Vane Tempest sessions on a boat!

This Monday we're holding our most exclusive Vane tempest Sessions on the Prince Bishop, a boat that sails up and down the River Wear. During the day the boat normally transports tourists to see the sights of the city from the river but at night it is hired out for birthdays, barbecues and this time round for a gig!

As this is the last Vane Tempests Sessions of the year, it required a nice new set of publicity. I decided to embrace fully the predictable nautical theme but put my own stamp onto it by hand drawing rope and a life belt in the same style as previous flyers and posters. I especially like the coiled up rope, it was simple to do yet effective I think.

I originally only had colour on the blue and white stripes (incidentally, they're from a top of mine that I scanned!) but it looked a bit dull. I tried to make the life belt red in sections but it didn't look good so it ended up being font that was highlighted.

This poster was rather hastily put together this evening because we decided it would be good to have something bigger to catch peoples eye. I think it does the job okay.

I'm looking forward to this event on Monday night. The music is promising to be of a really high standard. Sir Paul McCartney is a fan of Thomas J. Speight which is a promising start and Rams' Pocket Radio is currently on tour with Foy Vance. If you've never made it along to Vane Tempest Sessions before and you don't have plans yet for next week than this isn't one to miss! Even if you have been before, this is looking like an evening on a par with Dry the River and Flight Brigade.

See you on Monday!

my day job

A couple of months ago I started a new job at A Way Out in Stockton. It's an amazing charity that really does saves people's lives. I'd fully recommend you to check out the website and the work the charity does.

My job title is Fundraising Admin Assistant but I'm not entirely sure whether that gives the right impression of what I do. It sounds quite office based and a bit boring (at least that's what I thought when I was offered the role)! But in fact I love my job! It does have a more admin side to e.g. writing thank you letters to people who have donated money but that's a nice thing to do anyway. 

Our first big event - a jumble sale with a twist

But the vast majority of my job is to do with event planning. I'm one of two staff members in the brand new Fundraising department which means that we get to be really creative. All the work we've been doing so far has been centred around local, community events. These range from gig nights to fashion shows, golfing days to glamorous balls. So on a 'normal' day I might be pricing up Gucci boots for a designer jumble sale before heading out to a country estate to negotiate prices on a golfing day, then creating a running order for a gig and maybe designing a poster to advertise it!

I've blurred out the address as it was somebody's home

The poster design aspect of my job isn't one that I anticipated being allowed to devote so much time to. But good publicity is essential to promoting an event and so spending a bit of extra time making it look eye-catching and attractive is worthwhile. I've really enjoyed getting some more practice in graphic design and I really like thinking about the target markets for different events and trying to think of something that will really appeal to them.

Our under 18s warm-up to the festival season

I consider myself lucky to have such a fun job (even if I still have to write risk assessments and keep budgets)!

Gig Photography

As a general rule, I don't enjoy function photography. I feel quite intrusive, taking photos of people I don't know and someone always seems to have their eyes shut or their mouth open (or both). The lighting can also be bad and it's tricky using flash whilst still wanting to be subtle! I don't like the pressure of trying to get that perfect photo for someone- I'd rather take it unofficially and then be able to show them it.

Flight Brigade 19th Feb

However when it comes to gig photography, it's an entirely different matter. I started taking photos at Vane Tempest Sessions last term and have done it pretty much every week so far this year. 

Flight Brigade 19th Feb

As I run the Sessions, I don't have the pressure of trying to impress anyone because I only have to meet my own standards, although we do use the photos on Facebook to promote events. There's also not the problem of being intrusive- bands fully expect to have their photos taken at gigs and sometimes they will even ask to have images put on a CD for their own use. So I can take as many photos as I want, whilst obviously being aware of people's enjoyment of the music (it's not great to be listening to a really quiet track and have someone clicking away incessantly behind you). And although the rooms are dark, the lighting is great on the artists and I love playing around with strong light contrasts.

Samuel Brookes 22nd Jan

These a few of my favourite pictures so far. They're not necessarily the biggest bands we've had to play but I like what the images capture of the night.

John Oliver 22nd Jan - Durham favourite beat-boxer

John is the only support act that we've had back three times- he is very talented and always goes down well. For this set, the lighting just seemed to be perfect. Of course having only one person to light rather than a whole band makes things a lot easier too.

Joseph and David 5th March

I find that there are some shots I've got in the habit of taking every week and this is one of them. I think it captures the ambiance of Vane Tempest Sessions in some way.

Emily (and the Woods) 5th March

Because of the strong dark/light contrasts, the temptation is to have my camera permanently stuck on the monochrome mode because black and white photographs look better much more easily. But I have learnt the benefit of flicking back into colour which gives a less stark finish.

Richard Walters 19th Feb

Richard is one of those people who is really expressive when he plays- not just with his face but his whole body. Ideal subject matter for a photographer!