Dundee in the Summer.

Hey everyone, I've recently been hugely inspired by a few youtube photography tutorials to try out some sunset shots, so about a month ago I set off on a really good sunny night hoping that there would be an amazing shot to be achieved, but alas there was nothing special...(and I hate to say it but the next night the sky looked utterly amazing at sunset but I wasn't prepared). However I thought I'd put up the shots I managed to get at the time anyway because I quite liked them nonetheless, and the first one has quite a moody atmosphere to it, the second is totally the opposite and funnily enough, these were both taken at the same time but different directions of the sun.



The photo below is the current situation Dundee city centre is in, quite a state if you can see! It seems that they're trying to start and finish different projects all at the same time and I can understand the point of getting work done quickly but it's a pain to get places in traffic everyday. Ranting aside, I thought it made for a good image anyway, the building actually used to be the Tayside House and I'm pretty sure it was also a good five or six storeys higher than it is in this picture as they have been slowly taking it down over the past few months now, and I believe it is fully gone now, hooray!



Oh, also I recently loaded my Holga camera with a new roll of 120 film as I was cleaning my room the other day and noticed it gathering dust in its box, so it was about time it got put to good use again, expect some photos from those outings soon!
Nicola.x

Heaven's Basement, Ivory Blacks Glasgow, Live Photos.

Hi everyone, I recently went along to photograph Heaven's Basement at Ivory Blacks in Glasgow at the start of July, and I'd actually wanted to photograph them since earlier in the year but sadly their gig clashed with another show I was covering at the time so I had to give it a miss however I'm glad I've finally managed to get around to seeing these guys live.
First things first, the gig was absolutely amazing and I'm already obsessing about wanting to see these guys again! If you're following me on Facebook/Twitter you'll already know that I've said their performance was the best I have seen in years so I was already half planning to go see them the next day after at their show in Aberdeen but I thought that might have seemed a little bit obsessive...haha, but next tour I'll be there again for sure! If anyone wants to read what I thought about the gig in full, I've written a review for Is This Music so check it out at this link, www.isthismusic.com/heavens-basement


Aside from the gig itself, photographing it was a little harder than I'd imagined, for starters it was a sold out show so the place was absolutely packed and secondly Ivory Blacks didn't actually have a proper photo pit, instead it was filled with all types of technical equipment however the right side of the pit was empty so...I luckily managed to squeeze myself inbetween the barrier and I had enough room to photograph from there, which to be honest worked out pretty well in the end although at one point the guitarist got a little too close with his guitar and I feared for my camera's life...it was almost a goner but thankfully it's still in one piece, haha!
The full set of photos are online at my Flickr page so make sure to check them out, http://www.flickr.com/nicolasharkeyphotography
Nicola. x

New Business Card Samples from Moo.

Hey everyone, after months of talking about new business cards I finally finished off the design and ordered the 10 free set from Moo.com last week and they actually arrived by that very weekend!
I'm extremely happy with them and the quality is unbelievable, especially in comparison to my previous set that were printed by another company who may have been a little cheaper but I would say it's definitely worth paying a little more if you're interested in setting a good example with appearance and aesthetics.
I also managed to choose the free sample pack, I'm not sure if that is always included with the 10 business cards as I actually clicked onto the sample pack first by mistake and never cleared the cart before ordering but hey...it was free aswell so I'm not too bothered, plus it gave me the chance to look at the other textures/designs/luxe business card options, which were all lovely aswell but I think I'm still happy with the classic matte look.





I decided to design the whole thing myself and chose large photos for the back to showcase my photography, I hadn't previously done this with my old set so I was super excited to try it out and I'm more than happy with the results. Each card has a different shot on the back and I didn't originally plan out exactly which 10 photos I wanted so I kind of just rolled with it at the time choosing a few favourites and some random ones for testing. Incase you're wondering the 'Moo.com' logo on the photos are only on the sample versions and aren't printed on the cards if you buy them which I think is pretty fair I would say.





Of course I'll be buying my first set of 50 very soon, and then I'll finally be able to hand them out instead of being super embarrassed about the old design I originally started out with, haha.
Let me know what you think about my new design and if you've updated your business card recently.
Nicola. x

Lights Out.

Hey everyone, long time no speak...I assure you all that I have been very busy indeed although not necessarily to do with anything photography related but it looks like I'm finally back to business!
First things first I thought I would write a general update post to get back into the swing of things, for starters you're probably all wondering about the photo above which is another shot of the wonderful Edinburgh Castle. I actually took this photo on my way out of Billy Talent's gig back in August last year around the time of the Edinburgh Fringe, I've just got around to editing it now but I'm glad to finally have the opportunity to use it in a post instead of letting the shot go to waste, I love night photography and I rarely tend to dabble in that sort of field but when I do I'm really happy with the photos and they become some of my favourites.
I'm hoping to have some new business cards sent very soon, I can't wait to update the design as the old one is a bit out of style these days shall we say so I'll be making a post about them when they arrive along with some poster prints that I've been meaning to get since Christmas.
Last but not least, I'll hopefully be back to the music circuit so be sure to expect some new shots!
Nicola. x

Purson, King Tuts, Glasgow, Live Photos.

Hey everyone,
It seems that I haven't posted on here for a couple of months, but I assure you I've been working away all the same. Recently I photographed a band called Purson at King Tuts in Glasgow, they were supporting an American group called Astra. Both bands are heavily inspired by the 1970's and psychedelia, which to be honest is totally different to the groups I usually photograph so it was a lot of fun. You may recognise the singer of Purson from some of my older photos, Rosalie was previously in a band called Ipso Facto who I have photographed back in 2009 just before they broke up so it was good to finally check out her new band and from what I have heard so far I am already fairly impressed, as were most of the crowd at the gig.

There's a few more shots over on my Flickr page so make sure to check them out aswell, http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolasharkeyphotography, and as always stay tuned for more updates.
Thanks,
Nicola. x

Kerrang Tour 2013, 02 Academy Glasgow, Live Photos.

Hey everyone,
Finally back with some live music shots for you all. I recently went along to photograph and review the Kerrang Tour 2013, it's infact my first gig of the year and it feels good to be photographing music again. It was an awesome show but if you want to check out what I had to say about it, go and have a read of my photoreview for Is This Music at, http://www.isthismusic.com/kerrang-tour (coming soon)
Onto the show's layout etc...firstly I must admit that the lighting was pretty horrible, most of the time it was red and many music photographers will agree with me that 99% of the time that's a bad thing and also means most of the photos go in the bin...however I was actually pleased with most of the red shots for once, and some of them have become my new favourites!

I've already posted a couple of the photos on Tumblr and it's fairly easy to see that Tonight Alive have the biggest fanbase, one of the shots of their singer has already managed to reach 151 notes, which is totally crazy considering I don't have many people added on my account over there, haha. Anyway, there's a few more than what I've posted on here so if you'd like to check out the whole set from the night, go over to my Flickr page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolasharkeyphotography, hopefully it won't be long before I'm photographing another gig again, and I'll be back with a blog post for you all very soon! I'll leave you now with one of my favourite shots of Chiodos from the Kerrang Tour.
Thanks,
Nicola. x

Sunshine On The East Coast.

Hey everyone,
I thought I would post another set of landscape photos that I have been working on recently. These shots are once again from last year, roughly around late Autumn. It's actually one of my favourite seasons of the year to photograph subjects and particularly locations with the gorgeous Autumnal colours of fallen leaves on the ground, there's no doubt that a lot of my landscape and scenery shots transpire a little more rapidly around that time.
I've actually taken photos at this location before so you may or may not recognise some of the areas. I'm not sure if it's apparent but I'm in constant awe of certain places that I have visited so sometimes I return to them a while later and photograph them again to see the changes, in both the location and even my photography. It's actually quite good to do things like that every once in a while, mainly to see the progression in your work.
The last couple of shots I added in purely for a little bit of fun. They certainly made me laugh when I bypassed them on my journey anyway, haha!

Nicola. x