Run Toto Run

Recently we got to work with up and coming Manchester band ‘Run Toto Run’.
On the MySpace page there is a comment which sums them up nicely courtesy of NME which is:
A curious mix of antifolk and airy, ‘postal service’ indebted electronica’.
I think this sums them up quite well. We managed to catch them at a live gig before we did the photo shoot to see what kind of band they were and we both came away impressed with the performance. For me it had influences of Postal service and Bat For Lashes which is no bad thing. It was clear they have fun performing and for me I loved the cover of Passion Pits ‘Sleepyhead’ at the end.
For the shoot, Rachel from the band seemed to know what kind of thing they wanted and when we turned up they were all already looking like they had walked out of Bowie music video. We kept the shoot fairly simple, using home made decorations as the background which I think gave it a personal feel and inkeeping with the bands playful attitude. We played around with light effects and different poses and came up with images such as the ones you can see here.

For more info on Run Toto Run click on the link below:
www.myspace.com/runtotomusic

Gavin Higgins

I recently ventured down to London for a few days to see the ol’ smoke and whilst there did some publicity shots for Gavin Higgins. Gavin is a musical wonderman whose talents include horn playing and most impressively writing brilliant music. He has had his music performed by numerous ensembles and soloists across the UK in venues including the Wigmore Hall, Regent Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. His work has been very popular with BBC young Musician finalists and in March 2010 the BBC Symphony Orchestra will premiere his new work, Dancing at the Edge of hell.
Gavin wanted some fairly simple publicity shots but wanted to steer clear of the typical (cheesy) photography that so many classical musicians seem to have. So for this we got ourselves a day pass for the tube and shot round to different parts of London doing photos in a number of Locations including the underground, Primrose Hill which overlooks the city and down in the bright lights of Piccadilly Circus.
We wanted to wait until it went dark for some particular shots so we walked to the top of Primrose Park and sat and waited for the sun to go down.. and we waited.. and waited.. for quite some time. The day before we were sure the sun went down about 2 hours earlier. Anyway, we shared some beer and snacks and watched people doing some kind of fitness training and then we felt bad as all we were doing was eating.

Anyway.. eventually the sun went down and the street lights came on so we got to work taking more pictures.

For more info on Gavin click on the link below: www.myspace.com/gavinhiggins

This Morning Call

Oops, well we seem to have forgotten to update this blog recently so from now on we’ll try to keep more up to date with it.

In September, Black Cherry Photography got to work again with ‘This Morning Call’ for a bit of an experimental photo shoot in preparation for the forthcoming album due out early next year.
From the MySpace page:
‘This Morning Call – aka Ben Heyworth – is a singer, songwriter and producer from Manchester, who writes downtempo but beautiful, life affirming tunes that engage the brain, please the ears and move the feet’.
Prior to the shoot, we listened to the new album at Bens house whilst enjoying cups of tea. We started to get a good feel for what kind of album this was and what type of imagery would work to promote it. A number of songs on the album are connected to nature, emptiness, the sea and so on... With this in mind we thought we needed to steer clear of typical clear studio shots and go for something that better reflected the album.
One idea we all were particularly interested in was the idea of using projections. We gathered together a number of our own images of landscapes, lights and textures that we could use for the shoot. We hired a projector and set it up in a rehearsal studio in Ancoats. Some of the images we brought along worked brilliantly projected onto the blue brick walls and straight onto Ben. The images really gave us motivation to get creative. Lisa got busy doing close up shots whilst I experimented with the idea of layering multiple images together in the camera (something we hadn’t tried before!).
Again, as with the previous This Morning Call photo shoot, the night was a good mix of music, a little bit of silliness, a small amount of dancing and much needed monster munch for snacks. Oh and not to mention, some really good pictures. We were really happy with the results and you can see some of the images and behind the scenes footage here..
For more info on This Morning Call click on the link below:
www.myspace.com/thismorningcall

In the papers........

This time supporting articles in the MEN and Metro about the Urban Gardening exhibition at urbis (which by the way, is very good and everyone should go and see it before september when it finishes!).......................

Metro

M.E.N

Black Cherry Photography in the South Manchester Reporter!

You may have read in one of the blogs below that we recently did a photo shoot of Manchester band 'This Morning Call'.
Well things are going well for the band and they recently did a cracking gig at new night 'Thriller Killer' in Manchester City Centre.
Anyway, as you can see from the picture, they have done a little interview with the South Manchester Reporter and Black Cherry Photography supplied one of the pictures from the recent shoot to go alongside the article.

In Urban Life......

We’ve recently been doing some work with Urbis in Manchester to help promote their exhibitions and tours; the latest shoot was to promote the new 60’s magical music tour.

Authentic 60’s dresses were kindly loaned to Urbis by Pop Boutique on Oldham Street (Which has lovely frocks, by the way!) and were modelled by some lovely ladies around Urbis and Cathedral Gardens. Photos from the shoot appeared recently in Urban Life magazine alongside an article to promote the tour, check it out…….

We'll be putting some of the other photos on our website soon!

This Morning Call photoshoot

Sunday 27th January 2008 saw the photo shoot of 'This Morning Call'.

This Manchester based group are described in one review as a six piece alternative electronic pop band, with synths, drums, guitars and laptops and sound a bit like Portishead on decent anti-depressants. With this in mind, we knew we could do something special and a bit unique for their photos.

We decided on a location for the shoot just south of Manchester deep into the countryside near Congleton surrounded by fields, the odd tractor and a faint whiff of excrement. Perfect.

The day started off in an amazing abandoned house, still intact with the original peeling wall paper and authentic early 1900's furniture - brought right back up to date with an I POD speaker system blasting out the likes of Kings Of Leon, Maximo Park and of course.. This Morning Call - just to get them into the swing of things!

We went with ideas obtained from the style of their music - for example a mix of electro and acoustic pop and decided to bring this out in the photos - mixing the old grandeur of the house and glitzing it up with some jazzy lighting and an oh so classy disco ball!

Throughout the day we saw the band in rusty sheds, climbing trees and it went slightly Narnia at one point when we photographed them all in a wardrobe. Even when we had them outside under a 100 year old beech tree in the freezing cold as we set up the lighting, the cheery mood carried on with the usual larking about and everyone getting involved attaching baubles and lights all over the place. There seemed to be a real buzz from both photographers and musicians about the ideas we were coming up with.

The final shots saw the whole band set up under the tree just as the sun was going down - a perfect time to light the scene with lamps and fairy lights.. it really did look like a scene straight out of a Tim Burton film.





Lisa, accompanied by Nick, shot some footage for an animated music video (go here http://www.myspace.com/lisarisbecfilms for updates) capturing the band under the lights, while I stood below shooting some stills.








All in all a very successful shoot was had.. we were happy, the band were happy (if not a little cold!) and the finished versions of the pictures will be on our website very soon!

Final thanks to the band for working so well with us, considering the freezing temperatures - i think this was probably helped by a mid day cup of tea. Sorts everything out!
For further details on This Morning Call click on the links below:
http://www.myspace.com/thismorningcall
http://thismorningcall.vox.com/profile/