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Flow Kolektiff
From mid-January, BlackBoxPhoto is a contributor to Flow Kolektiff, a group focused on PR and management. Our first assignment was to shot some portraits of the girls and overall pics. Turned out pretty fun – Magda and Natalia know how to behave in front of the camera.
Big thanks goes to Michał Jaskólski for his help during the shot and letting us to mess in his flat. Cheers mate!:)
Off Festival 2011 – Day 2
I don’t know what else can I add to what I wrote in the previous update. Oh, and it was raining a little. But it wasn’t as bad as what happened during the third day.
NOTE: Do NOT use any of those photos. All the coprights belong to me (Joanna ‘frota’ Kurkowska) and some pics belong exclusively to Wp.pl. And I’m good at sending invoices ;)
Off Festival 2011 – Day 1
Best festival? Best party? Best mates? I have one answer for that: Off Festival 2011. Everything was just perfect (except for the thunderstorm and me going back in the train with too much stuff) – we reserved four rooms in one hostel, talked about music and gigs all the time, swaped CDs, met some new people and ate in the best veggie place in Poland (in my opinion).
And the people. You’ve got to love off because of the people. All kinds of friends from all over Poland (and abroad), some you see every day, some just for a couple days in a month, some you meet once a year… But the music junkies are all there. Metalheads, ambient-lovers, drone troopers, pop fanatics, cold wave surfers, experimental geeks, dance dudes – Off, like any other Polish fest I’ve been to, brings them all together for three days od musical bliss. I don’t know ANYBODY (that’s right!) who didn’t like this year’s edition. Talked with around a 100 (or more…) people and everybody were happy as hell.
The bitter part was that the day before my clients server went down and because of some malfunctions, I had to upload the pics one by one. The biggest drag of all time and before I got to enjoy some free time before the gigs, I found myself uploading the pics one-by-one like crazy. Even worse, days before Off my D300 went crazy. Bogna Kociumbas helped A LOT lending me her D700 with 24-70 2.8 plus 85 1.4. A company of brothers that is hard to forget and for the three next days it was pure bliss to shot with this gear. I think, it was then when I’ve decided to buy the D700 as quickly as I could. And if anybody asks what’s the best festival coverage I’ve done in 2011 – I’m putting all my bets on Off 2011. Really nailed those shots!:)
NOTE: Do NOT use any of those photos. All the coprights belong to me (Joanna ‘frota’ Kurkowska) and some pics belong exclusively to Wp.pl. And I’m good at sending invoices ;)
B., M. & some random mess
During November & December I had to stay in Warsaw for a couple of weeks and stayed at Ola’s wonderful flat which has the largest number of CDs/vinyls per square. Meanwhile her boyfriend, Michał, came to visit and my friend Basia came around a couple of times so we managed to snap some random shots around the house. Nothing too serious but how can you be serious when there’s a pink flaming looking at you from you neighbor’s windows? Despite the opinions running around, Warsaw can be fun!:)
Some geek info: Mostly used 50 mm (plus Sigma’s 20 1.8) and natural lights. I’m totally in love with Ola’s walls. Great background!
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It was a very intense weekend (which started on Wednesday..). It began in Warsaw and ended in Gdańsk, where I shot SpaceFest for T-Mobile-Music and Projekt PR. Concentrated on spacerock/indie/drone/alternative sounds it’s one of the best indoor festivals I’ve seen this year and I hope a second edition will take place in 2012. Pure Phase Ensemble’s gig was just mindblowing. See for yourselves:
There’s gonna be a CD released from the gig and I’m so excited!!!
Muzyczny Pchli Targ – 6 XI 2011 – Desdemona, Gdynia
More pics from previous editions:
COKE LIVE MUSIC FESTIVAL PT.2 – 19-20 VIII 2011 – KRAKÓW, POLAND
(First part can be found here)
Coke always marks two things for me: the dawn of the summer festival season and time I’ve started comming to Kraków more often. This year it was also a beggining of an almost 2,5 week trip with three festivals, some vacation time and lots of drawing (thanks to Ulson, who made me come back to drawing..again!). And almost every time I come to Coke there’s always something wrong – in the previous years it has been my camera, my almost-broken knee. This year it was the uncertian weather, which affected the Pukkelpop and me limping (kids, never try to go into a moshpit after the doctor advised you not to do so – but the Deftones gig was AWESOME!). However, it was the most awesome Coke ever – lot’s of friends and workmates, great gigs (Editors blew me away..) and the weather turned out to be more awesome then Barney Stinson will ever be.
Coke was the first time I’ve managed to test out my new lens Nikkor 80-200, which worked just great (Of course, it’s not the Nikkor 70-200 mm F2.8 VR II, so it has some flawns). Pretty different focal length from what I was used to (50-150). So after completing some new lenses, lamps and acessories there was only one target left – a full-frame body. And because my D300 was not in such a great condition and I was tired of waiting for Nikon’s new model to be announced in the late October I purchased a D700. But that’s another story. If I ever win the lottery. I’m going straight to the store to buy a 14-24 2.8, 24-70 28 and a whole bunch of primes…
Kraftwerk Porn @ Soundedit Festival – 28/29 X 2011 – Łódź
Another year, another Soundedit festival. I’ve been there for two days, met some old friends, got an awesome birthday gift (thanks to A&A!)tested my new camera (finally it’s full frame, baby!), listened to some great music and shot some in-depth pics. But the most fun to do was to shoot the custom-made synthesizers. Really, I’ve spend like two hours around 6 machines, that were put up in the main hall for display. Screws, cables, switches – it all facinated me to the point one of my friends said shooting all this stuff is like shooting a synth porn… Maybe he’s right ;)
So no gigs today, just plain, sexy, stylish electronic porn. Just for you!
Any unauthorised usage of the photographs is prohibited!
Coke Live Music Festival Pt.1 – 19-20 VIII 2011 – Kraków, Poland
I hate shooting a big festival and having the worst lights ever. The small tent had only rear and upper lights and no fronts. ISO as high as 3200 won’t help a thing and the only lights available are really shitty. You either have to have Nikon’s SBs scattered around the set or be a Superman to come up with good visual stuff. Apart from that it was the first time I’ve tested Nikkor 80-200, which, with a crop, happens to be a great zoom. I’m selling my old Sigma 50-150, because it’s not an FX lens. If you’re interested in buying, contact me (froger3[@]gmail.com).
The publication got the colored ones but I played more with the pics and did the no-so-festival-like black and white style I usually use for hardcore and small club show. The rest of Coke Live is too colorfull to be published in BW – just the gigs from the small stage + Interpol, because their light sucked even more then those in Barcelona. However, I’m pretty happy with the shots and the post-production. Never seen such pics of Olivia Anna Livki or Parias done in that way!
Fans of You And Me At Six or The Kooks be patient. Those will be coming in shortly!
Didn’t have time to upload stuff from the summer but I’m still trying . “Pitty” more and more photos come in:)
Muzyczny Pchli Targ – 18 IX 2011 – Desdemona, Gdynia
Pics from the first edition can be found here. This was the second one and, to our suprise, even more people came and, after the whole market-crazyness we’ve decided that the next MFM will be held in Desdemona’s basement.
It’s really a great place for some vinyl hunting and casette scouting with various kinds of sounds. Modeselektor, Plum, Butthole Surfers, Aphex Twin, Slayer, Husky Rescue, Blue Raincoat, Air, Decide, Muse, Kenny Rogers, Kiev Office, Metallica – drop a name and it was probobly there. Also some guitars and drums were put up for sale. Nice stuff, decent prices!:) I’ve managed to stuff my pockets with 5 CDs with 2 of them being Delux Versions of Joy Division albums. Like Berney Stinson would say – Niiiiiiice!
We’re ready to expand the formula of the market and we’ll be planning something special for the next editions. We’re also setting up a facebook page so if you want to know what’s up and interested in the whole idea od MFM just search “Muzyczny Pchli Targ” in your facebook’s search box. Won’t be dissapointed, I promise.
PS. Thanks to Paweł Jóźwiak for borrowing me his photo gear.
Radiowy Dom Kultury @ Gdynia – 3 IX 2011
I started to listen to Trójka after I became dissatisfied with Radiostacja, my favorite radiostation at that time. To cut the long story short, I became hooked up and I’m still a fan of the station and even met many of my favorite journalists who work there. Every now and then we worked at the same festivals and I managed to snap some pics of how were they working. Pretty different from what I thought before, with lots of chaos going on on the backstage, but nothing to be too stressed about ;). Shooting Agnieszka Szydłowska, Michał Nogaś, Ernest Zozuń and their radio-mates running around Dar Pomorza was kind of fun ;) And, during yesterday’s program, Marta Szadowiak managed to pop in and tell a little bit more about the Artloop Festival in Sopot. Be sure to check it out!
PS. The festival season is over. I’ve managed to visit around 20 festivals in Kraków, Łódź and Trójmiasto among many others. One day wonders and “a couple of days” monsters. Club ones and open airs. From pop to metal, from ambient to punk – loved every single one. Unfortunately, my camera is dead-tired and there’s a problem with it’s mirror. I’ll be posting lost festival updates in the near future.
Oh, and looking for some commissions for the fall season. If interested, contact us.
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Muzyczny Pchli Targ – 24 VII – Desdemona, Gdynia
A Music Flea Market was organised by Boro, who’s a local DJ and a record collector. It was the kind of event that was missing in my hometown so I was waiting for it like hell and even managed to come back earlier from Szczecin just to pop up, shot some pics and buy some stuff (Hedone and Cool Kids Of Death poped in, among others). There were guitars, demo tapes, old Polish records, some foreign gems (Sonic Youth singles!) and mixers for sale. It was the first edition and hours after we already talking about the next one.
The Market was held in Desdemona – the best club in Gdynia because of the people and the music. It’s the only place you’ll walk in for a cup of tea and a beer and you can be easily surprised by Aphex Twin‘s “Selected Ambient Works“, Sonic Youth “Goo” or Glen Porter’s “Blessed By A Young Death” playing and if you ask nicely, and there’s no one around, I think they will play you some Slayer too;). Love it. If you’re in Trójmiasto and looking for a nice place to go – check in. It’s worth to even take a 30-minute train ride from Gdańsk and pop in there.
Portishead @ Malta Festival – 7 VII 2011
Perfect gig, great setlist, great crowd and the best “live” sound I’ve ever heard during a live performance. Portishead sounded BETTER than on their CDs – Amazing! I don’t know what to add more. Fleet Foxes played before them but, when you are waiting for Portishead, everything before is “just” a support (And the Foxes sounded like a reborn Simon & Garfunkel duo with more people in it). I hope they will return. Not soon, not now, but when the time’s just right.
Oh, and the birds are tweeting there’s gonna be a bootleg somewhere on the web. Be patient.
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Coldplay @ Heineken Open’er 2011 – 30 VI 2011
It’s already after Open’er and I’m stuck under gigabytes of RAW photos. Coldplay will come first as I was really wandering how it will be to shoot THE COLDPLAY, THE band that’s gonna be THE next U2. And it was..quite normal. Pretty normal, with no specific guidelines or anything. I liked it even more than I thought I would.
So here it goes! Have fun browsing through the pics! More will come (yeah, suer – I have Primavera stuff waiting for it and this was in May!)
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SAN MIGUEL PRIMAVERA SOUND 2011 @ BARCELONA, SPAIN – 26 V – Public Image Ltd, Of Montreal and Emeralds
A bit of an Off Festival 2011 commercial – P.I.L. will be playing there and so will Emeralds. Of Montreal played during the 08 edition. Be sure to check out Emeralds. Great set, event though their gig took place at about 17.30, not a good time for drone-el music kind of sounds. And P.I.L? Best money-oriented reunion I’ve seen in years!:)
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SAN MIGUEL PRIMAVERA SOUND 2011 @ BARCELONA, SPAIN – 26 V – the Flaming Lips and Seefeel
the Flaming Lips are always fun to shoot, but after the first time it gets a little bit boring. Off Festival rocked and we had more ballons then and , as we all know, the more ballons the better!
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SAN MIGUEL PRIMAVERA SOUND 2011 @ BARCELONA, SPAIN – 26 V – Interpol, Oneohtrix Point Never and Toundra
There was a time I’d sell my family just to be at their gig and listen to the debut album as a whole. Three LPs later I was really, really sad to see Interpol play some bad, bad stuff from their last CD. What happened? There were breathtaking moment such as this, but there were too few of them:
From a photographer’s point of view – lights sucked and because it was recorded they had microphones on the stage which got in the way. The gyus were a bit static and, well, blue was the dominant color.
I’ve seen only a couple of minutes (15?20?) of Oneohtrix Point Never and the guy and his live sets live up to the level of his last LP – he’ll be playing at Off Festival so if you’re going check him out. Toundra was the first gig I’ve photographed during Primavera and I will remember them more from that than from the music which was a nice blend of instrumental and post-rock sounds.
SAN MIGUEL PRIMAVERA SOUND 2011 @ BARCELONA, SPAIN – 26 V – Grinderman and Moonduo
I wanted to shot Nick Cave for a long, long time. It wasn’t with the Bad Seeds but it was quite as awesome as I imagined. The only drawback were too many photos in the pit (you couldn’t move freely – so pics taken from one spot) and lights. At some moments there were perfect and the other, not so good. I managed to shot a great (in my opinion) portrait of Cave and not only it landed in the gallery at T Mobile Music but is the “cover” photo for the Nowe Horyzonty event at the page. Must’ve stuck in somebody’s head which his quite nice.
Moon Duo turned out OK, but that night there were more interesting bands than the guitar/keyboard duo. Or I just didn’t dig that kind of tunes at the certain moment (Note to self – check their studio stuff).
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San Miguel Primavera Sound 2011 @ Barcelona, Spain – 25 V
Caribou is awesome. He’s drummer is even more awesome. Echo & The Bunnyman were a bit of a let down, but Nisennenmondai was the biggest suprise of that day – pure music math. Caribou’s playing in Poland this month (during Heineken Open’er) so be sure to check the band. Saw them 3 times and each other is waaaaay better than the last one. Big thanks to Kuba and Rzaba who recommended me Nisennenmondai.
Here’s the first of (hopefully) 5 big galleries from this years Primavera Festival – a place for all indie/alternative/independent music stuff. Gigs, radio stations, merch corners and, what’s the most important, PEOPLE – all in a large amount and all devoted to music. How can you not love such a place? It was my first foreign music festival and I’m still happy that I went there. However, the photo conditions were a bit hard – the drummers were set in the back and there was no stool to stand on…
Stay tuned for more!
Die! Die! Die! @ Powiększenie, Warszawa – 24 III 2011
Long time no post, eh? I’ve been pretty busy recently – more writing than pics, but well..I have some stuff left from 2010 to publish and new pics are coming in almost every day. We also wanted to put some new photos in the portfolio section, but still – no time. And the festival season started and I’m going to be travelling a lot now. All I need now are two bags and an mp3 player to get the stuff going. Thank god, I don’t have a steady home or I’ll be missing a lot of things here.
And – I’m not happy with the 20 m Sigma lens. Thinking on changing it but really don’t know what equivalent I could choose..
Never mind – here are the pics. The gig was a complete surprise. Went to see No Age and saw those guys before them and blew me away. Simple rock/punk stuff mixed with playing in the crowd and sharing a lot of positive energy with the people. Wish there would be more bands like that and more people coming to these gigs.
Babadag @ Papryka, Sopot – 31 III 2011
You may have not heard ’bout Babadag but you should. Usually a quartet, in Sopot thay played as a duo mixing some folk tunes with soft melodies and intimate drums and cymbals. I’m really, really waiting for their CD. Hope it will come out soon..or in the near future.
Szymon is also a member of the band Pustki, which played after Babadag that night. You can read about the gig here.
Setting The Woods On Fire @ Sen Pszczoły, Warszawa – 24 III 2011
Last week I was invited by my friend Monika to shoot the band she’s working with. I just couldn’t say no, could I? I wanted the pics to look a little bit dirty and have some punk edge – just like the photos I saw in old skateboarding magazines. I lit up some flash and the madness began.
Be sure to check out those dudes:
So, here you go – the new promos for Setting The Woods on Fire!
Girls Rock 3City @ Papryka, Sopot – 8 III 2011
Three bands played – managed to shoot the last two. What a crowd..
Combichrist @ Ucho, Gdynia – 23 II 2011
Squashed in the pit (couldn’t move to left or right – only up and down), no 3 song limit, lots of photos (around 1,000 taken – I’m really ashamed of that) and a great show put on by Combichrist and Mortiis. I usually choose less pics from one gig but this time it was almost impossible. Hope you guys like it.
PS. The gig was organised by the wonderful people from the Freakpointing agency. Come to theirs gigs to support what there’re doing!
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