Wembley Stadium

21 February 15

Posted at 2:32

Wembly Park tube station is just two stops on the Metropolitan Line from my campus (Northwick Park) so I go past the stadium when travelling to and from Uni. I've often thought I should take a stroll around the stadium when there is nothing on. Usually I only visit Wembley for an Arsenal match, prior to last year something that has been rare since the new stadium opened, or to a gig. So yesterday with a couple of hours to kill I went and took a look.

First Sight

This is the first sight of the stadium as you emerge from Wembley Park Station. Not the first time a 'bus has been parked at Wembley'.

Wembley Lights

I walked to the stadium from Harrow (further than I thought) so coming in from the west this is the first image that caught my eye.

Car Park

Next was the multi storey car park which is hidden behind Meccano like sheet of metal that have too much of a resemblance to Manchester United's colurs for my liking.

Wembley Stadium 1

The famous arch which is impressive from a distance is something different close up. The old Wembley stadium was demolished in 2003 and the new one opened in 2007.

Hello Wembley

It is all a bit ghostly when there are no events on but a good opportunity to observe aspects you would miss completely on a match day,

London Designer

both inside the stadium and outside.

Five a Side

I was pleased to see a majority of the 5 a side players had Arsenal shirts on.

Gate E

Gate E at the other end of the arch.

This Way

Direction signage looks somewhat over the top but necessary on Cup Final day.

Main Entrance

The main entrance.

Bobby Moore Entrance

and above it the Bobby Moore statue and entrance.

Booby Moore

And here is a close up of the statue.

Wembley Way

Here is Sir Bobby's view of Wembley Way.

At Wembley

The view of the stadium approaching from Wembley Way.

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Free Running

18 February 15

Posted at 7:20

For the last few months I have been absorbed with research, dissertation writing, then more research for my Major Project. Add to that life outside of study and it has been somewhat hectic. Hence no blogging. Although the next few moths are also hectic I will be finding far more time with camera in hand. That camera now is more than likely to be a Nikon D810. I recently sold my old and trusty D700 and my D800 and purchased a D810. You may ask why when I had a D800. Well I bought the D800 as soon as it was first released and although I sent it back to Nikon to update after the initial new product teething problems I never felt comfortable with it. So now the D810 is out there, launched, tried and tested, I've upgraded to one.

Today I paid a visit to Book Works to finalise some details for a book I hope to publish in May then after a visit to an exhibition in Peckham I strolled around camera in hand. I came across a bunch of lads near Waterloo Bridge who were Free Running. They were OK with me taking some photos so below are a couple. If you see this post lads message me and I send you some images - I have a few.

Freerunning 1

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Freerunning 2

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Freerunning 3

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Freerunning 4

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Neverworld

06 August 14

Posted at 1:31

No sooner had I made yesterday's post than I received a message from a shy and retiring young man, Gary Payne, enquiring if I had taken any photos of the band he plays with, Neverworld, at ROTW 2014. Gary found me through my LeFlic17images facebook page (feel free to pop along and 'like') and his message began Hi Herr Flic! This threw me for a moment as LeFlic17 did not come from 'allo 'allo and I've never considered the connection before. It's a long story when it is derived from and no time for that now. On to Gary and his quest for photos.

Well I did shoot Neverworld  a talented and photogenic bunch - genre they describe as melodic metal - I'll go a long with that. So today's photoblog is dedicated to  Neverworld

Neverworld 3

Neverworld

Neverworld

Jack, Ben and Gary

Neverworld 2

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Flying Dreads

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Jack Foster - Neverworld

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Gary Payne - Neverworld

As I said, shy and retiring - not!

Ben Cotton - Neverworld

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Jack Foster - Neverworld

Neverworld played mid afternoon on Sunday - I would have preferred them to have a later spot (BBC Introducing Gareth Lloyd take note) as they would have reached a bigger audience. However they had a big following most of whom I did not photograph but this hairy bloke who was well into Neverworld did catch my eye...

Head Bang 1

He was not with the main crop of head bangers but ws isolated between two fans somehow oblivious to his presence, well in fact 'sneaky 'tog' to the left of him isn't oblivious :). After a long period of shaking and swirling his mop to the music he suffered a real bad hair moment..

Head Bang 2

I had to be quick to catch this as his head was shaking fast and he rarely came up for air.

Head Bang 3

Normal service resumed.

There you go Gary - apologies I missed you in the first blog - hope this compensates.

Check out Neverworld  here  or ideally catch them live (unless of course you have dandruff).

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ROTW 2014

05 August 14

Posted at 6:40

Rhythms Of The World, Hitchin's splendid two day festival of music and much more, returned at the weekend after an enforced break last year. The festival, which started life as a street festival held in a mutlitude of venues across the town became so popular and big that it had to move to a single location. In 2012 the festival, which was a storming success (excuse the pun) was marred a little by torrential rain preceeding the event and causing a two hour delay on the Saturday. However that did not deter from a fantastic festival, run 100% by volunteers and attracting artists and talent from across the world and particularly a big presence from Beds, Herts and Bucks. The festival on top of the heavy rain caused so much damage to the grounds of the venue, Hichin Priory, that access for 2013 was denied. In a way understandable as the Priory serves as an event and wedding venue throughout the year.

However 2014 saw the return of ROTW to the Priory, no doubt after much arm twisting and praying for good weather. The event boasts six stages in addition to family areas, healing fields, bars, food outlets etc. There is no camping, perhaps a good thing, but the festival, considering it is totally run by a army of volunteers is both a credit to them and the town.

This year the first act on the mainstage was the Sir Walter J Wallis Band.

Charlie and Sir Walter J Wallis

Sir Walter, who doubled as compare on the main stage for much of the weekend, invited a lad name of Charlie to come up on stage and officially open the festival. Reluctant at first Charlie soon got over stage fright to did a good job of opening the show. The organisers aim to make the festival a family event and they do a briliant job of catering for families, children of all ages, old rockers, young rockers, hipsters, clubbers and ravers and even some classical music. Music lovers of every generation and genre are catered for. I flitted between stages but shot mostly at the BBC Introducing Stage hosted by Gareth Lloyd of BBC Three Counties Radio. Below is a flavour of the festival - more to come in future blogs.

Phili 'N' Dotz

Phili 'N' Dotz

Kool Hertz

Kool Hertz

Kill Confirmed

Kill Confirmed

Joe Savage - Kill Confirmed

Joe Savage - Kill Confirmed

Tommy Savage

Tommy Savage - Kill Confirmed

Tommy Savage Head Bang

Tommy Savage head bang

CC Smugglers

CC Smugglers

Indi Forde

Indi Forde

Black Noise

Black Noise

Dancing Boy

Young dancer

Zaheer the Producer

Zaheer the Producer

Rapper

Rapper with Zaheer

Crazy World of Arthur Brown

Crazy World of Arthur Brown

I Am The God of Hellfire

The God of Hellfire

Arthur Brown

Arthur Brown

Zaheer's Crew

Another of Zaheer's Crew

Black Noise

Black Noise

Joe Savage - Kill Confirmed

Joe Savage - guitar face

Untitled

Arthur again.

More pics of more acts in a day or two

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RIP KING ROBBO

01 August 14

Posted at 11:44

As you probably know I'm fascinated by street art, the culture and it's evolution. I often photograph street art, have published a book of a project about Stik and I have exhibited works derived from photographs of street art. Yesterday an infamous street artist, King Robbo passed away. He had been ill for a long time in fact since he had a fall in 2011 and was subsequently in a coma for many months, he never recovered. Channel 4 ran a documentary on the so called 'wars' between Robbo and Banksy in 2011. The two images below are from 2010 when the 'wars' were, I guess, at their height.

Banksy Robbo Archway

Originally Banksy's 'Anywhere' at Archway from 2004 this is it after a team Robbo visit in March 2010

Robbo in Camden

Another another Banksy after a team Robbo visit. This one in Camden in May 2010.

RIP King Robbo

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Farewell Grazalema

19 July 14

Posted at 3:31

We left Grazalema on Friday to head for the Costa de Luz. On the evening before when the sun was going down we took a hike up to the dam that overlooks the town. And indeed ensures its' water supply.

The Dam

It took about 30 minutes to reach the base of the dam then just a case of climbing the steps.

Dam from Above

Lokking down not a good idea if you suffer from vertigo.

Behind the Dam

Behind the dam it was more tranquil and a fair few degrees cooler than down in the town - still pretty hot though even at 8 in the evening.

Grazalema from the base of the Dam 

Looking back from the base of the dam to Grazalema. I will come back here again - probably earlier in the year so it will be possible to walk some of the treks in the surrounding mountains.Although I'm still miffed that we won't be here on Monday for the annual bull run (for someone who spends their life at the moment doing research I dropped off regarding this trip!) On Thursday evening (well the early hours of Friday) the fiesta leading up to the bull run commenced with the opening of the funfair. I had a little play using long exposure and rear curtain flash to record the movement. Might have done better had I not been consuming Rioja for most of the evening!

Dodgems

Dodgems

Bumper Cars

Bumper cars

Funfair

All the fun of the fair.

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Glastonbury 2014

04 July 14

Posted at 10:06

After a break of two years I was back at Glastonbury this year arriving in good time on the Wednesday, along with around 100,000 early birds. At least it was dry and sunny on the first day!

Sunset Day One

I spotted this bear at sunset on the Wednesday - I assumed  he was either looking for or trying to avoid James Hetfield!

Bear 

On the Thursday the party starts to get going although the official line up is still 24 hours away

Yoga

These folk are getting relaxed with some yoga in the healing fields.

Then it is Friday and I'm off to the Glade to see Alabama 3

Alabama 3

and what a great start that was albeit somewhat early

Rev D Wayne Love

Alabama 3 Rev D Wayne Love

Biggles Wartime Band

quickly from the sublime to the ridculous with Biggles Wartime Band

and as I left their set I bumped into this old fella..

Michael Eavis

Michael Eavis

Rudimental

Rudimental were for me one of the highlights. Unfortunately their set ended abruptly when a massive thunderstorm resulted in power being cut from all stages

Sunshine After The Rain

Sunshine came after the rain resulting in this natural phenomenon. I wonder how many of these guys captured it...

Music Photographers

Well I didn't have a press pass so had to be content shooting bands from the crowd. Despite torrential rain through the whole of their set I got a few nice images of

Gabriel Winterfield 

Jagwar Ma on the Park Stage

Jack Freeman Jagwar Ma

Jack Freeman

Gabriel Winterfield Jagwar Ma

Gabriel Winterfield

Jagwar Ma

Jagwar Ma

Jagwar Ma

Jagwar Ma were one of my favourites this year, saw them twice. My other highlights were Arcade Fire, Jungle, Rudimental, Bryan Ferry and Alabama 3 and Kasabian. Although I rate them highly I was a little disappointed with Elbow.

And then of course there was Arcadia which seems to be creeping closer each year to where I pitch my tent.

Arcadia Spider

The Spider - Arcadia

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Lebanese Festival Day 2014

23 June 14

Posted at 5:53

The fourth Lebanese Festival Day was held yesterday (22nd June) at Paddington Green, London. I went there to capture some images for my ongoing Edgware Road Project.

Balloon Flag

Lebanese Ballon Flag

No sooner had I arrived there and was taking this photograph (at the main entrance) than a couple of burly security men advised me "you are not coming in here with 'that' (pointing to my camera), you can't use that to take photographs here". I was irked by that statement for many reasons but I bit my lip and chose not to recite my rights. Instead I expressed my concern as I had travelled a long way in order to photograph the vent as it was part of a major project blah, blah, blah. I was advised a I needed a press pass. Within ten minutes and much flashing of my University student pass I was the proud wearer of a press pass wristband and I was in. The organisers were to be fair really helpful and the job's worth security blokes were only doing their jobs after all.

The Fight

This game proved popular with boys and girls all day long.

Also popular from start to finish was the food stalls. Very nice the offerings were too.

Chicken Kebab

Chicken Kebab

At two o clock the event was formally opened. Special guest was Audrey Lewis the Lady Lord Mayor of Westminster

Audrey Lewis - Lord Mayor of Westminster

Audrey Lewis

I have to say after such a wonderful introduction and an informative speech by the organisers explaining how for so many Lebanese London was their place of birth but Lebanon their cultural home. This festival an effort to both retain the Lebanese Culture and to share it with other Londoners in what is now their adopted and much loved home. (We even had a rendition of God Save the Queen to kick events off). Well, Aud, the Lady Lord Mayor I'm afraid let the side down somewhat, she could have said so many positive things about thefamily atmosphere, the dancing, the food, the backgammon tournament even the hookah pipes but no,  she said she had 'noticed some interesting smells around the place'! Her intent was fine it's just that she couldn't find the words to articulate her sentiment. Anyway I think that was the case although she was directly above a group of young men who had been energetically dancing for the last hour so who knows. Anyway she was brief and that meant the party could commence.

Smoking the Hookah on Paddington Green

Well after a little smoke of course.

Lebanese Dancing Men

The men were soon back into it with some gusto.

I Am Lebanese

While the ladies enjoyed a calmer shuffle.

Backgammon Man

And upon the hill the serious matter of the backgammon tournament.

Lebanese Dancing

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The Angkor Temples

09 October 12

Posted at 10:22

Today, as promised sometime ago, a few of my images of the Angkor Temples at Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat - the reason people flock to Siem Reap. I enjoyed visiting the temples at Siem Reap. They are amazing. My stay in Siem Reap was short and circumstances meant I did not visit the temples at the time of day I would have preferred. I would have also preferred to have less people there! but I guess that's a tall order. This image gives a false impression of there not being many folk around but that's an illusion, there were thousands. So the only way to photoraph is to get up close to the fascinating detail.

Angkor Wat 2

This is the largest Hindu complex in the world and was built in the 12th Century. Angkor Wat is so popular it appears on the Cambodian national flag.

Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom is another of the popular temples. It is populated with numerous smiling Buddhas facing every direction.

Angkor Thom Buddhas

Angkor Thom Buddhas 

My favourite temple is Ta Phrom. The trees give it a surreal atmosphere.

Ta Phrom

Ta Phrom the trees, these are Silk Cotton Tres (ceiba pentandra), dwarf the buildings which are not small.

Strangler Fig Tree - Ta Phrom Temple

This is an iconic image of Ta Phrom featuring a tomb engulphed by the roots of a Strangler Fig (ficus gibbosa). Strangler figs and silk cotton trees dominate the temples and landscapes making this place like no where else on earth. No wonder it was chosen as the location to fim Tomb Raider.

Ta Phrom 2

Another strangler fig swallowing up a wall at Ta Phrom.

And to finish a couple of images repeated having been processed with HDR toning and other spurious actions. 

Ta Phrom 3

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Untitled

Ta Phrom

 

 

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