Pret-a-Porter

Last night I had my first go at being a fashion photographer. Several of the designer clothes shops under the Council House put on a fashion show in the arcade to basically drum up some Christmas trade. They used a number of students from Trent University, who were really quite good. Walking up and down on a rather long red carpet. I took loads of photos. Some successful, some not so. Here's one of the better ones. Although sadly I don't think it would make the front page of Vogue. You will find a lot more on my Flickr page.

Citizen Lindsay

Today I met the well known and adored actor Robert Lindsay. A local lad, as he was born in Ilkeston, a small town about 10 miles from Nottingham. He was signing copies of his autobiography at Waterstones. He has done lots of TV and film since the early 1970's. His most well known part was that of Citizen 'Wolfie' Smith, the leader of the Tooting Popular Front, a rather ramshackle group of misfits who's aim was to change the world, but never really left the pub. But he has done many things since then. His latest is Ben Harper the put upon dentist in My Family. Here's a link to his website, so you can read more about him.

Brolly Good Show

Here's one of those spur of the moment shots that you only really get the one chance of capturing. Blink and it's gone. Although with the amount of rain yesterday, these two with their umbrellas might have stood there for quite a while.

Raindancing

It absolutely threw it down at lunchtime today. I ran for cover, as I didn't want my camera to drown with the amount of water falling. So I stood in a shop doorway and took some pictures of the poor people running for cover. Normally this paved street is teeming with pedestrians. But not today!

Pampering The Pampas

No, I didn't take this shot on the plains of South America. They are actually growing in our front garden. I thought I had dug up a large clump of them earlier this year, but to my dismay, they have started to sprout again.

Hanging Around

Returning to town yesterday, I came across some workmen who were using abseiling equipment whilst doing repairs to an office block. Well I like to think they were workmen and not terrorists, burglars, or spies. But you never know these days!

Painting The Town Red

A number of Government ministers, including Gordon Brown himself were in Nottingham today, to try and improve their party's popularity. I of course went to the Albert Hall at lunchtime to see what was happening. I was just in time to see G.B arrive & go in. I took a number of shots, but it was difficult, due to the road being sealed off, Police and secret service types swarming all over the place and journalists blocking my view. This was about the best one I could get. I was disappointed that there wasn't a demonstration taking place with yells of "Gordon is a Moron" or similar, as that would have been quite amusing.

On The Move

This set of statues used to be in the Market Square. But they were removed when the tram lines went down. So now they stand at the top of Chapel Bar, a small pedestrian area that houses a number of eating houses and a Holiday Inn Express.

It's Christmas...

So yelled Noddy Holder at the end of Slade's most famous song that has been trotted out at this time every year for the past 30 odd years. The connection; well Nottingham's lights were officially switched on tonight. There were so many people in the market square that I didn't manage to get close enough to take a decent photo of Carl Froch & Sven Goran Eriksson as they pressed the button. So unfortunately you'll just have to make do with this arty shot of the shadow of the tree on the Council House

Oi You Two!

Whilst at work this morning, Nicky who sits opposite me glanced out of the window which looks out onto a multi-storey car park, and wondered who these two people were and what they were staring at. So I got out my camera and trusty 45-200mm lens and took some shots. The two lads then started waving at us. we of course waved back. Later in the afternoon, they came back to their car, and before they left, gave us another wave.

You may have noticed that I have put on a new header picture. It's dedicated to my friend Imac, who with some other bloggers have set themselves a little competition. Follow the link and vote.