Henry VIII and Leeds Tourist Bus

I could not resist this picture, I had been chatting with Henry VIII (aka Richard) when we passed the Leeds city tourist bus.

Richard works at the royal armouries museum here in Leeds as an interpreter of history and this is his latest incarnation as that well known king from history. I had been visiting the armouries to get some photographs of the The Queen’s Golden Jubilee International Joust.

I have taken the tour on the bus and did discover info about Leeds that I did not know, so I think it is worth the trip around the city.

Lloyds TSB British Weather Photographer of The Year

 

 

Fancy a chance of winning £10,000 or perhaps having one of your photos in a public exhibition for a week and all through your photography?  Lloyds TSB are holding a great competition to find the British weather photographer of the year.  How broad a subject could you want, the British weather....

I have been thinking for the last day or so of the photograph that I have taken that perhaps best shows off our weather.  Say what you like about our climate, it is if nothing else so very changeable.  Sunny and clear in the morning and heavy cloud with downpours a couple of hours later or perhaps the reverse.  If it is one thing the UK is known for it is our weather, we can also as I suspect you perhaps already know discuss it and the possible outlook for the next few weeks, days or even hours.  Failing that we can talk about those far off day back in, was it May when there was barely a cloud in the sky for was it 10 days unbroken?

Having thought about my weather photograph I think the entry I would choose would be one I took near the beginning of the year when unusually we had heavy snow here in Yorkshire.   Commitments permitting I spent around a week looking for photo opportunities involving snow and the landscape that do not come along too often these days.  One afternoon I drove up into the Yorkshire Dales till my car would not grip the ungritted snow on the road any further.  There was heavy snow everywhere, every vista was full of it and only me and my camera , why you might ask?  Because it was there and it reminds me of my far off childhood when heavy snow was not as uncommon as it is today.

Meanwhile back to the competition and the possibility of that £10,000.  The competition is quite simple they want at least one photograph taken in the UK by an amateur photographer with weather as the theme.  There are a few rules, these can be found here on the competition website.

 

I think the above picture of Skipton Woods in the snow will serve as my entry.

 

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Royal Armouries Leeds - Not Just Horseplay

The rider in the above photo is called Ben and he is very good with horses. So much so that he was taking time out from working on a forthcoming movie called "War Horse" with Steven Spielberg to be here in Leeds at the Royal Armouries.



This weekend the armouries held The Queen’s Golden Jubilee International Joust in the tiltyard at the museum.

But whilst the museum is about fun, drama and entertainment it has a much more serious brief "to educate". Many of the jousting knights wearing armour and riding their chargers, the ones that work at the museum are also interpreters of history. These men and a few women bring history to life for the many younger visitors to the museum. Yes they dress up but they know their period and the weapons used. Over the weekend I spoke with and photographed Henry VIII, he recognised me, but the disguise fooled me. Of course I knew he was not the long dead king, but I could not see past the outfit to the interpreter inside. Richard was, the last time I spoke with him playing Tommy Atkins from the WWI period. But more of Henry VIII tomorrow.

To Play The Fool - Royal Armouries Leeds

The above picture is a jester and his assistant at the Royal Armouries museum, Leeds.

This weekend here in Leeds the Royal Armouries Museum has been holding The Queen’s Golden Jubilee International Joust.

This weekend of drama consisted of two heats per day with mounted knights in the tiltyard at the museum. There was also fun to be had around the museum with various entertainments including the above pictured jester and his assistant. This is Ian and Daisy performing for the crowd at the Royal Armouries Square just outside the museum. Daisy is very good on her "mount", does the hoof sound with coconuts and can even ride him sidesaddle.

More from the The Queen’s Golden Jubilee International Joust here in Leeds tomorrow.

Do You Know What This Is?

Do You know what the round metal disc in the above photo is? I do and is is the reason the braking on my car has not been quite as it should have been for a little while now.



In the above picture you can see the old disc fitted on the front of the car, it did not look too bad from the other side of the wheel.



In this picture above is one of my new brake discs and they have now been fitted along with new pads. Thanks Keith.

Leeds Roller Doll - Gritty

This picture of Leeds Roller Doll #8 Rosewhip is a B&W version of my earlier picture of her at the bout last weekend. I think that this one makes it look perhaps somewhat gritty, which is fine, I think to be a roller Doll does take a certain amount of grit. The earlier version in colour and more tweaked I think makes Rosewhip look like the poster girl of roller derby. But you know, this is just my 10¢.

Leeds Roller Doll - Rosewhip #8

I took this photo of Rosewhip the Leeds Roller Dolls #8 at their bout with the Glasgow Roller Girls on Saturday.

I was rather struggling with the light in the Uni sports hall, I much prefer daylight even if indirect or flash. So to compensate a little I have tweaked this a bit in PS. With a landscape it does not matter but with people I always think what will the subject make of it. Hopefully Rosewhip will think that this result is OK.

Charlie Dimmock - On Briggate Leeds

TV gardener and presenter Charlie Dimmock was in Leeds city centre this week and by chance I was a few feet away so i asked if she would mind a few photos for the Leeds Daily Photo. Charlie very kindly said yes.

I did not have my Canon DSLR, only my compact... One thing I love about the city of Leeds there is always something of interest.

Charlie was in Leeds to promote the idea of serious the effects of climate change and global warming could be on Yorkshire by 2080. A couple of street artists Joe and Max had produced an interesting piece of art that looked pretty simple from above but when viewed from the right angle it gets quite like a 3D effect.



I was impressed by the way Charlie prepared for the TV interview, it was quite an overcast blustery day, no mirror, no makeover, just what might have been lip salve and then to work in front of the cameras. No fuss, no bother.

As can be seen from the poster this initiative is funded by the Yorkshire Bank and some of their employees are working with National Trust gardeners at NT properties.

Leeds Roller Dolls vs Glasgow Roller Girls part 2

In this photo the Leeds Roller Dolls #10 goes head to head with the Glasgow Roller Girls #27 at the bout held at Leeds University sports hall this weekend.

I may never be a sports photographer, but the girls are actually moving in this shot, albeit only just started. When they get going they really move across the hall.

This is not the first picture I have post with Leeds Roller Doll #10 in it.

Leeds Roller Dolls vs Glasgow Roller Girls

This picture shows the Leeds Roller Dolls and their opponents the Glasgow Roller Girls after the bout of roller derby in Leeds this weekend.

One thing I like about watching the Dolls in action here in Leeds, they play hardball, but afterwards its all girls together. Win or lose they all hug and have a great time.

This time the score was very close with the Dolls winning with a slight margin 86 - 85.

I now have a slightly better idea of how the bout works, thanks to Lava Croft #ad 79 who put me in the picture.

One thing I do know, I am still pretty bad at action shots. Not that I would want the girls to slow down, thats not how it works.

Thanks to the Leeds Roller Dolls for the invite, there will be more photos over the next few days.

Leeds University - E C Stoner Building Revisited

I was at the University of Leeds campus this weekend to see another bout of roller derby with the Leeds Roller Dolls vs Glasgow Roller Girls "Irn Bruisers". I could not resist getting a few more photos of the campus whilst there.

The above building is the E C Stoner building, with flowers thrown in!

I will bring you some details of the Rack n Roll bout tomorrow here on the Leeds Daily Photo

Vintage Rolls Royce Leeds

Picture of a 1934 Rolls Royce motor car being used for a wedding parked up outside Leeds Cathedral.

I was walking through Leeds city centre recently when I saw this lovely old motor car. I chatted with the chauffeur who demonstrated the starting handle, something I have not seen used in many years.

I can understand why people use wonderful old motor cars like this one for weddings, style and not seen every day.

Since I took this photograph a good friend who is serious professional photographer suggested that I was now good enough to do wedding photography, with some practise. Whoa Neddy!

33rd Foot Musket Fire

Picture of members of His Majesty's 33rd Regiment of Foot at the Bankfield museum, Halifax, Yorkshire firing their muskets.

Until I spoke with some of the men in the above photo I did not realise that about 1/4 of muskets fired fail to go bang. Also soldiers of this era did not aim but pointed their muskets to the front and in the general direction of the enemy



In the above picture can be seen Cpl Nathan Ball of His Majesty's 33rd Regiment of Foot at the Bankfield museum, Halifax, Yorkshire.

I think Nathan and his men would in general parlance be called re-enactors, but I suspect that they would perhaps prefer living history interpreters. Whatever the name, I think that they do bring history to life in a very effective and interesting way.

33rd Foot at Bankfield Museum Halifax

Picture of members of His Majesty's 33rd Regiment of Foot at the Bankfield museum, Halifax, Yorkshire.

This last weekend I was able to visit Halifax, a town not far from Leeds to see members of the 33rd foot at a "living history" event.

The 33rd represent an ordinary line company of red coats of the period 1812-1816. I am a former member of Her Majesty's armed forces, although my service was much more recent than the period of Wellington and Waterloo so I was interested to see the kit and discover more about this period.



Like the real army of the era of Waterloo the 33rd have camp followers, wives of the soldiers who provide cooking for the troops. I was impressed by how tasty the food looked considering it was prepared and cooked under canvas in a field and indeed was a little disappointed not to be offered a taste. Especially the pease pudding, I have read of this quite often in military history books but had never seen it before.