Wednesday, July 30, 2008


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

Friday, July 11, 2008



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!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

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, July 6, 2008




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!

Saturday, July 5, 2008


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.
Michael Rosen, What's this ear?

Friday, July 4, 2008

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

Thursday, July 3, 2008


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!