Once again, I was invited to take pictures of Claygate Dramatic Society's latest production here in North Surrey UK - this year it was Cinderella written by local talent Robert Edenboroough and directed by Belita Charrington.

Of course because of the little matter of the pandemic there was no such panto last year but the year before we had A Little Panto on the Prairie which frankly was the biggest load of nonsense I have enjoyed in a very long time.

Photographing live performances presents its own challenges.

On the plus side the performers are thinking about everything and anything EXCEPT you: their lines, positions, reactions and of course not bumping into the furniture. With panto,  you get the added bonus of brilliant colours and big expressions, in fact with panto quite frankly NOTHING is subtle.

However there are plenty of minuses. The lighting for one. Now I appreciate that theatre lighting can be the best, most atmospheric of all. Just look at professional theatre The lighting people are in my mind magicians at creating a mood. So on the plus side if it's a daylight scene you get bright lights and plenty of them.

However of course there is plenty of low lighting and this is where the challenges really begin. OK so if you are delivering to an amateur company you can bump up the ISO to 1000 and if you are shooting at 1/50th well you might just get away with it. Better a grainy or soft shot then no shot at all, is my mantra. This one (left, of musician extraordinaire Peter Whitehead)  for example was shot in near darkness. It was only thanks to having set my camera to RAW did I get anything at all ... and away with it!

But the real challenge is when you find a fab shot, you frame them all up beautifully, you're just about to click when....

They've moved to the other side of the stage..Blast!

But there is something utterly delightful about Panto and that's the Dames! Such wonderful makeup, such outrageous costumes and such big expressions. I cannot find the names of the performers to credit them, but thank you Esheria and Claygatia for the fun I've had editing

  Given that we are about to enter the Christmas season, I'm looking forward to photographing Ember Players'    show A Christmas Carol - Oh yes I am!!!