Remembrance Sunday

Today was and always will be Armistice Day, where we remember the war dead from the many wars we have been involved in over the years, right up until the last few days.

I attended the service in Llandudno. Starting from the Trinity Church on Trinity Square, and going to the Cenotaph on the Promenade, it attracts a lot of the residents of Llandudno.

On the day that one national newspaper becomes the first to voice a clear statement on Britain in Afghanistan, It was good to see so many people out and about to remember the people who have died fighting to protect not just our own civil liberties and freedoms, but those of others around the world as well.

So, on a day like today, it is right and proper, I believe, to put differences aside, and even if its just for two minutes at 11am, to remember our war dead. You may not agree with war, you may not even have an opinion, but the fact is soldiers lost their lives fighting for this country.

The pictures speak for themselves really.

Staffordshire Civil Contingency Plan

BY: James Bell, Joe Cuffaro, Jon Gilmore, Gary Hammersly, Andrew Stuart.

We all remember the disastrous floods of 2007. Tewkesbury in Gloucester was underwater, and those iconic images have stayed in many peoples minds.

And this week, Staffordshire has been preparing itself for a natural disaster that can strike at any time.

Andy Marhsall and Mark Banham talk to reporters James Bell, Joe Cuffaro, and Jon Gilmore

Members of the Fire Service, Police, Ambulance, Primary Care Trust, Environment Agency, Met Office, Council, Health Protection Agency and the Armed Forces were all taking part in a major exercise designed to simulate real flood conditions. It threw problems at the personnel involved and demanded they solved them. Situations such as a coach stuck on a road or two workers missing as they try to save essential infrastructure could all happen.

As we at Staffs Live spoke to them over the three days, it was apparent that they were making difficult decisions based on scarce reliable information, and unknown outcomes. The point of all this is to make sure that if it does happen for real, Staffordshire knows what to do. Even though you cannot accurately predict any situation, they now have a strong understanding of what it could be like.

One of the newer pieces of equipment is provided under the Staffordshire Contingency Plan. A series of vans and tents provide adequate cover and resources to ensure a team of commanders can work out in the field, closer to the scene of the incident in an emergency. This will ensure faster communication to the scene, and a better understanding of the situation. It can be put up in around an hour and a half, and works alongside the main control room.

Brigadier Mark Banham MBE and the Director of Civil Contingencies for Staffordshire Andy Marshall spoke to Staffs Live.

For more information go to www.staffordshireprepared.gov.uk

A youtube video of the 2007 floods in Tewkesbury

Martial Miming

Martial Miming, originally uploaded by andrew.stuart1.

This doesn’t really need much description. It’s a martial arts / joker off batman inspired halloween costume/facial paint design.

The paint is actually luminous – and it looks fantastic with the lights off.

Just hope they had a good night.

Christmas Starts When…?

Christmas. The time of fun, of food, of gifts, of TV. Of religion, of church, of celebration. Of adverts, of commercialism… of December?

Christmas, now, doesn’t necessarily start in December. The above advert used to signal the start of christmas, which came around the start of december. However, Christmas now starts around August. Last bank holiday of the year, and the shops start stocking and preparing for the fesitive period – on Dragons Den, one of the dragons told a toy manufacturer that he should get his toys in to the retailers by the summer to ensure sales!

People book Christmas dinners, have parties, and start talking about it beforehand. And its all advertisers faults! I’ve seen DFS and Argos christmas adverts over this weekend!

So, when should crimbo start? Thats been part of the discussion on Twitter this afternoon!

I said: Christmas is not allowed to start till my birthday is done with. That is in November. Sort it out, advertisers.

@SianySianySiany replied to me with @AndrewStuart Yep totally agree. And also, no one else is allowed to discuss their November birthdays until after mine has finished.

My birthday is the 22nd, SianySianySiany has hers on the 12th.

Then, @nicktheguitar said @SianySianySiany @andrewstuart Xmas doesn’t start til after @jemma1 has a birthday on 12 dec! Thems the rules.

And finally, @Tommy_Hill puts forward in this tweet his opinion: @AndrewStuart So I have to endure Christmas celebrations through my birthday? Nothing should be done before December 22nd!

So, here we go. Through standard Vox Pops (3 people, good range, good comments) edited for broadcast, We have decided that Christmas starts on December 23rd, right after Tommy’s birthday.

Another mystery solved.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

It appears to me that I have not posted for a short while. In that case, here we go.

I recently started doing a photojournalism module at university. This is a great module, which gives me a reason to get up early and take photos. Something, which due to my other commitments to university, means I do less of. But, if taking photos is the commitment, then its amazing. And in October as well, which means the light between 9 and 11am is fantastic.

This photo I like. Its not technically perfect, and I can hear a judge saying that the red on the bottom left is overpowering and should be “cropped out”. But the fact is that this photo is the same size as I took it. No cropping. Also, the detail was kept in one shot. I used a filter, and the RAW process within in Photoshop CS4 Raw Converter, to keep the sky in detail, and make this photo good, in my opinion. The sun, as you can see, is coming from behind the cars, and lighting them well. I like it.

This photo was also taken on one of the morning walks to take pictures. It’s Hanley Park, at 9:41am according to my cameras EXIF data. Interesting angles, as we were essentially under pressure to create good, exciting images. The best. Well, the best out of the photographers out there. I saw these words on the steps, got down to the angle needed, rotated the camera, and got this shot. Then, in photoshop CS4, i added the processing needed, including a vignette and made the photo “cleaner” – if thats the correct word!

This photo was taken at the Cambrian Rally Finish Line in Llandudno. As you can see, its very bright in the middle, and has a vignette. I own the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EC DC HSM lens, which as a feature of it, adds a vignette. Some people seem to object to that, and would say it’s a flaw – however, I like this. It focuses the eye into the middle of the image, or to the centre at least, and using it wide open at f/1.4, it works very well! This, then, is an effect I like, and one i replicated using Photoshop Lightroom, which I have just purchased for the student price.

Of the above photos, the rally one was processed using Photoshop Lightroom, and the other one using Photoshop CS4 Raw Converter, which I am led to believe is essentially the same thing. They all have vignettes. I think this adds to my pictures. I am looking for your comments on these. So, if you will…

If you click on the images, then you will be taken to my flickr site where you can view them larger.

Acoustic Sunday

The 2nd annual Nantwich Words and Music Festival took place this weekend in, of all places, Nantwich.

I managed to get along to one of the events: Acoustic Sunday. There were other gigs and events throughout the weekend, including Mark Radcliffe and the Family Mahones playing live, and poet Simon Armitage doing a reading.

Dayve Dean was there. I’ve blogged about him before as part of the preview post to the festival and him On Anthony Gormley’s fourth plinth project, one and other.

He was compering the Acoustic Sunday Event, and playing some of his music with Dan Logan.

Have a listen to some of the gig, through the genius of Audioboo. This is Starting Line:

Stewart Negus was one of the performers, and he gave a fantastic show! Powerful, strong music and lyrics, sung by an amazing voice – made it well worth going along to.

As you can see from this photo, he puts a lot of effort into his singing.

Others that were there were the organisers of the event, Nigel Stonier and Thea Gilmore, with Claire ‘fluff’ Smith.

L-R: Fluff, Thea

Thea Gilmore performed some fantastic music. Having never heard her stuff before, I was astounded. Some fantastic music, and i’m sure her many legions of fans would tell you exactly the same.

Fluff, however, is totally different. Fiddling about with her Violin, she added a different dimension to a lot of the songs by different artists – normally, your very happy with an acoustic guitar and microphone for an acoustic gig. This is intimate and different enough, but with a violin, that makes it fantastic. It’s an angle not normally heard, and makes the songs pop! Some very good fiddling.

Of course, we still had someone else to perform:

The fantastic Rod Clements, who previously in the festival played with Michael Weston King, did a solo set, although he was accompanied by Nigel Stonier for one song which they co-wrote. Again, as someone who listens to modern pop and rock, it was an eye opener. Fantastic singers – you wouldn’t get a lot of bands nowadays performing in the corner of Costa Coffee on a Sunday afternoon in Cheshire, i’d wager.

But, Rod’s music was amazing, and he was a pleasure to photograph and enjoy. I don’t think I got as many photo’s as I would have like due to me enjoying the music!

When the festival returns next year, I recommend you go along even for just one of the gigs.
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You can find out more by going to www.wordsandmusicfestival.com.

You can also see more photo’s by going to my Flickr site