Looking for

I'm just searching for someone so If I put her name on a blog the search engines will find it. It may just work

So we're looking for Shelley Forrest (AKA Wendy Fisher) ex manager of the band Cheap Flights. Fronted by the legend that was John Grimaldi.

Hey ho I've found Brett Salmon who played rhythm guitar and Andy the roadie.

contact here or through this blog.

That's all for now. BTW I'm still alive but incredibly busy being famous.

So I called up Big Tony to see if I could borrow a brief case full of money. He's got plenty. His business is very cash driven and violent. He owed me a favour. The deal was done and Little Tony turned up at my gaff with the promised briefcase full of money in used notes. Non sequential. Funny thing is Little Tony is a huge guy and Big tony isn't. Those Italians eh? Having a laugh as usual. Little Tony walked in and placed the case on the side. He opened it snapping both locks at the same time. Slowly and deliberately he opened the case.
"Is da money." he said, his stern face not cracking once, "i county out, I county back inna da case."
He licked his thumb pulled out a wad and started counting. Slowly and methodically he took out each wad, counted and placed it on the floor.
When he'd finished we picked up the cash and threw it around.
"wass da madda you, you cray zeee man?"
"It's a for some photographs." I could tell Little Tony was not impressed.
Later on when we set up the Easter bunny shot, Little Tony smiled for the first time. He's a softy really. Just don't mess with him.

Mare of a job

So I'm out on assignment photographing the official opening of a local community centre my brief as usual, take lots of happy smiling faces and generally capture the VIP's looking at stuff and chatting. But the most crucial thing is to get the Mayor cutting the ribbon. My camera chose to die at that exact moment, the moment the Mayor is cutting the ribbon my camera goes belly up. There's not even time to run the to car to get a spare camera. The moment is gone and the mayor walks on leaving me cursing my camera and cursing the bad luck in timing.
But it's sods law. If anything can go wrong it will go wrong and wrong at the worst possible moment. Your air con will pack in on the hottest day of the year. The central heating on the coldest, and windscreen wipers on the wettest.

I'm now the proud owner of a new camera specially flown in on an overnighter. Fabulous I'm back in business. What's more the camera is two thirds paid for just with this weeks work.

The Tower of Babel

There's been a lot of confusion about the tower of Babel whereby "God" gave everyone a different language so they couldn't understand each other. I think it's about time the record was put straight. It had nothing to do with "God" or Gods retribution on man for being arrogant enough to attempt to build a tower to reach the heavens. No it is much simpler than that. What happened is the people of Babel built a Tower. Now it's true they may well have been arrogant enough to think they were building a tower to reach to the heavens, but God didn't give them all different languages. It was tourism. No one had ever seen the like before and tourist flocked in from around the known world, all speaking their own language so when the locals walked down their own streets they didn't understand a word that was being said and assumed God had smitten them. What they were smitten with was tourists. So they ripped down the tower so they could go back to a quiet life and all the tourists would go away.

Next time the true story behind Moses and the Ten commandments, as never heard before.

I loved my pub so much I bought it

Yes friends it's true. I've been neglecting you and this blog for ages due to all the shennanigans involved in buying a pub. It's been a long old haul but finally we've done it. I say we meaning my business associate and I. I'm not allowed to say the word partner. The idea hatched over many rum and cokes and long conversations that lasted until the small hours earlier this year. Anyway this is my pub.It's quite big with two bars two gardens and a conservatory. So we've got plans some of them on the go already. For instance we've stolen a darts team from a pub that closed for refurbishment. They had to have somewhere to play. We're not giving them back, because they're a bunch of nice guys. We're also making the pub into a premier music venue. With bands on, cover bands Friday and Saturday and original bands on Sundays. It's starting to buzz. With my contacts with the magazine I work for
we're even holding a major charity music event with two stages and fourteen bands in one afternoon/evening. Cool. Lots of publicity and great fun.
One of the drawbacks is the lack of sleep I'm getting. I am rarely in bed before 2:00am and up again to go to my day job (the shop) then after work I'm a photographer for the magazine and in between times I'm interviewing and writing articles and busy being a music promotor booking bands and organising stuff. I'm not sure I have any time left over for just slobbing around. Not that I'd want to anyway. I can't watch TV if I do sit down I fall asleep. So I just keep on going. It's addictive being busy.

Mrs Mad Lady

Mrs Mad Lady has just been to see me, as usual screaming about aliens mucking about with her electrickery supply and "them", the people out to get her and put her in prison by wrongful arrest and framing. I told her she had a very exciting life. She wheeled round, faced contorted and screamed at me "Do you think this is exciting? Have you any idea what it's like to have to hide everytime the door bell rings, to have to search your house everyday for signs of breakins and check each and everything in case it's been stolen? Have you? Have you? No you haven't a clue. You don't know, you know nothing. When they come round and steal your round things, and you have to buy another and even though I have power of attorney I can't get the money and they spend the money and I get the aggravation because it's not my fault and they do this to me and the post office has my round thing and they keep on denying they took it and the man from 118 who really should be living in 180 but I've seen him many times at 186 has been stealing from me but the police wont do anything and when they do something they steal from me as well. I've bought three round things in three months I have them on a plate and they should all be in the same place but they aren't because they stole them and now .... what can you do? No you don't know the first thing about round things, how can you? you're ignorant...." she walked out the door muttering something. "Come back when you've less time." I shouted after her. I love mad people.

It's a tough job

I got a call from the magazine. Can I go down to the embankment and taste some beer? It's the Thirtieth Peterborough Beer Festival and one of the biggest in the country second only to Olympia. Although some would argue it's bigger than Olympia. I toddle on down presented myself at the hospitality tent and was sat down at a table where we had to taste 32 different beers. It was hell I tell you. The temptation to order the full pint of more than one of them was terrible. As it was to get through all 32 beers you had to limit yourself to less than a quarter of a pint each. Here's some guys on my table checking out the Premium beer category. I'm standing at the side of the road just minding my own business when this dude in a wheel chair comes scooting along, totally oblivious to the fact he was in the middle of the road facing the oncoming traffic. Never being more than a few feet away from my camera I took this shot. It's hard to portray in the photo but the car coming towards the camera was swerving to avoid him and interestingly the white van behind that was an ambulance.
Issue six of the magazine is coming out soon. We've been working really hard to bring you some quality articles and photos.

Missing Cat

I found this on a lamp post outside my house. ..."or at least we can't seem to get rid of him." Cute.

The Office Party

Hey ho and a merry Oh. Here's some pics I took at Hinchinbrook Country park last weekend. Clockwise from Top left Fringed Water Lilly, the fruiting body of Lords and Ladies, Water Mint and Branched Bur Weed. I must be getting all important an all cos the other day I got an Email from the BBC asking me who's hot on the music scene right now. I recommended a few band that they might like to put on the radio. So I go to a local posh hotel with m'camera because they're holding the annual staff party with a James Bond casino theme. Four 52inch plasma TV's showing four different James Bond films, white carpet throughout (which went into a skip the next day) roulette table black jack etc walls that change colour it was amazing. Then my friend at the hotel told me the budget for this one evenings entertainment £45,000. How much? Forty five big ones. Christ on a bike just for an office party? What happened to the crate of cheap fizzy plonk and a stack of cucumber sandwiches cut in triangles with their edges curling up as they dry out? They must love their staff. Can you feel the love? How much love can you feel for £45,000? I'm sure it's not a record. I'm sure there's other companies even more daft than that. I would bet there's been a few in the six figure region. If you've been to one let me know.

Sue Ryder

At Unity held a fund raiser for The Sue Ryder Hospice. Their fund raising team is amazing they have to raise annually 1.2 million pounds just to keep the place going. Quite an achievement. So on the bill was The Ghears here's the lead singer giving it some with so much emotion and energy.Tomorrow it's the Peterborough Opera. Should be fun.
Thursday night someone had the audacity to try and give me a few tips on photography. I was polite. Nodded my head. Humoured him. Next day took a look a his website, he's posted photos I would delete instantly, never mind highlight them on a website. he's not going to get a job with the magazine. Why is it everyone with a camera thinks they're a photographer?

Apocalypse Now

This is my good friend Clare. She's recently shaved all her hair off. When she told me I was shocked to say the least because normally she's quite shy. But we've been discussing her shyness a lot recently and she's come to the conclusion that to combat her shyness she needs "implosion therapy" Hence she cut her hair off so she can't "hide behind it".The funny thing is she doesn't know anything about implosion therapy, she worked it out by herself. Then she says she wants photos to celebrate the new Clare. So I'm thinking GI Jane and Ripley and Apocalypse Now. So we shot a load of stuff based on Apocalypse Now. Not literally but in the spirit of it, with Colonel Kurtz in the back of the mind. I think it worked out quite well. Clare was over the moon with the results.

Grunge photoshoot

So Sunday I toddle off to Spalding to meet a band and photograph them. The brief was grunge band in posh surroundings for the contrast. They turned up clean cut and spotless. They didn't look out of place at all in the posh hotel with chandeliers.So we thought we'd do some rain shots, here's one of them. I'm not sure it's gonna be used in the magazine but it's a bit of fun. The Band? It's "Lyster Shailes". Pretty damned good as well, very professional but a lot of fun to be with.

We're heading headlong towards publishing day and Mel the editor is up to her eyeballs and I'm relaxing. I feel a little guilty that now she's doing ALL the work and I can't help. But I guess I've done my job. Until the next photoshoot. Which, as it happens, is tonight. A band called "Disposable Man". Never seen them before but reports are they're good.

Organic Guitars

I took a trip over to Thorney to have a looksee at these guys making guitars. They are something else. Well they need to be if you're gonna chuck the best part of three big ones at them. So you guitar lovers out there feast your eyes on some Guitar Porn. Not only do they look the DBs but they sound great too.
We're now working on issue five of the magazine and it's going to be great. Loads of editorial and loads of great pics and lots of interesting stuff to read.
Check out issue four HERE

The Luminarium. This installation is part of the Peterborough Festival. It's a huge inflateable structure designed by Artist Alan Parkinson. It's about 50metres long and 40 metres wide and consists of a series of domes linked together by a labrynthine maze of tunnels with little side pods everywhere where you can sit and relax. and There's piped music coming from somewhere, you're not sure from where, and coloured panels glow from the light outside. It's pretty cool.
Life is getting hectic right now. I've been promoted to Deputy editor of the magazine and I'm chasing around photographing stuff and writing stories. I'm knackered most of the time. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm having so much fun.

How cool is that?

OK I've been pretending to be Arty and taken this photo of a deserted carpark. I think it's pretty cool. But then I am totally self centred and terribly immodest. Go on then shoot me down in flames, why don't you. Well we've put issue four of the magazine to bed yesterday. It's at the printers now and should be ready for distribution later in the month. But you can see it on line if you can't get a hard copy it'll be here on the same day the mag is released. But if you've missed the previous issues they're there already for you to look at and marvel at my fabulous photos. God help me. Let me switch off "self glorification mode".

Wow! We've been busy booking bands like mad and we've got a terrific line up of acts for the summer you can check it out here . Life just doesn't get much better than this.

Well apart from my daughter who has just got herself a job above over 300 other applicants, Beta testing and deglitching the new Grand Theft Auto. I think it's the fourth in the series. It's a full time job. So she's straight out of uni and straight into a job. How cool is that?

Rock on dudes

Video shoot

Well I've been busy working for the magazine I don't seem to have any free time at all nowadays.Except I'm not complaining. What would I do with free time? Probably do more of what I'm doing now. So I've been working with these guys as a stills photographer while they shoot the video. I've been doinbg some publicity photography for a recording studio.
...and I've been workinig hard keeping the music club going. Booking bands like Pink and Ruby (below) she's slovenian and plays lovely acoustic numbers with floating harmonies. Actually she sings in slovenian as well. Then got bored and decided to sing and play the songs backwards as an experiment. The things people do for fame and fortune.
Last night i was photographing a guy who makes see through guitars. They've got acryllic bodies sometimes called plexiglass. It's not a new concept someones done it before but they're pretty cool and cheap.

The BMF Rally

Last weekend I was one of the official photographers for the BMF Rally. Looking at the 100% biker forum I can see the people who went were not impressed. But I had a good time and got some great pics. This was taken about 8pm at the members camp site at Elton Hall. I love this photo, great colour. For entertainment they put on a few bands this was Hogwash a Glamrock covers band. They also had a band called Sabotage. The lead singer is a little girl of 10 years old. her brother is 12 and plays lead guitar. They played in front of 5000 people. Awesome.
Now this little fella has been in my garden for weeks now ferrying grubs and insects back and forth to his / her nest. I used a long lens (70-300mm) to get this but still I was only about 8 foot away when I took the shot. The Robin was surprisingly unbothered by my presence.

Art & Soul Magazine

Busy Busy Busy. Working as a photographer for a magazine just fills up your days. Last night I was at the home of the editor who was interviewing Angryman a band. I was taking the photos this is one of them. Over the weekend I was shooting the BMF Music Festival at Great Stukeley near Alconbury Airbase. Three days of fun and frolics. It's a great job.

Apologies

Apologies to everyone who has been looking here to find not much new. Particularly Del who doesn't comment much but collared me in the pub last night to remind me I haven't put anything up for him to read since April the 3rd. Well I've been busy doing some of this....also some of this....

But mainly I've been doing a lot for the new magazine I now work for as head photographer. Art & Soul magazine. It's dedicated to celebrating Art, Artists Sculptors, Poets, writer, musicians and bands. We've only released issue one so far but we've had massive positive response. Which is very heartening.

Meanwhile I am now a dot com. In as much as I have my own photographic website that was built for me in lieu of wages whilst the magazine gets going. you can check it out here www.mikeharrisphotography.com It's not in it's final state yet. The wording needs to be sorted and some of the photos removed. They web designeers just put shit loads of my photos on just so I could see what it looks like. We'll fine tune it soon when we have time. But basically that's it. Check it out. If you've comments or suggestions I'd be pleased to here them.

Meanwhile Rock on dudes.

Salt Marsh

This is the salt Marches at Holbeach St Mathews on the Wash. I walked a mile to get here and still the sea was miles away. It's windswept and desolate but strangely beautiful. I liked it.

So I've been asked to host a quiz night at my local pub. Not a problem finding questions is easy. But I've one problem the tie break questions. These are questions where no one is going to know the exact answer but the closest wins. For instance how many grains of sand in a teaspoon. Impossible to get an exact figure but an approximation is possible. The closest wins. So if you've any suggestions for possible interesting tie break questions. Comment away. Cheers.