anika in london

Some photos I took in the latter half of the year.

JULY

Peggy Sue | Hackney Wick

Annie Clark, St Vincent | Barbican

Two Gallants | Hoxton

AUGUST

Sea of Bees | Islington

Grimes | Hoxton

Celebration | Washington, DC

SEPTEMBER

I’m From Barcelona | London

OCTOBER

The Allotment | Farringdon

Yoko Ono | Reykjavik

Niki & the Dove | Reykjavik

NOVEMBER

Girls | Camden

St Vincent | QEH, London

The Low Anthem | Camden

John Maus | Rough Trade, London

DECEMBER

Forest Fire | Arnold Circus, London

The Lampshades | Arnold Circus, London

Some pictures I took in the first half of this year.

JANUARY

Austra | The Windmill, Brixton

Treefight For Sunlight | Hackney Wick

Peggy Sue & John Parish | Bristol

FEBRUARY

Sharon Van Etten | Hoxton

Wye Oak | Water Rats

Jules and Amber | The Allotment

PJ Harvey | The Troxy

Jules | Westminster Library

MARCH

Monotonix’s last show | Cargo

Dan Deacon at SXSW | Austin, Texas

Bella Union party | Austin, Texas

APRIL

Maya drumming for Austra | XOYO

Peggy Sue at my book launch | Strongrooms

MAY

Clogs | The Barbican

Sufjan Stevens | Royal Festival Hall

Dark Dark Dark | Bandstand Busking

Julianna Barwick | Rough Trade East

JUNE

Robin, Fleet Foxes | Hammersmith Apollo

Sam Amidon | Dalston Roof Park

Andy, She Keeps Bees | Meltdown Festival

Vetiver, The Bella Union Stage | Hard Rock Calling

Tasseomancy | Dalston Roof Park

Sea of Bees | Dalston Roof Park

Part 2 later.

Last weekend I organised a busk at Arnold Circus. My friend Luisa’s band The Lampshades played, and Forest Fire did a set too. What a treat. I had not seen Forest Fire for ages, nor The Lampshades. It was a pleasure to watch them both.

Here are a few photographs I took.

FOREST FIRE

THE LAMPSHADES

A lovely journalist called Viv is making a feature about Bandstand Busking for The Guardian. I went to The Guardian building last week to record a some chat about the busks; it was interesting to see those offices. I’ll post the link up here when the feature is online*.

*depeneding on whether or not I sound like a giant idiot

People sometimes inquire as to whether I take portrait photos/will I take some portrait photos of their band. The answer is yes I do portraits but not too many. Basically the problem here is that I have the directorial authority or ‘commanding voice’ of a snail or some other gastropod (maybe a banana slug) so I’m not terribly good at giving direction. I’m getting better though. I remember back when I was thirteen, I couldn’t even make eye contact with anyone! I’ve come a way.

Anyway, here are some portraits I have taken of musicians in my time as ‘portrait photographer’:

Sharon Van Etten, Hackney 2009:
Sharon is a lovely person to be around. I think this shoot was maybe my first ever attempt at a musician’s portrait (?!).

The Walkmen, backstage at Islington Academy 2010 -
I had been working at Bella Union a few weeks and Simon suggested I take some snaps of The Walkmen before the show.

Peter Broderick, St Giles Church 2010 -
Before his headline show that evening. Peter was very warm and friendly. The perspective makes his right hand look massive.

Sleeping States, Islington 2009 -
Markland had just played a busk, and I remember the leaves looking so pretty that I just had to ask if he would pose for a photo with the leaves behind him.

Treefight For Sunlight, Hackney Wick 2011 -
The Treefight guys are lovely. We found these red Christmas balls in the cupboard and took some pictures.

Peggy Sue, Dalston 2011 -
I think we took this at about 1 or 2 in the morning alone on a rooftop. I stepped in a flowerbed, got my feet soaked and Katy gave me her socks. Forever classy.

Austra & Tasseomancy, Reykjavik 2011 -
On the street behind the Reykjavik art museum, in the cold night we took a few pictures by a white wall because they all looked so good in their outfits.

Holly Miranda, Camden 2010 -
Holly is great! A lovely, interesting, intelligent person. This was before her show at The Barfly that afternoon.

Holly Miranda, Westminster 2010 -
This was in the summer. I got to see Holly again, having met earlier in the year in Camden. We took some photos upstairs in the library. It was a great evening. So fun.

Sea of Bees, Islington 2011 -
I’ve taken so many photos of Jules, but something about this one makes it my favourite.

David Thomas Broughton, Austin, Texas, 2011 –
This one makes me smile.

Laura Veirs, Camden 2010 -
Laura upstairs at a coffee shop before her show at the Jazz Cafe that evening.

So I guess all of the above are friends, friendly acquaintances or artists on Bella Union. I would quite like to take some more pictures like these, perhaps that can be a goal for 2012. My camera gear is so (prohibitively) heavy that I sometimes am lazy and don’t bother to take my camera with me anymore. Next year: my right arm will be like steel and I shall carry my camera everywhere. Or something.

If you are a friend and wouldn’t mind me taking your picture in one war or another, holla at your girl.

Yesterday I spent the day with The Low Anthem at the Roundhouse ahead of their biggest ever show to date. I took some pictures:

The madness of John Maus is best illustrated in pictures:

If reverb was an ocean, John Maus has put his vocals at the bottom; and floated a boat of 80s synths up top next to a dock of pop. He paces the stage like a caged animal, punching himself in the face, screaming, pouring water down his neck and arms between songs… it’s spellbinding (if not a bit awkward and strange).

I think he’s brilliant.

I saw Real Estate and Twin Sister play earlier this week. I took my camera…

I prefer the word ’spectre’. I did  not enjoy this band’s music, but props to the singer for being super fun to shoot. Lots of energy and charisma.

Shot for NME Magazine. I think my Iceland Airwaves coverage for them is in next week’s magazine.

Outside after Austra’s set at the Art Museum in Reykjavik.

On Wednesday we had some fun with my friend Cat Martino, on a day off from her tour with Marissa Nadler, we did a wee show at The Betsey Trotwood. Our favourite London boy Joe Innes opened. It’s always a pleasure to have him at Allotment shows, and Cat was wonderful. Her voice is amazing and she’s a great performer.

Here are a few pictures.

JOE!

CAT!

Pals.

cake situation.

The rest are here.

Uhm, Cat also asked if I would introduce her before she played. But instead I sung Wuthering Heights and she looped the vocals to make the Betsey sound like the inside of my brain/hell. So classy. This is what happened.