Andy Linden Mundungus Fletcher in Harry Potter

It was a great surprise and treat to see Andy Linden in the new Harry Potter film.  Alasdair came home last night raving about the film and about Andy.

We met him at the Edinburgh festival on two occasion.  In the first he tried to persuade us to visit his show which we duly did.  Andy then after the show we bumped into him in the Gilded Balloon.  He has a very memorable persona - well suited to the opening scene in HP.  He was of course a little taken aback when I whipped out my D700 and took his portrait.  How close we got is seen in this 24mm mug shot of a memorable guy.

KOS - Life is a Mark Warner Beach

I went to Kos a Greek Island on holiday.  It was meant to be a total break and a beach and sailing holiday.  Nevertheless I decided to do a mini project on it and took my Sony D100 with me.  FOr two reasons.  Firstly I wanted to do a short documentary on what it was like to be o this type of holiday, never having been on one.  Secondly I wanted to be discrete in my photo taking.  also I have a real concern of destroying camera in a beach environment.  Sand, from my experience can be the end of a camera.  As it was the Sony did not disappoint and was as discrete as I was able to be.  I still got carried away and started running around on the beach poping in an out of boat huts and such and taking images which turned heads - what is he up to?  The "bairns" don't like it either.  So I was on my best behaviour.  It was after all a holiday!!!

I have on return generated a Blurb book.  You can see it on blurb.com  called KOS 2010.  All the images were taken with a small compact camera.  Yes it is not remotely as good as the Nikon D700.  Nevertheless the best camera you have is the one you with you at the time :-)  The camera review websites are continually searching for the super compact.  The tiny camera that will replace the big camera!!!  The holly grail of cheap but not cheerful - wonderful.  Well the Sony Cybershot series has always impressed me.  They are tiny cameras.  If the light is good then they will give you a perfectly usable image which you can exhibit up to A3 in size.  For 99% of people it is what the image tells you that matters.  They are not pixel peepers and cannot tell the diference between an image from a compact and a full frame sensor.  I still cherish the images from my first cybershot which had a mere 5mp.  My current camera has 13mp. http://www.edgehill.co.uk/gallery.php?gid=7

HOG in the Glens

I attended the annual Harley Davidson rally in Aviemore this year.  It is 2 years since I last attended the rally and it has more than doubled in size.  For my style of photography it is a wonderful opportunity to follow the bikes around the countryside and capture what is a magical sight.  The atmosphere is infectious - a group of enthusiasts out there enjoying themselves in the way that only the HOG do. It is an opportunity to witness a group of mainly well to do people trying to confront their mid life crisis.  Within that there is a hard core of bikers who live the "life".  Like Jim (not his real name ;-)  who was worried about my putting his photo on the web in case the police saw it - so I have not.  Who lives as the HOG says it to RIDE  -----VROOOOOOOOOOOM.

The images hopefully tell the story.

Edinburgh Festival - Stand Up Photographer

Alasdair and I had a great three day trip to Edinburgh.  It was my first visit to the festival in 20 years.  Kinda guilty about this as it is perhaps the finest thing we do in Scotland.  Anyhow we visited a number of stand up comedians and short plays all of which without exception were enjoyable.  The plays of great note were Ian Dury "Hit Me" and Hamlet The Musical which was magnificent.  Performed on the floor in front of us behind moving partitions and puppets and singing and rapid costume changes all in an hour.

Anyhow it was  rich ground for street photography.  It felt like people had dressed up and  made up just for the photographers, which of course was not the case.  But in the backdrop of the old city it was wonderful.  Walking about and listening to street music and witnessing drama and circus acts and all the other sites and sounds.

Summer Moves to Autumn

It has been a challenging summer.  I continue to make the most of my photographic opportunities.  Whilst trying to keep up with a rapidly expanding database of images.  What do we define as "image bloat"?  I am sure it is when you cannot keep up with your rate of acquisition.  Sounds scientific?  Sounds familiar?  It is not with good reason in my case.  It is perhaps not something I am particularly proud of, but I returned from Nepal last November with 18000 images.  Ever since then I have had an overhang of unfinished business.  Not a good place to be.  Creatively stifling I would say :-)  

Well it was time to act and I have hopefully found the solution that works for me - and potentially for others.  Hence the diatribe.  I have bought a 27" iMac.  With 8GB Ram and a 2TB HD.  I have opted to run Aperture 3.0  as my tool of productivity choice.  And so far I am both mightily relieved and very impressed by it.  Many of the reviews focus in on the software, however the uplift you get comes as much from the quality and size of the screen.  Put another way you can look at a lot of images at a decent size that allow you to select the image you are looking for.  In a big image set like Nepal 2009 I have found that I can stand back and follow the progress of my journey with greater clarity - exciting?  Astounding really to me a year after to see the breadth and scope of my trip.

So to celebrate here is an image that has emerged from the depths of my hard drive.  Also a quick :homage" to Rick who made the first ascent of the North Face (behind)

Dhaulagiri NE Face at Sunrise

Glastonbury 40 and 2

It was our second year of father and son bonding at Glastonbury.  It was fabulous in 2009 and again in 2010.  People who imagine a mudbath or a group weirdo hug would be disappointed.  It is none of these things.  Instead it is a wonderful chilled walk through the finest in contemporary music and performing arts and more besides.  In one word it is an event.  Alasdair and I savoured the enjoyment of shooting in the dark with the D700. 

I have to say that I am still overwhelmed by the experience of seeing the Bombay Bicycle Club, The XX, Florence and her dancing machine and Muse but particularly Stevie Wonder dueting with Michael Eavis.  Almost too much to absorb and am still trying to understand my photographs.  Prince Charles was as always charming.

Alasdair spent 8 hours standing at the barrier of the John Peel tent on the Saturday  photographing and photographing and never stopping. 

Here is a first few images by way of a starter.  More and deeper later  :-)

The Glastonbury roads at night

England Hair

Spotty Tent

Glastonbury Street

Boys