I-Fest report number 1

I'm gonna have to do a couple of these to try and explain how the week went. It was a great time and I want to try and share different aspects of the week with you.

Firstly it was great to take Pierre and the gang outside and see them in different surroundings. Here you can see Pierre hanging around on campus. I also managed to get some photos of the other puppets we took out and about (see bottom of post)

My wife and I were invited to take part in the performance on the international evening, this was a fantastic opportunity to share our style of puppetry with the whole festival crowd. There were about 35 people at I-Fest who were international guests so it was nice to have been one of the three teams chosen to perform. You can see a picture of Pierre on stage on Puppetgirl's blog. After the International evening there was a reception for all the international guests... this was a great chance to meet other puppeteers from all over the globe. Possibly the most bizarre thing was meeting another couple from the UK who are full time puppeteers who I had never met before! Funny how these things happen.

More to follow, but that's all for now.
Take care - Dave

Checking in from I-Fest

I'm sitting here in a computer room in the College where I-Fest is being held... and i've just found Internet access so I thought I would post a quick blog on here.
It's been a great week so far with loads of great feature performers and lots of workshops and competitions to join in. It's great to meet so many other performers and share ideas and experiences (there are about 750 people here). I really look forward to getting home and down loading my photos so I can share some of the experience with you a bit better.
Last night was the blacklight (UV puppetry) competition and there were 10 entries! all in the competition took about 2 hours to get through... that's a lot of blacklight! I didn't even try to get any photos as using flash photography spoils the effect and sadly they all get camera-shake unless the puppet is standing perfectly still (which isn't going to happen).
We leave on Sunday so we will probably not be posting anything up until about Tuesday when we have recovered, but photos will follow that's for sure.
Take care - David

I-Fest here we come!

I have mentioned before that I will be going to I-Fest this year with my wife Shelley. It's going to be a great time and we are really looking forward to it. I have just got home from visiting the local post office to pick up some US dollars in anticipation of picking up a bargain in the exhibits hall. As I was picking up the money I had a bit of a think back to all the visits to I-Fest I had made before when I was younger. I went 5 times between the ages of 16 and 21... it was great, it was a really good place to watch and learn from very experienced puppeteers who were happy to help and encourage you on. I will try and take lots of photos over the next week so I can share some of the moments with you all... and i'm sure there will be time for a quick video at some point.

If you're going to I-Fest, i'll see you there!
All the best - Dave

ps Happy Independence Day to all across the pond!