(More) ParkLife!

ParkLife's second outing this year...which I photograph officially for the organisers.

DJ's playing chilled laid-back dance music in one of Salisbury's parks, with thousands of locals enjoying the sunshine, having picnics and food, trying out hula hoops or playing frisbee or football. The regular saxophonist, Ken, originally from the U.S. doodled live over many of the tracks, making it all the more proactive.

Children and families are a big part, the boundaries of the park make it easy for parents to keep a watch over their playing youngsters, as in this shot. I wanted a slightly different shot, one that suggests rather than merely 'says'.

The child nearest the speaker stack is "enjoying" the rush of air from the actual bass speakers, as they boom out the beat, a little boy looks on. My favourite part is the little girl running across the frame, fill-in flash has caught her outline but the slow shutter speed has streaked her in a blaze of colour, the girl's faces having been painted on site earlier.

So, a bit of a fluke shot, but one I liked and gets round the problem of portraying children on a public site, as they are either in indistinguishable profile or the back of. There are now 400 shots from the 6 hours it went on, about 200 to edit, many being duplicates or not interesting enough.

Lens is Nikkor 18-200mm VR, but an amount of post-sharpening, to help accentuate the 'streak' effect.

I changed my Blip name today. SarumStroller comes about from the old name for Salisbury, (it is now known as New Sarum) my home cathedral city. As I walk a lot, mostly within a few miles vicinity, being a stroller seemed a gentlemanly and dignified term that went well with the first part. I had also considered The Wiltshire Wanderer...

Thanks to all who hoisted my Babbling Brook blip of yesterday well up into the Spotlight, as always, truly appreciated.

May's ParkLife