Roskilde Music Festival 2011
This has been my 2nd year shooting Roskilde Music Festival 2011 for Getty Images. This time Thorsten Overgaard and I reprised our role of trying to convey the the feeling of the festival. With a slight different line-up and lots and lots of rain, it was as varied as ever.
deadmau5 headlining on day 1. Lots of mice in the crowd.
Roskilde is very very organized. To get into the front you have to queue up for hours. It’s a shambolic form of organization, and somehow it really works.
Arctic Monkeys on the Orange stage (main stage). The stage has quite a history, having been designed originally for the Rolling Stones’ summer tour of 1976.
The crowds always have lots of fun, even if you are all the way at the back. 
The very energetic, theatrical Lykke Li, this year’s Florence + the Machine. 
Take care of each other
And take care of each other they do. This is in front of a pond/trash pit, but somehow they are still having a relaxing time.
This girl was shaving this boy’s head, halfway through the shaver ran out of battery. But it doesn’t matter, no-one will look at him twice at Roskilde.
A dedicated British camper. 
It wouldn’t be a major European rock festival without all the rain. Copenhagen got some of the heaviest rainfall in recorded history and the place I was staying (along with most of my belongings) were flooded in 6 inches of water. Luckily Roskilde didn’t get as much rain, it would have probably caused the cancellation of the Festival.
Protection from the rain.
Singing/Dancing in the rain.
Kissing in the rain
Laughing in the rain.
The Danes, with their slightly less conservative approach to nakedness, enjoy a good bit of streaking in the rain.
The end. See you next year.
For the rest of my Roskilde 2011 images, have a look at the collection on the Getty Images site
You might also like: Roskilde 2010, Glastonbury 2011
Glastonbury Festival 2011 for Festival Annual
I was hired on a dream assignment – to shoot Glastonbury Festival. But not to shoot music or stage performances, but atmosphere around the festival. The dream lasted until around the third hour of fighting, yes FIGHTING with the mud. I was shooting for the great guys over at Festival Annual.
Glastonbury is conceivably the largest rock music festival on earth. 175,000 people went this year. It’s the largest single purpose site I’ve ever seen for anything. Considering that many cities in UK are smaller than 175,000 people, it’s quite something. Glastonbury is a messy, wonderful temporary city. Everyone is there to have a good time. And the atmosphere is amazing.
But Glastonbury really is so much more than a music festival. It is a celebration of culture savoured like no other.
Like this little disco tent with funky light, you find these little places all over the site.
And people just hanging out on a hill overlooking the site at sunset
The site is entirely eclectic, from chill-out areas.
Charming camp sites…
Kid’s play areas
Busking…
…and even a dry cinema for the small and big kids.
Of course one of the big challenges is the mud. The ground at Glastonbury is made of clay, which turns into a very sticky mud that literally pulls the shoes off people’s feet.
Resulting in lovely scenes like the ‘Wellie Graveyard), the place protective footwear goes to die.
Just a bit of toilet atmosphere…
Glastonbury also has some very established night life. Because of the distance from any large urban population, curfews aren’t quite the same.
The party lasts all night. 
Even in some of the clubs, like ‘Fish and Tits’ in the Shangri-La area. Pole dancers and all sorts. 
Or Downlow NYC, a retro gay club which is part of the ‘party area’, Block 9. 
But Glastonbury wouldn’t be Glasto without all the performance art. The ‘Spider’ show at the Arcadia field attracts a lot of attention.
The Pyramid stage during U2’s set.
The end!
To see more, head over to the Festival Annual Facebook page. My images will be part of their annual book documenting festival culture. It will be out in the Autumn.
You can follow my work on twitter or stay in touch via facebook.
Copenhagen Fashion Week 2010 – Spring/Summer 2011
It’s only fashion but I like it.
I flew to Denmark for the second time in 2 months to cover Copenhagen Fashion Week for Getty Images and Wireimage. There’s something incredibly clean and crisp about Nordic design – I’m drawn to it. The Danes and their scandinavian companions tend to pull off some interesting shows, there’s a snapshot of that in the video below. There’s a lot more if you head over to wireimage.com and search for ‘Felix Kunze Copenhagen’.
Fashion week is 12 hour days of shooting one show after the other, lots of editing and uploads to the agency during the night, very little sleep, many turned down invitations to parties and a lot of mad fun on the press bus that takes us from show to show.
Apart from the interesting talent on show, notable at Fashion week were: the grace of Crown Princes Mary of Denmark, the appearance of fashion regulars such as James Goldstein (seen in the video wearing a cowboy-like hat), The Worlds Greatest Catwalk – a Guinness world records attempt for the longest catwalk, hosted by danish supermodel Helena Christensen with entertainment by Mads Langer and the general atmosphere in the crowd and around Copenhagen. I think the below gives a good glimpse of the atmosphere at the show.
If you like this, also check out Haiti, Roskilde and recent Portraiture or head over to the homepage. You can also follow me on twitter or check out my page on facebook.
By the way, Thorsten Overgaard’s lucid article on Copenhagen fashion week is worth a read. Click here
Youtube version for iOS Devices:
Roskilde Music Festival 2010
I went to Denmark to cover the amazing 40th Roskilde Music Festival. Roskilde is a small town 1/2 hour outside of Copenhagen. The festival is held on a farm that is repurposed for the festival.
As one of Europe’s top three festivals, attended by over 110,000 people, Roskilde has a reputation for a laid back attitude of fun and as Thorsten Overgaard said ‘lots of dust, beautiful girls and neanderthal men’.
My highlights were Muse, Florence + the Machine and Biffy Clyro. Prince also put on a spectacular show. I jostled for space in the press pit with many other photographers to photograph these bands:
Muse – British prog rock awesomeness
Biffy Clyro – Scottish rockers
Florence + The Machine – British folk done right
Alice in Chains – influential 90’s rock (US)
Bad Lieutenant – formerly New Order (UK)
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni BA – world music (Mali)
CV Jørgensen – singer-songwriter (Denmark)
Den Sorte Skole (The Black School) – Copenhagen’s 3 piece DJ set – amazing (Denmark)
Efterklang – up and coming atmospheric pop-rock (Denmark) – watch for these guys
Gorillaz – Damon Albarn’s trip hop project (UK)
Jack Johnson – chilled Hawaiian folk (US)
Julian Marley – Bob Marley’s son – rasta reggae (UK)
Kasabian – indie rock (UK)
Pavement – indie Rock (US)
Patti Smith – singer-songwriter – legendary ‘godmother of punk’ – (US)
Pendulum – electronic rock (Australia)
The Prodigy – electronic dance (UK)
The Temper Trap – alternative rock (Australia)
Vampire Weekend – fun indie rock (US)
To see all the images of the above bands, look on Getty Images here.
YouTube version for iOS users:
The Future of Haiti – Help Haitian Orphans
My recent trip to Haiti was all about documenting the amazing work at the Future of Haiti Orphanage. Future of Haiti was set up shortly after the earthquake when it became apparent that there were 100s of kids roaming the streets with no one feeding them, no medical attention and no shelter.
Their work really moved me and to communicate what they have achieved and what is needed to further support this project, I put together another one of my slide-shows. This one is about 15 minutes and gives a lot of information about the lives of Haitian orphans. I appreciate the time you take to have a look through this. Feel free to link here, link to the video or embed it in your own site. I am keen to spread awareness of this amazing project.
The Future of Haiti – Help Haitian Orphans from felix kunze on Vimeo.
To sponsor a child or donate to the orphanage, please visit www.thefutureofhaiti.org – any amount helps
To see the first slideshow, go here
More Haiti images are on my Haiti preview post
To keep up to date on my work in Haiti and other socially responsible projects, join me on facebook, follow me on twitter, subscribe to the blog or get in touch by commenting below. Oh and don’t forget to go check out the rest of my work.
The Future Of Haiti
Before I left to Haiti, I promised that I would try to show the good work being done by volunteers and relief works on the ground in Haiti.
One such project was an orphanage I came across in my first couple of days in Haiti. It had been established after the earthquake, not far from Port-Au-Prince International airport. It houses over 100 children, provides basic shelter, sanitation and medical as well as education the children in Creole, French and English as well as other basic subjects. Food and water are also provided, which for some of these children is the first time they have been fed properly. The plan for the orphanage is to get each child sponsored for life, so they can be continually supported in a fashion that will enable them to live a full life, with a decent education, nourishment and happiness. The children are the future of Haiti. Helping the kids of Haiti is a long-term investment.
For me as a photographer, being part of this orphanage project was probably the most important project I could undertake on this trip. While there are lots of important actions being taken to save people’s lives in the short term and to provide immediate relief, long term actions are vital and any support of the future of this beautiful country is vital.
I took a day out of photographing all other relief efforts and took portraits of over 100 children in the orphanage. I did a portrait of each orphan and then a photo of each with a plaque showing their name and age. The purpose is to use the images on the web to help each child get sponsored. If you want to help Haiti recover from the horror of the last month, give what you can to help an orphan live a full, healthy life. These kids are absolutely amazing. Read my descriptions under the photos below for some heart-warming stories of the utter beauty and humanity evident in each and every child.
More information and more of my photos are available at the link below. Please give what you can:
TheFutureOfHaiti.org
The orphans line up to wash their hands before eating lunch.
Orphans being given their daily lunch. These kids line up like the best behaved of all British people. There's nothing quite as moving as seeing a child that has lived in a malnourished state develop physically from day to day. This is what is happening every day at the orphanage, and it's as simple as giving each kid lunch, dinner and some clean water to drink.
The kids are provided with clean drinking water, but are charged with keeping their own cups or bottles so they can keep the water as provisions have been made for locally sourced water to be purified and drunk by the kids.
An orphan drinks water in a rare spot shaded by the sun.
The orphanage is working in coordination with a variety of organizations including medical teams that provide basic medical needs, vaccinations and other relief. The effect is always immediate, kids who've had very basic medical issues are now doing a lot better.
They are also working with HelpTheOrphans.org who help support the orphans.
Local projects include showing these children soccer skills. With good nutrition, the orphans have a real chance to excel at sports projects. Malnourishment is a problem as bones of malnourished children break easily, particularly during sports.
The children are provided with a basic education, some of them for the first time. A lot of kids wish more than anything to be able to go to school and attain an education - a guarantee that they can make it in the future.
A sampling of the orphan portraits I shot:
I'll end this blog post with a somewhat tragic story that has a happy ending. This particular kid, Amateur, came to the orphanage on the day I was doing the shoot. He had been on the street for an undetermined time, without anyone to look after him. He had injuries to front and the back of his head and no-one knows how these were inflicted. He was afraid of physical contact with any adults or other kids. It was obvious he had been abused in some fashion. He did not know his own age, a fact that hit me hard. This child will never know how old he is, he will never know his birthday and most of all he will never again have parents. He was probably the 60th orphan I had photographed on the day, but when he couldn't name his age, I was truly affected. I took a break and had to wipe my eyes, something had gotten into them. He is now safe and well, being fed and relearning what it means to trust other human beings.