Along The Way preview - part 2

part 2

A short preview of some of my favourite pieces from the exhibition.

Video created by Nick Williamson.

Along The Way is officially open from today until March 30th.

Opening event this Friday 15th.

The Swan - the only alternative

This is a promotional short about The Swan Pub in Ipswich. The Swan is somewhere I have spent, and do spend many hours in, a sort of home from home. This video gives a brief lowdown of the place and covers part of it's musical history. 

Ipswich would not be the same without it. Long live The Swan.

Created by Nick Williamson and I.

Soundtrack 

- 61 Grace by Booda French -

Hub BMX Store

Hub BMX is an Ipswich based BMX store. Owned and run by rider Jimmy Tarrent.

Jimmy approached me about making a video to help show off his new shop, and what it's all about. 

So I called up my creative video partner Nick Williamson, we got our heads together and made this happen...

Dont forget to check out the Hub BMX site at hubbmxstore.co.uk
Keep updated on offers and news by hitting Like on the Facebook page here - Hub BMX - Facebook

Support independent stores! 

Hub BMX owner, Jimmy, and some shots of the shop.

NICK?!

A recent portrait I shot in my new garage studio with my homie Nick Williamson of Williamson films. 

Head over to the Williamson Film Tumblr to see some of his projects.

Ideals In Medium Format

Here is a shot I took of Ideals on medium format film using my Mamiya C330.

I snapped this during a quick break on set for the filming of their music video for the wonderful track "Eyes Open". 

Left to right, Ideals are Ben Ward, Ben Smith, Simon Wilson & Andrew Major.

Check out the music video here, created by myself & Nick Williamson

Follow the links below for more from Ideals, Williamson Film & Sam Barker Photography.

Ideals- Facebook
Williamson Film- Tumblr
Sam Barker Photography- Facebook

Ideals, "Eyes Open" stills

As promised, here are a selection of photos I shot during the recording of Ideals music video for there song "Eyes Open".

I also shot some portraits of the band and created the first image on this post using a landscape photo I shot in February.

The last photo is Nick Williamson getting his directing shoes on. They are a good fit.

Ideals, Eyes Open - Music video

So earlier this year around the beginning of march, my friend and Ideals drummer, Ben Ward, asked if I might be interested in making a music video for the band. It was only a few days later talking to my best friend, Nick Williamson, that I realized Ben had approached him about the project as well. We decided to work on something together, not really knowing when it would happen, but knowing it would. 

After a lot of talking with Ben, I soon realized the band wanted something home grown, organic and relatively simple. So instead of a fancy studio in London, I arranged to shoot at a couple of locations in the bands (& mine and Nicks) home town of Ipswich.

We shot a big part of it in a friends empty, soon to be open bar/restaurant on the Ipswich docks. This currently nameless and under construction bar/restaurant was the perfect place to shoot, we transformed this huge empty space with lights, projectors and of course the band.

The other big part of the video we shot in Ipswich's renowned Swan Pub, a place where Ideals and many other bands and artists have played over the years. The bar is probably most famous for the Mumford & Sons show right before the band really took off. And also for Ipswich local singer/songwriter, Ed Sheeran, who has played here regularly over the years, and his last gig at the pub as support for Dels at the end of 2010 echos the same story as Mumford & Sons, as it was right before he REALLY took off!

So to pay homage to The Swan and it's deep roots in music, we shot in their infamous attic deep into the night. The small run down and unused room, with wooden floors as old as the building itself oozes character. Again, simply with a couple of lights and some creative sparks, we really made it into something even more special.

I shot a lot of photos over the course of the night to, as well as some sequences which Nick very cleverly incorporated into the video. I will post the photos up later on this week along with some new portraits of the band to.

I'm thrilled to have worked with a band which I'm not only a fan of, but have been friends with since school days. It's also been a great thing for me to get to work on such a good project with my best friend, Nick. This is our first project together since my skate video in 2007, let's hope its not so long until next time.

Any way, here is the finished video. Please watch it, share it and above all enjoy it. It's a great song. In my opinion one of their best.

Ideals- Eyes Open

Thanks to the following people for helping make this happen- 
Nick Williamson, Joe Halls, Callum Hewitt, Tom Barker & Hannah Maynard.


Ideals are-
Andrew Major, Ben Ward, Simon Wilson & Ben Smith.


Ideals- Facebook
Sam Barker Photography- Facebook
Williamson Film- Tumblr
The Swan- Facebook