Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Award-Winning Photographer Shoots Via 'Virtual World'

/ By Andie Jeenius
Award-Winning Photographer Shoots Via 'Virtual World'

As the official photographer in the Jeeni team, Sharron Goodyear is an Award-Winning International Photographer and Film Maker, having won Fashion & Boudoir Photographer of the Year through the Master Photographer Association, with 14 years of industry experience. She has now taken her award-winning talents to shoots via the 'Virtual World' and Jeeni CEO, Shena Mitchell, put her to the test.

Sharron Goodyear - Award-winning photographer

Sharron specialises in working with entrepreneurs, musicians, performers and artists from around the world. Her photo-shoots are VIRTUAL, enabling her to work with a global client base, directing her subjects in their homes or on location, from her UK studio via the internet. Sharron took the below photographs of Shena, more than 50 miles from her subject! However, having an eye for positioning the camera, perfect attention to detail and the ability to put Shena or any subject at their ease. Eliminating any self-consciousness or embarrassment, meant the whole event was simple and painless. The results speak for themselves.

Shena Mitchell - CEO & Founding Partner of Jeeni

Shena described her virtual shoot experience, "As Founding Director of Jeeni, I wanted to make sure our subscribers are in great hands, so I booked a VIRTUAL shoot in the comfort of my own home. The intention was to increase my social media presence. I had so much fun and Sharron created over 30 shots to choose from. I picked my favourites and changed my profile picture on Facebook. Within a few hours I had gained 210+ likes, 134 comments and 4 shares. Instant success!"

Getting ahead of your competition, is tough on so many levels and from a marketing perspective, there comes a point when 'selfies' just aren't up to the task. Whether you need portraits for profiles, album covers or merchandise, investing in proper photography is always money well spent. It also allows you to get creative and experiment with a different 'look' or a new 'style' to help with your branding.

Whatever your skills and talents, Jeeni subscribers will be able to realise the benefits of Sharron's award-winning expertise via her website, plus she is offering a special rate of £95 to Jeeni subscribers for the month of March. So, book your slot, check your internet connection and double-check your teeth for spinach!

www.jeeni.com

www.sharrongoodyear.com

12
Mar

Crunch Time for Festivals

January 2021 is going to be crunch time for festivals. In this still, uncertain time, the organisers of the UK's biggest events remain on a knife edge about festivals being able to go-ahead. Michael Eavis has pinned his hopes on mass vaccination of the country, so Glastonbury can still happen this year. He received his jab, just before new year. Whilst Emily Eavis has been countering claims their festival has already been cancelled and confirming tickets will be rolled over to 2022. Micheal Eavis at Glastonbury - Photo: Getty UK Music have shared a new report, Let the Music Play: Save Our Summer 2021, outlining their recommendations for how to restart the UK’s live music industry. As MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee open their inquiry into ‘The future of UK music festivals’ today (January 5), UK Music – whose CEO Jamie Njoku-Goodwin is among those set to give evidence to the inquiry stating the document “outlines a clear strategy to protect and support the multi-billion pound live music industry so it is ready to restart when safe to do so later this year”. Read the report below: https://www.ukmusic.org/assets/general/Let_The_Music_Play_Save_Our_Summer_2021.pdf “The music industry has worked hard to make event spaces as safe as they can possibly be,” UK Music said in a statement accompanying the new report. “This includes launching testing pilots to be able to hold mass events safely, working with government to develop guidance for how to hold events safely, and looking at new ventilation and air purification systems that would dramatically reduce the risk of transmission. “But there is no certainty about when the industry will be allowed to hold mass events once again.” The report warns that the lack of coronavirus cancellation insurance is “the biggest barrier to major events happening in 2021”, and calls on the UK Government to implement an insurance scheme as it has done for the film and TV sector. Key action points in the report are, “an indicative date for a full capacity restart” for venues and festivals, a government-backed indemnity scheme and targeted financial support for the live music industry. UK Music are also calling for an extension to the VAT rate reduction on tickets, a rollover of the paid 2020 Local Authority licence fees for festivals to 2021 and an extension to business rates relief. Up to 50% of the festival workforce faces possible redundancy if the 2021 season is cancelled and a report by the Musicians' Union stated 71% of musicians were considering leaving the sector or were unsure if they would continue. According to Steve Heap, the general secretary of the Association of Festival Organisers (AFO), major music festivals would have to make a decision about their 2021 editions this month. Smaller festivals, however, could put off cancelling until April. Though the pandemic is still wreaking havoc across the UK the crunch time is definitely, now. The industry and the fans need to know!

03
Sep

Mel's World

Today, Jeeni has returned to Crowdcube to raise more funds for helping new talent. Jeeni founding director Mel Croucher says, “I admit we're ahead of our original schedule, but there's still so much more to do. We need to scale our online platform globally now and build our mass artist showcases. Then we can hit all our targets, and give our new artists the recognition they deserve.” If you want to see our pitch click HERE. Mel has been writing the best-loved column in top-selling tech magazines for over 30 years. Now he's agreed to share his work with all our members. He's a video games pioneer and musician, and to to find out more about Mel check out his Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Croucher. Here's one of Mel's latest! This place is neither a home nor a prison. It is some sort of institution. It drips a pallid 1980s atmosphere, and it makes me both afraid and excited. I am completely lost in a badly-lit labyrinth of corridors. It feels like I am being toyed with, and I want to leave. Of course I know the rules by now, and the most important rule of all is that I must keep my social distance of an arms-length and avoid physical contact with any other lost souls who wander these passages. They are creepy. They look more like ghosts than real people. Their eyes are disturbing. Sometimes they stare ahead vacantly, sometimes their staring gazes flick to the left and then to the right in a zombie rhythm. I cannot see their noses or their mouths, because they are covered by coloured masks. My own mouth is not covered at all. My own mouth gapes wide open. I think I feel hungry. I think I am searching for food. Perhaps I will find a piece of fruit, or maybe one of those pills I am encouraged to consume. As I turn a corner, I nearly collide with one of the ghostly figures. But I keep calm. I do not panic. I simply turn away and move as fast as I can. Which is not very fast at all. I can sense another presence around the next corner. The passages are only wide enough for one soul to pass at a time. I feel rather hopeless. I feel quite trapped. I think there is a distinct possibility that very soon I will lose my life. I think I need to build a wall before my time runs out. I know how to build a wall, I have had plenty of practice. The bottom rows of bricks slot into place without much trouble. But the more I seem to succeed, the more difficult my masonic task becomes. The stupid smaller bricks take on a will of their own, and the larger bricks feel clumsy in my hands. My wall is becoming a mess. There are big gaps in the structure where an enemy might get through. There are little gaps in the structure where a virus can penetrate. I think I'd better get out of here. I think I'd better find me a new space, one with some ladders to climb up and ledges to crawl along. Perhaps if I navigate these ladders and ledges, I can find my way out. And will you look up there! High above the ladders, almost out of sight, there is a young woman in a purple frock. She is in obvious distress. She calls out to me. Her flame-red hair cascades around her face, and then blows backwards. Which is bizarre, because there is no wind to speak of. Now she screams out, the same word over and over again. The word is help. Her cry is too theatrical. She has a big nose, like Princess Diana, or Pete Townshend. I am not very interested in her. I am much more interested in the beer. It believe that the beer is stored in big wooden barrels, stacked up in strategic places, and seemingly too heavy to be manhandled. But I am able to pick up any barrel I like, magically, without a problem, because I am unnaturally strong. And I am very, very hairy, from tip to toe. If I was once Pacman, now I am the mighty Kong. It has been many years since the viral invaders arrived from the Far East. The Space Invaders. At first the effects of their invasion were only faintly amusing, but then they grew rather attractive, and strangely exciting, and eventually they became quite addictive, even all-consuming. But as with all invasions, their glamour grew dull and they eventually lost their grip on power and faded into folk-memory. Recently, my domestic patterns have been disrupted, just like everyone else's. I have been procrastinating. I have been clearing out the cupboard under the stairs. Which is how I came across this old crate that has been gathering dust for longer than I can remember. Near the top of the crate there was a sleeping collection of very old videogame cassettes, many of which I had published myself. And beneath those old games there were some vintage machines in their original boxes. Once I'd worked out which of their black power supplies went into which of their grubby little holes, they sprang back into life to display crude blocky graphics on their silly little screens. It's been decades since I played Pacman, or Tetris, or Donkey Kong. And the last time I played Space Invaders, silly haircuts were compulsory and Margaret Thatcher was driving around in a tank. When this shitstorm is over, and when I am able to go free-range again, I wonder how long it will take me to forget about all the ghosts in all the corridors from all those bygone times. As for the flame-haired damsel in distress, I remember her name clearly. Her name was Pauline Daniella Verducci Lady Louise. She was less than an inch tall. She was a drip. The beer was virtual. It still is. Jeeni Creator, Mel Croucher - badly in need of a haircut Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

03
Mar

Artist Focus: Nnaomi

Describing her own music as “euphoric, experimental and nostalgic”, Nnaomi is paving her own exciting path in the RnB and neo-soul corner of music.  Portsmouth based Nnaomi has been an essential Jeeni artist for some time now and has most recently added her newest single, ‘Hate Me’ to one of Jeeni’s most rapidly advancing and growing channels, RnB (https://jeeni.com/channel/all-channels/r-and-b/). “At just over 2 minutes long, 'Hate Me’ still manages to progress so organically and timely; it takes its time to set the pace and tone of the story told in the lyrics. At the climax of the track, it feels like Nnaomi’s painful memories begin to swirl more unstably around her head as samples and synths begin to distort, warp and spin around the stereo space. These flittering pieces of audio eventually start to drown out Nnaomi’s voice, painting a tragic image of her thoughts and guilt becoming overpowering and too much to process.” Check out the full review of ‘Hate Me’ here: https://jeeni.com/blog/nnaomi-hate-me-single-review-blog-jeeni/   This newest track promises a lot from Nnaomi and if her short collection of singles says anything at the moment, it’s that she can deliver on them all. Nnaomi describes her singles as “little stories”, “I say this because the songs I make come from my real emotions and real experiences, the beats I choose actually bring emotions and thoughts out of me I feel like I suppress because I’m surprisingly not very good at talking about my feelings, so instead I put it in songs. It’s the easiest way for me to express myself”. From this analysis into her own work, it’s no longer a mystery as to why so much emotion is contained in tracks like ‘Like Me’ and ‘Hate Me’.  Mental health, and processing emotions healthily is certainly a recurring theme in Nnaomi’s work, as she explains, “Something that inspires me is my own ability to take advantage of the fact that sometimes my emotions are intense, finding a way to execute it in a healthy way has been amazing because I’m so used to bottling it up, which wasn’t beneficial”. Besides from her methodology in utilising emotions as a key inspiration for her work, Nnaomi’s has some specific masters in the alternative RnB genre to thank for her curious and adventurous creative tendencies. Progressive soul artist, Frank Ocean is a major influence for Nnaomi, as is modern neo-soul singer, SZA.  When asked about the similarities in the titles of ‘Like Me’ and ‘Hate Me’, Nnaomi noted that the connection was both coincidental but likely sub-consciously intended at the same time, “I wanted to portray my mental state in a way that was artistic. “Like Me” was written when my views and thoughts on certain things were hopeless and reminiscent. “Hate Me” is like the healing sister. The one that’s accepted the way that “love” and its experiences can sometimes change you for the worst. A much more self-aware and grown-up outlook on love and how to deal with it”; a poignant and layered insight into this partnership of singles.   Nnaomi hints at longer projects in the future, however she's currently happy “taking it one step at a time” with fantastic singles like ‘Party’s Over’, ‘Like Me’ and ‘Hate Me’. She’s also excited to arrange more live shows this year as restrictions are the lowest they’ve been in years.   Follow Nnaomi on socials to stay updated on what she’s working on:  Twitter: https://twitter.com/nomesm_   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naomim_0/   Check out Nnaomi’s showcase on Jeeni: https://jeeni.com/showcase/nnaomi/   How can Jeeni support artists like Nnaomi?   JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience.  artist biography • We give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. And they keep 100% of everything they make.  • We empower our audience and reward them every step of the way.  • We promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect.  • Access to artist liaison and a supportive marketing team.