Working with Composers Dan & Laura Curtis
- Apr 19, 2014
- 3 min read
I've been given some truly fantastic opportunities in the last 6 months or so, but none so much as from composers Daniel and Laura Curtis. The husband a wife team sure work hard for what they want to accomplish and what amazing results they have seen.
I first met Dan & Laura at Hoddinott Hall at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff whilst attending a concert they were organising for the Mayor. Their passion about music was evident form that very first moment. However, my first opportunity to work with team Curtis was when Dan & Laura set up a fundraiser event after the awful events of Typhoon Haiyan in Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, on 8 November 2013. Dan & Laura pulled a powerful aray of singers together for the concert and I photographed the event for them.
This sparked off a wonderful 'friendship' and has enabled me to follow closely with the latter half of the recording process of their Number #1 best-selling album 'Love on 42nd Street' a CD which is being sold for the BBC's Children In Need charity.
My first recording studio shoot, was with Kasia Howley - winner of Your Voice competition. She was every bit the professional and such a wonderful young talent spotted by Dan & Laura. Shabbey Road studios was the setting for various of my shoots - the cavern of magicial wonder all thanks to Al Steele and his studio technician Rob Sherwood. Al produced the CD for Dan & Laura and yet again, another highly talented and an amazing man to work with. He seems tireless often working late into the evenings with Dan & Laura.
So my studio visits were amazing times for me. I got to see some of the magic - the true talent of the composers themselves, making sure every bit was the perfection they strived for, watching the songs go from demo tracks to the final product. Nothing was going to escape them - everything was to be perfect. The last couple of recording studio shoots arranged were while Katy Treharne & John Owen Jones set down their tracks. Both of them every bit the professional. I can't say that I always had the best enviroment to catch shots, and on occassion I had to be double quick to get what I needed. However, the one shoot that will stay with me for a long time, was that of Samantha Barks, which I will treat you to a peek into that another time.
I know I thank them regularly, but I would very much like to thank Dan & Laura publically for believing in me and my work, for asking me to join them on this project, for their friendship & for feeding me when we've had a long busy day in Caerphilly!
Whilst none of this is about promotion, I also cannot fail to mention Michael Collison, artist of the beautiful cover and his original artwork is found on the CD too. If you haven't heard the album it yet - listen to the tracks on YouTube below. And why not pop to iTunes or Amazon to get yourselves a copy. It's all for charity!
Dan & Laura, Al, Rob, Michael ... plus all the artists ... it's been fun!
Many of my photos from these shoots can be found on my Events page.
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