25Apr 2014

Press Photography: Match of the Day Magazine

Press Photography Cheshire, Crewe, Crewe Alex Permalink

Cheshire Press Photography. Crewe Alexandra Press photographer

Press Photography: VIP Day at Crewe Alex Publication: Match of the Day Magazine Client: JD Sport Location: Crewe Alexandra Football Club Photographer: Simon J. Newbury

Press Photography: Match of the Day Magazine

We were recently commissioned to photograph a VIP day held in honour of competition winners by JD Sports at Crewe Alex FC. The young winners had entered and won a competition held by JD Sport. The prize was a special day out in the Directors Box at Crewe Alex v Oldham in League One. There was a meal before the game and also the chance to meet Crewe manager Steve Davis. The lads were also each presented with a Carbrini goody bag. The competition was featured in the BBC’s Match Of The Day Magazine so we were commissioned to get a set of photos of the three lads who won the competition enjoying their VIP day at The Alexandra Stadium. The final article was written up as a double page spread in Issue 301 of the weekly publication.

21Apr 2013

Andy Hamilton & Jamie Caven Photography

Event Photography Cheshire, Crewe, Crewe Alex, Darts, Exhibition Permalink

We have been offering event photography to WTD Promotions for a while now. We have been pleased to photograph many leading professional darts players including Terry ‘The Bull’ Jenkins, Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock, Andy ‘The Pieman’ Smith and Kevin ‘The Artist’ Painter.

The latest exhibition event saw Andy ‘The Hammer’ Hamilton and Jamie ‘Jabba’ Caven head to Crewe for a great evening of darts. As with all the other players we made a portrait of each player as well as offered our event photography. We are able to photograph fans with the famous players which are then printed immediately and signed so the customer can take the print away with them there and then!

Our events ‘photobooth’ is available for parties, guest speakers or proms. If you are organising an event get in touch to see what we offer!

The latest portraits of Andy and Jamie:

Andy ‘The Hammer’ Hamilton

Jamie ‘Jabba’ Caven portrait photograph. Darts professional photography

08Mar 2013

Steve Phillips & Tom Seals Charity Photography

Portrait Photography, Press Photography Cheshire, Crewe, Crewe Alex, Football Photography, Nantwich Permalink

Quite recently we had the privilege of photographing Crewe Alexandra goalkeeper Steve Phillips on the pitch at the Alexandra Stadium. We’ve also worked with the talented Tom Seals many times. The two are working together to raise funds for two charities. We obviously were very keen to help so did the photography of the pair for publicity purposes!

Tom is including the club fans favourite ‘Blue Moon’ on his upcoming album release and the track will be released as a charity single. The funds will be for Leukemia & Lymphoma Research and Caudwell Children.

Tom’s Pledge page is here: Tom Seals Music Pledge

Keep up to date with Steve’s Fundraising efforts on his Facebook page: Steve Phillips Fundraising Facebook Page

You can even pledge for a set of these signed photos on Tom’s page!

We are very proud to be involved and wish the pair all the very best in their efforts!

Steve Phillips & Tom Seals Charity photography

07Feb 2013

Steve Phillips Portrait Photography at Crewe Alex Stadium

Portrait Photography Cheshire, Crewe, Crewe Alex, Football Photography Permalink

Portrait of Crewe Alexandra goalkeeper Steve Phillips

We recently had the pleasure of using the Alexandra Stadium as a backdrop for a photoshoot. Steve has been raising money for his two chosen charities Leukaemia Research and the Caudwell Children’s Charity. We offered to help out by donating a prize of an Urban Portrait shoot.

We also did a set of portraits of Steve on the pitch at The Alexandra Stadium. As official photographer to Nantwich Town we have previously worked with goalkeeper Jonny Brain and did a set of portraits for the club to use for promotional purposes in the goal at the Weaver Stadium. The portraits of Jonny are very striking and fit in well with the urban portrait series with the moody sky. The Alexandra stadium is a superb backdrop and we certainly had good fun on the pitch!

08Mar 2012

England Under 18s International, The South & The Aussie Pink Floyd

General Cheshire, Christening, Crewe, Crewe Alex, Family Photography Permalink

It seems I have been doing loads of travelling lately. In the last few weeks I have been to Birmingham twice, Manchester, Birkenhead and Stoke. I’m off up to Burnley tomorrow too!

Nantwich Town have been at home for two Saturdays on the trot so I have been over at the Weaver sat pitchside. I have great shots of Mat Bailey’s goals which appeared in all the local press. The England U18 national team also stopped by the Weaver Stadium this week for training ahead of their 3-0 win over Poland staged at Crewe’s Alexandra Stadium. I attended the training session and got a photo of the squad for the clubs website. The facilities at the Weaver must be good as the lads put in a stunning performance in front a a 6000 plus strong crowd. It was good to be pitchside at such a prestigious fixture! It was also nice meeting Sir Trevor Brooking before the game!

We have also been about to loads of live music gigs of late. The first visit to Birmingham was to photograph The South (formerly the Beautiful South) at the o2 Academy. This was the fifth time I had seen the band and they put on a great show!

We also headed up to Manchester to photograph the Australian Pink Floyd at the Apollo. It was a real visual spectacle with a stunning light show and video graphics. If you like Pink Floyd then its really a show you will enjoy!

We also managed to find time to photograph Syntronix at the Carlsberg Suite at Crewe Alex. Great performance and good crowd. Over at the Box Mercedes put on a really good show.

Sham 69 are heading back to town on Saturday and I’ll be doing some band photos for their publicity and website. One of my favourite portraits is of Al Campbell taken the last time they played at the Box!

We have also been busy covering a few events. We photographed a Christening party at Crewe Vagrants on Sunday. A great set of images for the happy parents. We have also photographed a few after dinner speaking events. We were with Yvette Cooper over in Tranmere and will be with Alan Johnson in Burnley.

31Dec 2011

Review of the Year – 2011 – Part Three

General Birmingham, Blackpool, Boxjam, Cheshire, Crewe Permalink

I’ve been the official photographer at The Box in Crewe since 2009. I’ve watched it grow and go from strength to strength. This year has seen an amazing set of bands and musicians appearing at the venue, as well as the capacity increase.

One of the best nights I had photographing at the Box was when Guillemots played. Fyfe Dangerfield and his band all posed for portraits and a group shot before a wonderful performance in front of a brilliant crowd. My monochrome portrait of Fyfe is one of my favourites of the year.

The immense Funeral For A Friend were also just amazing. A ram packed Box lapped up the Welsh rockers who headed off to Download the following week. Another great set of portraits, again all monochrome!

One of the nights that took me by surprise was the UK Subs. A brilliant night was had followed by some green room documentary photography and a pint from Charlie, the lead singer!!

My annual charity event Boxjam (all in aid of Oxfam) extended to 2 days this year. Boxjam III crammed in nearly 60 acts over 2 stages and raised £720! Really pleased to bring My Preserver and Benjamin Bloom back to Crewe as well as a host a brilliant local acts.

A fine night was had in the company of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly! Aka Sam Duckworth. Arriving late due to traffic hold ups we did the portrait shoot after the gig. One of my favourite portraits of the year and also a great set of live images.

Amongst the other (hundreds) of bands stopping by were Futures, Tellison, James Cleaver Quintet, Sham 69, Adam Ficek & Gary Powell and Blitz Kids!

I’ve also worked with many great local bands including: Junker, Skeletal Damage, The Escape, Violet Omen, The Retrospective, Hayley Strangelove, James Gardiner, Chloe, Revelation, Midnight Lycan Party, Longshanks, The Resistance, and Sumofly.

I also travelled to Birmingham’s O2 Academy to photograph The Bluetones on their farewell tour at their penultimate gig.

I’ve also covered some big events this year. Working with WTD Promotions I have photographed some great professional darts exhibitions. Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock, Terry ‘The Bull’ Jenkins, Andy ‘The Pie Man’ Smith and John ‘Darth Maple’ Part all headed to Crewe for some great evenings down at Crewe Alex. I’ve also covered some after dinner speeches including Alastair Campbell and Labour Leader Ed Miliband MP at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

I was also booked to be the official photographer at the North West Regional Labour Party Conference in Blackpool. This inevitably led to loads of MP portraits!

09Nov 2011

Duff McKagan and Four Four Two Magazine

General Blackpool, Cheshire, Children Photography, Christmas, Crewe Permalink

Another busy week is underway at SJN Towers! After a weekend spent partly in Blackpool photographing loads of MPs and a day at RedShift Radio for the special photo day we have loads underway this week.

On Tuesday night I was off to London to meet and photograph former Guns ‘n Roses musician Duff McKagan. Duff is now with Loaded and I met him at The Garage in Islington. We did some portraits followed by some live shots of the last gig on their UK tour! Great gig it was too!

I recently received a request from the famous football magazine Four Four Two for some images of Nantwich Town manager Jimmy Quinn. I photographed the former Northern Ireland international leading up to my exhibition at the Lyceum Theatre earlier in the year. The resulting article is in the December issue and is a humorous take on Jimmy featuring on the bench for the Dabbers due to suspensions and injuries! I photographed Jimmy in a charity match in which he found the back of the net against Franco Baresi’s AC Milan Legend XI.

Still got lots on over the rest of the week. Guillemots stop by Crewe on Thursday at The Box. On the same night I’ll be photographing three times world champion professional darts player John Part. John is taking part in an exhibition with WTD Promotions at Crewe Alex’s Carlsberg Suite. Friday sees another gig at the Box before a weekend which will involve heading down to Milton Keynes for the historic match between the MK Dons and Nantwich Town in the first round of the FA Cup. Sunday I have a family shoot followed by a music promo for local band The Retrospective!