MAC Cosmetics Alluring Aquatic Collection.

Hey everyone,
I normally don't write these kind of posts on my blog as most of you will be aware, but as one of my other main interests is make-up artistry and I have been majorly inspired by MAC Cosmetics new Summer collection this year, I thought it would be nice to do a little review of the products. First off, I always love MAC's Summer collections, and last year they had two that I really fell in love with which were called Temperature Rising and Tropical Taboo, both absolutely gorgeous with stellar must have items! Futhermore, this year they have released their Alluring Aquatic collection in May and again I have been totally captured by all of the products and not to forget the incredible water droplet packaging this year (and yes it's real, I didn't put water droplets on the items for added effect incase you were wondering, haha!)
I bought a fair few items from this collection and I know it's a lot of money however I saved up well in advance as I was looking forward to this one. The products I picked up were a Lipglass in Water Deities, Pet Me Please lipstick (I was super excited about this one as I remember it from the Fabulous Felines collection) I also bought two Extra Dimension eyeshadows in Silver Sun and Legendary Lure, an Extra Dimension Bronzer in Aphrodite's Shell, a Nail Lacquer in Neptune and a Lip Pencil in What Comes Naturally.

Now, let's cut to the chase the must have's from this collection for me are definitely Water Deities Lipglass and Legendary Lure Eyeshadow, for one I couldn't take my eyes off of them when I opened them out of their boxes and two, they are absolutely great pigmentation and colour. I'm also mega happy with the Extra Dimension Bronzer, I've never owned any of the Extra Dimension products before and they are an incredible texture to work with. However, you're probably wondering if I really needed all of these things and the fact is I probably didn't but there are some must have items in this batch and I've thoroughly used all of the products so I know exactly how they work and out of all the things I bought the only item I could have possibly done without was the liner, it is beautiful don't get me wrong and it is still a great item but it definitely is the least used item I own from this set so I guess I could have done without it.
However, I'm in love with the rest of the products and they are an amazing purchase so if this collection is still in stock where ever you live, make sure to check it out and pick up a few pieces!
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

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

A Recap Of 2012.

It's that time of the year again everyone, we have reached christmas and it will officially be 2013 in a few days time...crazy isn't it?! So I thought it was only right to make a blog post recap with my photography of 2012, I love looking through and reading other photographer's recap posts, so I hope you enjoy mine aswell (it will be a long one so sit back and relax with a cup of tea).

Starting off 2012, I photographed All Time Low at the 02 Academy in January. It was my first shoot at a larger venue so the amount of energy and buzz I received from the crowd and the band was incredible, everyone was really into the music and it was such an extraordinary experience...the whole time I was photographing during the first three songs I wasn't even managing to stand still due to the crowd bouncing up and down behind me, it was literally crazy!...Overall, I have to say that All Time Low have definitely been one of my favourite bands to photograph this year.

Next, I photographed Panic At The Disco, only a few days after at the Barrowlands in Glasgow. I must admit, it's not one of my favourite venues for shooting due to the weird scaffolding in the photo pit that I guess is either holding the stage together or railings back for the crowd, not sure but it's definitely a hard place to get moving in! However aside from that it was a pretty fun gig to shoot. The band are great entertainers so it made for some awesome photos.

For a long time I have wanted to go to a Mystery Jets gig, so finally in April I managed to photograph them at their Electric Circus show in Edinburgh, which is also one of my favourite venues in the capital. Once again, another great show to shoot and I definitely loved the Southern vibe they were supporting. I was also pretty happy that I managed to get a direct eye contact photo with their drummer Kapil, those type of candid moments are normally quite hard to catch at a show.

At the start of June, I went along to the 02 ABC2 in Glasgow to photograph Fearless Vampire Killers who were supporting William Control, I'd never actually seen FVK before so I was totally blown away by how incredible they were live. I also took a couple of shots of WC himself, and I thought his set was absolutely amazing, I had previously seen WiL before when he was with his band Aiden however I hadn't seen him perform as William Control, so it was really good to see the contrast of both groups.

Next up was Combichrist's show at the Arches in Glasgow later in June, as you may already know I never managed to hang around and catch their set that night...however I did manage to photograph a couple of the support bands so it was all good. Xavia were the first act and then Surgyn who are from my hometown in Dundee! They both put on equally amazing sets.

A band I have always wanted to photograph since I heard their music for the first time in 2003 were Billy Talent. I luckily managed to photograph them at The Liquid Room in Edinburgh, the show was part of the Rock n' Roll Damnation tour in August. The lighting was absolutely incredible and perfect for photographing the band, the shots I photographed at this show are actually among my all time favourites that I have ever taken.

A few days later I photographed Fearless Vampire Killers again, this time the gig was at King Tuts in Glasgow and was also a part of the Rock n' Roll Damnation tour. I had the whole photo pit to myself at this show, which rarely happens these days so it was pretty good to be able to move freely without feeling like you might bump into anyone whether it may be crew or photographers. Once again the band's set was amazing, and I can imagine that these guys are going to be huge very soon!

In October I went along to photograph Young Guns at the 02 ABC in Glasgow, which was part of the Vans Off The Wall Music Night tour. I only managed to photograph two songs as there were too many crowdsurfers by the third and the security had to tell us to leave, therefore I never got as much shots as I would have liked, but safety has to come first in the pit! However, Young Guns put on an awesome show so I was more than chuffed by the end of the night.

The last band I photographed of 2012 were the wonderful Billy Talent, I had the amazing opportunity of photographing the group again at their 02 ABC show in Glasgow on the Rock Sound Riot tour. I deeply love this band so it was really incredible to take some shots of them again when they came back to Scotland. I look forward to seeing them the next time they visit here. It was a fun gig to shoot, and I brought my new equipment with me, and I'm really happy with the results.

So here's to 2013...I can't wait to take more photos with my new camera set-up! I definitely want to try out some new ideas and generally get a little bit more creative with my work, whether it be in music photography or even landscape shots...2013 is the year to be creative I say!
Nicola. x

My 21st Birthday.

Hey everyone, If you didn't already know my 21st Birthday was on the 10th December, last Monday to be exact...and to be honest I still can't actually believe I'm 21 already but sadly it's true.
So I was treated to a day away in Edinburgh on my birthday (and if anyone remembers I also had a weekend away in Glasgow back in October which you can view photos of here). I also wanted to take some photos whilst I was in Edinburgh aswell so I have quite a few shots of the Christmas Markets, plus views over Princes Street in the gorgeous winter sun and even some of the wonderful gifts I received.

The first place we visited is actually one of my favourite stores in Edinburgh, and that is Harvey Nichols! They have some of the best beauty counters in the city and you should all know by now that I love cosmetics. As usual, I checked out MAC, Tom Ford and Space NK and I must admit I did buy a couple of things from each! After a little look around the shops in the area, I then headed over to Princes Street gardens where the annual Winter Wonderland takes place, it's the main reason I love visiting Edinburgh at Christmas.

First, we had a look around the carnival area which includes the Highland Village Christmas market, and since it is traditional we tried some roasted chestnuts for the first time, I love the little carts they sell them from so I obviously had to take a picture of that aswell.
The other end of the Winter Wonderland is the German Christmas market, which I absolutely LOVE! I had a good look around all the stalls, and I bought another Nutcracker and a little cute Elf ornament. We then headed over to the pretzel stall, which was another first time try and I can safely conclude that they are amazing! Try one, you won't be disappointed.
Also, yes that is a picture of myself with a Nutcracker below, I wanted to keep him!

After we went around the rest of the surrounding shops in Princes Street we decided to go to the Cowgate/Grassmarket area and check out some of the cute little places and their not so cute little prices ;)
Of course a visit to Edinburgh is never complete without a tourist shot of the Castle, this was taken towards the end of the day so it was slightly clouded over by this point.

So as you could probably imagine by the time I was home the night was followed in with lots of glasses of Champagne and birthday cake, which was specially made by my Auntie and features an awesome handmade camera, which looks amazing! I have a picture of it below, and I love how the camera has that marbled effect icing, it looks slightly vintage with an 80's/90's esque vibe.

I also received one of the most beautiful gifts from my family which was an Alexander McQueen double-skull ring! I absolutely love it and haven't taken it off since, it's completely the definition of me, I love all things gothic.
Anyway I hope you have all enjoyed looking at the photos, and I'll be posting another blog post very soon with a re-cap of this year's work!
As always stay tuned...

Nicola. x

Billy Talent, The Liquid Room Edinburgh, Live Photos.

Hey everyone,
It's time for another one of those quick blog posts!
I had the amazing opportunity of photographing one of my favourite bands again a few weeks ago, and this time around it was Billy Talent! The show was at The Liquid Room in Edinburgh, which is such a lovely little intimate venue! Once again, as well as photographing the gig, I also reviewed the band's performance so if you want to check that out, go over to Is This Music's website for more info... http://www.isthismusic.com/billy-talent-2


...as you can probably tell, the lighting was absolutely amazing, a photographer's dream. It's ashame that
all gigs don't have such good lighting as it would definitely make editing photos a much easier task.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy looking at the photos and reading the review!
There will be another post soon for a gig I photographed a few days after the Billy Talent show, so as you could imagine, I have been fairly busy with the both and everything else in everyday life, but they will be online soon, so keep watching :) and if you want to have a look at the rest of the Billy Talent photos, go to my Flickr page at, http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolasharkeyphotography

Nicola. x

Mystery Jets, Electric Circus Edinburgh, Live Photos.

Hey everyone,
Here's some photos from Mystery Jets show at the Electric Circus in Edinburgh, on the 1st April, no joke. One of my favourite bands performing in one of my favourite venues aswell, which was pretty cool! I was also reviewing this gig for Is This Music, so if you go over to their website you can read all about it in depth there, http://www.isthismusic.com/mystery-jets
The sad thing was that their original bassist Kai had actually left the band so he wasn't there, which was ashame, but if you want to see previous photos I have taken of his own project last year then check them out at this link, Kai Fish at the Brel Bar, Glasgow, Live Photos.
Onto the Mystery Jets show, they played a lot of new songs which all sounded pretty awesome, and their older tunes (which were only from their second album Twenty One and onwards) were absolutely amazing live, the crowd loved them.
The shot below is one of my favourites from the set, their drummer Kapil happened to be looking right into my camera lens at the time I was taking the photo, which was very lucky indeed.
The rest of the photos from this set are on my Flickr page at, http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolasharkeyphotography
Nicola. x

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Everyone!

Happy Holidays!
I have finally created the video with all of my photos from 2011... here it is!
I hope you all enjoy watching it, and hopefully next year there will be a whole lot more photos :)
Whilst I'm having way too much fun on this JibJab site where you can create your own Christmas Ecards I better wrap this post up here before I get carried away...I hope everyone has a lovely holiday!
Nicola. x

End of another awesome year...

Hey everyone,
Since it's near the end of December, I thought I'd write a post with an (almost) monthly re-cap of all the awesome things I experienced this year with my Photography. The main reason I decided to do this was actually because I saw another Photographer's blog post similar to this last year and I really enjoyed looking through the photos! Very inspiring to say the most!

Anyway, here goes...

In February I photographed My Fallen Idea, at Dexters in Dundee. I also recorded the first live music HD Video on my new camera at this gig, you can check it out on my Vimeo account, the name of the song is called 'Coast'.
As I had started recording HD Videos in February, I then took a live video of The Agitator at their Captain's Rest gig in Glasgow. This is one of my favourites!

In April, I photographed Dry The River, at King Tuts in Glasgow. The first gig I've ever shot at the famous legendary venue, it was awesome! I also compiled a live video of the band, with a couple of their songs.
In July, I photographed Sons & Daughters, at SWG3 in Glasgow. Another fun gig, and I managed to snap a couple of Promo pics with the band after the show aswell, which is always ace.
In August, I photographed the amazing Taking Back Sunday, at the ABC in Glasgow. It was definitely the best show I've taken photos at this year. I really enjoyed it, and the guys are such a great band to photograph. I also wrote my first live review of the show for Is This Music magazine, which you can read on their website.
In September, I photographed Howling Bells, at the Oran Mor in Glasgow, once again for Is This Music magazine. I went along to an interview with Juanita Stein, and photographed promo shots for the feature on the website.
Also, in September, I photographed Kai Fish (of Mystery Jets), at the Brel Bar in Glasgow, which was a very small and intimate gig. Loved the setting and Kai's solo work is truly sensational....and, at the end of September, I photographed and reviewed The Kooks, at Barrowlands in Glasgow, for Is This Music Magazine. This was such a huge experience for me, as I'd never had the opportunity previously to photograph a gig that size, it was lots of fun!Then in October, I photographed and reviewed The Maccabees, at the Liquid Room in Edinburgh, for Is This Music Magazine. This was another gig I really enjoyed photographing this year! Really loved it, the band were also amazing live.
...and there we go, I hope you all enjoyed looking through the photos!
I'll hopefully be writing some more news pretty soon, probably a video of all the pics from this year, and after that it will most likely be January 2012!
Nicola. x