Round-up of photos for local papers

Here are some of the photos I've done for the local papers recently.

This cheque presentation was for the Ross-shire Journal, showing a group of golfers who had raised money for the Highland Hospice. I tried to put a bit of interest into the picture with a multi-layer arrangement and I can tell myself that it sort of worked, but I know it didn't. Not a terrible photo, but it's obvious that I didn't know how to do what I was trying to do. (First attempt though so cut me some slack!)

This pic for the North Star shows a group of scouts and Co-op volunteers who were doing a beach clean in Tain. Oh what lovely lighting. NOT. I'd planned to do the photo on the beach but it was constantly raining so we played safe and did it in the scout hut before the clean-up started. I couldn't even bounce the flash off the ceiling so I'm afraid this is good old direct on-camera flash, complete with specular highlight on the back wall. Class!

Kids with reading certificates at Tain library, photo for the Ross-shire Journal. Not a bad little group set-up although it would have been better with a couple of kids standing at the front on either side to fill in those gaps. I did quickly try that at the end and indeed it was a much better composition but we ended up with one kid obscured so this is the shot that was used.

This pic of the Craighill Gaelic choir, taken at the end of the Gizzen Briggs primary schools concert, was my attempt at doing the sort of set-up that Derek does so well. Not bad but not really in the same league, is it? Pic was for the Ross-shire Journal. I did it without flash, relying on stage lighting, a slow shutter speed and my inhumanly steady hand. And look at those kids — every one of them looking at the camera! Very impressive.

Consider that this next photo took 95 minutes and 30 seconds. The 90 minutes was the time I had to hang around to make sure I was there as soon as the kids were ready for the photo. The 5 minutes was the time it took to set-up the lighting and round-up the kids. And the 30 seconds was the time I was allowed to actually do the photo. Throw another 30 seconds in there and I'd have been able to re-position the boy at the back and we'd have had a much better composition, but as usual with schools it was rush rush rush. Shame, this could have been a great photo. As it is, I'd say it's only saved by the great smiles and the nice colours.

Made the front page of the Ross-shire Journal though

And last but not least, mums and toddlers at a playgroup that faces closure due to funding cuts. The brief was to avoid smiles, not usually a problem with pics of toddlers, but to keep them interested we had to keep the spirits up so check out the mothers: Smiles all round! Oh well, sometimes you simply can't get the pic that you were asked to get. Done for the North Star.