CHRISTMAS IN LONDON

Barbie, Nate, Me and Jamie

Barbie and I spent Christmas in London, we stayed in a hotel at Covent Garden. We decided to go by train this year, we travelled up on the Friday, arriving at our hotel around two in the afternoon, in the evening we went to the theatre to see "Blood Brothers". On the Saturday we went to Camden Lock market for the day, on Christmas day we wondered around London taking photos as we went. On Boxing Day again we visited various places during the day, in the afternoon we went to the Ballet and saw the "Nutcracker" at the Colosseum theatre, quite a spectacular place. After the ballet we met up with My son Jamie who was back from Australia and is now staying in London with his partner Nate, we had a great time, we travelled back on the Tuesday
.

PAGB PRINT CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011

Our photographic group was competing in the PAGB Print Championships at Conahs Quay on Saturday for the 6th year running, yet again we got into the finals, finishing in 5th place, a great result, Barbie and I stayed Friday and Saturday night near by and returned on the Sunday.

LONDON TATTOO CONVENTION

Barbie forced me to pose for this shot..photo by Barbie

Over the weekend Barbie and I went to the London International Tattoo convention at Tabaco Dock, we had a great time.

EASTBOURNE & BRIGHTON

Gay Pride photo by Barbie

Me standing on the Wilmington Man photo by Barbie

Over the past week Barbie and I have been staying near Eastbourne, we travelled down on the Friday. On the Saturday we went to Brighton for the Gay Pride parade had a good time. On the Sunday we walked the Seven Sisters from Eastbourne to Seaford, by the time we got to Seaford, Barbie was worn out and couldn't walk back, so I walked back on my own and got the car and drove round and picked Barbie up. On the Monday we drove to Dungeness for the day, on Tuesday and Wednesday we travelled around a bit and visited various places including the chalk man at Wilmington, I climb up and stood on him..which not supposed to do..oh well.On the Thursday we went back to Brighton, travelling back home on the Friday via the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

BEYOND GROUP NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION

sequence & photography by Barbie

Over the weekend it was the judging of the 4th "Beyond Group" National Open Exhibition, we set up the hall on the Friday afternoon and the judging took place all day Saturday and part of Sunday. We had over 3000 digital images in three sections (Colour,Monochrome & Nature) from photographers from all over Great Britain which had to be reduced to about 500 images by the judges, so you had a 1 in 6 chance of getting an acceptance. For the first time we had two print sections (Colour & Monochrome) where we had over 600 prints, which had to be reduced to 170, so you had a 1 in 3.5 chance. We use three top exhibition judges to do the job using a silent scoring machine, then discussing with each other to pick the awards. We always have two judges from outside the region and one from the Beyond Group or within the EAF region, we had Peter Young from Bromsgrove, Leo Rich from Salisbury and Me (Rusty Lindsay) from the Beyond Group. Please view the little video sequence. visit Beyond Group web site

I SAW JESUS DRIVING A MERCEDES

song written and performed by Rusty

I recorded a song I had written, inspired by my friend J Dog when he claimed he had seen Jesus driving a Mercedes, I had a little fun and distorted my voice and made a video of Kinky my cat singing the song...just press play..hope you enjoy it.

CAMDEN

graffiti at Camden Lock for Amy photo by Rusty

photo by Barbie

On Sunday Barbie and Myself went to Camden, we met up with a couple of friends at Camden Lock market, but on the way Barbie wanted to visit Amy Winehouse's flat to see the tributes left outside.

PAGB DPI CHAMPIONSHIPS AT WARWICK

On Saturday we went to the PAGB DPI National Championships at Warwick University, where our Photo group (Beyond Group) were representing the EAF by competing against over 35 clubs from all over Great Britain, for the sixth year running. We came seventh in the end, yet again making our group one of the top ten clubs in the UK, because we finished in the top eight, we automatically qualify for next years competition, next up is the PAGB Print National Championships at Connahs Quay, where again we will be representing the EAF for the sixth year running.

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL 2011

Barbie's Gold medal choice photo by Rusty

My Gold medal choice photo by Barbie

outside the EPS premises photo by Barbie
Barbie and I were two of the three judges for the Edinburgh International exhibition, we got the train to Edinburgh Thursday after work, we spent the Friday and Saturday judging the exhibition. We had 2200 prints to go through, we were well looked after by the Edinburgh Photographic Society, staying in a nice hotel near the venue. Got the train back on the Sunday, we had a great time.

MAY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND AT CAMDEN

Barbie and I went to Camden on the Sunday, had a good time as usual..

BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY

Me and Martin, not bad for an old man photo by Barbie

Barbie and I spent the Bank Holiday Monday at Mersea Island with friends, it was sunny but windy.

GRASS SNAKES AT ALTON WATERS

photos by Barbie

On Saturday I took Barbie to see the Grass Snakes at Alton Waters, she wanted to photograph them, so I went snake hunting, I found quite a few. There is an area which has been set up to encourage the snakes to breed with mounds of compost material with black plastic or corrugated iron sheets on top. This is because Grass Snakes like to lay eggs in composting material and warm themselves up under the sheets, I found mostly young snakes, and a lot of them were beginning to slough which means they are going to shed their skin, you can normally tell by the way their eyes have a blue film over them.

THE ROYAL WEDDING

"Up the Republic" photo by Barbie

Barbie and I thought we would get as far away from any talk off the Royal Wedding, so we went for a picnic at Alton Waters, couldn't believe how many snakes and lizards I saw, mush more interesting than seeing the over privileged and pompous spending our hard earned money..

EASTER

Barbie changing Skye photo by Rusty

Me and Skye throwing sticks in the water, don't tell anyone..won't do my street cred any good. photo by Barbie

Crass Snake photo by Barbie
Barbie and I have had a few days off over Easter, for a change the weather has been good, in fact you would think it was the height of summer with temperatures of 26 degrees centigrade. We have spent most days at Alton Waters near by to where we live, it is so hot that the Grass Snakes are out a bit early, On one day we took Skye our young Granddaughter, she had great fun.

BARBIE'S BIRTHDAY

Rusty at Canary Wharf photo by Barbie

Over the weekend it was Barbie's Birthday, so we stayed in London at Canary Wharf. On the Saturday we walked a lot around London, visiting the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery and a few smaller galleries, where we saw an exhibition of Mapplethorpe photography (not for the faint hearted). On the Sunday we went to Camden Lock Market.

HANGING THE MEMBERS EXHIBITION

Beyond Group members hanging exhibition photo by Barbie

On Saturday members of the "Beyond Group" put up the members exhibition at the Octagon in Colchester, each member can hang up to 6 framed prints of their choice. The exhibition is on for 3 months.

Watch time lapse video by Barbie

BEYOND GROUP MEMBERS EXHIBITION

Starting on the 6th March the photo group I am a member of will be holding a members exhibition at the Octagon in Colchester for 3 months. This year I have decided to do a display of Rock Band pictures.

CARDIFF

Inside the Welsh Assembly Building photo by Barbie

Over the last few days Barbie and I have been staying in Cardiff, Barbie again was doing a few talks for local clubs in the evenings. We spent the day looking round Cardiff Bay.

BRISTOL

Western-Super-Mare Pier photo by Rusty

We spent the last few days down in the Bristol direction as Barbie was doing a few Photographic talks for some of the local clubs.. our days were cool.!..in more ways than one..

RUSTY CAT SINGS "WILD THING"

I got Barbie a new Smart phone for Christmas, it has an APP to record sound and distort the voice while putting it to a android cat.. this is the result of her recording me singing and playing "Wild Thing" on my guitar..