Happy New Year!

Yes I know I've been bad and haven't blogged for ages. Just to prove I haven't been hibernating, here's a picture from the crazy Boxing Day raft race in Matlock Derbyshire. The guy in yellow is just about to try and soak me with a water cannon! (He missed by the way).
November was a very busy time with Xmas portraits and December didn't slacken off much.
I also covered High School Musical for John Masefield High School so here's one from there too.
I promise to be back soon!!

Bryan Adams LG Arena 2nd Nov 2008

Fresh from Claire & Nick's wedding at Eastnor, I was back at the NEC (now called the LG Arena) for Bryan Adams. He's touring at the moment to promote his new album "11".
I did the photos and the review for Birmingham Live.
These are in black and white because the screens broadcasting the show were in black and white so I've stayed with the theme! There are some colour ones on the Brum Live site so have a look!

Claire & Nick's Eastnor Castle Wedding

Last Saturday (Nov 1st) the rain just about held off for Claire and Nick on their wedding day at Eastnor Castle. Eastnor is a great location and it was a brilliant day. We just had time for some group shots outside before the light went and there was plenty of scope for something different around the castle rooms.
Here's a few from the day.

JMHS Evening of Drama

Last Wednesday at the Market Theatre, Ledbury saw another great performance from the John Masefield Theatre Group. I went down to cover the second half after teaching my SLR class and caught a piece from the Crucible and a devised piece by year 13 students Sam and Nicole named Happily Ever After.

Claire & Andrew's Wedding, Ledbury Church & Hellens

Doesn't time fly!
Claire & Andrew had a fantastic day a couple of weeks ago. The ceremony was at Ledbury Church (St. Michael & All Angels) and the reception at Hellens, Much Marcle.

I can't believe I haven't blogged since the Big Chill.
What have I done since then?
Broke the record for number of kids in the studio and done my first civil partnership for a start. I've also started teaching again for this term, both at John Masefield and Age Concern in Ledbury.
I've been working on sprucing up the galleries for my website and also frantically getting audio and video clips together for the Poetry Festival's retrospective web page for National Poetry Day (Oct 9th 2008).
Here's a picture I like (above) that will be on the new website gallery.

The Big Chill 2008

As Sunday was a punk day I've decided to be alternative and not post pictures of the frontman (or men) for the Buzzcocks.
So here's the bass player and the drummer! Too often over-looked I reckon and it's not always easy to get a decent shot of the drummer so I'm pleased with this one.
You can just about see a bit of Steve Diggle on the big screen behind the bass player and there's one of Pete Shelley on my main website so they're not totally missed out!

Sunday at the Big Chill.

Pictures from top to bottom - my oldest boy David playing Jengla (not sure if that's how you spell it?) at the Sunrise festival which was stuck up in a field at the far end of the Big Chill; one of the John Masefield girls performing in the Words in Motion tent as part of the Anomalies/Ledbury Poetry Festival/Big Chill collaboration; Jilted John; Jilted John's ultra-cool and very skinny bass player playing the bass line for Going Steady (top tune!); and Gordon the Moron showing off his badge collection.
Sod Leanord Cohen, Sunday was all about ageing punk rockers for me! An excellent performance from Jilted John warmed the evening up nicely for the Buzzcocks (see post above). Jilted John was the first record I ever bought and Going Steady (the B side) one of my earliest favourite bass lines so it was a treat to see it. Shame I missed him in his other guise as John Shuttleworth earlier in the day.

Pics from Saturday at the Big Chill.
I've got one of Beth Orton on my main site and there are loads of others around so I thought I'd post this nice one of her fiddle player instead.
Under that is Rachel Unthank and then 2 of the Winterset - Rachel's sister Becky with pianist Stef Connor in the background. I hadn't seen them before and was pleasantly surprised.

Last year the Big Chill used one of my pictures of sunflowers (shown on the left) from 2007 for their 2008 ticket information page on their website.
It was also used as a cut-out on the front cover and first few pages of the 2008 programme.

So I thought I'd continue the trend. What do you think of this one for next year's cover??

I spent last weekend at the Big Chill at Eastnor. After a good soaking on Thursday night the sun finally came out and brought the colourful dancers with it. Glad to see the bubble stall was there again too - more money spent on bubble swords for the boys!

Best band of Friday (for me anyway) was Pama International featuring Lynval Golding, formerly of the Specials(below).

Look out for more over the next few days as I tweak the pictures and a summary page on the main website.

Time marches on and I haven't posted for a while again!
A couple of weeks ago Kirsty & Tristan had glorious weather for their wedding at Malvern Register Office. Here's a couple of my favourites from the day.

Somehow, time has passed and it's ages since my last post.
anyway, just to round off the Poetry Festival, here's a couple more.
John Berkavitch & Polarbear brought a touch of street poetry to the festival (very well received too). And Alice Grant & Leafcutter John surprised the Burgage Hall with their blend of electronica and folk, including playing a spring!
A full pictorial round-up of the Festival is here on the main website

It's chucking it down with rain as I prepare for a busy day to start the final weekend of the Ledbury Poetry Festival. There are a few events coming up that look interesting so I'm hoping for some nice shots. Pics from the last few days are on the Festival website but I've included a couple here too. At the top is Jehane Markham with her jazz trio (or duo really). Jehane read her poetry to jazz sounds from a double-bass player and a pianist. Not quite sure what to make of that really. If it had been tongue in cheek it might have been ok but I don't think it was!
Anyway, the second pic is of Roger Garfitt talking about Frances Horovitz. I was looking forward to hearing what a hammered dulcimer sounds like (on the left of the picture), but 45 minutes after Roger started talking there was still no sign of its player. I'm afraid I couldn't hang around any longer so I'll have to save that pleasure for another time!

Back at the Market Theatre on Monday for Samson Agonistes, performed brilliantly by Peter Hamilton Dyer (who reminded me a bit of Rob Brydon!). Shakespearean musicians accompanied the classic performance, including an Icelandic lute player. Nice.
After that it was off to Ice Bytes to see Nick Alexander reading at the exhibition of his collaboration with Jeanette McCulloch, Excavations of Eternity. No pics here but there is one on the Festival site. I was particularly struck by Jeanette's illustration to go with "Call Me Old-Fashioned" and would love to set up a portrait to create a photographic version of it. Watch this space!!

Sunday at the Ledbury Poetry Festival brought more rain but a touch of Jamaican sunshine inside the Market Theatre as Val Bloom gave a great performance and got all the kids singing in patois and pulling crazy faces.
Tom Hodgkinson from the Idler magazine played John Lennon & The Sex Pistols on his ukelele, and to round off the surrealism, Roger Lloyd Pack & Jemma Redgrave gave a rousing rendition of The Owl & The Pussycat up at John Masefield school.
OK, they read other poems too but that one sticks in the mind!

Independence Day this year marks the start of the Ledbury Poetry Festival, where I'm once again running from venue to venue to capture the performers and hopefully something of the atmosphere.
Pics will be posted to the Festival site regularly so I'll limit the ones I put here.
Highlight of Friday was Mark Gwynne Jones and the Psychicbread (left). Mark is from my wife's neck of the woods - Matlock Bath - and gave the Festival an unforgettable performance; poetry but maybe not as some people know it.
Saturday had a fair share of performances and activities for kids, starting with John Agard and his creole nursery rhymes. He didn't like being on video but it's a free country so you can see it on the Ledbury Portal.
The flag and garland making moved inside to Icebytes because of the threat of rain but Shedman enjoyed a steady stream of visitors to his shed outside the Burgage Hall, including a newly-wed couple! I was happy to take a couple of shots and refrained from asking them why they didn't book me for their wedding photography :-)
Today was a very international day with poets from Latvia, Sweden, Lithuania and Syria to name but a few, but the highlight had to be Michael Rosen. The children's laureate was joined by Jackie Kay & Francesca Beard and had a packed Community Hall in stitches for a full hour.

Since early this year I've been running a couple of digital photography classes at John Masefield High School in the evenings. One group has been through a few 5-week sessions now and are working on photographic projects for their last session before the Summer holidays.
I took them out on a field trip through Dog Wood & Frith Wood in Ledbury (a route of Roger's choosing) with the aim of taking forest and landscape shots. Some of them have got DSLRs now so they're getting to grips with those.
The rain just about held off and I'm looking forward to seeing what they've come up with on our class Flickr group (sorry it's private to the classes!)
Meanwhile I was drawn to this wasteland setting in the woods above Ledbury station.
Played with the colours a bit here.

I'll be running more courses in September when school resumes. More details will be posted here, on the main website and on www.jmonline.org.uk when available

I did my first christening recently on Sunday 29th June and travelled across the country to Lincolnshire for it.
I like this shot of the vicar splashing the water over little Catherine's unsuspecting head.

The Whitesnake & Def Leppard pics were published on the Brum Live website http://www.brumlive.com as well as a little review I did of the gig.
Brum Live is a great website that has regular reviews and pictures of live music in and around Birmingham.
Check it out!

More Whitesnake/Def Leppard

Kick Off

Thought I'd start my blog with a rock picture from last night's Whitesnake/Def Leppard gig at the Birmingham NEC. This is Uriah Duffy head-banging.
More to follow!