Carnival Atmosphere

It was carnival time in Beeston today  I wasn't sure whether it was going to take place, as it had been raining since the early hours, and as a lot of it would be taking place at Broadgate Park, I wondered whether it would be cancelled, as the park might resemble Glastonbury.

But by lunchtime, the rain had stopped, but sadly no sun, and the carnival went ahead. There were lots of stalls on the park, then at 1pm, the carnival procession started at one end of the town and slowly made its way along the High Road until it reached Broadgate Park, where everyone dispersed into their own individual groups and went their separate ways.

I of course spent most of the time snapping away at the action. I was also taking photos for various groups that I'm involved with, or know that were appearing at the carnival.
Here's a few shots that I took during the day. The top one is one of the cast from the Beeston Musical Theatre Group that are putting on 'The Wedding Singer' later in the year. Then we have 'Mrs Mango' the mascot of Trent Barton buses, a stuffed toy for sale and finally, Stan Heptinstall, who was our mayor last year, who looked happy, as he had just won a couple of prizes in a tombola.

Best Of The Year

As it's the last day of the year, I've decided to go through all my postings to find which photo got the most hits.

I was surprised to find out that it was this one, as it is not particularly brilliant. But it did receive an amazing 10745 visits. It is of actress Lauren Goodger from "The Only Way Is Essex" who was launching her line of cosmetics.

I took it at the Beauty Show in Birmingham on 13th May while she was promoting herself and her products.

Well that's about it for 2012. It's been quite a year photographically, with learning about taking portraits of some lovely models, owning a full frame Nikon D3s, and now the amazing Olympus OMD.

Gail has caught the photography bug too and we've visited some unexpectedly nice places like Bradford and Chester, where we met up with top snapper Damian McGillycuddy.

Who knows what 2013 will have in store for us both. Personally I'd like to start earning a bit of money somehow from my photography; possibly through doing weddings or covering some local events.
Whatever happens, I'll be sure to share it with you on this blog. So do keep visiting and I'd just like to wish you all a

                   Happy New Year

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning

Gail and I had the great pleasure of meeting film star Shirley Anne Field tonight, as she officially opened the latest exhibition at the Lakeside Arts Centre hear Highfields.

It is called Saturday Night & Sunday Morning, a photographic exhibition that not just covers the film of the same name, but it is also about social scenes of Nottingham & Northern England from the 1950s & 60s.

And very good it is too. Well worth a visit if you have any interest in either photography or social anthropology. Shirley was there, as she was the leading lady from the film. She played Doreen, Arthur Seaton's erstwhile girlfriend. She told an amusing story about David Niven, just as she was starting out as a actress and how he gave her a lift in his car, but was worried about what people would think.

I queued up to get my copy of the exhibition guide autographed by Shirley, and she quickly posed for my photo whilst signing another book.

For any of you that are interested in the career of Shirley, here's a WEBLINK to her profile on IMDB.

A change of pace later on in the evening, as we went to see a Stranglers tribute band called Straighten Out, who were playing at a local pub in Beeston. Both Gail and I are both fans of the punk band from the 1970s & 80s. Although I would say that the Stranglers were much more than a punk band, as they could write proper tunes and Dave Greenfield their keyboard player should be up there with the greats like Vangelis, Rick Wakeman and Geoff Downes. It was very busy and everybody seemed to be enjoying the music. The lead singer sounded a bit like Hugh Cornwall, and the keyboard player who was surrounded by Moogs made them sound authentic.