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

Revisiting Edward Scissorhands Mansion.

Hey everyone,
Surprisingly enough, I've actually been working on this blog post for some time now...well it was roughly around November last year! Yes I know, that's a long time isn't it?! However I had a lot of other commitments at the time so the photos ended up taking the backseat, but I'm glad to say that I have finally managed to find the time to finish editing the shots as I've really been wanting to post them for a while now.
Some of you may remember that I have previously taken photos of this derelict building already, it was actually back in the summer of 2011, however with my new kit on the go I really wanted to go back and shoot some more photos, and especially with the addition of the crisp winter weather we are having...any photographer should agree with me that it adds a little extra touch to a photograph.

You'll also probably notice that I keep calling this place the 'Edward Scissorhands' mansion, really it just seems like the best possible title because the building really reminds me of the house/mansion you see early on in the film. It's gorgeous, creepy and beautiful all at the same time...and it even reminds me of many other buildings in films by Tim Burton, such as Alice in Wonderland. I am completely in love with places like this, I could spend ages looking at them and this one is by far the most beautiful. It's ornate white sculptures and skillfully carved topiary bushes in the garden conclude it to be one of the most unique sites I have seen in Scotland yet.

I think the mansion was built back in the 1800's, and it really does show as it is literally falling apart. I believe one of the turrets have been completely fixed since, but the rest of the building is in a pretty devastating way. It's ashame to be honest, and I always hope that when I next visit there will be more construction under way but who knows, it might never happen.
Anyway before I finish this post I thought I would mention that I received a few vintage inspired frames for Christmas and I'm thinking about getting one of these photos printed to put in them (aswell as a couple of music shots), so be sure to look out for a post on the finished result!

Nicola. x

New Year...New Look!

Happy New Year everyone!
As you may have noticed I have finally got around to giving my blog (and all my social networking sites) a much needed makeover! There's a new banner image, background and lots of other little bits and pieces that I have been working on the past few days. I think it's really coming together now, normally when I'm working on photos I only get the chance to update one or two things and it's never the full works, so I'm glad I finally got around to finishing it.
The tiny screenshot below is what my Tumblr page looks like now, if you want to check it out the link is, http://nicolasharkeyphotography.tumblr.com, all of the links to my social sites are actually on the right side of my blog if anyone wants to check out the others.

Some people may have already noticed but I also changed the header image on my Twitter page and it's actually a picture of my photo passes! Looking back at all of them really makes me sentimental, which probably sounds pretty sad but it's true, there are so many good memories tagged with those passes, it's good to look back at them every now and again. Ah anyway, I think I should stop rambling here before I go completely off topic as usual.
There's going to be another post very soon, I'm actually finalising the finishing touches on some of the shots as I type this...so as always stay tuned.
Nicola. x

Happy Boxing Day!

Hey everyone, Happy Boxing Day!
I normally don't tend to write blog posts right after Christmas, but I just couldn't stop myself from working today. If you didn't already know (...I have mentioned it a few times on Twitter, haha) I received a new Manfrotto Tripod as part of my Christmas presents yesterday. It's completely amazing and definitely worth the extra bit of money! It's a piece of equipment that I have been wanting to add to my kit for a long time now but never fully felt the justify of the purchase.
I was really over the moon so to speak...yeah fairly bad little pun there I know, but amazingly enough I noticed there was an *almost* full moon last night, which is a great opportunity to test out the tripod. Of course I didn't exactly have the appropriate lenses for the occasion, however the one I decided to use did the job and I'm surprised it worked!
Anyway before I go off on an excited tangent, I hope you are all enjoying the festive season and the sales today. I myself managed to pick up a new pair of Dr. Martens for a very cheap price, and a navy velvet skirt that I have been longing after for a while now! So to be honest, it's a plus all around.
Also, there's still many more photos to be uploaded from recent adventures, so as always stay tuned...
Nicola. x

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for 2013!

Hey everyone, I hope you are all having an awesome holiday! Even though it's still a couple of days before Christmas, I thought I would post this now...at the end of every year I create a video to summarize my photography, and I have finally managed to finish 2012's video. I hope you all enjoy watching it, go check it out!

Also, I want to say a massive thanks to everyone that views my blog regularly, the numbers on my stats keep getting bigger and bigger and it means a lot that you're all viewing my work every day!
Thanks again,
Nicola. x