Whilst I had applied for a media pass some weeks earlier, it was only a few days before the event that I decided to go. This was my third Birdman and will probably be my last. I really enjoyed my two days at Bognor in 2007, the organisers cavalier attitude to health and safety and the great people I photographed made it special. At Bognor I was allowed on the “flight deck”. At Worthing media are herded into one place where it is practically impossible to capture any really special images. That said, I did meet some great characters who had gone to a lot of trouble with their appearance and their “transport”.
It seems pretty obvious to me that if you are going to jump off with some contraption you need to part company with it early in your descent – and it needs to be sufficiently flimsy so that if it lands on top of you you will live to tell the tale! As was reported in the national newspaper the Daily Mail the day after “the seaside stunt by former children’s TV presenter Holly Walsh ended in disaster yesterday”. Jumping with “gravy wrestling champion” Joel Hicks, inside a mock helicopter (see image below) she fractured her elbow and dislocated her shoulder.” They were raising money for the Rainbow Children’s Hospice. How sad that such a brave and noble act should end this way.
Photographically speaking it was not a good day. When the jumping started the sky had turned English grey, forcing up the ISO to keep reasonable speeds with resultant loss of quality and bland skies.
I did have some good luck however. Presumably attracted by the Birdman publicity, a pretty little parrot appeared from nowhere and hung around long enough for me to take a couple of shots before flying off.
The Town Cryer is the real thing!
.jpg "lady_in_pink")
.jpg "bird10_1")
.jpg "town_cryer")
