Brian Harte People Photographer

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This year I was invited again to take the official party photographs for the Ilkley Candlelighters fund raising Ball at Rudding Park.

The Ilkley Candlelighters raise funds throughout the year in order to purchase equipment and fund treatment of children suffering from cancer.

The Ball a glamorous event and the committee set the benchmark high.

It’s a time to let your hair down, enjoy the entertainment and of course raise money for a great cause too.

There was a lot of balloons and it quickly became a sport to let them off cause as much mayhem as possible!

Auctioneer Jon Hammond whipped up the crowd in to a frenzy.

with bidding war’s for star prizes happening all around me…

Dancing seemed to be a major theme on the evening

with even a little dancing on the tables going on

The year the band was The Bogus Brothers who were a real party band!

As well as the band in The Radcliffe Room there was more entertainment including casino, multiplayer wii racing and pitch & putt

One of my favourite shots from the evening was an in love couple cuddling and laughing.

In total the night raised over £36000. I donated a prize to the auction which helped raise £800.

Along with taking the photos from the ball I also take the photographs which are used in the brochure to show the good work of the charity. Two of the photos from last year are now used on the main Candlelighters website.

Login with password candle2010 to see this years Ball photos

This week has been charity week for me. Not only have I been involved with the Ilkley Candlelighters Christmas Fair, I was also delighted to attend and take photographs for Anita Massarella’s evening of glamour and entertainment which raised money for The Acorn Charity.

Anita is celebrating her 20th year as a leading fashion designer and the evening was compered by Gaynor Barnes from Yorkshire Television.

After a Champagne reception everyone was ushered in to the Radcliffe Room. The Fashion show kicked off with a catwalk show of Anita’s new and old designs from both her wedding and evening wear collections.

Being a people photographer I like to see faces in photos but some of these dresses have to be seen from the back to really appreciate them.

The dresses were perfect for the models to enjoy swirling around…

And sometimes there was so much dress I got lost in the material!

Moving around gave me a chance to use the light to make a more atmospheric photograph.

The models were great but the real stars of the night were the past clients and brides of Anita who graciously offered to model their wedding and evening dresses one more time.

The show ended with a human beatbox group playing out the models.

The night was organised in aid of the Acorn charity who are a local charity supporting those affected by dementia and scleroderma.

As well as the fashion show there was a charity raffle with many donated prizes.

Once the show had finished the dresses were packed away.

But the night was still you and many people stayed on to party…

…with music performed by the Jazz trio Around Midnight (01484 608388).

If my eye’s don’t deceive me the trio turned in to a 5 piece band for the evening!

I had a great evening and as I was leaving I took a photo of the impressive entrance to Rudding Park.

The fashion show urn flowers were generously supplied by Joanna McCrea from Twisted Willow flowers.

The Ilkley Candlelighters 2009 Ball photos at Rudding Park are now online and a contribution from every order will go to the Candlelighters fund.

The photos can be found at http://brianharte.jambino.com with the password candlelighters2009

Thank you to Andrew McMillan, wedding photographer in Crawley Sussex, who has sent me his photos to place online alongside mine. Andrew has been giving his time to the Candlelighters photos for 14 years and has handed me the reigns after moving down to Crawley.

Thank you Andrew for your help on the night and I’ll hold you to your promise of a guest appearance at the ball in the future!