Something that seems to have become an endangered species in Public Relations Photography is booking two jobs in a day. According to my diary it was going to be a fairly straightforward day with one booking. The brief shoot “behind the scenes” images of the 888.com sponsored Premier League Darts at Sheffield Motorpoint Arena for Sky Preview Magazine, a publication aimed at licensees who use Sky sporting broadcasts to help bring in customers.
Public Relations Phone Call
The day before the Darts my phone rings and a second clients needs a Public Relations job shooting the same day as Skys. At this point Murphy’s law will generally kick in dictating that either
The two jobs are at the same time and on the same day.
The two jobs are the same day, aren’t at the same time but they do overlap
The two jobs are the same day, don’t overlap but the distance between locations makes photographing them both impossible.
It looked like number three would be the problem. The second Public Relations job was in Cleethorpes on the east coast. A client needed the interior layout of Halletts Lifestyle convenience store and some of their staff photographing. The store had just won a national award as Blakemore Wholesale/ Lifestyle Retailer of the Year 2010/11. The job was urgent, a plus for me as it meant the client was happy with a morning shoot and booking number two had just become booking number one. I had, for once, given Murphy the slip and had two jobs on the diary.
By 09:45 I had driven the 75 miles to Cleethorpes and was already working. By 15:05 I had made it back to the office edited, processed, captioned and distributed the digital images to the client. With just enough time to produce an invoice and grab something to eat I was off to the Premier League Darts.
One of the countless things I love about being a full time professional Press & Public Relations Photographer is the variety. Going from shooting the aisles of traditional a seaside corner shop, to the showmanship and razzmatazz of televised Premier League Darts is nothing if not varied.
Its been an interesting start to April, a sudden influx of jobs bucking the trend of the past 12 months or more. Its still a long way from business as usual but it would be nice if things carried on the way they have over the last ten days. The month started with call to cover the Spots vs Stripes challenge for Cadburys in Meadowhall then it was a shoot for a company who has sold their 500,000 curry which we shot at Chef Hallam. Job number three came in via email requesting coverage of the Torvill & Dean Dancing on Ice 2011 tour photo call at Sheffield Motorpoint Arena.
From there it was a quick drive back to the office to get the photos edited captioned and out to the client and off to celebrity shoot number two. Lookers the new Alfa Romeo dealership on Saville Street Sheffield had celebrity chef Mr Aldo Zilli on hand to help them celebrate their opening with an evening of “fine Italian food and wine”. Had he not made it as a chef I think he would have made pretty good Comedian. Having got the images required from the Aldo Zilli shoot its back in the car and back to the office to get a few images out from the evening so they would be waiting for the client when they get in on Friday morning then off to bed just before midnight.
Friday was an office day finishing the edit, post production, captioning and distribution of the Aldo Zilli Photographs while fielding calls, emails and taking delivery of a new camera and getting invoices out. Saturday was back to Meadowhall for celebrity shoot three and oddly enough another Italian celebrity chef this time it was Gino D’Acampo who was doing a cooking up a storm and by the look of it he certainly managed to get one ladies heart racing when he asked her to check if his pasta was al dente.
Some where in amongst all this I actually found time to buy myself and take delivery of a new toy, a Kiev 4 range-finder film camera. Cosmetically its in very nice condition with original leather case and 5cm F2 Jupiter lens. Everything seems to be in working order I just need to put a film through it. If it all works as it should I have a feeling that it could end up as a blog for another day.
Elbow is not only the bit in the middle of a human arm that allows it to bend. Its not just, as Philip Marlowe said in The Singing Detective “the most sensuous word in the English language; not for its definition, but for how it feels to say it”.
Elbow is the British alternative rock bandwho have received vast critical acclaim and the respect of major artists like Radiohead, Coldplay, Blur, R.E.M. and U2. The five piece took to the stage at Sheffield Motorpoint Arena on the 5th night of their tour (19 March 2011) the night of “a full moon when its the closest it has been to the earth for 20 years”
Elbow front man, Guy Garvey, informed the packed Motorpoint Arena.
Consisting of Guy Garvey Lead vocalist and lyricist, Mark Potter on guitar, Craig Potter playing keyboards and organ, Pete Turner playing bass guitar and keyboards and Drummer Richard Jupp Elbow have come a long way since they first played together at The Corner Pin pub Stubbins, an industrial village in Lancashire 20 years ago. Asleep in the Back Elbow’s début album was released on V2 in 2001, and won them a Mercury Music Prize nomination and a BRIT Award nomination, performed at Glastonbury in 2002, went on tour in Cuba in 2004, by 2008 they won the the Mercury music prize for the album “Seldom Seen Kid” Supported U2 in 2009.
Now in 2010 Elbow rolled into town on their “Build A Rocket Boys” tour Sheffield Motorpoint Arena. Starting on the Tuesday 15th March at Glasgow’s SECC then moved on to, Newcastle
and Nottingham landing in Sheffield on the full moon
Elbow “Build A Rocket Boys” tour dates
Saturday 19-Sheffield Motorpoint
Sunday 20 – Liverpool, Echo Arena
Tuesday 22 – Birmingham, National Indoor Arena
Wednesday 23 – Cardiff, International
Friday 25 – Manchester, MEN
Sunday 27 – Brighton, Centre NEW DATE
Monday 28 – London, O2
Tuesday 29 – London, O2 EXTRA DATE
Elbow’s support was the Irish band The Villagers. Formed and fronted by Conor O’Brien they look to be on course to reach same successes as Elbow. Last year, 2010, saw the release of their first album “Becoming a Jackal” and their nominations for The Q Awards Breakthrough Artist, The Mercury Music Awards. Becoming a Jackal was also nominated in 2011 for the Choice Music Prize and Irish Album of the year Award of 2010
Last nights Full moon referred to by Elbows Guy Garvey
Images from day two of the demo outside the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Sheffield. The slide show includes photographs of Patrick Streeter, a Liberal Democrat Party Conference delegate, who decided to gatecrash the beginning of the demo at Devonshire Green. He tried to address the protesters but was escorted away from any potential confrontation by South Yorkshire Police Liaison Officers, at the request of the demo organisers. He was however followed by a sizeable press contingent who were already covering the invited speakers and start of the Demo.
The Liberal Democrat Party Conference came to a close on Sunday within the so called “Ring of Steel. Despite fears of potential trouble the weekend passed of relatively peacefully with only around 5000 demonstrators on the Saturday while on Friday an smaller demo of only around 800 people materialised. One of the final tweets on sunday from South Yorkshire Police read
“syptweet SouthYorkshirePolice
#libdemconf closed. No signs of protest this morning. 1 arrest made throughout. Thank you to all those who kept it peaceful #libdempolicing”
Sheffield District Commander, Chief Superintendent Simon Torr said there had been around 5,000, largely peaceful, protesters in the city centre On Saturday with only one arrest for public disorder.
Three days on from Matt Cardle and it’s back to Meadowhall Shopping Centre, celebrity spotting again. This time it’s Chris Moyles sidecick from Radio 1 “Comedy Dave” Vitty. Now a Dancing On Ice Star “Comedy Dave” was signing autographs and meeting fans in the lower arcade close to Marks & Spencer as part of the promotion for Torvill & Dean’s Dancing on Ice 2011 Tour which has its opening night on the 9th of April 2011 at Sheffield Motorpoint Arena. As part of the promotion fans were also given the opportunity to win Torvill & Dean skating costumes as worn by the superstar skating couple, a signed skating boot and free tickets.
X-Factor 2010 UK Winner Matt Cardle made a special appearance at W.H. Smith Meadowhall Branch in Sheffield today where he met fans and autographed copies of his book “Matt Cardle My Story” The Official X-Factor Winners book
I bought my partner Black Diamonds for Christmas. Not the ‘Black Star of Africa’ or ‘Table of Islam’ type, she isn’t that lucky because I’m not that rich, it’s one of the downsides of being a professional photographer. What I did buy her was the book “Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty” by Catherine Bailey. It tells the epic and stranger than fiction story of the Fitzwilliams, who claim descent from William the Conqueror and once owned what was, in fact still is, the largest privately owned house in Britain, Wentworth Woodhouse.
I have lived in South Yorkshire all my life, I have heard of the Fiztwilliams, Wentworth House and that there was something special about the place but as is often the case with things you grow up around I hadn’t really given it that much thought. Even when one of my first assignments as full-time professional press photographer was to cover the wedding of Wensley Haydon-Baillie, one time owner of Wentworth Woodhouse who married at Wentworth’s “new” Victorian Church with Prince Michael of Kent reportedly as his best man, I didn’t really think beyond that immediate story.
Above left: Former owner Wensley Haydon-Baillie and his new bride are congratulated by a local as they walk the footpath back to Wentworth Woodhouse from the Fitzwilliam family Church. Above right: Prince Michael of Kent attends Haydon-Baillie’s wedding in Wnentworth.
Below: Commissioned by the 6th Earl of Fitzwilliam in 1872 at a cost of around £25,000 in memory of his parents, with a spire of almost 200 feet tall Wentorth Church is visible for miles around. Dedicated to the Holy Trinity it was designed in Gothic revival style by leading Victorian church architect James Loughborough Pearson who later designed Truro Cathedral.
Wentworth Woodhouse, the size of the building is breathtaking. Built by Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, added to by his heir, in the nineteenth century it was inherited and became the family seat of the Earls Fitzwilliam. It took a Scots Lass Born in Glasgow, who strangely enough can trace her ancestral linage back to one of William the Conqueror’s Noblemen to pique my interest in the place enough to try and capture the grandeur of its East façade. This is really the only shot that can be taken of the house as it is a privately owned house and not open to the public.
You really do have to stand in front of this Grade I listed country house in Wentworth, South Yorkshire to fully appreciate its size. The East Front, 606 feet (185 meters) long, it is the longest country house façade in Europe. With 365 rooms the house covers an area of over 2.5 acres (10,000 square Meters). Currently it is owned by a retired architect in his 80s called Clifford James Newbold who, if what I have read is to be believed….
Paid in excess of £1.5 Million pounds for Wentworth Woodhouse.
Paid £1.5 Million pounds for Wentorth Woodhouse
Moved from a “family sized home” in Highgate to Wentworth Woodhouse.
Lives there alone.
Is a recluse
planned to convert it into three homes for his family.
Is is progressing with a defined programme of renovation/restoration.
I’m only guessing here but I think its probably fair to say some of the things written about Mr Newbold may not be quite accurate.
What seems fairly certain is in 1998 he was Master of the Guild of Freemen of the City of London.
In May of 2010 the guild held three events
Thursday 13 May 2010 – Weekend Visit to Wentworth Woodhouse
Thursday 13 May 2010 – Reception & Gala Dinner – Wentworth Woodhouse
Friday 14 May 2010 – Day Visit to Wentworth Woodhouse
If Britannia Historical Attractions are to be believed when the house went up for sale for £1.5 Million pounds it would “require ten times that to restore” and “In Early May 1999, Wentworth Woodhouse was purchased for a figure substantially in excess of the guide of £1.5m”
While I haven’t seen them apparently Country Life Magazine published evidence of the restoration and renovations in issues dated 17 February and 24 February 2010.
Its seems as though some people are always willing to believe the worst, something borne by the graffiti on the sign at the entrance to Wentworth House. Surrounded by a 150 acre (0.6 km²) park the numerous “Private” and “Keep off the Grass” signs gave me the feeling that my presence was being suffered because it is a public right of way rather than welcomed. If like me the mysteriousness of Mr Clifford James Newbold has raised your curiosity levels a photograph of the present owner can be found here under the heading “Presentation to the Guild 27 February 2008”
A Christmas Eve walk with my partner and our dog Wallace.
Quite an odd collection of images thanks to the weather, some look like they were shot at Christmas with snow and everything while others look they may well have been shot in autumn, it Just goes to show the camera can lie but all the images were taken today the 24th December 2010 although I must confess that to the last two images were not actually taken while out on the walk, they are close up shots of our Christmas tree.
