During December 2023, O’Hooley & Tidow played their WinterFolk gig at St Bartholomew’s in Marsden, supported by the Red Deer Club DJ. I had some Ilford XP2 Super 35mm film in the camera, 400 ISO, but I didn’t think to take a tripod, and at the time I didn’t own a shutter release cable. As you may imagine, it was a struggle to capture images in such low light and I resorted to balancing the camera on level surfaces.
The following photographs are blurred, shaky, out of focus… but a vast improvement over my first attempt at indoor night-time party atmosphere photography.
Red Deer Club DJ set
Gathering those who appreciate the music
I feel the next image needs context. These two O’Hooley & Tidow super-fans are the force-for-good behind Belinda and Heidi playing St Bartholomew’s Church. In winter 2023, “Fairy Tale of New York” was back in the charts following the death of Shane McGowan. The song contains the throw-away use of a homophobic slur as an insult in the sung argument between Shane and Kirsty McCall. O’Hooley & Tidow performed a variation on this live, modifying the words slightly for fun and entertainment. These two fans had t-shirts printed especially for the occasion.
Belinda and Heidi…
All images taken with a Pentax MX 35mm camera, SMC 50mm f1.4 lens, on Ilford XP2 Super film. Processing by Analogue Wonderland.