Hands that Bind - Castellers in Salisbury

The Castellers of Vilafranca performed their art and display in front of Salisbury Cathedral this afternoon. Here is a full-height image of them all taken with a wideangle lens and in colour.

The theme of Salisbury Arts Festival is the celebration of the culture of the Catalan area of Spain and so this is extremely fitting and a huge privilege to both witness and photograph. I was with all the 'proper' press guys (and gals) with their twin Nikon D4's and two-grand lenses on each and this was the best vantage point, with the Spire rising majestically behind them.

You might think a (uncropped) black & white close up of interlocking hands a poor substitute to the full colour 'big picture' but it's partly as I was chatting to some of the guys afterwards and they had strict remits to adhere to, for front cover close ups of the child right on top - and creativity was a no-no. My mate Tom, photographing for the local paper was particularly envious when I described this shot that I had already had in mind for my Blip. Something a bit different, but showed the true essence of the utter trust and teamwork needed.

The hands are closing in on each other quickly - and these are the men at the base. Taking 100's of shots throughout the five demonstrations that they did, mostly with my Tamron SP 70-300mm (as here) I concentrated on different aspects each time. One was with the Nikkor 10-24mm, as with the Facebook image.

Take a look closer in LARGE

A busy weekend now, not only with the Festival, but possibly Live music tonight, like last Saturday and an 'only-me' shoot tomorrow in Wilton to capture the local 'The Big Lunch', which I understand to be going on all over the country. So, commenting on Journals may get affected - I have to keep myself sharp, but also relaxed, after all.

Hope you're all having a great weekend, the summer, here at least, has finally truly arrived - glorious!