10 Years of Ringing Ears

Ten years ago today, I went into my manager’s office and told him I was leaving to be a photographer. I remember sounding more confident than I probably was.

In hindsight, it may have been a little cavalier. It was a risk. Photography was a hobby essentially, though I was dedicating most of my waking time to it. From the front of the sweaty basement shows, to the late nights editing photos, to surreptitiously watching educational videos and reading blogs and forums at work. He was probably actually fairly glad to be rid of me when I think about it.

The benefits of (relative) youth area a fearlessness to jump with no net. Without any question it’s the best jump I’ve made. Without my camera I wouldn’t have met my wife or had our daughter. I’ve built the business, worked ridiculous hours, felt frustrated then gratified. I’ve chased more invoices than I’d like to think about. I’ve had some incredible things in front of my camera.

I remember one day, visiting my cousin and his family, who I don’t see often. He asked if I’d been up to anything cool lately. I racked my brains and ultimately told him “nah not really” to which Cat (my now wife) replied “didn’t you photograph Bono at the MTV awards last night?” It’s kind of weird when things blur and become pixels on screens rather than the otherwise significant moments they are. I’m enjoying having a bit of a reflection on some of the things that 10-years-ago Euan would be fucking ecstatic about.

I’ve picked out ten photographs, not necessarily my best (what does that even mean anyway) but some of my favourites and most significant in one way or another. They unsurprisingly all revolve around music, as life does. Some loud, some quiet.

If you’re reading this, I genuinely thank you for paying attention. Egos are fragile things and having people lend me their eyes and attention helps, as much as I know it shouldn’t.

And if you’ve been involved at any point along the way, from the very bottom of my heart, I thank you so much. If you’ve been a good or bad experience, you’ve been formative in some way, and it all gets us to where we need to be.

Swedish House Mafia @ T In The Park

I had shot TITP once before this, for The Scotsman’s new music section, focussing on new Scottish music. On the back of that, I was asked by the BBC to cover the following year, which was mind blowingly exciting for me, and great to work with an amazing team. This image though, somehow got in front of people at DF concerts, who then asked me to come on board as festival photographer, which I’ve been doing since across T and TRNSMT. So, big love to Swedish House Mafia for the banging pyro and the typically mental T crowd going wild in the grim Sunday weather.

Florence And The Machine

I’d never seen Florence before, and wouldn’t have called myself a big fan. Seeing her live though is an experience. She’s an ethereal being that doesn’t feel fully attached to the ground the rest of us share. It felt pretty magical.

She’s also REALLY tough to photograph. That lady MOVES!! She’s in constant erratic motion, covering every inch of the stage.

Right before this started, the PR working the event told me that the day before I shot it all the photos of her had been pretty bad and had caught bad moments/expressions etc, so it was a bit nervy going in. It was also the most miserable week you could imagine for the ‘Summer’ sessions gigs.

I love this particular shot because, for me, it captures a tiny bit of the essence of a Florence show.

And I’m definitely a fan now!

Biffy Fucking Clyro

I grew up in a house with lots of music, but it was all fairly down the middle. I moved away to study at 17, and on our hall’s kitchen radio, heard Vic & Gill playing Biffy Clyro. Weird name, I thought. But that changed everything. For my money, the best band on the planet, and without doubt the most significant band in my music fan life.

I’d photographed them a few times by this point. This was headlining T In The Park, working for DF concerts as the festival photographer.

The photo pit was rammed (as it always is for headliners). Si was out on the edge of the platform, every photographer ran for a close up. Desperate not to come in with the same shots, I pulled back, clocked the moon, composed and held on to see what happened. The victorious fist raise, coinciding with the light on the crowds from the stage…serendipity is sometimes your best friend.

What a band, what a night.

LCD Soundsystem

James Murphy, dressed in white on a wet, muddy festival site. Looking angelic and bringing the party. They had a pretty spectacular lighting rig that I shot through as many ways as I could until I saw the potential for framing him in one of these strobing spots. The idea being to make it a halo type effect. That didn’t quite come off, but I think I like what happened even better.

All praise our lord & saviour James Murphy.

Circa Waves @ TRNSMT

When I was learning to photograph, particularly concerts, an amazing resource was Todd Owyoung’s ‘I Shoot Shows’ blog posts. He was so generous with information on every aspect of the craft and business. One thing that stuck with me is ‘don’t forget the drummer’. They’re usually stuck at the back and not considered by the LDs, so end up in darkness. So I couldn’t let this list go without a nod to the might drumming crew. This was Circa Waves playing TRNSMT, with a setting sun taking over from the lampy in creating an epic scene. The energy and emotion in Colin’s performance just put it all on a plate for me.

Primal Scream

The same rainy week as the Florence show, this one actually nearly got pulled at the very last second due to electrical storms in the area. Seeing the production scramble to make it happen makes you realise what an incredible job all of those unseen people do to make shows happen safely for us all. Big love to all the production teams.

Bobby is a great performer, and his outfit and stage design here were certainly kind to me. It’s always fun having the opportunity to photograph these iconic bands.

The Lost Songs of St Kilda

When I first started to learn photography, it was shooting gigs that really got me going. The passion for it hasn’t diminished at all, but over the years I’ve been doing it less, and shooting more project based work, taking a bit more time that the 3 songs no flash.

This project was one of the more enjoyable I’ve had to work on and dig my teeth into. Spending several months digging into a mysterious man who had passed away, leaving a legacy of beautiful, haunting recordings of music of St Kilda.

It’s still unclear where the line separating truth from fantasy lay in Trevor’s story telling, but it was a dream to spend time exploring his history and taking a trip to this magical place.

Man of Moon

I was helping out on a video shoot for the inimitable Amazing Snake heads where I met Alan, who was creative director for the project. He was pretty un-assuming and didn’t give much away.

He later got me on board to work on some campaigns for Man of Moon, Amazing Snakeheads and others. Only later realising the ridiculous catalogue he’d worked on in the past. On one shoot he also asked if I could shoot a quick headshot for something he was working on, which turned out the be a series of brilliant crime novels. A truly annoyingly talented man.

This was the first single cover I shot for Man of Moon, and Alan’s direction on this has definitely been formative in a lot of the work and thinking I’ve done since.

Vashti Bunyan

Some encounters live a long time in the memory. This one probably more so than any others. Vashti is a truly magical human, so kind and generous with her time and full of fascinating stories. I could have listened to her all day.

This shot was from a project I was/am (slowly) working on documenting the incredible interconnectivity of Scotland’s music community. It was a challenge getting in touch with Vashti, largely living under the radar. The day the email ‘Hello from Vashti’ popped up in my inbox was a special one.

Without question the best part of this life I’ve come to, is the people I get to meet by virtue of the camera.

Scott

And on that note…one of the most special people.

About 6 weeks before this, I’d been feeling in a total rut with my photography and hadn’t been happy with anything I’d shot for ages. I decided to spend September shooting and posting a portrait every day for the month. It was going well and was helping me figure stuff out. This night, Scott & Grant were playing a SOFAR session in the home of their early producer and now Kathryn Joseph band mate Marcus Mackay. I was chatting to Scott while another band played and started telling him about what I was doing. He told me he’d seen them, liked the photos and the idea, and he’d started trying to write something each day as well. There’s a high chance this was BS, but he was brilliantly kind, knew I was a fan, and I’m happy to believe it :) So obviously I asked if he’d be my subject that day.

We went in to the studio behind the house where he sat at the piano. Just that one light in the room (had to lose the lampshade, sorry Marcus). Nice sometimes to not worry about anything technical and just shoot what’s in front of you. It could probably have taken about 10 seconds, but I couldn’t help but sit and listen to him piss about on the piano for a while.

Those changes weren’t so tiny, I don’t think.