Saturday was my last day watching over the gallery. It was such a great day I really didn’t want it to end. I got to Costa coffee at 9:45 for a pint of hot chocolate, then asked security to open the gallery for me. The switched the lights on and by 10am the gallery was up and running. By 10:05am it was full of life. I have no idea where these people came from at such an early hour but it was great to see it. By 10:30 I had chatted to a really nice guy about my HDR work. The day was just so much fun. Kids ran around screaming because their voice echoed. People seemed to appear from out of nowhere as they looked around the gallery. One of the other photographers, Ben also helped look after the gallery and was great to chat to about how weird some people were, how nice others were and general photo stuff. I was really surprised when my neighbours dropped in but that was lovely to see. My cousin also dropped by later which was also great. The gallery was constantly busy because the Clipper Round the world race starts next week from Liverpool and the boats arrived in the Albert Dock on Saturday. It was a media circus and you could easily see that it brought in the tourists. I was outside getting some shots and just had to point out to passers by about a certain fantastic gallery that was open.

By 4pm I realised that I only had 1 hour left before we were due to close. I really didn’t want it to end. Just watching people go around, talking to people about the project, it was brilliant. I then decided to get some extra shots. For the most part I had stood back and took photos of the gallery with a wide angle. This was partly because I was a bit shy but it occurred to me that on the wall was proof that I’m not shy. I grabbed my camera and got stuck in getting closer shots, expressions, emotions and people looking at the photos. Some Italian girls seemed a bit scared of my camera, and it was a little hard trying to explain to them that I was the black and white guy but I think the message got across. They were all smiling after they left and took loads of holiday snaps. By 5:30pm we were still open and just as busy as 2pm. By now the really weird things happened. A guy came in with his shopping from Iceland. I don’t even know where the nearest Iceland is in Liverpool. Another guy came in with his bike. It got even weirder when I saw people posing by the photos as if they were a tourist attraction. However the absolute nicest thing happened. Two girls, one from Brazil who didn’t speak English, posed in front of my photos and took a photo of them smiling. You know the sort of “Here’s us at London Bridge” tourist snap. I was just so happy. It was a little strange but the nicest compliment ever. We closed at 6pm and went off for a tour of a clipper boat. The people who do that race are insane basically. It has to be the most amazing and terrifying trip ever. I know I should support the Liverpool 08 boat, but go Qingdao. Crazy crazy people. It’ll be great to photograph the start next week and I really look forward to the finish in a year. Our little gallery closes today and its a shame its not open longer. The website should hopefully maybe launch tomorrow and I hope this is only the start of things for this project. Thanks again to everyone involved, especially Mark McNulty for inviting me to participate. Its been brilliant.