A selection of images taken during the month of January.

Dr Iris Henkel featured prominently in Episode 1.

Now that Channel 5 have started transmission of their new fly-on-the-wall documentary series “Benidorm ER” I thought I’d put up an image from the recent shoot I did with the staff at the private hospital Clinica Benidorm. Although it was a rather hectic shoot with both indoor and outdoor locations and time constraints and bearing in mind that the doctors, nurses and paramedics are kept extremely busy, all the staff and the series production team made sure that I got the images I needed. I can personally vouch for the service at Clinica Benidorm. My own GP is based there and all of the doctors, nurses and  receptionists are always very professional and friendly. It’s not a place I hope to visit to often but when I do I know I will be well cared for.

Bad Manners with Buster Bloodvessel who appears to be going for the Captain Kurtz look. 

Pauline Black from The Selecter bathed in red.

It’s amazing what you can do with a broken compact camera and some available light. My Fuji X100 is stuck on f2.0 and in need of repair but it still manages to throw out some great grain free images at ISO 1600.

All of these images are the sole copyright of Brian Hickey Photography. No publication in either electronic or printed media is permitted without the prior consent of the copyright holder. Image licences can be procured directly or via www.alamy.com

Mark, Amanda and guests are led through the pueblo by a piper.

One image from this weekend’s wedding shoot in La Nucia, Spain. Congratulations Mark & Amanda.

Mark & Amanda make the front page of Wednesday 14th September's edition of The Post.

Franco & The Dreadnought live in Albir.

Original live music, as opposed to the multitude of boring cover bands doing the rounds, is so very hard to find in this part of Spain. Ok my last post highlighted Iggy Pop, a true original so I suppose it’s been a good week for music. Franco & The Dreadnought – The Dreadnought being the name of his guitar – is the former lead singer of Manchester band International One. Now pursuing a solo career his music has been described as “heart-warming, spine-tingling Indie-acoustic music.”  I love a good old electric guitar thrash a la The Stooges or MC5 but in quieter moments I can be found listening to acoustic stuff from the likes of  Nick Drake or Elliot Smith. Franco’s songs, like the aforementioned Elliot Smith, had an intricacy in their arrangements that didn’t detract from the good old fashioned melodies and they sounded like a breath of fresh air in an area of Spain that is deprived of new and original music.  I would urge you check his music out here at https://www.facebook.com/francoandthedreadnought

For the photographically minded this venue was not blessed with light. The image was shot on my Fujifilm X100 at 1/30th sec at f2.0 , ISO 4000.  I really try to avoid using flash nowadays unless it’s absolutely necessary. The video below, shot with the same camera, is a tad dark. I just couldn’t get any more light into it. What’s more important though is the song. So give it a listen.

Iggy on stage at Los Jardines de Viveros, Valencia, 9th July 2011. Picture by Brian Hickey

I first saw Iggy Pop perform live at the Edinburgh Playhouse on 6th July 1981. Having survived the wreckage of the original Stooges in the late 60′s and early 70′s the “godfather of punk”  was still riding high on his mid 70′s acclaimed albums  ”The Idiot”  and “Lust For Life”.  The moment he walked on stage and before he had uttered a single word he  made straight for a security meat head who was aggressively restraining a fan on the front row and swung his boot at him. All hell broke loose around him as he strolled to the microphone and broke into a Stooges classic, Search & Destroy. It was an unforgettable experience and one that prompted my desire to hear live music.

I saw Iggy on a few more occasions with the last one being way back in 1988 at the Reading Festival where I photographed him for the newspaper I worked on at the time.  He was still crazily energetic and had lost none of his passion for live performance. I even got to photograph him backstage  where he said to me: “Does taking my picture get you excited?” Those are not the exact words he used though. Replace “excited” with the male state of excitement and you will get the gist of it. I was as excited as any heterosexual male could be at meeting his one and only hero.

Almost 30 years to the day I turned up at Los Jardines De Viveros in Valencia to see Iggy once again. This time he was performing material from his days with The Stooges. I approached this gig with more than a touch of trepidation. In fact the only reason I bought tickets was so that my wife would get the chance to see the world’s greatest ever live performer for the first time. Iggy is now 64 years old and I expected  him to have slowed down and was fearful that he had turned into some rock and roll has been like Mick Jagger, David Bowie or John Lydon. Then of course there are those car insurance advertisements on TV! I needn’t have worried. From the opening chords of James Williamson’s unfeasibley loud guitar Iggy dived onto the stage and burst into “Raw Power”. The hour and a half that followed in the 30 degree Valencian night saw a performer giving every ounce of his effort and passion to his art in the same way he did way back in the beginning in 1969. Such was his inspiration that one slightly balding and overweight 50 year-old  photographer had to show his support by slam dancing down the front for a couple of songs!  No winner of Pop Idol could ever make me do that.

Iggy performs at the reading festival, 26th August 1988. Picture by Brian Hickey

Iggy & The Stooges, Raw Power, Valencia