Well, it's been quite some time between posts so I thought I better write something.
What have I been doing lately? I shot Jimmy Barnes @ The Palms, Crown a few weeks ago... It was quite a difficult gig. We were only allowed to stand in one spot:

So yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with my shots. Oh well, it was an interesting experience which lead to some pretty important epiphanies...
Other than that, a sort-of-secret project is keeping me extremely busy. Hush hush!
I leave for Byron Bay on Thursday evening, to spend five glorious days in what will be some very welcome warm weather... And of course two of those days will be spent at Splendour in the Grass! I'm mostly looking forward to Cold War Kids, love love love love love!

Other upcoming things of niceness:

• Regurgitator/Spod @ The East Brunswick Club [shooting]
• Interview/promo shoot with Spod
• Trial Kennedy @ Ding Dong
• Cold War Kids @ The Palace
• Death Cab for Cutie @ The Palace
• The Faint @ The Prince Bandroom [shooting]
• The birth of about 8,000 friends' babies.

Things I am hoping like crazy to get to:

• Grazzhopper Festival
• Parklife Festival
• Falls Festival

That's about it from me, I'll update from Byron Bay! :D

MY WEBSITE IS UP!

www.nadialouiseimages.com

Tree Kangaroo @ Melbourne Zoo

Super quick one, this photo has been short-listed for inclusion in the fifth edition of the Schmap Melbourne Guide, published at the end of this month. Hooray! In other news, I'm shooting Jimmy Barnes next week, and about 800 of my friends are pregnant so I'd say between now and January there will be lots of photos of bellies and babies coming up!

PS. I just visited the Falls Festival website and saw that a few of my photos have been used in the gallery! NOICE!

Today I am stuck at home sick. I decided to spend my day attempting to get all the material together for my website, but have spent probably two hours completely distracted by youtube. I have compiled a list of songs that I'm completely obsessed with right now. If I recited this list aloud to some certain friends of mine I would get the most evil of death stares and probably fiery lectures from a particularly cynical young man I know for some of it... but today I've decided that I don't care anymore. It's not like it's "just music", I can never look at it that way because I've had such a strong connection with it my entire life, but I am sick of the "politics". I've spent way too much time adopting the attitudes of the people around me for the sake of holding onto a bit of - dare I say it - credibility. I like what I like, and I have officially thrown my hands up in the air. I’m not denying myself of anything anymore - I know it sounds a little dramatic, but judging by the way people have reacted when I've said "I don't mind this song" about something they didn't approve of... it's apparently a big deal.

Lately I just have so much appreciation for what other people are creating and I'm so damn hungry for music! I'm just going to enjoy songs that hit my eardrums the right way. It really is a pathetic attempt at elitism to completely write something off because of where the band comes from, what radio station have chosen to play them or who they're influenced by. I hate that I have had this attitude for so long, I’ve wasted time and I’ve surely missed out on some amazing music. So fuck it, no more.

I will openly say that Black and Gold by Sam Sparro is a fantastic pop song, I cannot wait to see Trial Kennedy live, and I am not going to turn my nose up at The Wombats when they play at Splendour just because one of their songs has the words Joy and Division in the title. For fuck's sake, they don't sound anything like Joy Division did, the song is about enjoying their music. What's the problem? I really think there are worse things happening in the music industry for Ian Curtis to "roll over in his grave" about. Someone singing about dancing to his music? I doubt he'd be that upset.

There will always be bands/songs that I won't like, I’ll probably still hate 99% of the songs that make it to the charts, but I'll at least have a good reason.

custom kings - up late
dukes of windsor - no disguise
cut copy - hearts on fire
cut copy - lights and music
the presets - this boy's in love
the wombats - let's dance to joy division
tegan and sara - back in your head
sam sparro - black and gold
the fratellis - my friend john
trial kennedy - colour day tours
the basics - lookin' over my shoulder
the futureheads - the beginning of the twist

Just a quick one - I did my interviews, they were so much fun. Trial Kennedy were just the nicest guys and hanging around in the recording studio while The Basics belted out breath-taking harmonies was an experience to remember, to say the least. Good times, good times. You'll have to wait for Lights & Music to come out to read the articles, unless I feel particularly nice and post them here for you all to have a sneak preview... Oh I bet you're just wetting yourselves.

So anyway. There's my favourite photo of the day (that's The Basics). The rest are on Flickr, along with my photos from Grinspoon @ The Hifi Bar.

Also, you should listen to No Disguise by Dukes of Windsor. I am quite addicted to it. It's my new MySpace song because I'm so home with the downies. LISTEN TO IT.

One more thing... My website is very, very close to being up. I just need to magically find the time to gather all the content... gah.

I haven't taken anything like this in ages, it was fun. I get so wrapped up in music photography. This week I'm shooting Grinspoon @ The Hifi bar, then I'll be meeting up with Trial Kennedy on Sunday to interview/shoot them... then heading over to where ever it is The Basics are recording, to interview/shoot them also. I'm looking forward to it very mucho.

Words cannot describe how happy this makes me.