Tag: Carnival

Bridgwater Carnival 2012

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Saturday night was carnival night. For the first year, Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival was held on a Saturday, to try to increase the amount of money collected for local charities. For those who don’t know, the carnival procession is held in the evening and is considered to be the largest illuminated carnival in the world and in fact only Notting Hill in London and Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro are probably bigger. The reasons for the procession are two fold, local heritage and culture (not to mention entertainment) and to raise money for charities.

Last year, the carnival was beset by drama and tragedy, with the collapse of the wall by the river and the later serious accident on the M5 near Taunton. Following the accident, carnival-goers held a mass minute’s silence the next day, during the traditional “Black Sunday” celebrations and a significant amount of money was raised by the various clubs. This was recognised by the emergency services during this year’s procession, thanking all the clubs for their help.

The entrants were as spectacular as usual, although I felt that there was a reduction in originality, with a number of entrants having very similar themes to recent years and even some with the exactly the same name during the procession, for example two or three clubs named their entrants “Circus”. One of my favourites was “Be our Guest”, by Wick Carnival Club. It wasn’t as spectacular as some of the big clubs, but they have improved noticeably in the few years I have been watching, plus it was one of the more original ideas. Sometimes I think originality should be rewarded as much as the amount of money that is obviously put into making many of the carts. I also find the entries from Huckyduck and Pentathlon to be quite interesting, but I was slightly disappointed by Huckyduck’s entry this year at the time, although looking at the photos, I like it better. It certainly wasn’t in the same class as their “Spirit of the Blitz” entry a couple of years ago, but was still good.

In what has almost become a tradition in the past decade, Gremlins yet again were the winners, with their entry Revolution. They seem to have a much bigger budget, with so many members, when compared to many other clubs and their cart is always a mass of moving parts.

All in all Bridgwater Carnival 2012 was a success and passed without the major incidents of last year. I think holding it on the Saturday was an improvement, although only the news of how much collected will confrm that.

Glastonbury Carnival 2011 Photos

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It took some time, but I’ve finally finished processing the photos from Glastonbury Chilkwell Guy Fawkes Carnival from Saturday. The weather was fine all day, in fact it was probably one of the nicest days of November so far. This meant perfect conditions for the carnival. A cold wind did pick up for a while before the start, but it soon died down again.

While there were a lot of shots I wasn’t happy with (there always is), thanks to two participants, I was able to get some of my best ever carnival photographs. The first performer from Vagaonds Carnival Club turned to the camera to do her routine, while glaring intensely at the camera, perfect for the tone of the cart. While that was good, perhaps even more surprising was the performer from Centurion CC, who gave a brilliant smile. Many not familiar with carnival may not find that very surprising perhaps, but Centurion is a tableau club, where the participants stay frozen for the whole procession, but again, it fit in well with the theme. My sincere thanks must go to both of these two performers. Carnival photographs are always going to be dynamic by their very nature, but it isn’t always possible to capture the atmosphere. I felt that the relationship between them and the camera really lifted the photographs to another level. I’m not a portrait photographer normally, so it is probably one of the few occasions where I have had a buzz from photographing people, normally it’s confined to my nature photographs, when I get what I was looking for.

Like last year, I had taken note of some of the features of the carts that I had wanted to photograph, so I concentrated more on different angles (mainly portrait formats of the carts), portraits of the performers and closeup and detail shots. Not all of them were successful, as many of the performers were in higher positions than last year, which caused focusing and depth of field problems that had to be overcome. Again, this is something to note for next year.

Despite some failures, overall it was a success for me and as usual, plenty of money was collected for local charities, although not as much as you might expect, given that there are usually around 50,000 spectators.

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Bridgwater Carnival Black Sunday Photos

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As I mentioned in my last blog post, I got caught up in the Black Sunday celebrations that are held every year on the Sunday following Bridgwater Carnival. I had originally planned to try out a new lens, ready for an upcoming Norway trip, but with the weekend travel problems in Somerset, I decided it wasn’t worth trying to drive anywhere, so I wandered down to Bridgwater Quay, before walking along the river to the centre.

As I was walking up through St Mary Street, I was approached by a large boisterous group, it was Black Sunday after all, so I couldn’t really expect anything else. Anyway, after a quick chat and change of lens, I took a couple of photographs. I promised to send the images to one of the group, but unfortunately, the e-mail address I wrote down, doesn’t seem to work. If anyone from Wick or Pentathlon Carnival Clubs remembers having their photo taken, then please contact me and I will forward on the promised photos.

Bridgwater Carnival 2011 Photographs now on Website

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Bridgwater Carnival night will be memorable for a number of reasons, not all of them good. It all started in the afternoon, during the afternoon entertainment by Bridgwater College. When I describe what we had as a downpour, it is a definite understatement. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen rain heavier in Britain. To make matters worse, the lack of wind, meant that the extremely heavy showers didn’t move very fast. There was a fast flowing river of water down past the Cornhill and on towards the Parrett, down the pedestrianised area, which was up to two inches deep in places. Everyone was saturated, but unbeknown at the time, similar amounts of water must have been flowing down Castle Street, which caused a partial collapse of the wall along the river, with part of the road in behind disappearing into the depths below. However, as is said in showbiz, the show must go on and it did. Sadly the news got worse though, but it didn’t come to light until the end of the carnival, except by the emergency services. A little over ten miles away, just outside Taunton, one of the worst pile-ups in British history occured on the M5, causing seven fatalities and numerous serious injuries. All condolences and sympathies must rest with the victims and their families.

The carnival itself put on its usual show of bright lights and entertainment. While I don’t think it lived up to last year’s standards, it still provided plenty of entertainment and better still, it remained dry throughout, a welcome relief after the afternooon. For me, the strongest and most original entries were in the Tableau Class, which was won by Overthrow of the Tsar, built by Pentathlon Carnival Club, with last year’s winners, Huckyduck Carnival Club coming second with Way out West. However, yet again, the overall winners were Gremlins, with their entry Jungle Drums. While it was still impressive, I don’t think it matched last year’s entry.

The squibbing display was cancelled, due to the previous sad events, but it was still an enjoyable evening.

And one final photo of Wick Carnival Club’s 2011 entry, Inca, having met some of them and some members of the Pentathlon Carnival Club this afternoon, as I got caught up in the Black Sunday celebrations.

http://heikoworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/bridgwater-carnival-2011/
http://heikoworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/bridgwater-carnival-2011-part-2/

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The Countdown to Bridgwater Carnival has Started

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Remember, remember the 5th 4th of November. ThBurlesque Cabaret - 2009is friday, is carnival day in Bridgwater. Festivities start in the morning and carry through to the squibbing display after the carnival ends, some time after 11.00pm. At times, it seems like the whole world descends on the town, with bars being full hours before the start of the carnival. In fact, it is probably the third largest carnival in the world after Rio de Janeiro and Notting Hill carnivals, which is pretty impressive for a town with a population of around 30,000 (two different sources quoting the same 2001 census put it at 33,698 and 36,563).

As usual, I will be attending (I can’t really escape, having to take at least the afternoon off to get home) and it is one of the few times where I shoot people (not literally of course). Notwithstanding my lack of portrait photography, from a commercial point of view, it has my highest success rate, so it is certainly worth my while attending (even in the pouring rain). Weather permitting, I will again be using flash, although that won’t be possible in heavy rain. The flash helps to fill in the deep shadows from the strong lights, but is very unsightly when it freezes the falling rain drops.

Gremlins Carnival ClubLast year, the carnival was again won by the Gremlins Carnival Club, with their entry Runaway Train. They are in fact regular winners, having shared the overall title in 2009 with To the Trees, the winner of the Tableau class, by the Gemini Carnival Club. There are usually around 120 entries, comprising of a mixture of large carts or floats down to individual performers or masqueraders. The participants spend alot of time, effort and money on prearing their entries and the whole carnival is about collecting money for local charities.

If you haven’t been before, then it is definitely something that everyone should experience at least once. Until you’ve seen Bridgwater Carnival, you haven’t seen what can be achieved and most other illuminated carnivals are just pale imitations in comparison.

Wick Carnival Club

Guy Fawkes Carnival Photo Clusters

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Spirit of the Blitz by Huckyduck CC

I have now created a number of photo clusters featuring some of the carts entered in the 2010 Somerset County Carnival circuit. They are aimed at performers who took part in the carnival, who would like a memento of their club’s entries and will be available as either A3 or A4 prints, on high quality, heavyweight fine art paper. If you are interested and would like to know if your club’s entry is available, please contact me, if you don’t see anything suitable. They can be printed with or without a caption, according to preference. I will be adding further clusters to the gallery as I create them, so please drop back in to see other examples.

Glastonbury and Chilkwell Carnival

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At the Bottom of the Garden by Pentathlon CC

On Saturday it was the penultimate carnival in the Somerset County 2010 season, the Glastonbury and Chilkwell Guy Fawkes Carnival. Having already attended Bridgwater in the rain and North Petherton, I decided to try something a bit different. I’m not a big people person when it comes to photography, so I tend to avoid them in my photos (perhaps why I concentrate on nature photography). This time though, I made a conscious effort to photograph groups of performers, as well as some individual performers. I didn’t go for real closeup portraits, but tried to include them in the context of the carts themselves. I also photographed some of the walking masqueraders, where the flash was essential, due to the lower light levels, and also some more detail shots.

Side view of Scrooge

Scrooge by Wick Carnival Club


The carnival itself was a success, with the rain holding off until the end (although people further along the route would have been affected by the weather much more). This season had seen a number of fires on carts, as well as some generator failures and even a model toppling onto one of the performers, but there was none of that at Glastonbury. On a more personal note, the photography also went well, with more shots I was happy enough with to upload, although the rain at the end pretty much ruined the shots of the last few carts. I’ve decided that flash photography in the rain doesn’t work very well.

Bridgwater Carnival Photographs Uploaded

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Wild Bill's Runaway Train by Gremlins CC at Bridgwater Carnival. Winner of the County Cup.

Finally, I now have the photos from Bridgwater Carnival last Friday up on the website, available for viewing and for purchase as prints for any participants who would like a memento. Due to the weather conditions, almost all of them have streaks of heavy rain falling. There are also others, which require some work before they are of high enough quality to upload. I have also prepared the NOrth Petherton Carnival photographs, ready for upload. Again, there are others available, but I have witheld these due to the presence of teenagers at close range, to avoid any problems. If you were a walker and can’t see yourself, please feel free to contact me to ask if there are any photos available.

Carnival Weekend

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This weekend was the start of the Somerset county carnival circuit, starting with Bridgwater on Friday, before moving down the road to North Petherton last night. Even before Bridgwater carnival started, things didn’t quite go to plan for me though. Even though, I’d charged all the flash batteries, two had actually failed, so there was only enough power to show the menus and not power the flash itself. So, resorting to plan B without flash, I waited for the first carts to arrive.

Wild Bill's Runaway Train by Gremlins CC at Bridgwater Carnival. Winner of the County Cup.

The forecast had been for heavy rain and for once, the forecast was right. Just as the pre-procession passed and the first carts were appearing, the rain appeared right on queue. It had been light drizzle up to that point, but now it was a fullscale deluge. Had I still had the flash attached, it would actually have made keeping the camera even remotely dry impossible, as it was, it still got quite wet.

Despite the rain, only two carts had major technical problems, with one having to drop out entirely, just past where I was, so that it could go for repair. The other carried on in darkness.

Gargoyles by British Flag 2010

Gargoyles by British Flag CC at North Petherton Carnival

Because of the flash problems the previous night, I decided to go to North Petherton Carnival, so that I could experiment and maybe get some shots that didn’t have streaks of rain throughout the image. As the night before though, just as the procession reached my point, the rain started. Luckily, it only lasted quarter of an hour or so and wasn’t anywhere near as heavy.

The rest of the night went without a hitch and all of the carts were operational, although some had lost banks of lights. I now have alot of editing and processing to do. Hopefully, I should get at least some ready later on today.

Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival 2010

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To the Trees - 2009

To the Trees by Gemini CC at Bridgwater Carnival 2009. Joint winner of the County Cup.

Tomorrow night is carnival night, it’s time for the annual Bridgwater Carnival. Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival, to give it its full name, is considered to be the third largest carnival in the world, only being superceded by Rio’s Mardi Gras and London’s Notting Hill Carnival. Of the three, it is the only one that features illuminated floats, as well as the more usual individual costumes. As such, it is the largest illuminated carnival in the world, not bad for a small town with a population of around 30,000. People visit from all over the country and in recent years, there have been entries from Brazil, along with some other countries. The festivities start in the morning, with performers on a purpose built stage, taking in turns to entertain the visitors. After Bridgwater, the procession moves on to the much smaller nearby town of North Petherton, before moving on to other towns in the circuit, such as Glastonbury, Burnham-on-Sea and Weston-Super-Mare.

Burlesque Cabaret - 2009

Burlesque Cabaret by Masqueraders CC at Bridgwater Carnival 2009

Last year, I attended for the first time, although, I did visit the event in Burnham-on-Sea many years ago. The winner of the overall event was Burlesque Cabaret by the Masqueraders Carnival Club, who also shared the overall prize on the circuit as a whole with To the Trees, by the Gemini CC. The weather wasn’t perfect, but it was much better than it had been earlier in the day, so there were just the occasional showers, although some were quite heavy. As can be seen in the second photo, the moon did show itself for a while in between the showers. The weather forecast isn’t very good for this year either, but hopefully the rain won’t be as heavy as it looks like it may be. Good luck to the participants and hope anyone who goes, enjoys the show.