Elleni Toumpas

Things have been a little busy in the past year. I have moved to Melbourne and also have spent most of my time shooting weddings. In amongst all that I have also been shooting the odd portrait which I will finally have a chance to blog now. One of my first Melbourne based editorial shoots was for Treadlie magazine, a magazine I regularly shot for while still n Brisbane. This shoot was hilarious! The subject was Sarah Ward and her alter-ego Yana Alana. In her days with travelling Circus Oz the whole team relied on their bicycles to get around and explore once they had reach each destination and thus Sarah (and Yana) had been asked to be featured in this issue of Treadlie. My job with this shoot was easy. As soon as my lens came up Yana came to life. As is the case with many editorial shoots, my favourite shots did not make the magazine so I thought I would blog them here.

Thanks also goes to Don from the Westgate Punt Ferry (a service transport bicycle riders across the river) for allowing us to shoot after the last patron had been dropped off.

When I got the request from my editor at Everguide to shoot Big Freedia I had no idea who she was. I had no idea what New Orleans bounce was either, but now my eyes and ears are open and it is a scene and sound that is truly infectious. An energetic hip-hop/ dance sound with Big Freedia’s shows all about shaking the arse. From a photographer’s point of view, what is there not to like?  Read the rest of this entry »

So I have just returned from shooting 80s glam rock band Steel Panther at Eatons Hill Hotel in Brisbane. The sold-out Eatons Hill Hotel show is the first in their 2012 Australian tour . Steel Panther are an entertaining, bordering on ridiculous band with politically incorrect lyrics. They originate from LA playing regular club shows for the better part of a decade. Steel Panther are a band I always thought to be more a ‘tribute band’ to the genre than any kind of serious originals band, and for them to be playing this sold out Australian tour and being included on festival bills such as Soundwave baffles me.

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BigSound hit Brisbane for its 11th consecutive year and this year it continued to attract an increasing number of international and national music industry delegates. With the Judith Wright Centre filled to the brim with delegate passes hitting capacity for the venue, the one question on most people’s minds were how would BigSound shape up next year, with 2013 definitely seeing the event grow too large for its current home. Long days of shooting BigSound were kicked off firstly by the conferences and namely Steve Earle’s keynote session at 10am on Wednesday. In the evening a selection of VIP parties prepared us for the night of ‘venue hopping’ to catch as many of the 120 acts taking stage as part of  BigSound Live.

BigSound highlights: the ‘spirit’ of BigSound that pumps through the Valley through the 3 days, surviving the 14 hour days spent almost entirely on my feet/ running across the valley visiting different venues, getting access to a one on one portrait session with Steve Earle, discovering Eden Mulholland and catching Violent Soho again, Kirin J Callinan’s Outpost instore set

BigSound lowlights: being ‘on the job’ so being unable to participate in the consumption of free alcohol (obviously the only reason the music industry comes together so willingly), Kirin J Callinan’s Outpost instore set almost being shutdown due to noise complaints at 6:30pm….yes 6:30pm!! and once finally knocking off from official duties the 30 minute wait in line and then a further 40 minute wait at the bar to get even one drink at the official BigSound afterparty.

BigSound questionable moments: Listening to a story that involved a certain Sony staff member bribing Brashs staff “back in the day” in order to “dodge the numbers” to give Simply Red and Melissa Etheridge chart success.

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The Queensland Poetry Festival has come and gone again for another year. I have lost count how many consecutive years I have shot this festival. It is always a challenge trying to shoot poets in interesting ways, but I am always slightly pleased with the gallery I come up with. The poets, some spending a lot of the time reading for books, always have brief seconds of interesting expressions and I always like to give myself the challenge of capturing these.

This year the Arts Queensland Poet in Residence a.rawlings gave a breath taking multimedia poetry performance piece that saw real time collaborations via twitter and a skype call from Berlin.

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Splendour has come and gone for another year and this year I returned to shooting it as a pit photographer (previous years I have assisted Dan Boud in the FasterLouder studios backstage). I was equal parts nervous and excited to be shooting it this year. Nervous, as it had been a while since I shot a major festival and excited as I was sharing the responsibilities with one of my favourite local (Melbourne) photographers Leah Robertson (Mess and Noise star photographer). I was photographing with Leah for The Sound Alliance (FasterLouder, Mess+Noise and In The Mix) and being the first time that they had paid photographers for coverage, I was even more nervous about covering the festival as best I could.

In three days I managed to cover 35 artists, with the final list including Jack White, At The Drive In, Bloc Party, Lana Del Rey, The Shins, Gossip, The Kooks, Metric, Yuksek, Explosions in the Sky, Azealia Banks, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Band of Skulls, Missy Higgins, Kimbra, Wolfmother, Fun, Tame Impala, 360, Muscles, Ladyhawke, Father John Misty, Ball Park Music, Angus Stone, Shihad, Lanie Lane, Kate Miller-Heidke, Bertie Blackman, Nina Las Vegas, Howler, Emma Louise, DZ Deathrays, The Medics, Pond and Chet Faker.

To view the final gallery with Leah and my photos side by side visit the website www.fasterlouder.com.au.

My recap of the festival and bands I shot follows. To be fair I should warn you that there are a LOT of photos. Make sure you check them out when are you are connected to a decent internet connection.

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On Friday I headed down to the Workers Club to shoot King Cannons for Mess and Noise’s 17th lunch box gig. The lunch box series is a string of free gigs that Mess and Noise host at, you guessed it, lunch time. This was the first of the series held at the Workers Club, with a pretty good turn out.  Read the rest of this entry »

Last Thursday I was photographed the Brisbane Fete de la Musique for the Brisbane City Council. For those unfamiliar with the Fete de la Musique concept, it is a live music event that runs all around the world on the same day. Started in 1982 (the year I was born!) by the French Government, this international event is now hosted in more then 110 countries around the world.

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Last month I photographed Kimbra at The Tivoli in Brisbane. From a photographer’s perspective she was amazing to shoot. An eccentric outfit, great lighting and a real expressive performer. Selecting only a few to showcase was really hard. Here are some shots.

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I photographed Melbourne Record Store Day quite a while ago for Mess and Noise but with moving to Melbourne blogging them has slipped a little low in my to do list. Better late then never here are my photos. I photographed these the first weekend I moved down here so it was great to use this as an excuse to explore areas of Melbourne I hadn’t yet seen. I visited stores in Fitzroy (Polyester Records Fitzroy, Poison City Records), the city (Basement Discs, Missing Link and Polyester Records City store) plus also Woolly Bully in North Melbourne. Read the rest of this entry »