When I attended Bing’s “Your Britain” photography competition and met Mr Dizzee Rascal!

With 8,500 photos submitted and over 120,000 votes by members of the public, a national photography competition held by Microsoft’s Bing.com came to an end when Carl Haynes’s photo of cyclists inside a tunnel was picked by judges as their favourite! The competition was launched by Dizzee Rascal, who has taken time off his music career to relax and make more time for his hobbies – with photography being one of his favourites. As part of the project, he went around the country snapping images of places which have inspired him throughout his life, many of which are displayed on Bing.com.

The moment he came on stage at the event he addressed the crowd by saying, “No need to look so serious!” which made us all laugh and then talked to us a bit more about the project. When it came to announcing the runners-up and winner, he presented each of them with a cheque and shouted “MONEY!”, haha. You could not help but laugh at his bluntness. The winner was awarded with £10,000! After the presentation was over, Dizzee worked his way around the crowd, spending time with us. I was lucky enough to talk to him and get an autograph. He was very friendly and if you have ever seen him on TV, you will know he is quite a funny man who speaks from the heart, and says what he feels. Well he is the same in real life as he is on TV! :]

Here are some photos! Let’s start off with the “No need to look so serious!” photo.

Announcing the runners-up.

One of many photos picked as favourites.

The overall winning image, by Carl Haynes who said: “I am delighted to have won the Bing Your Britain photography competition. The image is a snapshot of Britain through my eyes and for me, the blurred pair on bikes evokes a feeling of a progressive nation. I love the idea of seeing a trajectory or path from where the riders have come from to where they are heading – that’s what makes this picture work for me.”

A video showing Dizzee going around, taking photos and talking about them.

My tweet about the event was beamed live on the big screen!

I spent the entire evening having a chat with these two wonderful ladies who are fellow bloggers! It’s Ree (www.reallyree.com) and Sarah (www.burntheblonde.com)! Also met up with J’ara (www.lasugarlace.com). A few weeks ago, we all had an evening dinner together at Claridge’s. Had a delightful time being in their company again. I LOVE these girls. :]

Food! I don’t think ANYONE will believe me when I say this but I actually resisted ALL of these! Yes I am mad. I did drink though.

Finally, the autograph!

If you love photography, you can look at some of the public’s favourites photos by clicking here. See photos taken by Dizzee here.