fuel TV 9

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This weekend I had my first experience of a UFC event. It was exciting from the off – hard work and long days but well worth it. I was shooting on behalf of MMAPLUS who looked after me very well.

We shot the weigh-in on Friday then the main event on the Saturday. The Globe Arena where UFC on Fuel TV 9 was held was massive – possibly the largest venue I have been in, let alone shot in.

Full set of UFC on Fuel TV 9 images can be found HERE

One of the highlights for me was the uber confident Conor McGregor who had handbags with his opponent Marcus Brimage during the weigh-in. Striding into the ring and shadow boxing showing off his skills this promised to be an explosive fight. The crowd were not disappointed when Mcgregor won through KO in the first round. He was awarded KO of the night and was understandably overjoyed in the press conference after the fights, dressed in a tweed jacket and bow tie Conor couldn’t contain himself and was clearly overjoyed. The fighter was previously on welfare and after gainign the KO award was $60, 000 better off. What would he do with his winnings he was asked – “buy a nice car and some suits”.

All of the bouts were great, the highlight was seeing Brad Pickett get his win and Fight of The Night over Mike Easton, the fight went to the third round with a split decision  (30-27×2, 28-29).

The main event was somewhat controversial after Gustafsson pulled out after receiving a cut to his eye earlier in the week. Local fighter Lafiti stepped up to the mark with only four days notice, cut weight and got in the ring to the loudest cheers of the night, the reserved Swedish crowd really getting behind their fighter. In the end Mousasi won with a masterclass in striking, controlling the centre of the cage dishing out jabs at will. From memory Mousasi only landed a handful of clean strikes throughout the three rounds.

 

Glory 5

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I was lucky to be invited to take photos for MMAPlus at Glory 5 this weekend. This was the biggest kickboxing event that the ?UK has ever seen so I was pretty stoked about the opportunity to say the least. After a few hassles getting in and getting the press seats sorted out we were treated to an awesome night of action from some of the biggest names in the world of kickboxing. The Excel arena was packed to the rafters. This was possibly the best organised martial arts event that I have been to.

The highlight of the night was the Spong vs Bonjasky fight and it didn’t disappoint. The young pretender taking on the seasoned veteran. Spong won in the second round with a straight KO.

Despite taking around 2000 photos there were a great deal that were unusable. Not sitting ringside mean that many of the images were ‘ropy’ and I have possibly 200 with the ropes in focus and fighters out of focus. this was not an easy night to shoot. Overall I’m very happy with the results given that its the first time I have been to an event and not been proper cage / ring side and the first that I have shot in a ring as opposed to a cage.

Lillesden School For Girls – Model Shoot

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Recently I was approached and asked if I would like to take some photos for an online magazine that will be published soon. Of course I jumped at the chance and soon plans were hatched. We decided top head to one of my favorite urbex locations – Lillesden School for Girls. I’ve been here many times before, the first most likely around four years ago, it was one of the first handful of locations I went to in the UK. Sadly the location is quickly becoming very derelict and not particularly safe. However it is still very usable.

We were exceptionally happy to hear that the renovation will be starting very shortly at Lillesden School For Girls and may well be underway by the time this is posted.

This was the first time that I had shot anyone who wasn’t someone I already knew so I was slightly nervous, however everything went well. Two models were shot, quite different from each other, but equally as good and as brave for standing in the cold. I tried to work as quick as possible and hopefully got some decent images. I shot using both single strobes and softboxes as well as using the three light technique, some with a single umbrella. Its a great setup as very portable and easy to setup and break down and doesn’t take up too much space, this is a similar technique to how I shoot my MMA portrait images.

The idea of the shoot was to showcase Harriet Parry Flowers so I have intentionally tried to accentuate the flower creations.

Faux flower cuffs Harriet Parry Flowers
Photography Mark Blundell
Hair and makeup Jodi CorpeArt direction Joanne Wood
Models Clara Lynn Smith at Oxygen Model Management and Emma Meyrowitz

 

The Asylum

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Through the random nature of the internet I came across this location The Asylum. It’s a chapel in a converted almshouse complex fairly near to where I live. The name is somewhat misleading as I don’t believe that the location was ever an actual ’asylum’ for the insane.

I shan’t repeat the history from the owners website, everything you need to know about The Asylum can be found HERE. The location can be hired for all sorts of events and there were people chatting to the owner (Dido) about holding an art exhibition and weddings, I believe that there was some ballet taken place previously as there was lots of fake snow on the floor!

I contacted the owner and arrange a shoot there this morning. Due to the fact that it is used for several different situations there were a lot of people in and out. Dido was kind enough to let me shoot after the people had left which was great. No time restriction and the ability to do as I wished without blurry people in shot.

 

 

Click the image above to view The Asylum in full 360 glory.

 

The image is made up of 18 images each with three shots run through Photomatix and Photoshop using Nik filters.

 

(Mark Blundell)

 

(Mark Blundell)

(Mark Blundell)

 

 

 

London Shootfighters Shoot

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Before Christmas I was invited to take some pictures at the London Shootfighters gym. Its an impressive place with some great equipment and some superb athletes. I was really happy with the images  and the  lighting setup worked very well indeed.

We were there primarily to shoot John Hathaway, one of the UFC fighters at the gym, during the time we also shot several of the other guys, each unsurprisingly was an absolute star. I’d very much like to do more of this sort of shoot, its great fun and the results are sweet as well!

End of Year Summary

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As seems to be the norm with photographers I thought that I’d sum up the last twelve months in a single post. It’s far too difficult to pick out twelve images so I’ll just add a few and give thanks to several people on the way.

The highlight of the start of the year was my trip to Italy with my friend Jeremy. We hit up a load of great locations, abandoned factories, houses and hospitals. We managed to get caught a couple of times too which kept things exciting.

It was around this time that I shot Laura’s Loo. A fantastic conversion from abandoned Victorian toilet to a superb apartment. The images were used in Transmitter, our local free magazine. From here things started to take a different tack, Laura asked me to shoot some images of the local Mixed Martial Arts club that she attends, happily I accepted, unbeknown to me this would set me off in a direction I wasn’t expecting.

 

In May Laura asked if I would like to come to an MMA event that she was fighting at, of course I accepted. From the off I was hooked, great athletes, lots of action and a really clued up crowd of people involved in the sport too. Since then I’ve been to quite a few MMA events and taken some decent pictures. I have also had the good fortune to be used for several articles in Fighting Fit and also this months MMA Uncaged, something that I am exceedingly great full for. It’s quite gratifying for me to see my work in print.

Events leading up to the end of the year were nothing short of stellar. I got to shoot some of my favourite bands, bands that I have been following for more than twenty years and seen many, many times before, and will hopefully see many times again. So thanks to Carter USM, The Wonder Stuff, CUD, Neds, Jesus Jones, The Wedding Present.

There are a few people I should thank for making this year one of my best, helping me out and just generally being nice, in no particular order . . .

RomanyWG
Laura and Colin at New Wave Academy
Stephen Doran and Daniel Movahedi at Fury MMA
Harry Shoebridge at UCMMA
George McCann at Love 2 Fight
Adam Parrott at Katana
Helen Parish
Paul Regan
Paul Fitz
Danny at Fighting Fit
Alan at MMA Uncaged

Of course I need to give thanks to my lovely girlfriend Viveca for putting up with me and for not moaning too much when I’m out on a Saturday again.

At the start of last year I couldn’t have expected to have achieved all that I have over the last twelve months, it’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of time has been spent travelling, waiting, processing and the like. However it’s been worth it and I wouldn’t change any of it.

Wistman’s Wood Panorama

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My friend Jeremy and I generally meet up over New Year for a camera walk as our relatives both reside close to each other. I think that the last two years we have gone to Wistman’s as its a safe bet for decent pictures. The weather during the morning when we met was not good at all – wet, windy, hail and just generally yuk, We retired to Yelverton for a coffee and chat. Jeremy and I said our goodbyes and I headed back to the woods to have a other crack as the the weather was a lot better.

Click the image for the full 360!

This is just a really quick edit on my laptop – it’s not particularly good as processing an image that is a composite of 18 shots on a 10 inch netbook is somewhat tedious, I’ll be re-doing this on my return to the real world where PCs run a little faster.

 

 

The Wonder Stuff – Sleigh The UK – Shepherds Bush Empire

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Another week another awesome gig. This time my all time favorite band The Wonder Stuff were headlining at The Empire. Supporting The Wonder Stuff were Pop Will Eat Itself and Jesus Jones, more favorites from back in the day. The tour has been aptly named Sleigh The due due to it being near Christmas, and what a present it was.

Jesus Jones kicked off proceedings with a trip through the back catalogue Mike Edwards as vital as ever and still serving up the goods to the assembled crowd.

 

The set list is HERE on Spotify

Immediately following Jesus Jones were Pop Will Eat Itself. I’ve only seen PWEI once before and that was a treat, this surpassed that evening by a long way, the band were tight and obviously enjoying themselves, again belting out the hits. After my regulatory ‘three tracks no flashes’ I got back in amongst it – the mosh pit was going off and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves to the max.

Finally to the main event. I’ve seen The Wonder Stuff many times and have probably contributed to Miles mortgage quite considerably over the years. I think that the first time I went to see them I was 17, I’m now 41. The band has changed over this time with Miles the only remaining member, however the changing personnel has not dampened the enjoyment of all involved, not least the crowd.

The encore was started with a superb rendition of Duran Duran’s Planet Earth, which despite it origin worked really well.

The set list is on Spotify HERE

All in all it was a superb night, a great finish to what has been a superb year for me. My photography is really coming along and I’ve developed another branch of interest which I really enjoy.

CUD @ Water Rats 15/12/12

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This evening I went to CUD and One Eyed Wayne at Water Rats near Kings Cross. I’ve never been to the venue before but heard plenty about it in the past and I’m pretty sure that several big names have played there in one guise or another over the years.

OEW were great providing a good warm up to The Cud Band who were nothing short of superb. The set consisted of the crowd pleasers and ran thought the back catalogue nicely. A new song ‘Louise’ was played which got a great reaction from those assembled. Carl was on form as ever and the banter was ever present between songs.
Despite the gig being awesome, it was a really hard show to shoot. Lighting was poor and due to the size of the venue there is no photographers pit meaning that there was a constant battle to be able to hold steady as people danced behind me.
What I am discovering after having shot a few gigs is that photography and appreciation of the gig are almost mutually exclusive. There are few things in life that to me beat seeing a band live. Especially one of my favorite bands. Obviously I also enjoy taking pictures. However since I’ve been taking my camera to concerts I’ve found it hard to concentrate and enjoy the music as much as I would like.  I’ve had to do the job of photographer as well which takes a good deal of thought and concentration at the same time, often I have to block the music out and ensue I am doing a good job of taking pictures, checking composition and exposure as I go. Shooting gigs is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. The smaller the venue the poorer the lighting which makes everything harder to work with.
Maybe I need to go and shoot some music I don’t know or that has no emotional bond to my past and see what happens.
I have my favorite band to shoot next week – The Wonder Stuff so I’ll see how I feel about that, I know for a fact the when Viveca and I go to Soulwaxmas next weekend I’ll wish I had my camera, however I’m sure that the music will mean so much more without my 5D around my neck.

 

Delphic at Electrowerkz 11/12/12

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I was extremely lucky to spot the most excellent Delphic on tour at Electrowerkx in London and equally lucky to snare a photo pass for the gig.
I’d seen Delphic some time ago, maybe 2oo8 supporting Orbital at Brixton Academy and kept my eye on them since. The first album, Acolyte is superb and should certainly be invested in. I’ve been waiting for the second to be released since then.
The evening was nothing short of superb. I’ve been to a lot of gigs, a few bands of which turned out to be pretty big in the end. I have Andy Wilson to thank for taking me to see Blur in Aldershot touring ‘Shes’ So High‘  for instance. I felt the same this evening. If Delphic had been born earlier I would liken them to World of Twist or The Paris Angels, certainly the  latter and I wish them more mainstream success than both of these under rated Madchester era outfits.


The set was a mix of the old and new, the crowd responding well to both. The band  are polished, older songs belted out with conviction. The evening kicked off with the new tune Baiya and finished off with favourites Acolyte and Counterpoint from the previous album.

I’m excited about the second album release next month and expecting a full tour as the band work there way up the ladder and deservedly so.

UCMMA 31

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A little late on getting this weeks entry up. I had a mad Saturday and Sunday – UCMMA 31 on Saturday and Fight Scene 5 on Sunday. Minimal sleep and lots of work. Over the two events I shot around 2,500 images.

UCMMA 31 was awesome as expected. Great fights and superb matching ensuring that the punters got what they paid for.

Full UCMMA 31 gallery HERE

UCMMA 31 Press Conference at Troxy

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I’m lucky enough to be shooting UCMMA 31 again this weekend. Part of the deal is that I go to the press conference prior to the main event. Its a really fun part of the build up and good to see all of the guys facing off to each other. Its also a bit different photographically as I have to use the flash on camera which isn’t something I regularly do.

There’s lots of good humored banter and a great deal of respect between the fighters, each confident in their own ability, the work that they have put in hopefully coming to fruition tomorrow evening at UCMMA 31 Troxy in London’s East End.

These guys are not mindless thugs, they are hard working athletes, training hard and cutting weight before the fight as hopefully can be evidenced by these pictures.

The Wedding Present Play Seamonsters at Koko

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Lat night I went to see The Wedding Present at Koko in Camden Town and was again lucky enough to be able to take my camera.

It’s not often that I moved to tears at a gig, there are a couple of regulars that do this, Mission Drive by The Wonder Stuff, a couple of Carter USM tracks to name but a few that always get the tears flowing, songs that men something to me.  Twice this evening i found myself getting a little emotional  maybe the songs, maybe the fact I had waited around twenty years for this, probably a bit of both.

Last night The Wedding Present played the whole of Seamonsters, an album that I was listening to when I was working in Gibraltar, I’d met my first love and split up with her in the same year and the songs from this album seemed to speak to me. I was doing a lot of cycling at this time and this album was one of a couple that I used to listen to whilst climbing through the hills of southern Spain.

I’d been at school when John Peel was championing the Leeds four-piece and must admit to not really  ’getting’ their music at the time, as my musical taste matured I learnt to appreciate what Peel had seen.

FULL UNEDITED GALLERY

Hearing the same tunes belted out by The Wedding Present  twenty years later live at Koko brought all the memories flooding back. The members of the band may have changed with David Gedge heading up the four piece, however the angst, vitriol and vigor were still apparent throughout the set. Strumming and singing as if the lyrics were written yesterday, emotions still raw in the memory.

The songs either side of the album were both old and new (Deer Caught in The Headlights  - Valentina 2012) showing that Gedge’s playing and writing skills have not been diluted over the years. Sharp lyrics and superb musical skills on show from the off.

The Seamonsters album was played from start to finish with no banter in-between songs as Gedge claimed it upset the story, I have to say I agree, the album ebbs and flows nicely and banter would only upset this journey.

Despite calls for Kennedy as the last track, the band finished off with the rolling guitar riffs of “What Have I Said Now” a suitable end to the evening showing that David Gedge has not lost any of the manic strumming ability over the years.

No encores, The Wedding Present come to showcase their no frills guitar rock music. You pay your money you know what you are going to get, great love songs from end to end. Last night all in attendance got an absolute treat, I’ll certainly be on the lookout for the band playing in London agian.

Carter USM at Brixton Academy

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I shot Carter USM this weekend at Brixton Academy, It’s a venue I have been going to for over twenty years and must have seen over 50 bands there. I have never however been the right side of the barriers with my camera.

The was quite some gig for me. Carter USM were supported by Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and CUD, two of my favorite bands who I have also followed for many, many years. I had three of the best bands in the world on the same bill for the price of one. Pretty much a dream come true in so many ways. I had been getting somewhat excited all week about this one, the anticipation building as what for me, was all my Christmases arriving at once.

Every one of the performers was top drawer and exactly what I was expecting – CUD, their usual funky selves, Carl strutting his stuff as only he can. Ned’s also superb with John Penny still exuding the energy that he had 20 years ago, albeit with shorted hair. Topped off with the amazing Carter USM, Jimbob and Fruitbat produced a superlative set, polished performances and classic songs.

 

Full galleries are here

Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine

Neds Atomic Dustbin

CUD

Photographically this was the most challenging shoot I have done. The lighting was IMMENSE for all three bands, Carter especially. I must admit that I did do a good deal of ‘just taking the shot’ with little thouguth of composition. The musicians move around a lot and the contrast between the lights and people on stage was hard to deal with.

All images were taken with a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS USM MkII at F2.8. This lens is AWESOME.

 

Around the Bend

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Its been a while since I’ve posted an urbex pic, so here we go.

In the UK we don’t have that many bendy corridors so this was a little special. The hospital was very bare, but had a few nice features but very little in the way of beds and the like so not the most interesting explore, it was pretty easy though so made for a decent couple of hours.

(Mark Blundell)

 

Team Underground MMA

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My friend Danielle West of Team Underground MMA and New Wave Academy asked me if  I would be able to take some more shots of her for a fight that she may be doing in Asia for her sponsors  I’d had a day off on Thursday and suggested that it would be a good idea to fit her in then.

Earlier that day I’d shot Brad Pickett and after that drove to South London to meet Danielle. The shoot was fairly straight forward, one light and shot in the cage that they have at the gym.

Team Underground were exceptionally welcoming and once again everyone was exceptionally nice, we had a laugh and joke whilst doing this.

The whole myth about ‘Cage Fighters’ really needs to be dispelled. Although I have only been involved in the scene for a few months, I have yet to meet someone who fits the tabloid stereotype of a ‘Cage Fighter’. These are experienced hard working and clean living guys who train daily and weekly to attain the best state of fitness possible. To a man, each eats well and doesn’t involve themselves in any of the daily vices that many others enjoy. If this were not the case then there is no way that they would be able to compete in three five minute rounds of hardcore exercise, both dishing out and receiving punishment.

The images were all shot with my Canon 5D mk3 and a 85mm prime. Processing is a secret ;-)

London Fightshooters – John Hathaway

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I was lucky enough to be asked to shoot John Hathaway and some of the other fighters  London Fightshooters this week.

This is the first time I have shot someone in the UFC and I have to say John was an absolute pleasure to work with.He’s currently 17 -1 which is a pretty impressive record!

(Mark Blundell)

As some of you know I’m fairly new to the scene and as such I don’t really know who the stars are and therefore don’t get starstruck. I actually find this to be a massive benefit. No matter who I am shooting each person is treated in the same polite manner, just as they should be. Consequently I’m no more (or less) nervous whether I’m shooting a local club fighter or someone who is one of the top dogs like UFC’s John Hathaway.

I have plenty more from this shoot but can’t post them as yet as they may be used for publication in a UK magazine.

This image was shot inside the London Shootfighters cage using a three strobe set-up. I think that this was taken with one light in front and to the right, one up high and to the left and another three quarters behind. This is one of my favourite shots of the set, somewhat unposed as I has asked John to do a little slow shadow boxing and not actually pose for a few.

 

Shock n Awe 12

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This weekend it was Shock n Awe 12 in Portsmouth. My wonderful mate at UNCAGED sorted me out at fairly short notice, so it was touch and go as to whether I’d be able to make it. Luckily he cam through and I was on my way down south.

Another production that I’d not been to before and was therefore unsure of what to expect. I can stay however that the night was awesome, superbly organised from the off. The fighting was great with the finale an excellent match between Mike Ling and Stuart Tyrie, stopped on a TKO due to some fairly substantial cuts.

The processed gallery is below, I’ll be adding to this during the week.

 

 

Full Shock n Awe Gallery Here

 

Photographically this was interesting, I thought that I would try something different at Shock n Awe. I’m in the market for a new lens for this type of shooting as its something that I really enjoy. I had hired a 24-70mm f2.8 and a 70-200 f2.8. The former being what i thought I would use the most, however once I got the 70 on my 5D  Mk3 I couldn’t take it off – it performed superbly. Sharp images, great zoom, fast focusing  I couldn’t want for a better tool.  If anyone wants to sponsor me for one, they’re around £1,800 and I’ll gladly punt your products!