Published on Thu Apr 18, 2019 by David J Colbran
In 2006 Liverpool based band, The Wombats released their debut single, the Japan-only issued "Girls, Boys and Marsupials." Soon after I was contacted by a design agency here on Merseyside to help them photograph their forthcoming debut album cover. Exciting times !
Rather than the usual people portraits of a band looking moody they had decided to represent their music using found items and various junk, built in to a small model. Each item related to a particular track on the release. The model itself was to be the album cover and the items within needed to be shot individually. These became stickers which were included inside early copies of the album and also distributed as a guerilla marketing campaign tool.
Arriving at the designers to collect the model, I had to photograph and take notes on the positions of the various items. Then it was a task of carefully packing everything away in bubble wrap and taking to my studio to get the job done. After some experimentation with a multi-light set up I had a good selection of images of the completed model and these were sent to the designers and the band for approval. Next up was the more straight forward product style shots of the items for the stickers. I also supplyed cut outs of the item images with a pure white background.
Several singles followed before the release of the band's 2007 debut album, A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation. Back then it was heavily promoted around the UK with a major billboard campaign and various promo features in the music press - NME remember them? Also the album featured for a while in the Museum of Liverpool as a reference to new music and artists that the city was producing - it's not all about the Beatles lol. Below is a small selection from the archives from a really interesting commission back in the day soon after I moved to Liverpool.
Author: David J Colbran
As I always say, Africa Oye is my favourite festival and probably the nearest, being about 15 minutes walk from my home. Slightly delayed, is the 30th anniversary of the festival a few weeks ago.
Back on the blog with a quick update on recent business and commercial photography commissions. Working with a housing association, a bike charity, a medical society, a recruitment agency and a dental practice.
A really interesting commission working with Livv Housing documenting a fire and rescue exercise in high-rise residential apartments in Kirkby. These are the people who will literally save your life!
"I have employed David many times over the years, principally as a music conference and high profile event photographer. He is always easy to work with, has a strong sense of what style is needed for each project and brings back results on deadline. He is skilled, experienced and understands visual language and lighting. Additionally, David often helps secure additional PR and media coverage."