Wednesday 31 August 2011

Image of the month


I've decided to limit my entries on this blog to one picture a month, with some degree of explanation. For the first one, I have relatively little to say. I'm working on editing and organising all the photographs I took at a wedding at the end of August.


Rebecca and Neil's wedding, 27 August 2011.
My daughter's wedding - and I'm trying to take some shots as and when I can. Here is a shot of the menu for the meal at the afternoon reception - we're at the Old Grammar School, Saint Nicolas Place, King's Norton in Birmingham, Nothing special about the image I suppose except that it gives some of the easily overlooked details. I've chosen a picture with no people included quite deliberately. It was taken with a Canon Ixus 40.


Friday 15 July 2011

Lord Mayor's celebrations in Norwich








Last weekend featured the annual Lord Mayor's celebrations here in Norwich. This seems to have grown over the last few years from a Saturday evening procession and fireworks to a four day programme including art, entertainment, music, street performers, a road race, theatre, a funfair, the Norwich Lanes summer festival and much more besides. It's quite a programme and is another highlight on the Norwich calendar to go with May's artistic festival. Here are a few of the many photographs I took over the weekend.

Monday 27 June 2011

June in Valencia



Valencia in June is a wonderful place to be, even if I couldn't quite arrange my holiday to coincide with the European Grand Prix last weekend.....



Five days in Valencia, in a comfortable one bed apartment between the Carmen and the Turia Gardens, half an hour's walk to the other side of the city centre, warm (26-30 deg) and sunny each day - not at all bad.

The highlight came on the first day, Sunday 19th, as without realising I found myself there at just the right time to join in with a massive gathering and march through the city by what must have been tens of thousands. See www.acampadavalencia.net/red-social - a collection of groups against the system, capitalism, the government, and whatever else, and many ordinary people joining in the march on this warm summer evening. So here are a few pictures.

Sunday 29 May 2011

Festival time in Norwich

May is festival time in Norwich. We've had the Norfolk and Norwich Festival from 7 to 22 of May and the Norwich Fringe Festivsl from 13 to 28 of May. The first three pictures are of the Whalley Range Allstars, ten performers and ten life size puppets (each resembling their handlers) dashing round the streets and stopping now and then to dance sing through a routine
or allow the puppets to interact with the public, from one situation to another, with amusing and unpredictable results.

There is a picture of one of the dancers from the Foundation for Indian Performing Arts, who perfomr perform in the streets on stilts, the Aranya and Kishkinda Kandas based on episodes of the Ramayana, one of the great epics of India.


The final two pictures are from the fringe festival, of the Norwich Ukelele Orchestra, at the Big Busk 2011 in the streets of Norwich.





















Sunday 24 April 2011

York campus by night

Earler this month I was at York University for a couple of days attending a conference. As a relief from photographing the event itself I spent an hour wandering around the campus on the final evening, indulging my interest in taking pictures of buildings at night. Here is a small selection. Some of my conference photographs are found here on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/laria/












Wednesday 16 March 2011

FORMAT Photography Festival

I've been to the launch weekend of this year's FORMAT International Photography Festival in Derby -and it's still running till 3 April. The theme was 'exposures from the public realm', so squarely the field of street photography, and many famous names were there...some of whose names I'm beginning to recognise. I went to Thursday's launch, the Friday conference (at the arts centre Quad) and evening launch event at the University of Derby, two talks and a Blurb book-making workshop on the Saturday. With my ongoing participation in the Street Photography Now project, it was interesting in itself - and surprising to see how few people there were aware of this year long project, now nearing it's halfway point.

So here are a few fairly randomly chosen images from the weekend....


A shot of a screen displaying some of the images uploaded to the 'mob-format' - anyone could upload a photograph, some of which would be printed and displayed - see below

A few of the mob-format submissions on the wall of mob format HQ in Sadler Gate.

First conference presentation - the Street Photography Now Project, with Sophie Howarth and Sara T'Rula.

Derby in the rain - during one of my walkabouts....

Exhibition in the Cathedral Quarter, near to Quad.

On the way back to the station - part of Westfield Centre in the background.








Monday 21 February 2011

More Norwich street photography

Here are some more shots I've taken in Norwich recently in order to submit entries to the weekly instruction for the Street Photography Now project - a year-long exercise in street
photography now into its 21st week.

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Norwich bus station

Outside Chapelfields, Norwich
Opposite Next, Norwich


In Gentleman's Walk, Norwich ('Slow down, the next picture may be very quiet and close')

Opposite Debenhams, Norwich