James Hardisty

My three images I have entered show my high level of technical skill, creativeness, and ability to react quickly under pressure which was certainly needed for each of these assignments.

My first image was taken at The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway - Steam Gala 2023 in March, this event takes place over four days. On this particular day the weather in Yorkshire was horrendously strong winds and drifting snow on high ground. Physically getting into this job was a concern due to the hill and the descents into Haworth. On arriving I could see one steam train had arrived at the station with others temporarily parked in the sidings I noticed engineers working in the steam train cab, then surprisingly one of the engineers Callum Walton, a locomotive engineer for Riley & Sons Ltd based in Heywood, Lancashire, walked round and stood in front of a steaming LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 No. 44871 this made of a very dramatic image on a cold winter's day.

My second image was taken in September 2023 of Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales visiting A W Hainsworth & Sons Ltd, Spring Valley Mills, Stanningley, Pudsey, Leeds. A family-owned heritage textile mill which was established in 1783 and manufactures British woollen cloth, high-performing technical textiles, and iconic fabrics. In 1958, The Princess’ great-great grandfather sold William Lupton & Co to AW Hainsworth. I was part of the press rota when Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales stopped during her visit around the factory to chat with Zeb Akhtar, a Senior Weaver Trainer at the firm. The Princesses natural ability to converse and the pairs expressions as they share a joke made a great on the day news picture which was published on the front page of The Yorkshire Post. My third image was taken in August 2023 at the Leeds West Indian Carnival. This is one of the longest running West Indian carnivals in Europe, a three-day event, climaxing in a carnival procession on Bank Holiday Monday. The Carnival always has jaw-dropping costumes, infectious tropical rhythms, mouth watering food, Caribbean Culture and entertainment for everyone. Thousands of people attend this event and many photographers, this year I wanted to try to capture a very unique and technically difficult image. My photograph shows the enjoyment etched on the face of Sophie Bennet, one of the dancers taking part in this year's Leeds West Indian Carnival. This image was captured in camera with great technical skill and knowledge of my profession - the technique used is a very slow shutter speed, then twisting the camera quickly clockwise in this case and flashing the subject, the flash freezes the blurring movement made as a result of a slow shutter speed and highlights the colours of her dress. Thousands of images will have been taken at this event by different photographers and I wanted to take a standout image from the rest which I think I achieved.