Not quite ‘baltic’ but the sun did make an appearance to take a bit of the chill off so that photos could take place outside the Kirk in Currie. Umm… it was May 1st!!

I assisted Maria Falconer (Maria Falconer Photography) at a wedding for 150 guests at the church and afterwards in the decked out church hall nearby.  As ever the children take the best shots – maybe.

Umm…   I said ‘JUMP ‘ and, well, jump they did!

Cool – a hotel General Manager, a Director of a premier Scottish catering company, a hospitality consultant, the MD of a top events company, the PA of a chain of boutique hotels, the Editor of a Scottish catering magazine, top PR company MD, all managed on my command to hit the air at the same time. Took two shots – and they had barely had time to have a drink before the evening started.

I was covering the HIT Dinner in Glasgow for the second year - 18 March 2010.

Prestige Scotland invited staff from the Edinburgh Convention Bureau for a ‘hard hat’ tour of the new John Hope Gateway building at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Due to open in the Autumn it is a quite stunning building and as you can imagine for The Botanics, built as a shining example of green construction and sustainability.

Main staircase built entirely from wood (it disconcertingly flexes when using it) at John Hope Gateway at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Edinburgh Convention Bureau view new John Hope Gateway at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

 John Hope Gateway and Prestige Scotland and Edinburgh Convention Bureau.

The ASME annual conference dinner was held at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh last week. Welcomed in Scottish style by a piper, delegates and partners enjoyed a champagne reception and dinner in the Surgeons Hall. Afterwards, they had an exclusive opportunity to visit the world famous Pathology Museum. Scotland’s largest medical museum houses one of the most significant surgical collections in the world. William Playfair’s outstanding Pathology Museum, the oldest in Britain, contains human anatomical and pathological specimens from the late 18th century. More >>

Surgeon's Hall at Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh

Delegates from New Zealand

Chaired by Terry Smith, the Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign was set up to have a statue of Sir Keith Park placed on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square in London. On 5 May as part of a flight following the same flight path as Sir Keith did in May 1919 Terry Smith, Chief Executive of specialist broker Tullett Prebon, and the great great nephew of Keith Park, flew in a Socata T20 Trinidad light plane to Edinburgh as one of the stopping points.

Actually Terry Smith had just been bidding for one of the last flying Spitfires in order to stop it going abroad but was pipped at the last minute – thankfully though to a UK buyer. However when I got the commission for this shoot it was expected that he would have the Spitfire for the flight and I was due to photograph the arrival at Edinbugrh Airport.

Pictured are Terry Smith,  Terrence Stevens (great great nephew) and Pilot Officer Norman Brown RAF and a Battle of Britain veteran. Young air cadets joined the party at Edinburgh’s 5 star Balmoral Hotel.

Terrence Stevens & Norman Brown at the Balmoral Hotel

Air Cadets join the welcome party at The Balmoral Hotel

I received a lovely letter from Jean Hotchkis following their celebrations at Edinburgh’s 5 star Caledonian Hotel for which I was delighted to be asked to take photos for the evening.

“16 March 2009. Dear Simon, My husband and I would like to thank you so much for all the effort you put into the photography for our diamond wedding celebration. The results are excellent and will contribute a great deal to our memories of a very happy event. Yours sincerely, Jean Hotchkis.”

About 50 family members of all ages and from the UK and abroad joined to celebrate. I was asked to take family group shots and cross family generation shots, as well as the whole group on the hotel’s grand staircase.

A great night which I enjoyed covering.

 Funny where life takes you. I had worked at the Caledonian Hotel many many years previously as Personnel Manager and then Conference and Banqueting Manager in the good old days of British Transport Hotels when Donald McLeod was the General Manager.