On Thursday 9th October, 22 members met outside the big top of Duffy’s circus. We were there to avail of an ‘early access’ arrangement, whereby photographers and artists could attend the performers’ warm-up session before seeing the full show. This was the third time we had attended one of these evenings (the others being late last year), and it proved to be every bit as popular and enjoyable as the previous ones.
The skill of the performers is impressive, and the acts covered everything from trapeze, juggling, archery and acrobatics to three motorbikes in a spherical cage. For the grand finale, Tom & Jamie Duffy balanced, somersaulted and skipped on a wheel of death. Of course, there was the obligatory and excellent clown.
Photography was tricky because the overall lighting was low, but there were various spotlights in the roof. The performers’ movement was constant, so fairly fast shutter speeds were needed. The only option was to push up the ISOs, it’s just as well the denoise software is so good these days.
Afterwards, everyone agreed that it was a fantastic evening with plenty of shots to go through, and all would definitely go again.
Some images (click on an image to open in full-screen mode) from the outing can be seen below:
