Just over two years ago I photographed Darren Goldsmith between performances of Northern Ballet's Beauty and the Beast at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. Today, after 21 years with the company, Darren will take to the stage with Northern Ballet for the last time. He's dancing Hook in their fantastic production of Peter Pan at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. I wish I was there, I love Hook, there's a wig and a frock coat and something brilliantly arrogant, or arrogantly brilliant.

I first saw Northern Ballet at the Marlowe when I was 13 years old (it was Romeo and Juliet!), our class at school was invited to see the warm-up in the afternoon and I was instantly a fan. So I've watched Darren dance for all of those 21 years and his retirement will leave some very big shoes to fill, it has always been a delight to watch him perform. There's too many fabulous performances to list, but Scrooge in A Christmas Carol is something that will always be ingrained on my memory. And crawling down the back wall of the old Marlowe, the first time i saw him as Dracula. Oh and Tybalt and wearing a fabulous coat in The Nutcracker and being viscous and brilliant and vile in Hamlet.... but mainly Scrooge........ ......... and Dracula!!

He's also a really decent guy who's about as obsessed with cameras as I am, knows a stack about a lot of things and it's really nice to chat whenever our paths cross. 😀

This is a crop of one of the shots I abandoned from that shoot, looking back it's the shot I wanted to take, it's the framing I should have made in camera. I like the directness of his expression and the beginning of an almost-smile.

As they say, hindsight's a wonderful thing, or a bitch, depending on how you look at it!! ;-)

So what do you say, to someone who's just been getting on with doing the thing they do?

Maybe just this...

Thank you. Watching you dance has been a blast.