Rainy Day People #4

I had a successful exhibition during the Edinburgh Festival last year as part of the Edinburgh283 collective. A group of us came together to create our visual interpretations Edinburgh for the 283 days of the year when there are no festivals on. My 'Rainy Day' series sold well and their were requests as to whether there were any more. I've been revisiting the images and thought this one worked well.

My first exhibition!

I've had such a busy time of it this year that the photography has been taking a back seat behind family, work and road cycling. But now, bubbling up to the surface comes my first proper taking part in a proper exhibition type thing. I was asked by a work colleague, Rebecca, to contribute to an Edinburgh Festival exhibition with a group of other photographers. We are all connected somehow or other though the arts and the theme is 'the other 283 days of the year' or however many it is that the festival isn't in town. While it has a cultural theme it is really about living in Edinburgh and we've all taken different viewpoints. Here are my 3. If you can make it along to The Zoo, we are there from the 7th until the 31st August.

http://www.zoofestival.co.uk/shows/09/edinburgh%20283

Best Day Out In Scotland

Robert Louis Stevenson had a grudge against the Scottish weather, in particular here on the east coast, which he described as having 'one of the vilest climates under heaven'. Here is a shot taken at the end of July looking across to the promenade in Kirkcaldy. RLS got the summer spot on: 'shifty and ungenial'. The cold sea fog is called the haar and it appears out of the east, a spiteful gift from the north sea when the sun shines and dares to warm our faces. I've got it into my head that we must somehow anger the sun god, to whom I am particularly worshipful.

the art of cheap cameras (1)

Here are some pictures from the first roll of film taken with my 'new' point and shoot, a Rollei Prego with a fixed 35mm lens. It cost £5.01 from Ebay and has no instructions and smells of pipe tobacco. But hey, it's a point and shoot. Having said that it does have some rather nifty little modes, like the ability to take a photo overy 30 secs, 10 mins or 30 mins. The film is Agfa apx100 in xtol for those of you that are interested, and I've made a few photoshop tweaks. My favourite is the one of the church and collapsed shed. Somehow the roof stayed in tact.

I am in search of the camera I can have with me at all times and thought I'd try a few out so the Rollei is the first and is on trial. I'm already a fan as I have a Rolleiflex TLR which is nothing short of fantastic. In spite of partly embracing digital I still get annoyed by 0's and 1's inability to restrain tonal ranges. A lot of my images are taken by the sea and digital just seems to blow out. My ideal scenario - a small, palm sized, film PAS with a class lens and a shutter with no lag.

Shorelines

Junior Church

I was taking some pictures of a lovely, snow covered church at Inverduie, by Aviemore. It was one of those moments where you see a scene from the car, stop to take a photo; but it doesn't work out. This caravan, tucked away behind the church, interested me more.

Gas Tank

I've been developing a few ideas, one of which is photos from moving windows. Here is a gas tank that supplies ships at Burntisland, Fife. I'm trying to get a feel of what I see each day that interests me. Part of the remit of daydreamers. If you want to see some really great images of views from moving trains then check out Walker Evans' series.