The Almond Croissant Diaries: …what next?
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The Almond Croissant Diaries: Bath Lion #24
I have been trying to get a good photograph of “Roar-Tork” for a while, but everytime I tried, people got in my way or the sun cast annoying shadows over half of his body! But after much persistence, I eventually got what I was after!
You can find Roar-Tork outside of the Thermal Baths (or Thermae Bath Spa). He was created by Jane Callan and is sponsored by Rotork.
The Almond Croissant Diaries: Bath Lion #23
This is Dave!
I love that he has such a simple name - most of the other Lions have such pun-based, long names that it’s quite unexpected to find one with a basic name. I actually giggled when I read the name plate!
You can find Dave at Number 1 Queens Square. He was created by Nicola Donovan and is sponsored by The Apartment Company.
The Almond Croissant Diaries: Bath Lion #22
This is “Manely in the Pink” - I don’t think he could actually be any more vivid!
You can find him outside of the Assembly Rooms just off the Circus. It’s worth taking a wander around the Assembly Rooms too - it’s free and the rooms are rather magnificent. You can also find one of King Bladud’s pigs, Hedge Hog, outside the main entrance keeping the Lion company.
Manely in the Pink was created by Louette Eagles and is sponsored by Shepperton Homes.
The Almond Croissant Diaries: Bath Lion #21
“Medallion” is quite a special Lion. He is sponsored by Bath Rugby Club and was created by a medal-winning sportsperson. Amy Williams won a gold medal in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and its turns out she is a talented artist too!
You can find Medallion outside the Bath Rugby Shop on Argyle Street, just over Pulteney Bridge. If you visit outside of shopping hours, you will probably see him lurking inside the doorway!
The Almond Croissant Diaries: Steve Winwood @ Maida Vale
Last night I found myself at Maida Vale to take photographs of Steve Winwood who BBC Radio 2 have apparently been trying to get in to perform a live set for more than 10 years! An historic event then!
Studio 3 at Maida Vale is probably the studio which I am most familiar with, having photographed Crowded House there a number of times as well as covering the Radio 2 Christmas Party many moons ago. But this evening, the studio had been transformed into a much more intimate and homely venue with tables and chairs dotted around the room complete with flowers and candles!
I spent a little while before the gig wandering around grabbing some behind the scenes shots and trying to figure out the best place to position myself for the evening concert. I had been given permission to jump up onto the risers used for the lighting rigs but I was petrified that I would pull the whole lot down mid-recording!
The gig sounded pretty fab and the audience seemed to love it, but unfortuately the migraine which I had been holding at bay for most of the day forced me to go and take it easy in the soundbooth rather than enjoying the gig up close in the studio. More photos will be up on the In Concert Facebook page shortly and you can hear the gig live on Radio 2 next Thursday from 8pm. I’ll definately be giving it a listen - hopefully I’ll be able to enjoy it a lot more once I’m free from an aching brain!
The Almond Croissant Diaries: Bath Lion #20
Twenty Lions located so far - I’m quite proud!
This Lion is Uhuru and can be found in Kingsmead Square. This Lion actually has a second Lion painted onto its back, as well as a giraffe, a snake and an elephant!
Uhuru was created by Zoe Kenway and is sponsored by HPH Commercial Property.
The Almond Croissant Diaries: iplayer fail!
I was excited to log onto the bbc iplayer this morning as I knew one of my photos was being used for the concert last night. Shame they didn’t manage to move the logo!
The Almond Croissant Diaries: Jack Johnson – a few more photos
Time for another trip into London, this time for Jack Johnson. I was looking forward to this gig. Not only had I recently purchased his new album - “To The Sea” - and was beginning to really get into some of the tracks, I was also hoping that the small, intimate surroundings would make up for the last time I saw him.
There had been such a huge furore surrounding his arena tour in 2006 that myself and a couple of friends had counted ourselves lucky to have managed to get hold of tickets for Cardiff but we had been bitterly disappointed - the venue was huge, cold and lacked atmosphere! It just wasn’t the right setting for his music - arenas were wrong, you needed a secluded beach at sunset!
Seeing as a beach was not going to be forth-coming, the radio theatre was definately a great venue in which to see him. I arrived mid soundcheck to find that I wasn’t required to take photos until Jack was being interviewed, but I decided that some backstage shots were definately worth grabbing while I had the chance.
It was then time for the interview with Jo Wiley, so after a quick introduction to let Jack know that I was taking a few photos, Jo did her stuff.
By this stage, I’m used to having to work with certain restrictions - no flash, shoot for three songs only, keep out of the way of the audience etc… but the strange thing about shooting for radio is that you also have to be aware of noise. The interview shots are particularly troublesome as the clunk of the camera shutter seems extra loud and has the potential to be picked up by the microphones! But strangely, I seemed to carry this through to the concert in the evening (not that I really needed to worry) and found myself taking shots on each loud drum beat to disguise any noise I may have been making!
You can hear the concert on BBC Radio 2 tomorrow evening from 8pm. It’s definately worth a listen, there are some old favourites as well as a few from the new album. And keep an eye on the iplayer as one of my photos may well be used to publicise the concert - two of my photos are already on the Radio 2 website.
The Almond Croissant Diaries: Bath Lion #19
This is the “Pride of Bath” which was created by Emma Rose and is sponsored by Crisp Cowley. This Lion can be found outside Crisp Cowley on York Street but has been known to wander across the road to sit in the Abbey courtyard!
You may notice that there is a piano in the background of this photo. It’s actually not there anymore (blame my delay in posting the photos!) but a number of pianos were also dotted around Bath for a few weeks to celebrate the music festival.
