Dreamboats and Miniskirts

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of being part of the photo shoot of Dreamboats and Miniskirts which took place at Carry on Vintage in the Brunel shopping centre. What lovely people they were as well. So helpful and did everything they were asked to do. It was fun. Then last night (Friday) I went to see the show at The Wyvern. Wow, it is was really really good. Two and a half hours of 60’s music was great. But more than that all of the cast looked as though they were really enjoying themselves. Which to be honest I would if I were them. It was more like a party and clearly they put heart and soul into it.

I for one (well actually all the audience did) really enjoyed it and congratulate the cast and production crew as well, the sound and lighting was just great.

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St George’s Day in Swindon

St George

Medieval Knight

Ethemia

St George

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

FolkDanceRemixd

Rebecca inSwindon

Today I had the pleasure of photographing the Swindon St George’s Day celebrations in the town centre put on by inSwindon BID company. Centre piece of course was the 20 ft St George that after being blessed traveled from the Cenotaph down to Wharf Green accompanied by 100 school children and Ethemia who had written a song especially for this occasion. Once in Wharf Green the children were split up into different groups where they were taught fold dancing around the May pole, made dragons out of clay and took part in sports competitions. It culminated with a performance of Folk Dancing or should I say alternative Folk Dancing by the group FolkDanceRemixd.

It was great fun, the weather held and everybody seemed to have a very enjoyable time.

I Love Christmas in Swindon

merry xmas with Swindon Ovation

merry xmas with Swindon Ovation

Merry xmas with Swindon Ovation

merry xmas with Swindon Ovation

merry xmas with Swindon Ovation

Dont you just love Christmas, well I certainly did on Thursday night at the Swindon Lights Switch on. Back stage with the girls from Swindon Ovation dance group.

Reminds me of the song All I Want For Christmas ……

Jahmene Douglas What a Nice Person Swindon Xmas Lights

Jahmene and Swindon Ovation

Jahmene Douglas

Jahmene Douglas

Jahmene Douglas

Jahmene Douglas

Jahmene Douglas

Jahmene Douglas

Jahmene Douglas

Jahmene Douglas

Jahmene Douglas

Last night I was the official photographer for inSwindon at the Christmas Lights switch on. I took some 600 images and I am still processing them and will put up another blog post shortly with my favourite images. But I wanted to put these up and just to say what a nice young man Jahmene is. This isnt the first time I have photographed him but it is the first time I have had a chat with him. At an exclusive pre switch on shoot in his dressing room he even offered to share his food and drink with me. And when back stage after the switch on he made sure that he was looking at me when I was shooting images of him.
To be honest I have never heard any negative comments about him anyway but I guess sometimes you hear that some times when people get famous they change and become diva’s. Well in my opinion that has not happened to Jahmene, he was a pleasure to work with.

The Face of Remembrance in Swindon

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Swindon Remembrance

Nothing to say on this really other than that the Remembrance Parade, Service, Ceremony here in Swindon is still as strong as ever after a large turn out of both those who took part in the parade and the public who came to support. The weather was perfect, a bright sunny November day.

Halloween comes early to Swindon

Halloween came early to Swindon today. Staff and musicians at That’s Entertainment Music and Video Store in Swindon all dressed up in spooky costumes to entertain customers. I was really pleasantly surprised by how much effort into the clothes and makeup they had made, in my opinion they looked really really good. The music fest was arranged and sponsored by Alan Homes of Homes Music. Well done Alan and well done That’s Entertainment.

Swindon Rocks to the Sound and Sights of Capoeira Brazil

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Capoeira Swindon

Well, this morning Canal Walk in Swindon rocked to the sound of Brazillian music and singing and a demonstration of Capoeira.
What is Capoeira, it is a form of Martial Art which originated in Brazil and is a mixture of fighting, dancing and music.

In lovely sunshine (for a change) they performed all sorts of moves from high kicks, head stands, punches and some spectacular somersaults whilst kicking at the same time. All very impressive stuff from the youngest to the more mature of the students.

They are going to be there again tomorrow I believe, so take a look and cheer them on. It only costs a few minutes of your time and is pretty impressive.

Boogie Nights Hits Swindon in a big way at the Wyvern Theatre

BoogieNights

Last night I went to the opening night of the hit West End show Boogie Nights at Swindon Wyvern Theatre. What a night, it was great. It was so much fun. All of the cast were great and for the most seemed to be enjoying themselves. The audience took a little while to let go and get up and dance in the isles but by the end I think everybody apart from a few who were unable to stand, were up and dancing, YMCA went down particularly well not least because Chico had his shirt off and even I have to say he was ‘buff’.
Just one slight criticism if any was that the sound was not quite right. I think some of the mic’s were not set up or working properly but to be honest didnt spoil it that much.

The photo above is one I took at the photoshoot a few weeks ago where I chatted to the cast and again have to say what fun they were.

My advice, go see, if you have any 70’s gear, wear it and dont forget to stand up and dance.

Sunday Project – No More

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.

Swindon Woman wins a major prize from TotalSwindon

TotalSwindon competition presentation

TotalSwindon competition presentation

TotalSwindon competition presentation

TotalSwindon competition presentation

This morning at the Brunel Shopping Centre Liz Ledger from TotalSwindon presented Nicky the very lucky winner of the TotalSwindon shopping spree competition with her prize of £2000. Nicky was over the moon with her win as was Liz when presenting Nicky with the prize money. Andy Wynn Managing Director of the Brunel Shopping Centre looked on as the prize was handed over. Even Santa got in on the act as he was so happy for Nicky.