Christmas came early this year for me. Never did I think that Me First and the Gimme Gimmes would be playing Dublin, and never did I ever think I'd get to shoot one of their shows! Well, that all changed last week when they played the Academy in Dublin on a cold, damp, Monday night! I've been a fan since 1997, when one of the lads I worked with, brought in a copy of Have a Ball . It was love at first listen! I did manage to catch them live back in 2019 when they played the O2 Forum in Kentish Town , London, and it was every bit as good as I'd hoped, but it paled in comparison to Monday night in Dublin. So, how did it come about? Well, back in 2013, I interviewed the band for a now defunct Irish website called Chunk.ie . Over the years, I've stayed on their PR roster, so I took a chance and emailed my contact there. Lo and behold, a few emails later and all was sorted, I was down to photograph the show. How was it? Brilliant, amazing, fantastic,...
Ever since I heard about the Aurora Borealis as a child, I wanted to see it. Over the years, many drunken, and some sober, plans were made to go to the Arctic to see it, but none ever came to fruition. So, when a friend rang and asked if I fancied trying to see it from only a few miles out the road, I had to take that chance. Mind you, I thought we'd absolutely no chance of seeing it, who ever heard of an Aurora Borealis sighting here? Not me! We hit the road and drove the short 20 minutes to Ballynafagh Church out past Prosperous ( Christy Moore fans will know that place!) and parked down a dark, tight country lane. No need to hop fences or climb over gates in the dark of night thankfully, as there was a small entrance into what used to be church grounds. Pretty soon my camera was set up on the tripod and we were ankle deep in mud! Only then did I come to the realisation, I hadn't a clue what I was doing! Thankfully there were a few other photographers there on the ...