Events
Inverness Half Marathon
Mon Mar 15th - 10:41am
Yesterday was the Inverness Half Marathon. I went and covered it on spec, sending pics off to the papers regularly throughout the day, and staying right to the end to get pics of the 1st-place man and woman, along with plenty of info about both of them. Did a solid afternoon's work that I was very happy with.
Sadly our national papers have a reputation for not caring about the Highlands unless it's bad news, and they haven't done anything to change that reputation today. Despite over 1,100 people taking part in this race, and hundreds more turning up to watch, every single one of the national papers decided that nobody would be interested in reading about the race or seeing photos from it.
Sunday 14 March 2010: The start of the Inverness Half Marathon was signalled by members of the 105th Regiment Royal Artillery (volunteers) 212 (Highland) Battery E Troop from Arbroath, using a 105mm L118 lightgun.
Sunday 14 March 2010: Pictured are the 1st-place male and female runners in the Inverness Half Marathon. First male with a finishing time of 1h:8m:3s was 31-year-old Ben Livesey, a Nimrod navigator based at RAF Kinloss. Ben first ran and won the Inverness Half Marathon in 2006. He finished in 2nd place for the next three years, so this year he has reclaimed his crown. (Ben Livesey tel: *****) First female with a finishing time of 1h:20m:9s was 46-year-old Melissa Whyte, a staff nurse at Raigmore Hospital. This was Melissa's first time competing in the Inverness Half Marathon, although in 2009 she finished first in all three of a series of 10K races in Nairn, Elgin and Forres. She also took 1st place in another 10K race in Nairn last week. Her family is now encouraging her to take part in the London Marathon. (Melissa Whyte tel: *****)
Aviemore Sled Dog Rally 2010 event photos
Mon Jan 25th - 4:51pm
I had a rare couple of days away from news photography at the weekend when I did the event photography for the Aviemore Sled Dog Rally, which was run on snow for the first time in 15 years. I photographed most of Saturday and Sunday so there should be photos of most of the people and dogs who took part, although I didn't do the early morning stages as it was too dark.
After two late nights and most of today, I finally have 824 photos uploaded to a gallery, from where people can order prints in pretty much any format they can imagine, from small glossies to large canvases, t-shirts, mouse mats, cushions, and everything in between.
A small amount of every sale will be donated to the Husky Club. £1.25 for small prints and £1.75 for everything else. That probably won't make much of a dent in the club's running costs, but every little helps as they say!
Click here to view the gallery on Photobox
Happy New Year!
Fri Jan 1st - 1:41am
Happy New Year! Here's the annual fireworks pic, this one being from tonight's display at the Hogmanay party in Newtonmore. Blend of several exposures.
Whole Lotta Led @ Strathpeffer Pavilion
Sun Aug 17th - 1:36pm
The term "covers band" may conjure up images of naffness but Whole Lotta Led make the point of being Led Zeppelin soundalikes, not lookalikes. They give you a 2-hour experience of a Zeppelin concert without any silly wigs or oversized flares. And jolly good they are too, not just because they play the songs so well, but because they clearly love doing it.
I was at their concert in the Strathpeffer Pavilion last night to photograph the local support act, Catching Amy, but I'd asked Whole Lotta Led in advance if it would be okay to stay and photograph their set too, which they kindly agreed to let me do. This was the first concert I've photographed for several years so I wanted to have a go for practice, as well as giving the Mk3 a proper test in a low-light environment.
Here are my two favourite pictures from the night:
And here's a quick selection of others that grabbed my attention:
I'd suggested to the North Star that I could get a picture of some local folks at the concert, and on the night I decided to amp that up a bit by getting about 30 of them and both bands as well. If I was to do the same thing again I'd go for a more creative set-up and probably make the bands more prominent (they're at the back in this photo) but what I'm really trying to get to grips with nowadays is working quickly so that's what I did. Getting two bands and a big group of concert-goers all in one place at the same time was a decent achievement in itself, although unfortunately we didn't have the Whole Lotta Led guitarist as in true rock-and-roll fashion he'd wandered off and nobody knew where he was.
Jock Sutherland and Maid
Sat Aug 25th - 8:50pm
Here are two photos from the Scottish National Sheep Dog Trials which took place in Fearn near Tain over the last three days. Click either picture to view larger.
The first one shows Jock Sutherland from Durness in action with his dog Maid who at 10 years and 10 months was the oldest dog in the competition, although she was barely out of breath at the end of her trial. Jock and Maid will now go on to compete as part of the Scottish team in the International Sheep Dog Trials in County Kilkenny, Ireland in September. Maid will retire at the end of the year.
Jock mentioned that he didn't have any nice photos of Maid so I tried to get a few for him there and then, and this is my favourite. I got loads of the classic "windswept collie gazing off into the distance" pose but I think this one captured more of her personality, plus I like the slightly comical expression. I just love collies and I got to meet dozens of them today!
Harry Potter launch in Tain
Sat Jul 21st - 2:14am
My job is just the BEST fun!
21 July 2007: Staff at the Tower Bookshop in Tain really got into the spirit of the Harry Potter launch. More than 60 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the series, were sold in the Highland town at a special midnight event.
Elton John in Inverness (part 2)
Mon Jul 16th - 7:49pm
The BBC's choice of photo from the Elton John concert was a pleasant surprise as it was my personal favourite but I very nearly didn't sent it out at all as I didn't think anyone else would like it.
Click here to read the BBC article
(The fisheye photo isn't mine, just the Elton pic at the top.)
I was also covering the concert on a trial basis for Getty but they didn't take the photos. I was told that they were good but not unique enough, and they already had loads of pics of Elton from the previous night in Glasgow. Still it's another open door and maybe it will lead somewhere in future.
Here's the one wide angle pic I did of the concert. Literally. Swapped cameras, took one shot, chimped for exposure and swapped back to telephoto. I'd have loved to do some more adventurous shots but just for once I played safe and made sure I got the close-ups. Rubbish shot? Aye. But I like it…
Elton John in Inverness
Mon Jul 16th - 3:11am
Who would miss the opportunity to photograph Elton John in concert? Not me! So when he brought his Rocket Man show to Inverness I had to be there. The process started about six months ago and after countless e-mails and phone calls it finally culminated on Sunday in the most frantic nine minutes of shooting I've ever done.
Yes, nine minutes was all we got. No pictures allowed before the concert, no pictures of the support act, then we were escorted down to the stage and as soon as Elton's first song ended we were escorted out of the stadium. No press room. Nowhere to plug a laptop in. They couldn't even give us a cleaner's cupboard to work in — seriously, I asked. I think the other photographers would agree that this was the most media-unfriendly event imaginable. (But shame on the one guy who selfishly broke the rules and let the rest of us down.)
Still if you can't get some good shots of Elton in nine minutes then you're in the wrong job. The guy has style and charisma exploding out of him. Total pro, he was there to put on a show and he gave one hell of a performance. I just wish I could have seen a little bit more of it.
The anti-media policies were a letdown but Sir Elton himself has a new fan!
Tain Mussel Shell Art Project
Fri Jul 13th - 1:55pm
Last week I did this picture of shell artist Blott Kerr-Wilson to illustrate an article in the Ross-shire Journal about the Tain Mussel Art Project:
I also photographed the launch night of the project at Collegiate Church in Tain, intending the pics to be used in a gallery on the BBC web site, with captions telling the story of the project. But the BBC reporter preferred the beach pic so he decided to hold the article back until after this week's RSJ came out so he could use that picture instead.
Click here to read the BBC article
I've posted the gallery pics and captions over on Flickr. I can see that the beach pic is more eye-catching but I think of myself as a photojournalist, not just someone who makes pretty pictures. So I'd have preferred to have the gallery used instead of the beach pic but at the end of the day that's not my decision.
Click here to view the launch night photos
Truth be told, I don't begrudge the decision because I don't think photographers should decide which of their pics are used. We pay too much attention to the arty/techy side of things. People who aren't into photography are better at knowing what Joe Public wants to see so leave the decisions to them, I say. That's why it's important to always submit a selection of pics for consideration. When I first started sending pics to newspapers I'd only send my favourites and often they wouldn't be used, which can be discouraging. But when I started also sending the 'okay' ones that I didn't really like, my hit rate went up to 90% plus.
Balintore sculpture trail launch night
Wed May 16th - 2:13pm
I've put a set of unprocessed pictures from the launch night of the Balintore sculpture trail over on my Flickr page. Click here to view the slideshow.
