The People of Pride (#mcrpride)- Sarah's Favourite Photo Friday

Not surprisingly I'm going to share more photos from Pride for my favourite photo Friday!

I thought this post could be a bit nostalgic and a bit of a thank you posting too. So I want to share my photos of the people who were so lovely, through friendship or valuing the job I was doing, during the weekend.

This idea came to me because I have a pretty awesome picture of one of my new pride friends, Stuart.



Stuart was in the Village Square most of the time and was extremely welcoming to me as it was my first Pride and helped me know what was likely to happen during the weekend.

The rest of the pictures aren't as good but the people are ;)



First really has to be Nicola, my first point of contact at Pride. She does an amazing job and really cares about what she's doing. She's also very good under stress! In this picture by the wall in the VIP area Nicola is posing with Vicken, one of the Pride Board, he was great fun during the weekend and really seemed to enjoy talking with the volunteers.



Next up Katy (with the pink hair). I met Katy when I photographed her poetry night during fringe and it was nice to bump into her again. Katy was in charge of the women's stage which I went along to briefly between main stage acts on Sunday.



I really like this picture of Jackie, I'm not sure she will, but it's a bit different! Jackie is festival director and I enjoyed meeting her over twitter before in person!



This is Adam, one of the Pride Patrons and I met him at the 'after pride' in Taurus because I wanted to show him this picture! I have a few I like of Adam, he really does photograph well (as I told him!)



The press pit was an exhilarating place to be but not a scary one, the security guys were particularly lovely and here's one of them dancing with the signing ladies!



Last, but only because it was taken right at the end of the weekend, and certainly not least, here's Nicola again with the final member of team pride, Darren. Darren seemed to keep everyone and everything together!

I'm kicking myself because I took no photos of either Tom (who was solely responsible for me doing this amazing weekend in the first place- love you!) and Tracy, my other village square (umbrella holding) friend!

Thanks to everyone I met, what a weekend! And I hope some of my pictures come in useful!

Pride (#mcrpride) Photo Highlights- Monday on the Main Stage

As I work my way through the hundreds of photographs I took during Pride I can't resist a sneaky 'lunch break at work' blog posting!

Here's my favourites from Monday on the main stage when I was lucky enough to be in the press pit again!


I arrived in time for some of the "stars" from this years' Big Brother.



Then Same Difference from Xfactor.







Adam Rickitt.





The stars of Channel 5's 'Don't Stop Believing'.



Rowetta.





4 Poofs and a Piano











Anthony Cotton delivers an important message before the final act of the weekend.



And the main stage finished with the amazing Beverley Knight.









Back to work ;) ...

Manchester Pride 2010- My favourites so far

It's the morning of the last day of Manchester Pride and I'm having the most amazing time! I have to share some photos before I head out again, I hope you like them.

Sarah's Favourite Photo Friday- Manchester Pride Fringe

Welcome to Friday and the beginning of Manchester Pride's Big Weekend! I'm one of the photographers for the event and I'm very excited about it because I've only ever been to the parade bit before and now I'm going to all kinds of things! I feel very important with my pass on...


And Pride for me began on Monday with two fringe events that needed photographing.

At the LGF there was an event called The Secret Lives of Lesbians where they showed the BBC drama about Anne Lister who is regarded as the first modern lesbian and who wrote about her life in coded diaries. The diaries were decoded by Helena Whitbread who was at the event and took questions following the screening.





The image above is the sort of thing I imagine Pride are looking for from my photos (I hope!). Following the Q&A session the LGF asked the attendees to share their secrets on postcards as part of book they are putting together.



At the same time another event was going on at Taurus Bar called Inside Out Poetry arranged and hosted by the lovely Katy Stewart who is part of the Pride team. I was switching between the two events but here are my favourites.









Then on Tuesday night I was really in my element because I was sent to the Frog and Bucket to capture an evening of Ribbons, Rallies and Rubbers (on stage photography? Yes please...)

The event was to raise money and awareness for the George House Trust who support people affected by HIV.







That was comedian Jonathan Mayor and the next image shows the interview with the founding members of George House Trust.



Next up Gerry Potter, who you'll recognise kindly performed as part of Monday's poetry night too. His performance poetry manages to be extremely entertaining and poignant.





The next interview was will Paul Fairweather Harpurhey's Councillor who revealed he is HIV positive at last year's Pride vigil.



The evening finished with the UK's no 1 drag king Valentino King.





And one from outside before heading home...



Watch this space for my Big Weekend pics and come say hi if you see me ;)