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Celtic Connections 2024

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Documenting the 2024 Celtic Connections Festival

Well, this January flew by for a change, thanks to Celtic Connections, the world-renowned folk, roots and world music festival. Glasgow Life approached me late last year asking if I’d be interested in documenting the 2024 outing of the annual winter event and I was, like, hmm, I need to think about it. I’m kidding, obviously, I jumped at the opportunity!

This year’s festival run from January 18th to February 4th, with over 300 events involving 1,200 artists across 25 of the city’s venues. I’m not superhuman and was able to photograph only a portion of that, but hopefully what you see below is a good representation of the 2024 Celtic Connections. I had a blast and am looking forward to the 2025 edition if they have me back. Enjoy a selection of my favourite shots from the past 3 weeks:

GEAR
Nikon D850 x 2
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikkor 35mm f1.8
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filters

Jill Jackson, Yours Aye

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New album campaign for Jill Jackson

“Yours Aye” is the brand new album by Scottish singer-songwriter Jill Jackson. After several pandemic-related delays, it finally saw the light of day in early May (hitting #1 on iTunes Country Album Chart no less). I’ve written about working with Jill many, many times (you can read about our first decade together here for example) and what can I say? It’s always a pleasure and a really, really good laugh.

Jill approached me last year to do a photoshoot for the new album cover and after sending me some examples of the mood and style of images she was after (see below), I suggested shooting the whole thing on film. Since Jill loves all things analog there wasn’t any convincing needed. I have to admit though that before the session I started panicking a little - what if I mess up and we don’t get the cover shot we needed? I got back to shooting film in recent years but haven’t done many 100% analog projects for clients so to alleviate my paranoia and to cover my back I took my digital equipment along with my Nikon FM and ended up using both.

We shot in Basement49 Studio as well as outdoors in Glasgow’s Merchant City. Gulabi did a brilliant job developing and scanning the 5 rolls we went through on the day (2 color and 3 black and white) and you can see some of my favourite images from the session if you scroll below. Wonder if you can tell which ones were analog and which were digital?

My involvement in the project didn’t end there however. Earlier this year I filmed Jill’s live sessions at Gorbals Sound studios as well as an interview, all of which are being used to promote the album on various platforms. I was also recently at Cottiers where Jill officially launched the album with a brilliant live set. Have a look below to see all of that and more. Enjoy and do check out “Yours Aye”, it really is a masterclass in songwriting and production.

Jill's visual references

for the session

“Yours Aye” Album Cover:

“Yours Aye” album cover shoot.

Basement49 Studio and Merchant City in Glasgow, June 3rd 2021:

“Live Sessions”

Gorbals Sound, March 6th, 2021:

ALBUM LAUNCH

Cottiers, Soundcheck & Live Show, May 19, 2022

Behind the scenes:

GEAR

Digital:
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Studio Lights (can’t remember what was used exactly)

Analog:
Nikon FM + Nikkor 100mm f1.8
Kodak TX 400
Kodak Portra 400
Studio Lights

Video:
Sony A7III x 2
Sony 35mm f1.8
Sony 85mm f1.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filters
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 + Metabones Nikon G to Sony E-mount Converter
Profoto B10 + Profoto OCF Softbox 3' Octa
Neewer CN-216 LED Light x 2
DJI RS 2
Edited in FCPX

Live:
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 / Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8

BTS:
FujiFilm x100v
iPhone 11 Pro

A Decade with Jill Jackson

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In August 2010 I had my first photoshoot with Jill Jackson. I was working as a graphic designer at The Print Box at the time, and Jill was one of our clients. I worked on various posters and an EP for her and struck an e-mail friendship with Jill’s assistant at the time. I noticed that they kept using the same images for promo so I thought “what the hell” and suggested taking new photos of Jill. If they like them - great; if not, it would still be a great experience for me. I’ve been taking pictures since I was a kid, it’s always been a hobby of mine, so I sent a few examples of my past work and awaited a response. Luckily, Jill liked what she saw and agreed to do a session with me.

The first time Jill and I met in person was at King Tut’s where she was playing a gig. I didn’t really know what to expect from Jill or her music, but as I stood there watching her perform I could feel myself getting increasingly excited at the prospect of photographing her - you can’t fake that kind of stage presence and charisma. And I loved the songs too. We had a brief chat after the show and a week later we were doing the shoot.

A good friend of mine had a beautiful old house with a garden in Mount Vernon and that’s where that first session took place. My partner was helping with the lights and the three of us quickly bonded over our love for music and Kath & Kim (“Look at moiye, look at mooooiye!”). It marked the beginning of a years-long friendship and numerous other collaborations followed. We shot everywhere and all sorts; from abandoned jails to being knee-deep in freezing Loch Lomond; from album and magazine covers to concerts and music videos. Unwittingly, that first session with Jill would also be the start of my photography career as my work with her lead to commissions from other artists. In four years I would leave The Print Box to become a full-time photographer.

Whether there’s still a photography career for me to come back to after this pandemic remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, I thought it would be nice to celebrate this 10-year landmark by posting an image from every session/collaboration I’ve done with Jill so far - there are live shots (hers was the very first concert I ever photographed), some behind the scenes photos as well as outtakes and images that haven’t been published anywhere till now.

I need to come clean here though - a few of the earlier photos have been re-edited. There was some bad retouching and heavy-handed colour treatments that I couldn’t look at now. You live, you learn!

Which image is your favourite? Perhaps you attended some of the gigs? Let me know and enjoy:

“My Baby” music video, May 2018.

“Goodbye” music video, January 2019.

The Same Sky 30 Live

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I’ve now worked with Horse for almost a decade and have written about our various collaborations a few times (here, here and here for example). Over the years we became friends and being in her company, whether informally or professionally, is always a joy so when I’m asked to join her on yet another project I say yes without asking too many questions. This time it was to photograph a very special gig at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall last November celebrating 30 years of “The Same Sky”, Horse’s debut album. It was a brilliant, emotional show - from a haunting version of “Careful” backed by a 3-peace string section to a full on disco blast of “Could It Be Magic”, it was a night to remember. Lucky for those who missed it, the evening was filmed for a future DVD release (which I’m about to start editing - not a daunting task, at all…). In the meantime, some images from the night:

Behind the Scenes / Soundcheck:

The Same Sky 30 Live:

GEAR
Nikon D4
Nikon D850
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8

Jill Jackson's Xmas Show

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Jill Jackson put on a very special festive show at Cottiers Theatre in Glasgow’s West End this past December. The night was called “A Very Country Christmas” and featured Jill’s solo material (old and brand new) as well some holiday season classics. There were also a few special guests, namely Kathleen MacInnes, Rab Noakes and Soul Nation Choir. It was a brilliant night, truly, and it was a pleasure to capture this event for Jill.

Behind the Scenes/Soundcheck:

A VERY COUNTRY CHRISTMAS:

GEAR
Nikon D4
Nikon D850
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8
Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8