Thanks for your comments.
Barrie: You should have been with us, John and I had a Pentax enclave in the North Transcept, where I was right on the corner next to The Crossing, where all the action was. There was a little Nikon group in the South Transcept, including Neil Maughan and Stephen Bell. The first two pictures were taken near the main door where I was catching the entry of the bands and banners into the Cathedral.
Geordie: I really had their attention in #4 when the Bishop of Jarrow, the Rt Rev Mark Bryant was blessing the banners. He turned from the South Transcept and made his way right over to where I was standing so I quickly retreated bnehind the banners there.
Gary: I travelled light, just the K5+DA* 16-50. No camera bag. I wanted wide angle to get right in among it all. Some of the other photographers had huge bags with kit and were using long lenses.
David

Colour in the Cathedral

#1
[IMG]http://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy273/Davidtrout2/Durham%20Miners%20Gala/Gala1.jpg[/IMG]

#2
[IMG]http://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy273/Davidtrout2/Durham%20Miners%20Gala/Gala2.jpg[/IMG]

#3
[IMG]http://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy273/Davidtrout2/Durham%20Miners%20Gala/Gala3.jpg[/IMG]

#4
[IMG]http://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy273/Davidtrout2/Durham%20Miners%20Gala/Gala4.jpg[/IMG]


#5
[IMG]http://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy273/Davidtrout2/Durham%20Miners%20Gala/Gala5.jpg[/IMG]

It was Durham Miners Gala on Saturday, an annual event dating back more than 100 years. It began when Co. Durham was a huge coal mining area. Now there are no deep mines but trade unionists still support the event.
After the bands, banners and political speeches in the city centre a religious service is always held in Durham Cathedral when the banners are blessed by senior clergy.
This year no fewer than three bishops were there. Members of Durham Photographic Society were given priviledged places inside the Cathedral to record the event. Fellow PU member DOIK (John Attle)and I were among them. John is Durham Photographic Society's link with the Cathedral authorities. I'm sure he'll be posting some of his shots on here.
No flash and no tripods could be used inside the Cathedral. My K5 was working at 3200ISO and the camera was handheld.
David

John, Whitby Goths Festival is a good place to practise people photography. The goths and various variety of punks are up for it. They don't go to enormous expense and care with their make up and fabulous costumes not be to photographed.
David

Those New York street shots are a lot of fun but they aint my idea of street photography which is to grab candid shots. These New Yorkers are fully aware they're being snapped, that's why they all look startled. Good job he's quite a big guy, less likely someone will take a swing at him.
Street photos should contain some sort of a story; say a quirky expression, amusing situation or interesting juxtaposition. A picture of someone just walking along a street isn't particularly interesting otherwise.
David.

Looks like you Pentax guys had as much fun at the steam fair as we do at Whitby for the Goths meet.
David

Congratulations Simon. It must have been a first class experience. You say your winning photo lay in the archives for a couple of years before you realised you had a gem in there. Perhaps we should all trawl back through our work of the past few years.
David

That must be why its taking so long for pictures awaiting a decision to get processed.
David

That's a much better balance of light although the window could still do with darkening down a little.
David.

I agree with the two comments above and would offer another opinion.
I don't know how you metered for the exposure in shot #2 but although you've maintained beautiful light in the dark areas you've burned out the stained glass window on the right where there must surely have been some glorious colour. A good tip is to use the EV compensation on your camera to under expose, say in steps of 1/3rd at a time. If you shoot in RAW you can recover the dark areas in Photoshop but retain detail in the highlights. I've shot inside cathedrals and have gone down as far as two full stops under exposed in certain conditions to maintain detail in the windows.
David

I have the Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 and love the results I get with it. My Pentax DA*16-50 gets more use but there are times when that just isn't wide enough.
David