One of the many interesting things about the grass-roots scene is that new artists are constantly breaking through. We all like a bit of variety and Allan’s no exception whether it’s a new venue or a new artist. Here are some of the artists that he shot for the first time this year.

 I must admit that I would get really bored if I was just photographing the same people in the same venues every week, so it’s great to see new artists starting up, passing through on tour or moving to London; it keeps things fresh. Here are a few artists that I pointed my lens at for the first time this year.

Ophelia Ray

I saw Ophelia a few minutes before she went on stage at Water Rats as part of the support line-up for Vambo and knew that she was going to look interesting under stage lighting; I wasn’t wrong. The lighting in Water Rats can be a bit unpredictable so when you get the right combination you need to capture it quickly. What I didn’t know about Ophelia is that she’s also a model; that became obvious as she strutted her stuff through her set. This shot looked good as a monochrome, but the contrasting colours work well.

Ebony Buckle

I was invited along by Cat Hockley to a Rachael Sage gig at The Pheasantry on the King’s Road in Chelsea. Normally I’m with Elvis Costello on this one, but Rachael’s an interesting performer and it’s always good to catch up with Cat. The support was from Ebony Buckle; I spent the entire evening trying to work out where I’d seen her before. Was it at a gig or somewhere else. It was definitely somewhere else; when I checked online I discovered that she’d appeared in an episode of ‘Inspector George Gently’ as a folk singer, surprisingly enough. Here’s a shot from her set.

Rachel Croft

A perfect example of breaking my own photographic rules. This time it was the one about focussing on the eyes. 229 The Venue received a post-COVID grant and invested it in all the right areas, improving the sound system and general production values. This shot was taken while some new lighting gear (and a hazer) were being bedded in and the hazer was used a bit enthusiastically a few times. Cameras don’t really like a lot of haze (which is why Lightroom has a dehazer function) so you have to wait for it to settle before you can get a decent shot. Eventually the lighting on Rachel’s hair and a few wisps of haze combined perfectly.

Cali Rivlin

I got a Facebook message midweek to ask what I was doing on Friday night and fortunately the answer was nothing. Cali Rivlin was doing a gig at the Toulouse Lautrec Venue in deepest south-east London and I was going along to take a few shots. Cali’s a fabulous jazz singer and interpreter of songs and her performances are always really animated; there’s always something interesting to shoot. It was a cabaret setting where shooting angles were restricted but I managed to grab a lovely shot where everything just fits perfectly. Cali loved it as well.

Sunniva Bondesson

Ray Jones from Talentbanq saw Baskery play at Cambridge Folk Festival and decided that he had to book them for a London gig at 229. The band is 3 sisters, Stella, Sunniva and Greta, who all sing and play, respectively, upright bass, guitar and 6-string banjo/percussion combination. You can pick your description of their music from Nordicana, Swedish folk (with some dark elements) and rock. For most of the set, Stella and Sunniva managed to avoid decent lighting until Sunniva stepped forward to the front of the stage (which was perfectly lit) for her big guitar solo. After that it was just a question of picking the best shape.