The snow came down (again and again in December) and Carol and Stewart nearly didn’t get to Edinburgh.

A 4.5 hour train journey from Lonodn was 8 hours in the end – along with a unexpected train change half way. But they arrived in the end the day before and I met them for a chat to go through their plans for the day which was  just the two of them and two close frineds from Edinburgh.

Stuart is a Warrant Officer with the RAF and qualified to get married at ‘ the army rate’  at Edinburgh Castle.

Wow what a fantastic day it turned out to be. Clear blue skies on a crip winter’s day and Edinburgh Castle looked stunning.  And I’d arranged with ‘William Wallace’ aka Braveheart to greet them after the wedding!

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Was pleased to get the assignment to cover this years conference in Edinburgh.

DDL – Drug Delivery to the Lungs has been a long standing event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and is organised by a voluntary committe from various companies and The Aerosol Society.

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DDL   The Aerosol Society

Food shoot for Krua Thai Cookery School in Edinburgh on behalf of an international food importer in London. The brief was for clear simple shots with wide focus range and simple staging to go with recipe cards.

The images were shot at a large window with the light diffused through a white opaque cloth, mostly with light being bounced back from white card and/or suppllemented by led white light torch and/or silver foil. However by 3pm light faded fast and was then lit by daylight flourescent bulb in a reflector.

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One of the gains of photography is the various experiences of meeting those you come in contact with.

From a recent enquiry through a business listing web site for Cpl Stevie Gibb, and in competition to other photographers, I won the opportunity of covering the Homecoming Ball for the Corporals Mess of 1 Scots at Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh in Oct 2010. The Royal Scots Borderers is the name given to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS). 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Scots_Borderers

From this I ended up doing the group (80!!) photo for the Regimental Sergeant Majors’ (RSM) In/Out dinner – a dinner for the leaving RSM and incoming RSM. This particular event was delayed as the outgoing RSM was in Afghanistan. I was also asked to cover a second Ball – this for the Sergeant’s and Officers Mess the following Saturday.

I think this was my first ever ‘touch point’ with the army, a barracks, the various ranks, civilian access to a barracks and more. From a life in (hospitality) business and now photography, this was a new world. At every point of contact all I can say what a great ‘bunch of guys’ and I include Sgt Sarah Learmonth (who booked me for the Sgt’s Mess Ball). And at one time exiting the barracks had good chat with the MOD guards.

Anyway both evenings were a pleasure to do. Ball gowns and smart uniforms were the order of the evening. I was there to photograph couples and groups, unfortunately with not the best of backgrounds. The huge gym was transformed with marquee interior drapes, balloons and lighting.

I found out that on the Saturday afternoon of the Sgt’s Ball there was the Homecoming Parade from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Park where there was to be the medals presentation by the Lord Provost and Brigadier Richard Felton and other top army officers. Through my contact at Dreghorn with Sgt Major Mo Morrison I offered to photograph the parade and ceremony for free and make the pictures available.

An exhausting run/stop/run down the Royal Mile following the troops ended with the medal’s presentation in Holyrood Park for all who had just returned Afghanistan.

Already there in Holyrood Park were the injured soldiers and I was shocked to discover one young man there waiting to accept his medal and who had lost both legs and most of his fingers. Some other photographers took his individual picture but I couldn’t and instead took one of him being video interviewed – shown below. Seeing these guys was humbling, a full realisation in the flesh of what is sacrificed on our behalf. And whilst the able bodied in their ranks opposite also received their campaign medals, they will also have come back with their own memories of their 6 months tour – and not least of 3 comrades killed in this time.

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I covered this, the 3rd of the EuropaBio conference at the 5 star Sheraton Grand & Spa in Edinburgh with a drinks reception at Edinburgh Castle.

350 delegates pretty well filled the main room. Lighting on the stage was a challenge to say the least (none) but was able to direct the flash directly to a near white ceiling which resulted in light coming from above the speakers and with the bounce card out it worked out OK.

See here for some short interviews filmed on the first day and here for some interesting stuff on the way tyres may be made in the future.

I received an enquiry from Julian Davies, Managing Director of Sears Davies Limited , a London creative agency, back in October last year I guess. Their client is Axiom Advocates, one of Scotland’s leading advocates who have acted in the majority of significant commercial and public law cases over the past 30 years.

I met with Julian and the client who are based in the Advocates Library at (old) Parliament House early 2010. To get away from the more traditional backgrounds of law, libraries, court attire etc, we agreed on one of the shared meeting facilities they use further down The Royal Mile.

The brief was to capture more or less portrait style images but in a less formal style. Nothing too distracting in the backgrounds – not direct camera facing – relatively informal and even to some shots with jackets off – lighting not overplayed. From each shot selected the agency would later crop to the subject with another person/s off centre and out of focus – probably more than I have in my examples below. We set up 8-9 sessions with 5-6 people each time over 3 days (over the summer to fit holidays and availability of the QC’s and lawyers and the practise managers) and simulated a meeting.

My initial task (apart from setting up the room and some dichroic uplighters to break the bland walls) was to relax the ‘sitters’. Some were cool and others a little self conscious so I set them on subjects to talk about so that they could hopefully ignore me and moved some around to get better angles during each session. I kept lighting quite simple – there were two large windows with blinds that I faced the slats down a bit which gave good natural light and on most shots I then used flash on manual, 1/4 – 1/2 power and bounced it off a wall or the ceiling. All shot RAW and typically ISO 200-250, f 4.0 and 80-100 sec.

Below show the shots as taken and then as I think they may be used by Sears Davies in print and for the new web site.

Commissioned as ‘official photographer’  (well have to brag a bit!) by Lotus UK on behalf of The Spanish Tourist Board for this year’s Taste of Spain by the galleries on The Mound. The mornings  photos were ftp’d to the news desks at lunchtime.

Flash slideshow here and static images on Taste of Spain Facebook page.

Thanks to Kate and Jules from Lotus UK .

Taste of Spain Edinburgh

Sarah and Stuart were nearly not the ‘main attractions’ at their own wedding  judging by the four boys, two of whom were the Pageboys.  

Lovely little wedding  in the City of Edinburgh Suite at Lothian Chambers. Then some pictures down by the galleries on The Mound and then on to the hotel.  

Page boy before the ceremony

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From first meeting Charlene when she was supporting her hotel’s charity event at the Clan Gathering in Edinburgh in July last year time has flown by. Asking if I would cover her wedding in Edinburgh, it seemed an age away.

But on 2 July 2010, after photographing her and family at her mother’s house, she tied the knot with Kris at St Patrick’s church in Canongate, then on to Salisbury Craggs for photos and then to the reception at Prestonfield Golf Club.

Super wedding to do and a super day – thanks Charlene and Kris.

Glorious day up by the Salsibury Craggs

Cute!

At Prestonfield Golf Club

I’m well pleased that ECB (Edinburgh Convention Bureau) chose one of my pictures for the front cover of their new Blueprint – the essential guide to hotel and conference venues as well as conference support services in Edinburgh. The guide is distributed to conference buyers and organisers around the world.

This and other Edinburgh images are available on my gallery.

Blueprint conference guide for Edinburgh