There's No Sting In His Tale

This is my good pal Matt. Besides having a number of different journalistic strings to his bow, he runs a free magazine about Beeston called The Beestonian, which I also write for and submit photos to.

A few weeks ago, Matt put up a challenge on the Beestonian's Facebook page, that if the page got 2500 likes by the end of June, then he would cycle round Beeston, dressed as a bee; which is part of Beeston's coat of arms. Of course myself and many others plugged this mercilessly for days, until the magic figure was reached.

Matt was a bit shocked at first in that he would now have to do it. But I think he was secretly pleased, as he is a bit of an exhibitionist on the quiet. Of course the problem for him now was finding a suitable bee costume, and working out when to do it.

I suggested that he should do it as part of Beeston's carnival, as then he wouldn't look 'too stupid', and a local school came up with the desired outfit. So at lunchtime today, Matt joined the carnival parade and made his way from the Square to Broadgate Park, together with marching bands, sports groups and lots of children from different local playgroups.

He seemed to enjoy the experience, even though he said that he had no shred of dignity left, and lots of people stopped to have their photo taken with him. I was lucky to share the experience with him, as I have been taking some new medication for my health issues. Fortunately they appearing to be working, and so I was able to leave the confines of my house after two weeks.

It's A Winner

The organisation that I work for publishes an in-house magazine every month, and besides the usual work related articles, they run a photo competition. I have never gone in for it before, partly due to either forgetting, or not liking the themes.

But this changed last month, as I read that the theme for March was going to be 'retro', and I know exactly which photo I would enter with.

I took this photo last year during the Pride celebrations in the city centre. These two were standing outside a vintage store in Hockley. Obviously the owners, and they were outside the shop and enjoying the summer sunshine.

Some tweaking in my digital darkroom, to give it an aged look. The only giveaway that it wasn't taken in the 1960s is the fact that the blonde on the bike is holding an iPad.

Anyway I found out today that my photo had been picked out as the winner, and I have won a £20 shopping voucher and a mug. Not a huge prize, but it's the first one that I've ever won with one of my pictures.

In The Frame

An art exhibition has just opened at my local library in Beeston. And of course I had to put in an entry.
As I very rarely print any of my photos,  I put in my rusting bike photo, that I took last year in Wales.

There was a bit of an opening party tonight, as the library had invited the artists to meet up and share their work. There was around 40 pieces of art, including, of course photography, some paintings, sketches and needlecraft.

I was talking to another photographer about my picture and where I took it. She saw the rusting bike as a metaphor for the destruction of the British cycle industry, especially that of Nottingham's very own Raleigh.

Waiting

Nottingham hosted the Milk Race again this year, and so of course I just had to pop down for a photography session.

There was a bit of excitement this year as during the start of the men's race, there was a crash at one of the corners. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but the organisers stopped the race and wanted to restart it, once everything was made safe.

So all the cyclists, less those that had got hurt had to line up again. There was a fair amour of hanging around, and you can tell by the expressions on these cyclists how frustrated they must have felt after psyching themselves up for the original race.

Review Of The Year - January & February

The countdown to Christmas is well and truly underway, so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the past year through some photographs taken on the Olympus OMD, which I now use as my main camera.

January saw some bad weather in snow, fog and just generally very cold.  So here's the bell tower of the Council House shrouded in mist. Not quite the pea soupers of the 1940s & 50s, but still quite bad.

February was a lot better, and it also heralded my 50th birthday & 7th wedding anniversary. For a treat, Gail and I went to Portmeirion in North Wales for a weekend break. It was lovely and sunny, but sadly not warm enough to leave our coats off.

The remains of this child's bike was situated on the beach at Criccieth. I like the various textures of the rocks, the sand and the rust on the bike, all brought to life through the dramatic tone filter.

Seaside Ride

Whilst staying at Portmeirion, we took a little trip to Porthmadog, and ended up at the little seaside town of Criccieth.

We saw a castle on a hill, but drove round trying to find out how to get to it. We couldn't work it out, so parked opposite the lifeboat station and had a stroll on the very stoney beach, and took some photos from there.

While wandering about I came across this very rusty and decomposing child's bike. A great subject for a photograph I said to Gail. Something that Derek Jarman collected at Dungeness. So I took several, at various different angles. But I like this one the best.

Also on the beach were three girls. Probably friends, rather than sisters. They all wished me a 'Happy Birthday' as I was wearing a very large "I am 50" badge, which Gail gave me at breakfast. They were very cold, as they didn't seem to be dressed very well for the cold & windy weather.

We chatted to them for a while, and Gail took some photos of them jumping off some old rowing boats. We then watched them stroll off onto the pier for some very strong sea breezes.