That first job saw her working with the creative team behind Bob the Builder and Pingu, the animated stars of kids’ TV, produced by Hot Animation in Manchester. Although she didn’t know anyone in ‘the Manche’ prior to her move from the north-east, Shirlaine’s love of rock music meant she knew that Manchester was the place to be.
“It’s the land of music,” she exclaims, “so I was doing Bob the Builder and Pingu in the daytime and metal gigs in the evening. Lots of fun!” But what made it more fun was taking a camera and trying to get backstage…
You always loved music, so when did music meet photography?
I started to go to loads of gigs. You know when you’re in your early 20s and you’re obsessed with bands and you’d read NME and Melody Maker cover to cover? Then I realized that if I take a camera, I can get in for free and come away with a lasting memory of the gig. You learn early doors, especially when you’re shooting on film, that you can’t take a light meter into a gig, it’s all trial and error, and the shutter speed will blow your mind, depending on how fast the band is. You never know until you get your film back the next day.
Once you’ve done gig photography and worked with that tricky available light, you can move on to anything
Waiting for the film to come back gave that element of suspense, which you don’t have any more…
Absolutely. And now it’s like, ‘get it shot, get it out, get it delivered. Why isn’t it out yet?’ There’s no more burning tiny edges and dodging certain sections, well there is, but you’ve got to do it superfast in Photoshop.
Where was the band scene then, when you were
