CLUB promoter Terry George began taking photos of punters at his first bar in Leeds, but he never imagined that, in just a few years, he'd end up with an exhibition at a trendy Chorlton art gallery.

"It was something I started doing as a hobby," Terry says. "I'd take pictures of the customers in the bar and display them on the walls.

"Then I started doing it at the clubs and posting the pictures on the website. They were really popular and suddenly there was an immense amount of hits."

Terry, who lives between Manchester and Leeds and promotes club nights in both cities including Federation at The Ritz, decided to learn more about photography.

He went to night school and quickly picked up the basics of camera handling, covering a few local events to gain experience. But it was a holiday to Rio de Janeiro for the annual carnival that really fired his imagination.

Television

"You absolutely have to go there if you haven't been," he says. "You see it so much on television but nothing compares to how actually being there makes you feel. It's the expression on people's faces - from babies to pensioners - and the music which goes from eight at night until eight in the morning."

Terry was so pleased with the snaps he took from the sidelines that he made it his mission to get proper photography access to the carnival the following year.

"The parade takes place in the 'Samba Zone', not just in the street, which is a purpose-built, seated stadium about a mile long," he explains. "It's incredibly tight to get in at all, never mind onto the main runway. But I made an application for the credentials."

The photos immediately attracted the attention of the Brazilian tourist board, who asked if they could use them for publicity. This, in turn, attracted the attention of a German publishing company, who offered Terry a deal for a 120-page coffee table book.

"They offered me a reasonable price for the pictures, but to be honest if they'd have asked for them for free I'd have said yes!" he laughs. "I was just so happy that someone had taken an interest."

Stunned

The fact that the photos are now going to be displayed in a gallery is something that leaves Terry "still stunned".

"Initially there was no space at the Troubadour for two years," Terry says. "But the people at the gallery saw the book and the pictures and liked them so much they slotted me in earlier."

And the exhibition's opening night certainly sounds like it has been organised with a flamboyant fiesta spirit.

"I wanted to express how the carnival is the highlight of my year," Terry says.

"It's a huge adrenaline rush, and there is so much passion there. We're going to have a Brazilian band called Embossa, and dancers in costume, and lots of Brazilian food and Brahma beer," he adds excitedly.

With his experience, I imagine he's a man who knows how to throw a decent party.

The exhibition is at Troubadour Gallery, Beech Road, Chorlton (718 9174) from Friday, August 11 (6pm-8pm) and runs until Sunday, September 24. Normal gallery opening hours 11am-5pm. The book Samba! Samba! Samba! Carnival in Rio is published by GmbH and includes four music CDs. Tweet