Beer Drinkers United

A photo assignment this morning for my folk musician friend Dave Mitchell, who was playing at the Robin Hood Beer Festival at Nottingham Castle, and he wanted me to record the event for posterity.

Dave played for about an hour in the bandstand, while I took some photos of him in action. I was surprised to learn that the sound equipment was being controlled by the engineer on an iPad. No more knobs and dials to fiddle with, just a movement of ones finger on the screen.

Dave enjoyed his gig, but was clearly relieved when it was over, so he could enjoy one or two beers that were available at the festival, from the half pint glass that had been given to him.

I was also given a glass by one of the organisers, and so I decided to christen it by trying the re-introduced Shipstones ale, that has started to be brewed again after some twenty years. I wrote about it earlier this year. Here is the LINK to the story.

Here's a shot of the hand pumps that were dishing out the amber nectar. Although I must admit it wasn't as tasty as I had hoped it would be, and probably won't be buying it again, as I prefer more darker beers.

Music Makes The World Go Round

As you can imagine, being a very keen photographer and practically shooting every day for the past seven years or so, I have built up quite a very large collection of images.  So many in fact, that my Mac's hard drive is now almost full.

So to make some space, I have been partially deleting lots and exporting others to an external hard drive.  It's a long job, but one that desperately needs doing.

As I have been working away through the many folders, I came across this photo that I took last year of  Geordie band The Jar Family. They were playing in Beeston Square as part of the Oxfam music festival, which aims to raise money for Oxfam.

It's quite fortuate me coming across the photo, as it's just been announced by my friends at Oxjam that they will be playing in Beeston again this year, along with about 50 other acts scattered across various pubs, cafes in Beeston and Chilwell, and of course in Beeston Square.

Lighting Up Time

Tonight saw Nottingham city centre lit up once again, as it was the annual Light Night festival. The yearly event where buildings are used as cinema screens, strange things pop up in all sorts of places and it is generally very cold.

Well this year was no different. The castle was tonight's backdrop, where a group calling themselves 'Elemental Force' projected a show containing animation, photos and pyrotechnics. It seemed to relay the history of Nottingham, and included of course Robin Hood, lace making and Raleigh bikes.

I was pleased to see that the Daleks and the Tardis were making a return visit. They looked very good last year standing next to the Robin Hood statue, where they were trying to terrify the fabled outlaw. This year they were placed outside the Theatre Royal. I must admit it didn't look so good. Possibly because where they were was quite bright, and so they lost some of their impact, as where they were before was quite atmospheric and darker, so they all stood out more.

Still I suppose I shouldn't complain, as we were lucky to get anything with the continuing cuts in finances and relative poor state of the economy, as it is funding for the arts that always seemed to get trimmed first, rather than say sport.

Sage, But No Onion

Another visit I made yesterday was to the Green Festival at the Arboretum. There were a number of different stalls promoting their causes, such as animal rights, saving woodlands, recycling etc. There were also stalls selling second hand books, ethnic clothes and this one which was absolutely brimming with plants of every description and colour.

I bought a rather small lavender bush which will produce some lovely flowers and is very aromatic. I am rather partial to lavender, as it fills out quite nicely and makes for a very attractive plant in anyone's garden.

Hello From Dubai

I've been hoping to post a photo everyday since we got here, but the Internet has been a little erratic & it's not always been easy getting a signal, but here's my first post.

This is not me in disguise by the way, but one of the performers at the Festival Village shopping mall, bringing a little light relief to all the shoppers. They are past of the 2008 Shopping Festival, a month long heaven or hell, depending on your point of view of spending money.