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©2011 Neil Shelby Long Photography.
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Butterflies and Angels
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August, from The Butterfly Babes Calendar © Neil Shelby Long 2011
So here it is.
The secret calendar project I’ve been working on since March this year, was finally launched at a glittering ball attended by over 420 people last weekend.
What an honour it’s been working with this amazing group of people. I was asked if I could create a calendar that would raise funds for two charities, Children are Butterflies and Brain Tumour Research, by Nicola Wright and April Hanlon. Nicola lost her daughter Imogen in 2010 to a brain tumour only seven months after it was diagnosed. Imogen was 10 years old. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have met Imogen and from all I’ve heard about her and the love that’s been shown for her, I consider that to be my loss. However, I have gained some wonderful new friends through this journey.
As it turned out, organising and shooting this calendar wasn’t a one man job. I’d researched the types of charity ‘Calendar Girls’ calendars that had been launched in recent years and it appeared a lot of them hadn’t had much thought (or effort) put in to them. I knew that just having a semi naked woman standing in in some random location was never going to cut the mustard for me and I wouldn’t offer such blandness to people who had entrusted me to come up with something to represent something so personal to them. It was time to call in the A-Team.
And boy did we. We called in favours, begged and borrowed, planned, altered plans and finally shot a calendar to be proud of. The sun shone when it had to outdoors and there were no mishaps when in the studio. There was definitely an angel looking down on us all with this project.
Each image represents something to do with that month. From burning off the excess Xmas food with long walks in January and a nod to Barbara Windsor’s Carry On Again Doctor character in February for valentines, through to beach bars in August and back to school in September, you’ll find that each month gives you something to smile about.
So now I want to ask you, the reader, to do something for me. Firstly, share this page with your friends and family, link to it from Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, your own blogs or wherever, we need people to see this now. Secondly, go to The Butterfly Society Facebook page, or email thebutterflysociety@sky.com and order a calendar or three. Christmas is coming, so let’s put some smiles on peoples faces. Thank you.
February from The Butterfly Babes Calendar 2012
Some work from Winterberg
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Amy Williams © Neil Shelby Long 2011
Unless you’ve been on the moon for the last few weeks, you’ll remember I had a roadtrip to Winterberg to get some shots of the skeleton and bobsleigh racing. My aim was to get some shots that the regular ‘sports shooters’ wouldn’t. So you’d be forgiven, after reading the last couple of blog entries, for thinking that I’d failed on a massive level, as clearly the shots of the bob and skeleton racers were exactly like the sports shooters would get, if not worse than.
So above and below, you’ll see my take on things. Something different above and a couple of my portraits below. What I’d like to do now is take the idea from above and re do it with a proper set up with fast flash and no advertising hoardings everywhere. I’ve also got a sweet idea for combining the above with moving footage. Fingers crossed that people like the ideas…
Amy Williams © Neil Shelby Long 2011
Donna Creighton © Neil Shelby Long 2011
Olympic Champs and too much sausage!
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Olympic Skeleton champion, Amy Williams & team mate Donna Creighton © Neil Shelby Long
It’s not every day you get to meet an Olympic Champion, or indeed two incredibly nice people, but Amy Willliams fits the Olympic champion category and both Amy and Donna Creighton fit the nice people category. Both Nick and myself were lucky enough to bump into the girls at the Bob track in Winterberg and they were more than happy to chat with us. (Or chat with Neil and look at Nick according to Nick’s version of events???) For me it was an honour to meet them and a privilege to be able to take their picture.
Poor John Farrow finished 21st on his run today, missing out on a second run by 500th of a second! He was still smiling at the end though and even gave a cheesey thumbs up at the end of his run, as agreed by all of us over dinner last night. Nice one John, you Wok!!
Is it excessive to eat two Bratwurst each in the space of half an hour? Not according to Nick and I. In our defence, it was bloomin’ freezing, and they were very tasty!
Today nobody wanted to talk to me, I couldn’t work out why, until Nick showed me this picture of myself:
Neil Shelby Long at Winterberg, Germany © Nick Williams
I was only keeping my big nose warm!
So tomorrow we drive back to the UK.
Oh, one last thing, “It’s been emotional…”
Come on you Brits!
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Shelley Rudman on her way to winning the European Skeleton Championship in Winterberg. © Neil Shelby Long
What can I say? Shelley Rudman wins the Winterberg round of the Skeleton World Cup and picks up the European Championship title at the same time. Way to go Shelley.
It was funny for Nick and I, because yesterday we witnessed the German fans go crazy when their women won the two man bob competition. However, today as Shelley Rudman crossed the line to beat Anja Huber by two tenths of second, complete silence descended. Complete silence apart from two Brits called Neil & Nick who decided it was only right to cheer and clap as loud as we could as the times were announced.
What was also nice, was the fact that the GB team management / trainers were happy to chat to us afterward as they were packing the kit away. Nice guys, great team.
On top of the win, all three British Skeleton girls managed to finish in the top ten, gaining good world cup points. A good day all round then.
It’s the last day of competition tomorrow and as well as cheering on the Brits, Nick and I have to cheer on John Farrow of Australia, who we’ve been having a great laugh with at the hotel here. Good luck John, Wok on!!
Olympic Gold medal winner, Amy Williams dives onto her sled at Winterberg © Neil Shelby Long
Bobsleigh
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Today went well thanks. Like I said earlier, got looked after really well by the FIBT press team and got some good shots.
Belgian Womens Bobsleigh Team at Winterberg by © Neil Shelby Long
Tomorrow sees the start of the British team assault. Starting off is the womens skeleton… Hopefully more images to follow tomorrow evening.
Until then…
Swiss womens bobsleigh team at Winterberg, Germany © Neil Shelby Long
Roadtrip!
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Winterberg, Germany.
We made it. My great friend Nick and I drove through five countries yesterday to reach our destination. A long trip, but a good one, helped by stopping for a coffee in each country.
So, I’m here to photograph the Winterberg leg of the Skeleton & Bobsleigh World Cup and of course cheer on the British teams. First up will be the Ladies two man bob competition. All going well, I’ll upload some shots from the day each evening. My aim is to get some shots of the competition in a different way to the usual shots seen from the sports shooters. We’ll see how it goes.
Having a press pass is obviously a real boon and it’s amazing how the press get treated at different events by different organisers. I have to give big respect to the FIBT press team. We’ve got free wifi, coffee, soup and bread, beer, soft drinks and little goodies. Result!
Ok, until later and I have some images for you, Tschuss!