Circus with a Purpose

I was privileged recently to photograph the touring charity Circus Starr. The organisers gave me freedom to roam which was a great for candids during the warm-up and informal portraits. That said, the lighting backstage consisted of one glaring spotlight, which was challenging to say the least. I didn't want to destroy the atmosphere with flash, so I shot at 800 iso on my Nikon D200s with Nikkor 105 VR and Sigma 30mm f1.4 lenses.

Circus Starr tour the country every summer doing charity big top circus events to raise money for local charities. They do a fantastic job and the circus is brilliant fun. You can visit their web site at http://www.circus-starr.co.uk/ On this occasion they were raising money for St Ann's Hospice in Heald Green, a charity that we at Michael Turner Photography have worked closely with over the past couple of years.

Argentinian gaucho Gabriel...

Bring on the clowns....Duo Delbosque

Duo Delbosque entertained with this comedy western...Ouch!

Well the audience ceratinly enjoyed it.....who said the circus was only for kids!

Be Happy!

At a business meeting recently I attended a seminar by Debra Stevens from Sold Out Trainers in Milton Keynes. Entitled Red Dirt, in recognition of the fact that once the red soil of Africa gets under your finger nails you are hooked for life, the seminar wasn't about business as such, but about what she has learned from setting up a children's charity in Gambia, http://www.schools4schools.co.uk/ Debra's theme was simply that in the UK we live life at such a fast pace that we lose sight of the simple things that make us happy - friends and family, appreciation of the beauty in the things around us and time for relaxation and contemplation. We're always planning ahead and rushing on to the next thing. What Debra soon realised on her trips to Gambia was that the African people live for the present, and even though they don't have the material things that we in the Western world have, they really apreciate and enjoy what they do have. Amusingly she pointed out that children under 3 live that way too, it's only as we get older that we learn to worry about everything. Dogs live in the here and now too.....and if our dog Tara is anything to go by they never grow up!
Debra's best suggestion was to stop watching the news and reading the papers - it's always too depressing and they only tell us the bad news. Instead you can try http://www.positivenews.com/ where bad news is banned.
Keep smiling!

Summer is on it's way

Despite the cool showery weather we're having at the moment the weathermen have been studying their pine cones and are promising us a warm dry summer. Here's hoping! Now is the time to be thinking about a family lifestyle photoshoot over the school holidays. This could be at home, in the park or woods, on a beach or at your holiday home. Anywhere special that you and your children like to go to in fact.

The children will love it!

Paris in the Spring

Last week Janet and I spent a few days in Paris with friends. We took the opportunity to be inspired in some of the major art galleries, notably the Louvre, L'Orangerie and my favourite (for the huge collection of Impressionist paintings), the Musee D'Orsay. Needless to say we had our cameras with us! Avoiding the obvious touristy views, these are some of my favourite shots from the week. Shopping and Paris go hand in hand. This fashion store window made an interesting backdrop, and a busy passer by on her mobile phone completed the scene.... People taking photographs of each other make great subject for candid photography...... here we're in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. In the Louvre. The tourist paparazzi ?

And who was the celebrity they were desperate to capture? Yes, that famous lady, the Mona Lisa. I'm fascinated to know what all these people are going to do with their own snap of Leonardo da Vinci's painting...hang a print of it on the wall? Or is it simply a case of proving to family back home that they've seen the real thing? Another tourist 'must-do' ticked off the list. Quite amusing really...I wonder whether Leonardo could have ever imagined these scenes when he set out to paint his iconic portrait way back in 1504....

Scenes reminiscent of Lowry paintings, shot through the upstairs windows of the Louvre. I avoided reflections from the windows by pressing my lens close up to the glass.....

Back outside, and a heavy shower on it's way helped to create this moody lighting in the Jardin des Tuileries and on the roof of L'Orangerie in the background.....

The view from the Arc de Triomphe, looking back towards La Defense and the commercial district on another showery evening.

Looking upwards in the spiral staircase that takes you to the top of the Arc. It reminds me of a snail shell.

Nervous drivers should look away now.......this isn't a picture of a car park, but the circular road that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe. Traffic comes in from all directions and each vehicle has to battle across the roundabout to exit by one of the twelve avenues that converge on this point. An amazing sight for the spectator, and every motor insurance company's worst nightmare!

And finally.......I couldn't resist this candid shot of a headless man reading one of the descriptive labels in the Louvre........