Nothing Is Real

With Adam Hastings leaving The Bootleg Beatles, I have to wait to find out when the new band member will begin. Although I am gutted that Adam is leaving, I am hoping the new Lennon impersonator will begin over the summer to allow me to capture some portraits and live shots. I received positive feedback with the portraits of The Bootleg Beatles captured in April, which has encouraged me and picked up my confidence with the work. With everything going on, I had wondered about pushing back this module and picking it up again this time next year, but was encouraged by feedback, and also told to carry on with the work.

 

With this in mind, and in case things do not pan out as planned with The Bootleg Beatles, I returned to shoot this years Glastonbudget. A weekend festival situated just outside Loughborough in the midlands, it is self proclaimed to be “Biggest Tribute Festival in The World”, and it is where my interest in tribute bands began ten years ago. I was asked by a band to cover the festival when it was just a few years old, and I have seen it build itself over the past decade. More tents, more bars, more stages, more tribute acts, and many more thousands of fans travelling from all over the UK to spend the weekend watching people pretending to be other people.

 

Reflecting on this year’s festival, I think I have struggled more than ever. With time off because of arm surgery, the last time I picked up the camera was for The Bootleg Beatles performing at The Royal Albert Hall in April. Not only did I struggle with the physicality of the festival this year, I over analysed what I was trying to achieve at the festival.

 

I tried to capture a few portraits behind the scenes, in the same style I captured The Bootleg Beatles in London. However due to stage times, busy bands, and the fact that I needed to carry my equipment with me over the large festival site, I only managed to capture a couple of quick portraits. I have known the Michael Jackson and Guns N’ Roses tributes, Ben – MJUK and Guns 2 Roses, for the past few years. They were both happy to have their portraits taken quickly, but in the fast paced environment of live festival music, again it was just a minute with each singer. Looking at the shots over the weekend, I was really unsure whether it was working or not, so looked to document the festival more.

 

That’s when the struggles really began. I couldn’t help but think “how would Martin Parr / Simon Roberts shoot this”. Due to this over analysing of the situation in front of me, and probably mixed with the physical strain, I lost confidence that weekend and wasn’t happy with what was produced. It was difficult to try and capture each idea that was running around in my mind, and I just couldn’t seem to find the right shot to achieve a panoramic in the style of Gursky. Although I achieved a few shots that weekend, it left me feeling rather flat, and unsure about my progress as a photographer on the MA course. I don’t think the work was up to my usual or previous standard, musically, documentary nor portraiture.

 

Outside of studies, and obviously playing on my mind, is that I have accepted a new job just outside London, and will be relocating over the summer. Add that on to the MA studies and everything else in life, it is going to be an interesting few months!