Liverpool Photographer Mark McNulty

Liverpool Photographer & Filmmaker Mark McNulty

Hello and welcome to the portfolio, blog and archive of Liverpool photographer and filmmaker Mark McNulty where you can see all work, past and present, as well as searching the archives for images which can be purchased as prints or downloaded for commercial and editorial purposes.

Blog

Update

Seeing as how I’ve not blogged anything for a while, I thought I’d best post a quick update and say Happy New Year before it gets too late. In the past, I’ve done some sort of rundown of the previous year’s highlights but after the busiest year end I’ve ever had I’ve spent Christmas and the New Year doing as little as possible and any spare energies have been put into planning for some changes in 2012. For the record, November and December saw me working on a rather massive shoot that included a 20 strong team plus models, and a plane being flown in just for the shoot. And a bloody big plane it was too! Other work at the end of the year included a trip to London to shoot a video for a coffee company and a couple of days documenting musicians down at the South Bank Centre for their orchestral brochures. I also did some new portraits for the University of Liverpool, a fashion shoot for the latest edition of Object of Dreams, shot a fantastic new Liverpool singer, made a training video in a brewery in Blackburn, photographed the Queen, shot The Wombats for NME, did some interiors of the Museum of Liverpool (with more to come), documented the new Banksy sculpture at The Walker (and no, I didn’t meet him), a Christmas gig at Magnet and did some photos of my friend Tori from Mohawk Media. So needless to say it was a busy end to a busy year. And, with regards to 2012, the blogging I do here is moving to a new site (more on that soon) whilst this portfolio site is getting a make over by them tasteful folk at SB Studio who are pictured below from a shoot I did with them late last year. Outside of photography, I’m also continuing with the video work and after I’ve written this, I’ll be packing my bags for another Routes Jukebox session and that site’s going to move on up with a few guest videos to add to my own work. And finally, there’s the archive which you can see over at Photoshelter or Facebook and the latest photo I’ve added there is the one below of Lisa Faulkner and Danny McCall taken on the set of And the Beat Goes On in 1996. Anyway, that’s it for now, Happy New Year and I’ll be back shortlyish with a new look site and some more new work!

PS, There is one more thing and that’s that I’m going to be doing portrait based ‘masterclass’ at the Open Eye Gallery on February 13th. See here for details.

Jan 09, 2012 | Categories: personal | Tags: 2011, end of year, photos | Leave A Comment »

The Snowman

This is my last post before Christmas so I’m going to keep it seasonal with The Phil’s season of Christmas concerts for children which featured a “santa singalong’ and a showing of The Snowman with a live soundtrack played by the orchestra! Add to that a brass school for kids in the venue beforehand, hundreds of reindeer horns and Father Christmas hats and a couple of thousand kids singing Jingle Bell Rock and Christmas really couldn’t get any cuter! Anyway, this is my last post before the holiday so I’ll see you next year for a whole new look website with lots of changes. Happy Christmas!!!

Dec 21, 2011 | Categories: liverpool | Tags: christmas, classical, photography | Leave A Comment »

Spirit of Christmas

The arrival of Christmas has well and truly sunk in this weekend with two concerts at the Liverpool Phil and this year’s Spirit of Christmas concert is being presented by John Suchet with Norwegian superstar trumpet soloist Tine Thing Helseth, the Liverpool Philharmonic Choirs and the Orchestra with Ian Tracey conducting. The concerts are made up of fantastic music, carols, readings and singalongs and Christmas kicked in for me when Tine Thing Helseth told the audience that she’d be racing back to Norway on Christmas Eve, after the last concert on the 23rd, to play at her local church which she’s been doing since the age of 10! And if that doesn’t get you in the Christmas mood then check back tomorrow as I’m turning it up a notch by adding snowflakes, cute kids and The Snowman.

Dec 18, 2011 | Categories: events | Tags: classical, english, music, photographer, uk | Leave A Comment »

The Wombats

I was back at the O2 Academy last weekend for the first time in about 6 months and this time it was for an advertorial feature for NME with The Wombats on the last night of their UK tour. The photos feature in this week’s Christmas edition of NME but here’s a few more including some photos of the support band The Good Natured!

Dec 16, 2011 | Categories: music | Tags: editorial, liverpool, music, nme, o2 academy, photographs | Leave A Comment »

Mahler 9

I shot two gigs last week. On Thursday I photographed Vasily Petrenko conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, in the last of the Mahler cycle, and then on Friday I shot The Wombats for NME at O2 Academy on the last day of their tour. And whilst you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to work out that the two gigs were massively different (hint, there was no mosh pit at The Phil), the two of them were very strangely similar in the sense that they were two of the most exhausting performances I’ve ever seen. And I mean for the performers! You expect it from a rock band and The Wombats make more of an effort than most, and I know how hard the big band at The Phil works, but seeing their faces and that of Vasily’s at the end of the performance just showed how incredible the performance had been which was heightened by the fact that the last movement of Mahler is incredibly quiet. Oh and I’m not professing to know about Mahler 9 here, as I just crept in at the end as the band took their applause, but it was such an odd feeling hearing such quiet music followed by a platform of exhausted faces but at 90 minutes straight through without a break it’s all you can expect!. A fantastic end to both the Mahler series and The Wombats 2011 tour schedule and the aftershow drinks for both gigs were similar in their enthusiasm. Only difference was that nobody from The Phil did a DJ set at the Krazyhouse!

Next up will be some live Wombats, some new fashion work, the new Museum of Liverpool interiors and then we’re going to get all festive with Christmas at The Phil!

Dec 13, 2011 | Categories: music | Tags: classical, classical music photographer | Leave A Comment »

Yoko & The Queen

Today sees the opening of the second phase of the new Museum of Liverpool and the new galleries are amazing! I spent yesterday afternoon photographing the interiors of the new spaces, for the exhibition designers, but I also got to photograph the visit of The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh who were there in the morning. With the Royal party splitting into two groups, I spent an hour covering the Queen’s tour where she was escorted by Phil Redmond and Janet Dugdale and along the way she met Yoko Ono, Mike McCartney and a whole host of other guests and museum staff before meeting back up with Prince Philip and heading off to the Liver Buildings and New Brighton for the afternoon. I’ve done a few of these Royal visits in the past and they’re pretty hectic, fast and furious but still loads of fun and the challenge is great. Oh and you also get these really cool little card Royal Rota press passes which are well better than neon plastic wristbands! Interiors of the new sections will follow after the weekend. Don’t want to spoil the surprise!

Dec 02, 2011 | Categories: liverpool | Tags: crowds, fans, liverpool, royal, v | Leave A Comment »

Winter Arts Market

It’s December 1st and, face facts, Christmas ain’t too far off now and shopping hell needs to be faced and as much as I love all our nice new shiny shopping centres here in Liverpool, there ain’t nothing like a bit of independent present buying and it doesn’t get much better than the Winter Arts MArket at St.George’s Hall. The event’s on this weekend, both days, it’s only like £1.50 to get in and there’s a hundred and twenty stalls to choose from along with live music (Saturday only) put on by Mellowtone, a Can Cook café, a photography exhibition and a whole host of other stuff. More details here.

Dec 01, 2011 | Categories: events | Leave A Comment »

Liverpool loves LEAF

The building that houses LEAF on Bold Street is a fantastic space which in recent years has been the short lived but brilliant Microzine and previously a sausage emporium called Coopers Food Hall! It’s also been a clothes shop or maybe two in it’s time but thankfully, and as much as we all wanted Microzine to work, having LEAF there seems to be the perfect match and Friday night saw the venue’s 1st birthday party. Bold Street is constantly in a state of flux but the area is definitely on the up at the moment and LEAF, along with businesses like Italian Club and Bold Street Coffee, are keeping the street cool and independent so a big party was expected and enjoyed in the upstairs room with everybody being asked to bring a plate to add to the venue’s scrawl wall whilst entertainment was provided by DJ Andy Mac, a New Orleans style jazz band called Brassroots and UK garage legend DJ MJ Cole! Needless to say, it was an amazing night and I’m sure there’ll be many more. I also like the fact that, although it doubles up as a gig venue, restaurant, bar, pop up shop, retro fair and a whole host of other things, LEAF is in essence a tea shop and with Bold Street’s former glory days being one of Rolls Royce showrooms and posh tea shops, I think it’s perfectly suited in it’s beautiful art deco home so it’s happy birthday to LEAF and thanks to Natalie and Graham, and a hole host of other people, for making it work in the first place!

Nov 27, 2011 | Categories: events | Tags: cafe, event, liverpool, music, party, photos | 1 Comment »

One Punch

I’ve shot a couple of campaigns for Merseyside Police over the last year or so and this Christmas campaign was shot a couple of months ago at the brand new Binary Cell studios in Liverpool. I’ve got to say I’m always a bit slow in updating my campaign shoots online as there’s usually a big gap between the photography and the publication of them but any others will be getting an airing on here soon as there’s some website changes about to happen. This campaign has understandably been launched in the run up to Christmas and it’s already been picked up and used by other Police forces around the country which is always a good sign that a job’s gone well! I’ve also been working on some nice campaigns as this week I’m shooting a classical brochure for a venue in London whilst last week saw me working on a massive campaign that featured 7 models and a 19 strong production team which included two behind the scenes video people capturing the shoot for both the client and the subjects. More news on this soon.

Nov 21, 2011 | Categories: advertising | Tags: advertising, campaign, photography, photos, police | Leave A Comment »

End Of An Ear

I’ve been in house photographer at the O2 Academy (formerley the Carling Academy) for 8 years which is how long it’s been opened and I was there shooting the first night when Shack were headlining and Mick Head wore shades to cover up a black eye he’d got at an altercation in The Columbia Hotel in London the night before. And I was there the second night when Liverpool legends Ladytron, supported by a ‘just about to break’ Franz Ferdinand played in the small room. I was also there at countless other nights with some personal highlights being Patti Smith which is possibly my favourite gig ever, Michael Franti, Goldie Lookin’ Chain on more than one occasion, the return of The Pale Fountains, the Scissor Sisters when they played the small room, numerous Evol nights with 2ManyDJs always being a highlight, New York Dolls, the rise of Liverpool Sound City and the Deltasonic Christmas parties with the best of them being the one when Abi Harding and Candie Payne sang River Deep Mountain High. I’ve also got a few photographic highlights including being asked by Kanye West to go up onstage with him to take photos at the Perez Hilton MTV party for God knows what reason, shooting a portrait of Johnny Marr backstage at a Cribs gig and also photographing loads of legends from Debbie Harry to Lee Scratch Perry.

Anyway, with my work constantly changing, I’ve decided to give up my job as in house photographer at the venue. However, this don’t mean I wont be shooting music work anymore as I’ve got loads of plans for that including both portrait and live based work but I wont be doing the constant round of first three songs no flash gigs. I’m currently talking to a record label in Germany about shooting covers for them on a regular basis, I’m shooting more and more classical music related musicians for clients in Liverpool and London, I’ve got a singer’s label photographs to shoot this week, I’ve been booked for a music commission in New York (more news on that soon), I’m hopefully going back to SXSW and I’ll keep on keeping on with my music video work over at Routes Jukebox so music will still feature heavily in my portfolio. It’s just that shooting gigs week in week out is difficult to fit in with all of my other work and there’s a lot I’d like to get done so something has to give. Anyways, it’s been a fantastic 8 years and whilst I won’t miss the increasing scourge of LED lighting, the much talked about rights grabbing contracts, the odd pint of whatever landing on us in the pit, dodging crowd surfers whilst trying to go about my job and waiting around for those few artists that don’t stick to the timetable like Snoop or Babyshambles, I will miss the pre match banter between photographers in the pit, the prospect of shooting a long list of new bands I’ve yet to hear, the obvious attraction of the best seat in the house and the sheer fun of shooting loads of live music. Needless to say I’ll also miss Sam Jones, the former venue manager and old friend who sadly died in the summer for being fantastic at his job, one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and for being possibly the most patient man that ever worked in the music industry. Respect and thank you!

Meanwhile, here’s a few faves from a long list of gigs, though there’s also a few more over at the new Bido Lito website as well as an interview, and I’m also currently uploading them to my archive which is up there on the right somewhere!