Category Archives: Tourism

Captain Hook meets his arch enemy at World of Crocodiles

by in business, Entertainment, News, Nikon, Panto, pdimages, people, Photography, Photojournalism, Swindon, Swindon Business, swindon people, Theatre, Tourism, Wiltshire, Wyvern Theatre and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
Captain Hook and Crocodile
Captain Hook and Crocodile
Pirate and Crocodile
Captain Hook Pirates and Crocodiles
Captain Hook and Crocodile
Pirate and Crocodile
Captain Hook Pirates fighting crocodile
Crocodiles of the World and pirates

Friday morning was a very fun and interesting photo shoot for the Wyvern Theatre. We took Captain Hook and a couple of pirates from the Russian Ice Stars Peter Pan on Ice cast to World of Crocodiles over at Brize Norton. What a time we had. I even managed to hold a croc myself (a very small one mind). There were some really really big crocs there and Shaun the owner took Captain Hook and the pirates into one of the enclosures where there were two very big crocs. Needless to say they were pretty nervous as I would have been. The interesting thing though was they (the crocs) were not that interested, Shaun shouted Albert a big male croc over, which duly swam over to them and made out he was going to get out the water and onto the bridge with them. Which it didnt of course. It was so well trained !!!!

It is really worth going over to World of Crocodiles and watching Peter Pan on Ice at the Wyvern in May.

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Swindon Big Summer Session The Audience

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Just a small selection of images of the audience from the two days of The Big Summer Session in Swindon.

Now I am not going to repeat what I said in the other post. But I am going to say I thought the audience were absolutely great. Despite all of the weather problems all of the people I spoke to were happy, enjoying themselves and having a jolly good time. It is so nice to watch people enjoying themselves.

A success if you ask me.

Swindon Big Summer Session the Artists

by in Companies, Concert, Entertainment, Football, Good News, IT Company, Music, Music Concert, Musicals, News, pdimages, people, Photography, Photojournalism, Singer, Swindon, Swindon Business, swindon people, Swindon Shops, Theatre, Tourism, Weather, Wiltshire and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Just a small selection of images of the artists from both days of the Big Summer Session.

Now I know and appreciate that there were lots of complaint about different things and I really can not comment other than I know for definite that the organisers did work extremely hard to make it a success. There was so much hard work going on behind the scenes that people dont see and are to ready to complain. And of course there was the weather. It was awful but what can you do about it. It was an outdoor event and this is Britain.
After years and years of racing (running and duathlon and triathlon) that there is nothing you can do about the weather so you just have to go with it.
I did get really worried about my camera gear at one point. Mine and others cameras got very very wet and I for one got quite worried about them failing and long term damage !!!!!

So I for one apart from the weather on sat say it was a success and say thank you to the organisers for putting it on.

Ladies from Our Lady of Dolores Procession Good Friday Semana Santa Baza Spain

by in Andalucia, Baza, Church, Easter, Freila, friends, Granada, Nikon, pdimages, people, Photography, Photojournalism, Religion, Spain, Tourism and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

This morning I went to photograph the Good Friday Semana Santa procession through Baza, Granada Province, Andalucia, Spain. It was put on by Our Lady of Dolores Brotherhood and was spectacular. We are not talking about a big city performance as in Malaga or Seville. This is a small town in rural Spain. These people are all volunteers and do it for the love of it, nobody gets paid. What is encouraging is the amount of young people involved. In a country where youth unemployment is more than 50 percent some with a bleak future ahead, they still get out and do something for the community. Many people would think it is purely a religious festival or procession and it mainly is, but the Brotherhood´s are in themselves not religious organisations, thet are more akin to Unions, Buffs or Freemasons.
I took a few hundred images but for this blog post decided to concentrate on the ladies in the procession. Mainly because the procession is Our Lady of Dolores procession and well they were stunning.

Hope you like them as well.

The Passion at Cuevas Del Campo

by in Andalucia, Baza, Church, Easter, Freila, friends, Granada, Music, Musicals, mystery, Nikon, pdimages, people, Photography, Photojournalism, Religion, Spain, Tourism and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Late this afternoon I attended the rehearsal of the performance of the Passion Play in a tiny village in rural Spain called Cuevas del Campo. It is where, every year, about 600 of the villagers dress up in authentic costumes and perform the Passion on Good Friday. It is one of those must see activities whilst in Spain at Easter Time. These people are not professional actors, they are the townsfolk of Cuevas del Campo. They re-enact the passion and crucifixtion not for tourists or money or anything like that, but to honour their beliefs and traditions in a spectacular fashion not to be missed.

Any coments are welcome.

Boogie Nights Swindon Wyvern Theatre Photo Shoot

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One of the jobs I had last week was the photo call at The Wyvern Theatre Swindon for the show Boogie Nights. What fun it was and what a nice group of people. Chatted to them all at some point and they were all so nice. And I have to say I really do think it is going to be a must see show. From what I saw it was sooooo funny and of course the 70’s was my era anyway I just think I will have to go. And I would encourage anybody out there to book up and see it.
The cast consists of Gareth Gates, Chico, Louisa Lytton, Andy Abraham and Shane Ritchie Jnr
Boogie Nights Swindon a Must See

Sunday Project – No More

by in Andalucia, Anti Austerity, Anti Capatalist, Army, Baza, Bristol, Brunel, business, Carillion, Celebrity, charity, Christmas, Coate Water, Crime, Economics, Economy, Elections, Entertainment, European Union, Fashion, Flamenco, flowers, Football, Freila, friends, gardens, GMB Union, Goa, Goan, Good News, half marathon, Italy, Labour, Lawn Woods, London, March, military, Music, mystery, New Business, News, NHS, Nikon, NUJ, Old Town, pdimages, people, Photography, Photojournalism, Police, Political, Protest, Protest March, Redundancy, road signs, running, Santa Claus, Snow, Spain, sport, Swindon, Swindon Business, Swindon Hospital, swindon people, Swindon Shops, Theatre, Three Kings, Tourism, Trades Union, triathlon, TUC, Weather, Wiltshire, Workers dispute, X Factor and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Well no photo of Sunday anymore. Why? I have been carrying out quite a bit of research and despite it being only the 4th Sunday of the year I have decided to bin it because it is not providing any benefit to me or anybody else. Stats are showing very few hits on those posts and to be honest I can understand why. There is no theme and is therefore completely random and unless I am on another assignment then I am just taking an image just for the sake of it with very little thought behind it. With very little information around the photo, why it was taken etc then why would anybody actually be interested in reading it.

What I should be doing more of is explaining things and why I do them, how I do them etc.

So as a start, I did a small photo shoot this morning. It was only mug shots for the person to send off as part of his profile as part of a competition. It was carried out in a gym, (in the squash court to be precise) where lighting is just awful. And short of getting the flash and umbrellas out it was a case of the ISO at 3200 and hope for the best. I just did not feel happy with the results which prob will suffice for what it was for but I just did not feel satisfied. Which at the end of the day is what it is all about for me. I have to feel emotionally involved in what I am doing and I didnt. Is that true of all professional photographers? I dont want to just earn money and not feel as though I have not done a good job.

So this blog is going to go back to the Swindon News/Photojournalism and I am not going to try to combine other things with it.

Likewise I am going to re-design my website to provide a better experience, better show case for my better images from both the UK and Spain and try to make it more interesting.

TotalSwindon Train in Spain Mainly on the Plain

by in Andalucia, Baza, Freila, Nikon, NUJ, pdimages, people, Photography, Photojournalism, running, Spain, sport, Swindon, swindon people, Tourism, triathlon and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Well, I am back in Swindon now and back to covering Swindon issues but just wanted to put up a post of me on one of my training runs in the hills above the village of Freila in Spain where I have been staying for the last three weeks. I have to say the running around there is absolutely spectacular on some days.
On a few of the days I went out the door in thick mist (Freila is at 800 mts) only to run through the cloud base out into the sunshine and views that I have to say were just stunning, where the hill tops and mountains were poking out above the clouds. Just absolutely stunning.
I will put some photos up in another post of the views, I never carried a camera whilst running but did walk up there and take shots.
Many thanks to my girlfriend Jacquie (who lives in Freila) for taking these shots.

La Calahorra a little bit of Italy in Spain

by in Andalucia, Baza, Freila, Italy, Nikon, Photography, Photojournalism, Spain, Tourism and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

About a mile into the Sierra Nevada national park there is a gem that should be visited.
La Calahorra Castle or more rightly Palace is a 16th Century building the outside was built by the Spanish in the Spanish style. The interior however is entirely Italian. It was built by craftsmen brought in from Italy with materials shipped in from Italy.
It is one of those places that if you go to the local cafe and talk to the owner he will give the man with the key to the castle a call who will turn up with a massive great key and take you up and give you a guided tour of it.

Well worth the effort.