Archive for October, 2009
Riverside @ Progresja, Warszawa – 18 X 2009
Sunday in Warsaw was supposed to be devoted to resting after Free Form Festival, but turned out to be my forth night in a row in a concert pit. Lovely! Just, this time it was one of the most popular Polish alternative bands, Riverside. The full coveragel, with a great review by Zbyszek Zegler can be found here.
At the entrance I was informed that there was no pit and we were supposed to shoot from the crowd. Earlier that day I was wondering if I should take it or leave it. Sometimes it’s good not to be lazy! The club was packed so the ladder was a great help that night. The lights were much better than last time, when I saw Riverside – but not great. You know, progressive rock bands have to have some mysterious atmosphere around them:). The concert was also more interesting (lot’s of crowd singing, trumpets present on stage during one song, better setlist and so on) then the one I saw in March.
Funny thing though – I thought the gig was supposed to start at 20, but when I entered the club at 19.30, the first band (out of the three that were playing that night) has just left the stage.
The photos were done for Wp.pl. And if you are interested in buying the photos for a publication, please contact us.
Archive @ Klub Studio, Kraków – 15 X 2009
I don’t recall the Studio club so packed..and I’ve been there on many occasions. I wasn’t aware of Archive‘s popularity in Poland until I saw the huge crowd in the club, and listened to the people who were on their Warsaw gig – a sold-out as well. They are a very nice mix of progressive rock, trip-hop and electronic – genres that always were and always will be popular here – so maybe that’s the answer? However, what a ordinary listener, like me, can say they are definitely great live!
The support for the night was BirdPen (a side project of one of Archive‘s musicians), a very decent band wit ha tragic lighting. The same goes for the main dish – but, of course, after the three first songs the lights got better. As usual…
Funny thing – the gig was supposed to start at 19.00, but when I entered the club at 18.30 the support was already playing. I think that’s the second time, the band started earlier than they were supposed to.
Also, there were rumours that the show’s gonna be cancelled because of the awful weather (Kraków experienced a heavy snowstorm the day earlier). Nothing of that kind!
The photos were done, both, for Wp.pl and Onet.pl. And if you are interested in buying any of the photos for a publication, please contact us.
Tomasz Bednarczyk // Portraits
Last week I finally got to meet Tomasz Bednarczyk in person. Tomek is a young Polish musician with whom we’ve collaborated on his album cover. We spend some time swapping messages on web communicators and e-mails but never really met. This changed last Saturday, when Tomek, Wojtek and me met for a couple of hours.
Tomek turned out to be a wonderful guy, with a vast knowledge of music and lots of ideas. It’s really great that he also has interests in other genres than experimental (for example: T. is a huge Deftones fan). I hope we will met more often. As for Tomek’s live performances if you live in UK and Spain be sure to check his shows.
The photos were shot in Erdal Factory (located in Kazimierz, Kraków), where the whole installation was. I just couldn’t resist the nice lighting and the industrial climate that was in the rooms. Have to visit the place one more time! We also shoot some analog stuff but I have to wait for the film to be developed.
Behemoth, Azarath, Hermh & Black River @ Stodoła, Warszawa – 25 IX 2009
After seeing the photos from Kala and Fotogrip, I’ve decided to show some of my Behemoth stuff – pics from their new tour.
I’m not really into metal that much – I like some bands, I look forward to some of the gigs but not really a metal fan. Concerts however change my perception of the bands material and, sometimes, want me to dig deeper into their discography. Hermh got me interested into into their work, as I really have a craving for a good black metal once in a while. Behemoth on the other hand pulled out a great show – lots of energy, fire, crazy lights. Felt really good not only watching but listening to their music. I strongly recommend you go and see the guys. In his review, Zbyszek Zegler wrote, that Behemoth reached the world class of musician and could easily compete with the best of the genre. As I said before, I’m not that much into metal, but the gig was one of the best I’ve seen in a while.
Oh, and if any concert promoter is reading this (I know you are!) please take Wolves In The Throne Room out from their forest and explain that concerts are good. Really.
After what I’ve read and heard photographing Behemoth in Stodoła was an easy task – less light and worst conditions were in other clubs. Except from the fact that we had a camera installed in front of us, which was going left-to-right. Annoying, but challenging stuff. What amazed me, I flicked through the pics one more time, after 2 weeks there were made and discovered some shots I thought were boring and not worth using. Some small changes and adjustments made them into one of my favourite pics from this half of the year!
You can see some different photos and a more detailed review by Zbyszek Zegler here.
The photos were done, both, for Wp.pl. And if you are interested in buying any of the photos for a publication, please contact us.
Macy Gray @ Sala Kongresowa, Warszawa – 6 IX 2009
After a two day marathon at the Orange Warsaw Festival, I ended up at Sala Kongresowa shooting Macy Gray. Apart from the 30 minute delay, everything was quite OK. A very energetic performance, great vocalist and musicians! Although it was the second time this year, that Macy has performed in Poland, the house was packed.
And I really like to shot in Kongresowa. Most people don’t, can’t figure out why. It’s really not so bad, if you only ignore/don’t interact/quarrel with the people sitting in the front rows, who can’t understand you’re just doing your job for the first three songs or less. Thank god, there are less and less of them every time I come there.
The photos were done, both, for Wp.pl. And if you are interested in buying any of the photos for a publication, please contact us.