The very same evening I was also at The Face Bar at the invitation of Officer Kicks so I had to pretty much sprint across town to do both.

Then Brighton took over BBC Introducing at The Oakford Social club for the night with Ice Black Birds:

And Jumping Ships both putting in an appearance:

Next on the Agenda was Malefice:

at SUB89 supported by Primitae:

Then came a Club Velocity night at Plug N Play – kicked off by Off The Radar:

Followed by Sixty Watt Bayonets:

Then Vienna Ditto:

My awesome mates the Midimidis:

And headlining that night was Aluminum Babe:

My next adventure was back at SUB89 again to shoot one of my favourite heavy bands Breed 77:

They were supported by OMT (Our Malevolent Tyranny)

And also Symphony Cult:

So next on the rollercoaster of November was Hadouken – a big band in a little venue – but The Oakford Social Club welcomed them with sweaty arms wide open!

Abley supported by Soft Toy Emergency:

BBC Introducing that week was Headlined by Chew LiPs:

Supported by Islington Boys Club:

and local boys The Wookies:

The highlight of this week was back at SUB89 for The Buzzcocks on Wednesday

They had support from Newport band Strawberry Blondes

And also South Wales based Town:

If it helps anyone here are my default settings:

Canon 5Dmk2 TV mode somewhere between 60 and 125 depending on the style of the band – for metal its 125 for folk its 60 – lol.

Autofocus set to one shot – using the centre point for focus – watching the movement pattern of the performer – half clicking at a known point (nr mike stand for example) and then waiting patiently for them to return to that before the final release. On C1 and C2 (see below) flash (580exii) is set to focus assist but not fire. (This increases the focus speed dramatically and also raises your % of in focus shots).

Iso – between 800-3200 dependant on the lighting set up – normally end up on 2000

Lenses – 50mm f1.2, 85mm f1.2 24-70l f2.8 70-200L IS f2.8 I try and swop about a bit during the 3 songs to get variety and again much depends on the lighting that night.

I always set up the 3 custom c1/c2/c3 at the start of a show with an 800 iso setting as above, a 2000 iso setting as above and then on C3 a flash based setting at manual/60/iso800/f5.6/flash on, rear curtain sync which I use if all else fails and for crowd shots. Having all that set up on the custom settings frees your normal manual/av and TV buttons for a couple of other banker settings so that you are sure to get something.

I don’t claim to be an expert – but my shots regularly get picked up and used by local press etc and I’m getting there – the above settings came through trial and error over thousands of sets.

You can check out my results at www.adamreading.com have a look at the Music page – let me know what you think.

I’d be very interested in any pointers people have to share back with me to improve my work!

I did consider just for a minute writing a long boring account of everything I’ve achieved photographically over the last year or so – but then I decided that just showing you all my favourite pictures from recent times might just be enough.

So the short version is – this year saw me shoot my very first Reading Festival as a fully fledged card carrying agency photographer - (For Retna UK, many thanks to all the people there – especially Kelly Wong who is amazing!), My first Wedding (though I’m doing my next, next week so get those bookings in for 2010 if you want a unique and quirky perspective on your wedding day photographs) – all those years shooting bands under pressure make me pretty unflappable! I’ve set up my own portrait studio at home, I’m ready to launch myself as a full time photographer next year with lots of help and support from friends and family – so please pass on my details to everyone you know!

In the meantime – here’s a splurge of photos representitive of my website  www.adamreading.com and feel free to give me feedback on the shots whether positive or constructive.

Annabolic caught at The Oakford Social Club

Amazing Rapper “Virgz” doing a Promo Shoot with me at my studio

Who else but The amazing Kaiser Chiefs predicting a riot at Reading festival 2009

Maximo Park providing a colourful backdrop to Reading Festival 2009

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – probably my favourite shot of the whole of Reading Festival 2009

This guy rocks! Anthony enjoying himself at Oxford Academy

“Mr BlindPig” himself – if you need something promoted in Reading or a quirky DJ he’s Da Bomb

What a priviledge it was to shoot The Stereophonics at Reading Rivermead this year

The Midimidis are one of my all time fav bands – they make music in Reading

Sunday night’s headliners at Lozza’s 100% Basingstoke Festival “Karrion”

So this is what £1,600 of Canon 85mm F1.2 L lens does for you in a badly lit room that

I would have previously used flash to light

So there’s this amazing new Vintage Clothing shop in the Harris Arcade called Tiger Lillys and it’s

run by the amazing Chloe and Scarlet – I did a fun day’s shoot with them and loads of their friends

who Scarlet did 50’s makeovers on – and here are a few of the results from the 1000+ shots I took that day

So, this is my first Wedding day shoot – I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun in one day before!

I really can ‘t wait to do a load more weddings and I’m taking bookings now for next year.

My next wedding is Halloween – in fashionable London – with venue’s over Chelsea, Mayfair and Clerkenwell

and that’s gonna be an absolute blast.  Why was I so scared to start doing weddings? Bring it on!

Harriet Rock of Tricoteurs fame started the proceedings

When 2 bands didn’t show for various reasons – a brave 2/5s of Tots and Bull stepped in to save the day

As everyone wound down and got ready to leave and end their evening – an amazing thing happened. Islington boys’ club took to the stage and from the first bars – everyone was mesmerised! The people all sitting around chatting, or standing with coats on ready to go – all surged back towards the stage and stayed their until the last beat of the last bar. Awesome band!

See all the night’s photos at http://www.adamreading.com/v/r/C34458050/cr5526rt

22 Bands over 2 days – 9 days of post processing and 1076 pictures posted to my website www.adamreading.com

Here’s a little taster:

mary kelly

fake the attack

boydidgood

junk yard scientists

circus sands

sevasa

the charlie parkers

kamikaze test pilots

karrion

elle kaye

atom gang

the foxes

the perishers

her:enemy

the veygers

grimaldi

butterflies on strings

the blumen bullets

relik

gan-a-gley

ahab rides the whale

It’s a shame really as I’ve shot some fantastic bands, grown my photography by adding equipment and skills for portraits and promo work and a new website (www.adamreading.com), so I have decided to start writing again, and begin by trying to catch up on 8 months of action! (no small task)

So in September I got to see the fantastic Serj Tankian at The O2 Academy Oxford, I didn’t have a pass so photos were taken with the Canon G9 I bought for the honeymoon. (I decided not to bore you with my wedding or honeymoon shots!)

He didn’t disappoint!

During the rest of September I had White Sunday:

The Noyze:

MrBlindPig himself:

SKG:

and finally Obiat (at The Rising Sun)

The Next installment when I get to it will be September’s awesome offerings….

Until then, don’t forget – my new website is at www.adamreading.com and you can book me for Family Portraits, Individual and Couple shots, location shots, shots in my studio, shots in your home, Live Band, Promo Shoots and just about any other people photography you fancy…

Gutted by Hello Wembleys demise, what a damn shame!

So if you like these pics – see the originals at www.flickr.com/photos/adamreading

Also great was Black and White Music’s event at the Plug N Play on the Sunday night – a great mix of bands, all playing their hearts out but to the usual Reading apathy of a turnout. I really want to understand why no one can be bothered to out and support our local music scene – the tickets are priced fairly, the bands were awesome, the effort made by all was huge – except Reading’s “couch potato” music fans. Be careful you don’t lose your music scene completely through atrophy. Anyway – All Sunday’s bands blew me away – even if Alex from Hello Wembley was determined to scare what audience there was away..

So here’s all my favourite shots – with the rest at http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamreading

The Purple Project – Newbury Corn Exchange May 2008

Plug N Play – B&W Music – May 2008

Rosalita

Ejector Seat

Hello Wembley

The Quotes

So here is my photographic evidence of a great couple of nights had by all.

OK Tokyo

Bad Robots

Kicks

60 Watt Bayonets

Underground Heroes

The Vice

The Tricoteurs