Pat the actor

I was invited to see a play by Alan Ayckbourn last night, 'Round and Round The Garden' which is part of a trilogy that makes up 'The Norman Conquests.'

My invitation was from two friends, Nicci and Pat. Pat played the main role, Norman, a mischievious, sharp but funny character. He plays it well, in fact, very well. I was really impresssed at how Pat commanded the stage. He came over as very natural in the role.

I have only really known Pat a few weeks. He and Nicci helped me out recently when I was preparing a script and PowerPoint for a very prestigious event that I was presenting at. By the end they had convinced me to ditch the formal speech and Powerpoint and just stand on my own, tell my story and speak from the heart.

I did that, stood in front of hundreds of my peers and people who I admire. It was scary but I don't think I would have got there without Pat and Nicci.

After the play last night I took this shot of Pat. Interestingly he was surprisingly self conscious at having his picture taken. A bit of the diva maybe?

I liked the longer hair and the grey in Pat's beard but the light restricted me a bit in terms of drawing that out. I suggested to Pat that we do a session next week with better light. Unfortunately he is doing another play which means haircut and beard shaved off. The show must go on I guess. Maybe I do a blip of Pat sans beard?

The Photobore Bit
This was shot in a pub in Frinton. The light was very low and even with my camera in extreme settings at f1.8 I have lost loads of detail. I racked the ISO up but even then my innate self critical mode kicks in. I just couldn't get the sharpness I was really after. Hey ho. I have tweaked the levels, dodged and burned a bit in Aperture