BMX Club celebrate donation by Mars.

Nottingham Outlaws BMX Club celebrated a £500 donation from the Mars Refuel Drink Fund recently.

The club which has seen massive growth recently will use the money to buy helmets and bikes. Out of 160 members at the club, 6 are international riders and 30 national. I went along to get some shots to promote their donation.

Photography for Channel Four's - 'Four In A Bed"

It was sometime last year I did the stills of some of the contestants taking part in the show 'Four In A Bed' which aired on Channel Four. As always doing these jobs involves working around a video crew and keeping on the right side of the director which just means keeping out of shot most of the time.

Basically it is a show about 4 B&B's from around the UK and the owners that compete against each other by staying in their respective premises. This can sometimes make for interesting tv as couples get bitchy and personal in a bid to be the best.

Pictures show the various contestants involved in one episode of the show which I shot near Loughborough. You can watch the shows by following the link HERE.

Jane McDonald visit to new Debenhams store.

Singer, actress and TV personality Jane McDonald was at the Debenhams store in Wakefield last week to celebrate its recent opening. Being a local Wakefield lady she was clearly thrilled to have a Debenhams on her doorstep and she can be seen wearing one of the outfits from the Julien MacDonald range.

Jane with staff outside the store on Trinity Walk.

Jane after a makeover in store.

Jane with a Personal Shopper assistant.

Jane looking great in her new dress.

Finishing on a high for U16s footy team.

On May 3rd my son and his team played their last game together as Bentley Pumas JFC. It could have been a sad end to their years together,  but the club decided to go out on a high and hired the Keepmoat Stadium, home of Doncaster Rovers FC who are a Championship team and played their final game against local rivals Sprotbrough Crusaders.

Inside the home team changing room with shirts hung up ready for action.

It could have been likened to cup final day at Wembley for the lads. A coach picked them up and they all wore the same kit for travelling in, arriving at the Keepmoat for the evening kick off in the warm May sunshine.  A tour of the ground and facilities was first on the agenda and the boys were escorted around before getting back to the changing rooms to prepare for warm up.

The boys pictured in the stand as they tour the ground.

Warming up in the May sunshine.

As kick off approached the boys were clearly nervous and quieter than usual. A team talk was in order and instructions were issued by the manager Andy.

Team talk and final instructions from the manager.

The teams kick off and early pressure was put on the Pumas with the defence having to work hard to keep out Sprotbrough. It was one way traffic for a while but eventually Pumas started to have some success in getting the ball forward.

Danny Hall presses forward.

Striker Ryan Savage goes off injured early in the first half.

Pumas concede in the first half but still keep their heads up and soak up pressure as well as going forward.

Louis Ford working hard on the wing.

So half time comes around and its Pumas that trail by the one goal. The frustration and disappointment shows as the team get into the dressing room.

The dressing room at half time.

Second Half Action.

Torran Adams.

Cameron Jones
 

I'd like to say that Bentley came back into the game and scored a couple of goals, but unfortunately they conceded and lost the game. However, this was a game that was about having a great experience and enjoying the moment of playing at a professional ground.  All the players had a fabulous time and so did the parents and manager I am sure. A great way to end their time with the Bentley Pumas.

Secret Millionaire helps spread the word against knife & gun crime.

The secret Millionaire which aired on Channel 4 last night featured a young guy called Mark Pearson who has been making his fortune with online shopping vouchers. Originally he trained as a chef but soon got disillusioned with the long hours for very little pay.

I was asked to do photography for Ch4 for promotion and review purposes and these are a few of the pictures. The location was Nottingham. Some of the photos are of a bus that was bought from money given by Mark to an organisation that talks to young people about the danger of knife crime and post code gangs.

The episode can now be seen online here. 

 Mark also helped a number of other people but you will have to watch the episode to find out more!

     

 All photographs are ©Steve Hall Photography and cannot be copied without permission.

Its a great job and somebody's gotta do it!

I am often asked what it is like working as a freelance photographer and photographing celebrities as part of my work. I usually come out with the same thing about them just being normal people who are in the 'spotlight' publicly, when you chat to them they are usually very nice down to earth people(with the odd exception)and they have the same hopes and fears as everyone else. Although it is quite nice meeting celebrities in my work I  am very often drawn towards the none-celeb people who are all very unique and have great qualities of their own but are not in the limelight. Indeed many of these people are unknown outside their circle of family and friends but nevertheless have interesting tales to tell about their personal or working lives.
One such person I photographed last week was a chap called Frank Gent from near Newark. Frank celebrated is 100th birthday last week and I was sent along to do some pictures for the Express newspaper.

Frank at his home with a picture of his wife Effie.

Frank has been likened to a cat in some much as having about nine lives. He has many tales to tell of his exploits in peace time and in war. His memory is remarkable and he can even recall the street party to celebrate King George V coronation in great detail even though he was only 10 months old at the time. What a fascinating person he was, I could have listened to him for hours. Catch his story online here.

Last week I was doing some photography at a distribution centre for a very well know supermarket chain in the UK. Part of my remit was to go into the freezer warehouse which is absolutely massive and take some pictures of these guys known as 'pickers'.

Gary who works in the arctic conditions of the freezer warehouse.

 Pickers basically are people who have to go around the warehouse with electric trollies/forklifts and fulfill orders from particular stores for frozen food. I never realized this but the temperature these people work in is (minus) -25 degrees! I went in there for about 15 minutes and although I was wrapped up it still was very very cold and as soon as I walked in there my nostrils began to tingle. Having experienced such an hostile environment it really made me think about how we often don't realize how that pack of frozen fish ended up in the store and what people like fishermen and freezer workers go through to get it there.
On a more technical note I was very pleased with how my camera coped with the conditions and must give a 10/10 to Canon for that one! I must say I was a little bit wary when I went in there with the camera but it is still working fine as I write this 5 days later. Camera was an EOS1 MK2N fitted with a Canon 17-40mm L lens and 580EX flashgun.

All pictures are ©Copyright of Steve Hall Photography.
Photographer in Yorkshire, England, UK.

Photographing Street Athletics In Mexborough and Kirkby In Ashfield.

 Street Athletics is a community focused youth engagement programme created by Linford Christie and Darren Campbell, which is aimed at young people aged under 20.
More of the photography on view for Kirkby In Ashfield Here or Mexborough Here.

The 60m sprint races took place on Sunday 8th August at Harlington Road, Mexborough and Tuesday 10 August on the Wollaton Road, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nr. Mansfield.
Street Athletics Event 2010 Kirkby In Ashfield Linford Christie organised the races and all participants received a Street Athletics T-Shirt and dog tag. The top three boys and girls from each age group qualified to compete against youngsters from other areas at the Street Athletics National Final in Manchester on Saturday 11 September.

 The event is being delivered in partnership with The Coalfields Regeneration Trust’s ‘Creating a Sporting Legacy’ programme. This programme creates volunteering opportunities in sport and healthy lifestyle activities for thousands of children and young people.