Rio Matchett

Rio Matchett Artistic Director, Camden People's Theatre

Rio Matchett Artistic Director, Camden People’s Theatre describing her experience at CPT, in what she considers to be a rare nurturing environment. After posting this photo I looked up Rio and she has an interesting story with a soon to be published book detailing how at 18, she set fire to a church, for which she was sectioned then imprisoned for arson, and her steps to redemption.

Wayne Avrili

Wayne Avrili performing outside Tate Modern
Wayne Avrili performing outside Tate Modern

He was performing, guitar and vocals, outside the Tate Modern. The song was Knocking On Heaven’s Door, a song that usually makes me see in my mind’s eye, the scene in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid where Slim Pickens is shot and sits down on the river bank, dying. His wife or partner, played by Katy Jurado, sees he has been shot and she comes to comfort him. She is on her hands and knees, a respectful distance as he goes through what he is going through, and they look at each other with love and sadness.

Meanwhile, Pat Garrett is tackling another outlaw back at the cabin seventy yards away or so. So there’s a split narrative in the scene as it cuts back and forth – and it is full of love, regret, acceptance, and death.

Wayne’s card says he is available for gigs singling and playing classic pop from the 50’s to the present, including the Beatles, Oasis, Bob Marley.

Shot with a Canon EOS R6 and Canon RF 35mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM lens at f 5.6, 1/640th of a second, and ISO 500. Look at the detail the lens is capable of.

Camden People’s Theatre Thirty Years

Camden People’s Theatre in London celebrated its thirty years of existence with a private fundraiser and a show.

Performers who had been nurtured by CPT and gone on to fame in the wider world reprised the first part they performed when CPT gave them their start.

Before performing, each of them talked about the supportive atmosphere at CPT, where artistic expression was respected and valued. They said that that encouragement had given them the confidence to do things in public they never thought they could do.

Then the people behind the scenes outlined what CPT did, and asked the audience to give them money so they could continue doing it. Times are hard, they said, with ventures closing down. So it was all the more important to support CPT.

I was invited to photograph the evening, the social mixing before the show and then the show. I shot everything with the Canon RF 28-70mm f2.8 lens. The lighting was a real mix and low and I shot everything at 6400 ISO. It’s been a while since I have taken photos to someone’s requirements, and in such poor lighting.

Canon RF 28-70mm f2.8 IS STM Lens

Info: I shot the dancer at f/ 3.5, 1/1250 of a second at ISO 1000, and the man standing in the road at fl 2.8, 1/320 of a second atISO 200.

Lilian Reading

Shot with an Olympus E-PM1 with an Olympus 45mm f1.8 at f1.8, 1/1250th of a second and
ISO 200