I was inspired by a photo that my dad took of a window display in London a few weeks ago, and so decided to go out and get some cool shots for myself. I was also inspired by the fact that my dad had let me run loose with his brand new Nikon D300 – wow, what a camera!
There are more, and better, but those are going in my portfolio which should be online, along with a new front page, by tomorrow (fingers crossed).
I’ve been going through my archive to pull out my best shots for my portfolio, so shall be uploading some of those which, though I love, haven’t made the cut.
Yes, I said sunny. Can you believe it, Edinburgh is slowly melting its way out of winter’s coat, and the sun is out to play! I saw this beautiful sky on a relaxed Sunday afternoon walk about Grassmarket. Yay to the sun. I think next year I’m going to follow these birds, and migrate south for winter.
All taken on my handbag cam, the Nikon D40 with a 50mm.
There have been quite a few of these going on, and the campaign seems to be gathering speed and support. Today there were probably 100 odd folk out nr the Royal Mile in Edinburgh protesting against Scientology.
I believe that the group are called ‘Anonymous’, and wear masks because it is believed that the Scientologists have in the past given protesters grief by tracking them down and hassling them. The group members always cover their faces for this reason.
The protesters were incredibly friendly: some were handing out cupcakes and sausage rolls, and another offered me a bunch of flowers. My flatmate calls this ‘Anarcake’ (anarchy, and cake).
Here are a couple of photos.
This week I took on work experience in press photography for the Edinburgh Evening News. A great little paper that has two editions a day, and do nice local news with some national stuff splashed in for good measure.
Having never taken photos for a news publication before, its been a steep but thoroughly enjoyable learning curve. I’ve been refreshed to be out doing new things every day, and meeting so many great photographers in the process. The joy of the work is that you’re always on the move, adapting to developing situations, or simply chatting nicely away to whoever’s portrait you’ve been sent out to capture. I’ve learnt a little new lingo: ‘GV’ is a general view, usually of a street, shop, statue etc that is being discussed in a report. ‘Spot news’ I think is photos you’re capturing of news the moment it happens – i.e being sent out with the Police for a Saturday night in town. ‘Vox Pops’ are when you go out onto the street with a reporter to canvas a response to a simple question like, ‘do you think Scottish folk are friendlier than English folk’ (example thanks to Dan), and you get a little head shot of everyone that answers – I’ve seen these so many times.
Below are some of the photos that I’ve taken out on the job with staff photographers. So many thanks to all of them, a great relaxed, talented, and cheerful team to work with!
A demonstration against the closure of several community crèche facilities’
The announcement of Ann Street in Stockbridge as being one of Scotland’s ‘Golden Postodes’
This is just a photo of a cat:
A dance teacher frustrated that the venue for her next show has been cancelled at the last minute for no good reason
The head of ‘Visit Scotland’ being interviewed for a feature on the new targets to increase tourism in Scotland (That’s Fife in the background)
The winner of the latest Big Brother with some members of ‘Young Edinburgh’ to present the results of a large research project into the opinions of young people.
A man who is going to be bringing his ‘Emotional Freedom Therapy’ to troubled children from local schools. (It involves lots of tapping on particular spots in your body whilst reciting a phrase about a physical or mental niggle that you can’t let go of – he tried it out on me rather unexpectedly)
Edmund John Edwardes Jones, a superb photographer from the Evening News, see www.ejej.co.uk
…and the man we were waiting to see, Larry Kingston a footballer for Hearts’
The barmaid from the Caledonian Ale Pub which is being knocked down on Saturday to make way for the new tramline
A statue of a sailor that has lain vandalised for years and has just been granted funding for renovation
There shall be just a few more to add tomorrow after my last day with the paper.
икони
Having posted these photos in B&W I went over the originals again. I think that they may look better in colour. The blue is particularly distinct. I like.
Si, of Etiquette fame, leant me his LensBaby a few weeks ago and I’ve been waiting for the right moment to give it a go. Last weekend down at loch lomond I happened upon an old tractor left to rust away which seemed a perfect candidate. It had been taken over by spiders and all sorts, the light was dropping fast but I had a go anyway.
I don’t know the science behind what makes this lens work, but it’s different to any other lens out there. Instead of rotating the lens to focus or zoom, you pull, twist, and shape the lens in any direction to create any number of different effects. They’re funny looking things, and produce even odder photos. See this flickr page for a whole array of lensbaby photos.
Here below is a gallery of my attempts.
Oh, and a few others from the same spot that aren’t lensbaby (except for the last one). A pretty place that Loch Lomond.
Year round, skaters come from all over Edinburgh to do their thang in Bristo square. Some people complain about the disruption, but others (like me) appreciate the active use of public space. It makes for a vibrant outdoor space that would otherwise be like every other paved space, bland, cold, and bare.
During August, however, the entire square is let out by the uni/council to provide space for an enormous inflated upside-down purple cow (the Udderbelly), which holds a performance space and the obligatory overpriced bar.
I imagine that this slightly annoys the skater kids who have the whole month of August to twiddle their thumbs and dream of the long proposed and debated Skate park in the Meadows: link
Yesterday whilst wandering over to the Queens Hall I passed through Bristo Square and was joyed to see it in its full summers evening skater glory – Long may it live.
I’m happy for them.
Here’s a shot from our day out in Preston Pans last weekend for the Fence collective gig. Click play to view a slideshow of some other photos from the day.
Superb!
