Babybird... booo!!!

Babybird, originally uploaded by Ben Yacobi.

So I was at his gig in Hoxton taking photos. The reason - Babybird's his PR has been touting it around that Johnny Depp was playing guitar at the gig with the band (he's on their new album apparently) so my photo agency asked me to go and arranged for me to get a photopass.

Still there were only four photographers. About three songs in he says "a lot of photographers in here tonight. Wonder why that is?" A few laughs. Then he turns to me and asks me where I'm from. I say I'm with an agency. He accuses me of being a paparazzi (which is an insult in my book) and then turns to the crowd and says "he's a wanker".

Now I'm there because I love music and I love photography. I don't expect to be insulted in front of a room full of people with no right of reply. Franky, it's unprofessional and just rude. I could've pulled him off the stage right there and then. I wasn't blocking anyone's view, I wasn't blinding him by using a flash, I got there an hour in advance because I knew ther'd be no photopit and didn't want to push my way to the front, I was just doing my job.

I've always thought a good definition of wanker was a person who would call someone they know nothing about a wanker.

My Depp never did turn up... Babybird waited till the final song of his encore to reveal that nugget. :-(

Capturing The Moment

Capture The Moment, originally uploaded by ben-yacobi.com.

It's been a good month for me. After seeing my piccies in the Daily Mail, the Daily Star and the New York Post I'm feeling like things are going nicely. What I need now are nice music magazines to pick up my images - although I think my agency has better relationships with the press than with the magazine publishers.

So I hope to buy a nice lens or two with the proceeds of these and other exploits to make my piccies even better so I can sell even more!

See how this fortuitous cycle works? You see?

Bank Manager

Bank Manager, originally uploaded by ben-yacobi.com.

Dan Gillespie Sells of The Feeling gets all dressed up...

The Big Chill

The Big Chill, originally uploaded by Ben Yacobi.

I went to the Big Chill Festival in Shropshire this weekend. it was my first music festival as a photographer. Well, first camping festival - I had photo passes for SXSW, Radio 1's Big Weekend, Summer case in Barcelona and, er, the iTunes festival - but none of those were proper festivals in the classic sense.

It was great fun - even though the Wifi in the Press Office was down. The Press office doesn't exactly have a complicated remit: distribute passes, give advice, and provide a means for journalists and photographers to get their info out to the outside world! They did put on a decent bar tent though.

Anyway the sun shined for most of it and I got to see Leonard Cohen and The Mighty Boosh among others...

Decent.

Sam Sparro

Sam Sparro, originally uploaded by Ben Yacobi.

Sam Sparro is the bloke who sings Black And Gold. This was yet another gig at Koko for the iTunes Festival. It a great venue but the lighting is so difficult - lots of backlighting and shadows. Managed to get a few okay shots though...

Florence And The Machine

Florence And The Machine, originally uploaded by Ben Yacobi.

Ah there's nothing like a band who determinedly sticks to being unsigned, presumably with the expectation that the longer they hold out for the better the deal they'll get.

Or will they just disappear like 98% of all the other bands but without taking advantage of their slight fame.

I quite like this band though... and here they were a popular support act for the Ting Tings at Koko.

Well done and all that.

N*E*R*D

N*E*R*D, originally uploaded by Ben Yacobi.

Pharrell Williams obviously decided I was worth rapping to. Not quite sure what he was saying - too busy making sure I didn't fuck this short opportunity up. Which I proudly claim I did not...