razorlight rockers join the 31thirtyone cause
Guest post from the amazing Matt Humphrey, photographer extraordinaire, about 31thirtyone. This charitable photography project is one of the most incredible, powerful and pleasing projects ever connected with the African Workshop.
Matt is photographing 31 musicians and then auctioning the prints to raise funds for our work in Mali. Puma are sponsoring the project and there are some great acts involved. Read about his latest encounter with the mighty Razorlight….
Read more of Matt’s posts on his blog
this week razorlight must have been feeling particularly charitable as i was lucky enough to photograph them backstage at another extremely worthy cause of the peace one day event in london at the o2 arena.
i can hardly believe i’ve managed to pull this one off as it is over a month since their manager had pretty much ruled out the sitting. i met with them at the v festival this summer and spoke about the charity and project. having seen that they were in town for the peace one day event i thought i’d try my chances and got in touch again. as luck would have it their was a bit of a gap in the schedule and we arranged for me to photograph them backstage ahead of their performance at the o2.
once i’d been checked and approved by security i was allowed back into the dressing room area, where i met the band and hung about in their room for a bit. lead singer johnny borrell recounted his performance at a charity cricket match at lords earlier in the week, they discussed set lists, and practised songs ahead of their performance on the mainstage. this doesn’t seem real writing this and i feel quite privileged to have had this opportunity and well chuffed that i got to photograph them. i’m even more pleased that they were so interested to hear about the project and the work that african workshop are doing in mali. great guys
having scouted out an area for the shoot, literally behind the main stage, we wandered through the corridors and set up for the shoot – i’m very happy with the results and am amazed that it even happened, let alone that the shot is half decent!
that followed the day after the metronomy shoot in southampton, which was the day after ghostpoet in london, the day after scott matthews in oxford – all in all, a great week. i cannot thank the artists and their respective managements enough for their involvement and support of the project.
have a nice weekend all!
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