Tom Martin

Drop Out Venus // NME // The Great Escape

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:27:00 GMT

One of the highlights of going down to Brighton for The Great Escape this year was getting to hang out with and shoot these guys. Drop Out Venus are a trio from South London who have a super intense live show, easliy one of the best sets I shot this year. Loads more new bands from The Great Escape in the Radar Special in this week's NME go check it out. I'm gonna do a proper blog with a load of shots from TGE next week.

northernroots // Hair Salon

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:24:00 GMT

A friend of mine is opening up her own hair salon in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, did some pics down there this afternoon. So if you live in the halifax area and have hair then go HERE. Also my girlfriend Charlotte made the shop signage - it looks ace! Good luck Heather & James!

Super Make-up by Natalie Jade Borrows

New Order // Manchester Apollo // NME

Wed, 09 May 2012 13:01:00 GMT

Went to shoot New Order at Manchester Apollo a couple of weeks back for NME, the review is out in the mag today. The gig was ace, the band were really on form and there was lots of cool lazers and visuals and stuff!

Ridings // Rebranding Campaign

Fri, 04 May 2012 20:54:00 GMT

Again something completely different from the usual music posts. Last year I spent quite a bit of time working on different projects as part to the rebanding campaign for the Ridings Shopping Centre in Wakefield.

The Heart Of Wakefield campaign focused a lot on the staff of the Ridings in all different shops, which was cool cause I got to go around and meet all sorts of people doing different jobs.

Aaaand we did the Christmas campaign! Make-up skills supplied by my super little buddy Miss Nadine Jane.

It's a bit different to what I usually do but I really enjoyed the change of pace, also working with Vicky the Marketing Manager for the centre. Also it's really, really cool seeing your pics blown up HUGE!!!! Part of the campaign was on the sides of buses in Leeds and Wakefield too for a while - I saw one once and chased after it trying to take a pic with my phone but it drove off too fast and I just looked like a mental.

Guy Garvey // Jodrell Bank

Thu, 03 May 2012 16:55:00 GMT

Quick snap of Guy Garvey on site at Jodrell Bank, not long now till Transmission 002!!!

NME // Maccabees Poster

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:01:00 GMT

Check out NME today for my Maccabees poster and a few other bits I shot last summer in the Festival Special, like 2 Door Cinema Club from Evolution Fest.

Hawk Eyes // Vibrations Cover

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:18:00 GMT

April cover for Vibrations, cool Leeds independent scene mag that I used to be heavily involved with. Brand new re-design this issue too, go find it in Leeds venues, bars, Record Shops, etc.

Vicki J

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:13:00 GMT

My super singing, dancing, musical theatre loving, fruitcase buddy Vicki.

Mystery Jets // Brudenell Social Club

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:24:00 GMT

I shot the first date of the Mystery Jets tour for NME the other week, heres a qucik snap of the new line-up backstage in Brudenell's very fancy new function room! (Cheers Nath!)

Aqua Couture // Re-edit

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:36:00 GMT

Old shot, new skillz. I took this almost exactly 4 years ago, although I never really did it justice in the edit. Seemed to do a lot more fashion stuff back then, but I'm planning a lot more of this type of stuff at the mo, so hopefully I'll be back on it with lots of new snazzy pics.

Model: Roma Henham

Stylist: Michelle Chafer

Clothes: Aqua Couture, Leeds

Los Campesinos // NME // On The Road

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:50:00 GMT

Reading on Twitter this morning about Jason Campesinos breaking his nose at their gig last night reminded me of when myself and NME's Lisa Wright went on tour with Los Camp in November last year and the absolute mayhem and carnage we experienced. Definitely the most fun On The Road I've ever done. Lots of love to all of Los Camp and Lisa, I'm sure these pics will bring back lots of hazy memories. Take it easy and get better soon Jason!!!

It started sooooo nicely...

Ding Ding Ding

'Someone' broke the lift...

The less said about this the better

Dressing Room Magic

New NME Tearsheets

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:15:00 GMT

A few new Tearsheets from stuff I've been up to for NME over the last few months.

Hawk Eyes // Maida Vale // Radio 1 Rock Show Session

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:53:00 GMT

Here's a few snaps of Hawk Eyes recording as session for the Radio 1 Rock Show at the legendary Maida Vale Studio yesterday. Sounded great!

Spirit Of John // Album Press Shots

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:47:00 GMT

I've been working with these chaps a lot recently. I love their new album its fantastical and they are absolutely one of the very best live bands in Leeds at the mo. Check it out.

Ewan & Kara // Stoke Newington

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:54:00 GMT

I went to visit my friends who've moved into an amazing flat on this really cool old street in Stoke Newington so we had a quick mess around on the Street. Love these guys, they run a really cool folk night in Brighton, check it out if your down that way HERE.

NME Awards 2012

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:14:00 GMT

I went down to shoot the NME Awards a couple of weeks ago, I was hidden away up in the balcony in a little nest. It was a bit tricky to shoot the podium as there was all this red light pointing down on it most of the time, but it was also pretty cool because I could get all these nice wides and I got to watch the whole show. Here are some shots from the night...

Graham Coxon being interviewed on the red carpet.

Pop singer Rita Ora.

Kasabian

Famous people at tables.

Nick Grimshaw & Katy B

Pulp

More Pulp

Rita Ora & Theo Hurts

Tim Minchin & Zawe Ashton

The Vaccines

Serge, Noel Fielding and Kasabian

Marina giving Kasbian their award.

Bez

Artic Monkeys acceptence VT

The Maccabees

More Macs

Krissi

Johnny Marr

Noel getting up to recieve his award

Noel Gallaghers Highflying Birds

Hi to all the awards team peeps RJ, Emilie, Vic, Dan Den, Dan K, Amy, Stu, Layla, Willsh, Zoe, Patty B, Marian and everyone else!!!

Local Heroes #1 // Wonder Woman

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 13:01:00 GMT

Wonder Woman considers whether she should continue to text in her votes for this season of Britain's Got Talent, given that the bailiffs recently removed her television after repeated non-payment of instalments on her New Look store card, leaving her unable to watch telly except by hanging around in Comet for very prolonged periods, a tactic which generally results in her being ejected around the moment a store assistant asks whether she needs any assistance and she replies: “Piss off, Eastenders is on in a minute”. Her daughter considers whether mum is a model for third wave feminists balancing high-pressure career and nurturing maternal role, or whether she is already pissed enough not to miss the rest of that bottle of Lambrini.

Wonder Woman takes the baby to his disability claimant assessment interview, where he is to be medically examined for whiplash supposedly brought on by a forklift accident. Unbeknownst to both baby and Wonder Woman, her daughter has pictures of the baby on the Nemesis at Alton Towers that she has just sold to The Sun's sponger correspondent for £500, and that will run in the following day's paper under the headline: “Baby's Big Day Out: Sponging Sod Soaks Up The Sun At Alton Towers Thanks To Your Taxes”

Wonder Woman has a heart to heart with her daughter about the birds and the bees, and by way of educational aid produces on her Samsung Galaxy II a series of snaps taken at a party up Chiselham Park Estate. After much consideration, she inducts her daughter into the ways of womanhood by giving her the Golden Rules Of Dating:

No carparks on a first date.
Always take precautions: i.e. keep an eye out for rozzers when you're in the alley outback of Lidl.
Never do anything you feel uncomfortable with: i.e. always make sure you have enough padding under your knees.
Never do anyone who's had it off with Katie Newton cos she's got the clap and now Andre's got it too and Melissa must've given it to Shafiq off of Andre cos he don't believe in condoms cos he says its against his religion and he says his Imam wouldn't approve and stuff.

Wonder Woman helps a baby out by lighting its fag, and wonders how many drags she can take as her 'reward' before the baby gets pissed off and BBMs its mates from Chiselham Park Estate to come and 'really give her something to wonder about' (ie send her to casualty for some stitches that she will have to explain to the woman from the Council's Abusive Relationships Intervention Team as 'falling against a bicycle chain fourteen times').

Wonder Woman attempts to dredge up enough concentration to use her psychic powers on this week's EuroMillions numbers, but is prevented from doing so by that Paul McKenna weight loss hypnosis tape she listened to last week that keeps looping round in her head telling her 'Vegetables now taste to you like chocolate eclairs'. Combined with the Lambrini, all her psychic circuits are scrambled to the extent that she can't predict any of the balls but has perfect telepathic prediction of the colour of Dale Winton's shirt.

Words by Gavin Haynes. Photography by Tom Martin.

Models; Hannah-Rachel Sunderland, Isla & Thomas.

Special thanks to: Kirsty (@gazpachodragon), Neil (@TestSpaceLeeds), Hannah Cordingley, Lucy, Simon & Charlotte (The Watkinses).

Stockholm // Sweden

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:53:00 GMT

I've just arrived back from Sweden this evening, I went to Stockholm for a job but managed to get out and about to take some pics whilst I was there. I don't think I've ever posted any non-music pics on this blog but oh well, something different.

Quick hi to Tom and John - nice to meet you and big Thank You to Michael from Sony for all his help!

Ed Sheeran

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:12:00 GMT

Quick portrait I took of Mr Sheeran a couple of months ago, before he won his Brit awards.

Michael Kiwanuka // Xfm Manchester

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:50:00 GMT

Quick portrait of Michael before his Xfm radio session in their Manchester studios yesterday, good session, very pleasant chap.

Random Impulse // Press Shots

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:34:00 GMT

At the end of the summer last year I spent a warm afternoon on the rooftops and wondering around London to doing some press shots for the superbly talented Mr Random Impule. I've had one of the shots from that day in my Bands portfolio for a while but I thought I'd post a few more I like from that day...

Big love to Allie, Tom, Seb and Jovel!xx

Two Door Cinema Club // XFM // Manchester

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:57:00 GMT

Two Door Cinema Club at XFM Manchester, looking pretty smart for the thrid day of the NME tour.

Kendal Calling // Summer 2011

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:23:00 GMT

I was going over all my old blog posts and I realized that I've posted blogs from nearly all the UK festivals that I shot last summer apart from Kendal Calling. Which is silly becasue Kendal is always the highlight of the summer for me. For the last couple of years I've been in charge of running the staff photographers for the festival organizers and running the live online gallery (which you can see HERE!) as well as covering it for NME. So I've picked out 50 of my favourite shots from 2011 and re-edited most of them - I don't mind saying that sometimes when your in the middle of the lake district struggling to get content online asap your edits don't always get the time that they deserve. Anyway I thought people might like seeing some warm summery shots after the horrendous winter weather....

The Cribs mainstage crowd.

View from the Green Room.

KC institution Craig Charles wrapping up the last night with his Funk Soul show.

The awesome Chapman Family on the Calling Out Stage.

Site decor

Site Dinosaur.

Chase & Staus.

Chase & Status crowd.

Chase & Status

Summer Camp.

Cat Women and .. erm... Flower Woman?

Blondie crowd.

Blondie from a million miles away.

Craig Charles relaxing lakeside.

House Of Pain.

House of Pain.

Campsite.

The Cribs.

Setting up.

Building the Real Ale bar.

Middleman.

Polar passion.

Superbestfriendsclub.

Employee of the month.

Frankie & The Heartstrings

Slamboree

Fire

Tassles

Boone

Mainstage in the daylight.

Erm some sort of flowerbull?

Hannah Trigwell.

Hannah Trigwell & Band.

Happy lady.

Charlatans acoustic set.

Tim and crowd.

Middleman

Lee Mavers secret gig.

Lee Mavers fans

People and people and people

Not sure what/who these are? Inscect-robots of some sort. Why not.

Frank Turner lakeside session.

Frank Turner signing.

Frank Turner fan.

The Spirit Of John.

Kieron O'Malley trying to bribe the stage manager with whiskey.

The Spirit Of John. Good times.

Kendal Calling 2011.

The Maccabees // NME // Sheffield Leadmill

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:02:00 GMT

I went to shoot the Maccabees on the first date of the Given To The Wild tour for NME in Sheffield a couple of weeks ago.

Went backstage for a quick chat before the gig with my NME buddy Emily who was reviewing. It was nice to catch up with the band again.

Setlist for the Leadmill.

I think the chaps were a little nervy as it was the very first date of the tour, which is more than understandable, but they were kind enough to do a quick snap in the dressing room anyhow.

Not sure whats going on here.

It was a bit of a tricky one to shoot lighting-wise.

I love working with The Maccabees, they're a great live band and very nice people. Thanks again to TM Nik for all his help as usual.

Jen Armstrong // Press Shots // More

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:48:00 GMT

Thought I'd post another edit from this shoot. And a little outtake in which you can see how embaressingly dirty my background paper got during this!

The Courteeners // In The Studio // NME

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:27:00 GMT

I got chance to go into the studio with The Courteeners for an NME 'in the studio' feature that was out in last weeks mag. So here are some of the pics from that!...

Hawk Eyes // Press Shots

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:42:00 GMT

I've been out shooting some press shots with my good buddies Hawk Eyes today. New album on the way and all... Here they are in North Yorkshire getting annoyed with me in the rain. Good times. More edits on the way from today coming very soon.

Jen Armstrong // Press Shots

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:56:00 GMT

A couple of shots from a shoot I did recently with Leeds singer Jen Armstrong. Jens off to LA soon and it's all very exciting so I wish her the best of luck with that!

Random Impulse // Radio 1

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:21:00 GMT

One of my press shots from Random Impulse shoot last year is on the Radio 1 homepage today! Go Pulse!

Tribes // NME On The Road // with words by Jo Fuertes-Knight

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:52:00 GMT

One of the most fun NME On The Roads I shot last year was without a doubt Tribes on their Come Vibe With Me Tour sometimes I think my own commentary of these blogs is a little forced/very boring so I'm super pleased to have my buddy NME journo and superstar Vice celebrity chef JO FUERTES-KNIGHT doing a bit of a guest spot with some comments on this one!... Thanks Jo!!

Tom was dying of snake flu and had to spend the entire time bombing bumps of Lemsip. Meanwhile I was a nervous wreck as it was my maiden voyage north of Watford, and I hadn’t even had any malaria injections or anything. Yet we still managed to ace the Tribes NME On The Road…by ‘ace’ I mean not get hospitalised, lost or initiated into any cults.

First stop, somewhere in Oxfordshire. After kerb-crawling some pensioners and wandering onto a probably top secret army airbase, we finally arrive at our destination.

It’s not everyday you meet a band so skilled at putting gazebos up.

Actually, fuck the band, look at this outrageously sexy cat we met wandering through the equipment. I was far too shy to get his number.

Such a majestic beast.

Everyone was secretly relieved we had crisps and cheese sandwiches instead of the usual NME standard ketamine buffet.

Dan’s pinky finger game was untouchable.

The vanity shot, Tom ignored my idea of having them do Ring-a-Roses while topless and wearing crowns of daisy chains.

Meeting the muscle, because we know how breathtakingly violent Oxfordshire can be at night.

We passed the time toasting marshmallows and passing bunny rabbits on the open fire.

Gig goers start to pile into the back garden…Christ, it’s EXACTLY like an episode of Skins.

Look what we built! Well, what everyone else built. I was super busy molesting the cat.

Warming up for the garden gig, hundreds of teens are glued to their Twitter posting “LMAOROFL @ da secret #tribes gig ;)”

Johnny does a fine come hither motion, there is a collective panty sneeze amongst the ladies.

That is a pair of testicles scrawled on Miguel’s arm.

The obligatory, “look, some musicians are eating” shot.

Miguel cosying up to some whore groupie. Slut.

The Jewel of the North…Brett’s Fish Restaurant.

Look that’s me! I thought there was some kind of charity marathon happening, but Tom informed me it was just how competitive binge drinking goes down in Leeds.

Time for the interview in The Wank Dungeon, the band are visibly furious at the lack of wipe free gimp suits.

Who’s that creeping in the background? GET OUT OF THE FUCKING PHOTO.

Only one set of miserly bollock handcuffs was recovered from The Wank Dungeon.

Some serious bromance going down with the Tribes’ personal cameraman.

Miguel has a lightbulb moment.

Adam Ant turned up from 1986, there was that much hype around the gig.

I don’t know who these guys were, but anyone who turns up to a student house party with supermarket brand Imperial Vodka has my heart forever.

(I actually do know who these kings amongst men are. Some of Leeds' finest...)

A student is so enthralled by Dan’s beauty he spills his beer.

Johnny and the hot girl that furnished us with Carlsbergs.

Smile, say “student-debt” everyone! Miguel on the bottom right, so IN there before he was piled back into the van.

And so we say goodbye to the band and leave them to the rest of their mini tour. Next stop, some guy’s second floor council flat in Brighton.

Jo Fuertes-Knight

***Thanks to Tre, all the crew, all the Channel 4 guys and the band for making this so much fun and looking after me whilst I had flu.***