Tiger Tiger stock

New images on stock site Alamy from a recent editorial shoot for Country Life. The white stately home is Blair Castle and the village Blair Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland.

Gobsmacked 2

Following up on my earlier blog piece about a magazine wanting an image for nothing......

As I said 'I went about my business..' Well I headed out to the nearby Water of Leith and re-introduced myself to the delights of shooting some personal work. As usual it was a mixed bag as regards results with only two cutting the grade for me, one of which is here (bottom). The other two are from a previous trip to Ardnamurchan.

These 3 and others are to be offered for sale as part of the Artemis Highland 100, a charity fund raising effort in which I'm going to cycle 80 odd kilometres on and off road for CHAS and Cancer Research UK in September. I'll also be offering portrait sessions.
Details soon.

Ta but No to AllMediaScotland.

There's something bugging me about AllMediaScotland's new website and their offerings. I've been checking into the site on a regular basis since it's re-launch and have been itching to place an entry in the Talent directory. Itching isn't doing though. The directory now has 8 photographers listed, each paying £20 per year  to get there. This compares to a much fuller list in the original iteration of AllMediaScotland where we paid £10 for a years listing.

But the increased charge isn't what's giving me the rash. It's the fact that AllMedia seem to be playing gamekeeper and poacher at the same time. Looking deeper into their site you'll see that they offer the services of an 'award winning team of photographers' to suit all potential clients media needs. Unfortunately there are no photographs on display to illustrate the talent on offer so we must take them on their word. They also offer various design services but again without showing a portfolio from the award winning designers or 'celebrated' magazine designer .

But here's where my rash is coming from. They price this service. For £299+VAT you get  'A photography shoot of up to two hours on location, with all expenses, including travel, included' plus either burning to disk on location (sometimes call Dump and Run) or same day post production. Now I charge a bit more than that. But not too much more, in fact per half day or day my hourly rate is lower. But I'd never offer my day or half day rate to include all travel and expenses included in that figure. Nor to commit to post production for free without first seeing a brief and knowing the nature of what's required. So if the AllMedia photographers were to run up £100 of expenses/travel their initial fee would be the ridiculously low mount of £199 in reality.

Hurrah my itch has gone. Gone because of course AllMediaScotland isn't where I should be listing my services. If someone wants to work for these rates with these offerings then fine. If someone wants to commission them then fine. (Photographers looking for a fees calculator can download one here). No it's not for me because why should I spend money to list myself on a website that's promoting competitors offering what can only be a much reduced service at what seems to be hugely reduced fees? Given today's budget led rather than creative led commissioning will anyone on the list offering an upmarket service stand any chance of getting calls?

In fact all you get for your £20 is a link to your website. That's an expensive bit of SEO. Time to rethink it?

A walk around Edinburgh's QuarterMile

Old hospitals never die, they just move away. Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary closed it's doors a few years ago and moved to the idyllic sounding Little France on the outskirts of the city. There it continues it's proud role in the city's health care. Founded by charter in 1736 this is in fact it's second major move with the recently vacated site at Laureston Place being occupied since 1879. See Wikipedia for a fuller history.
Recession or not the site is now being developed as a 'village within Edinburgh' with a mix of residental, recreational and office use. Situated just north of The Meadows and south of the city centre the site will no doubt prove very popular when it's completed over the coming years.
And as the development isn't finished so my 360º Virtual Tour also includes corners that haven't been touched. There are two formats available; Flash or Quicktime. Flash has a slightly lower filesize while Quicktime is higher quality but doesn't seem to like the Firefox Browser. And with Quicktime you should enable 'hotspots' for each scene to see where to click through for the next POV, while it's obvious with Flash.

'You'll have had your tea'

There's a gag told of the parsimonious nature of Edinburgh's residents.... interrupted unexpectedly one evening a houeholder berates their visitor with 'you'll have your tea then' (tea being any meal taken late in the day).

No such lack of generosity with our hosts on a recent 'Scottish Gems' trip for Delicious magazine. These shots come from our visit to Monachyle Mhor and the Kilberry Inn and have just gone live on the food and hospitality section of my website.
Crisscrossing Scotland from Glasgow via the Trossocks, Argyll and Fife we also visited Glasgow's super-deli Heart Buchanan and The Pot Still with over 500 whiskies, award winning Anstruther Fish Bar and quirky 21212 in Edinburgh which has deservedly just won a Michelin Star.
Rolling home after 3 days and nights of fantastic food and hospitality I had to reflect that perhaps photography ain't too bad a job. When there's work that is.

Happy New Year and burrr!

Since we're having a real winter here in Edinburgh for the first time in many many years there seems to be a rush to post a snow scene image. Even the news media are calling for unpaid submissions for their pages and screens. How sad when the once mighty have to put their hand out.

And so I don't come across as the complete curmudgeon I thought I'd post this image of an Edinburgh bus on it's route. Those of you with a penchant for "what camera/exposure/iso" will be pleased to know that it was shot on my iPhone. And I must say it's a first for me as I've never been impressed with it's picture taking qualities. I particularly love the distortion of the buildings. Or is that the 100 year old bendy glass in my window? Bendy glass! Now there's an idea for a Photoshop filter.

Thanks also to my friends at Bohemia and Bohemia Life for reposting my Christmas image.

St Andrew's Day - step aside Mr Salmond.

Well it's traditional to wish everyone all the very best for St Andrew's Day. And may I do so now?
And no doubt by the end of the day we will have had no end of reports of the success of the Homecoming campaign. I'll take the experts' opinion on its monetary and cultural value as I suspect I'll have little access to any data with which to argue one way or the other. But no doubt it's the SNP's White Paper on a proposed independence referendum that will steal all the headlines. Good or bad we'll be chewing it over for the coming months.
And to kick it off can I cheekily offer an outlandish thought? That the Chairman of Harrods, Mr al Fayed, might become the President of a Scottish Republic. He's even got the gear and the throne ready .. so why not?
Shot a few years ago for Scotland on Sunday this portrait is a consistent seller for me and proves the argument that even small creators should retain their copyright and control their IP.

Professional Landscape Photography on Flickr

Well I've gone and done it. Yes I've joined that great photo sharing site that lends it's name to so many comic interpretations of male on female lovemaking. And it's Flickr without the 'e'. And why join? To share? Well yes of course (fingers crossed and nose slightly longer). No it's another part of social networking and it's aim of driving people to my website.
And yesterday Glyn Davies set up a Professional Landscape Photography group and invited members of the Association of Photographers, Pro-Imaging and ProDig to join and add to the group.
My contribution is here. Yes it's meagre to say the least so I'll have to get back into shooting outdoors. But if you want to see more or even join then just head here.
PS Glyn also keeps a busy blog, Musings from the Anglesey Photo Artist, here on Blogger. It's well worth a visit.

It never rains but it shines.

Here's a sneak preview of my latest emailer to clients and would be clients due out on Monday... are you on my mailing list?
The rainbow shot came from a 'right place right time' moment. Actually I'd passed by here a day previously to a Turneresque scene of a clearing storm. A good enough image came from that stop but this one capped it by a mile.
But what to place with it? More landscapes or some food? Scallops or venison? None of that was doing it for me until I remembered this portrait of a far north crofter. Yes it's a couple of years old but now works perfectly with the castle and rainbow.
And where is the castle? What am I ... a location service?

Summer song or Going for a song?

I've haven't been giving this blog much attention of late so to get things rolling again I thought I'd offer you these frames from an editorial job for Conde Nast Traveller for their Room with a View pages. Just simple natural photography. Really? Well yes if you allow for 3 visits to one of the venues and computer time to blend exposures and then lots of time to touch out the builders muck caked on one of the glass windows.
Which brings up an issue I'm having with new clients (not this one)....... make images look natural, simple and easy and carefree and they perceive them as being low budget. Experience counts for nothing. Nor track record.
So when the accounts department next says they have a trainee with a camera I'll reply that I have a stethoscope/calculator/football boots but that doesn't make me a doctor/accountant/David Beckham.
Thanks to the Balmoral, Caledonian and Messoni Hotels.

How Long for a Photograph?

Well 3.07 times 2 for 9 minutes of shutter action. I was on the road once again for RBS Business Sense magazine. This time it was to HJS Helicopters just west of Aberdeen, which is 3 hours and 7 minutes from Edinburgh according to the AA Route Planner. And half an hour after arriving my subject, Sidney Simpson, presented himself. And exactly 9 minutes later (I checked on the metadata) he announced that was enough. No second shot. All over in a flash I suppose.
Still before our second 3 hour and 7 minute leg to Edinburgh we got to see a little of how these helicopters are built. They are basic to say the least and based on a 1950's concept but so meticulously maintained and rebuilt that it would shame even a nearly new car.

Pulling the Shutters down......

....on an Edinburgh landmark. Well many, me included, feel it's more an eye-sore than landmark and are happy that it'll be rubble soon. Luckily I got 2 hours in there recently and some of the resulting images are now on my website.

June

On the first of the month I usually post the relevant page from a calendar that I produced at the beginning of the year. Well for this month I was away and didn't have access to that particular file.
Better late than never as they used to say .... but as I'm about to do a bulk email I thought I'd post that image instead as it includes the June calendar image.
So it's a BOGTF rather than a BOGOF.
The portrait is from a series I shot for NHS Grampian through Leith, the healthy fish dish was shot for UrbanAngel and the road shot is from a reccie and is available at Alamy if you're looking to license something "just like that".

Twitter or Twestival part 1

You'll have been stuck in a jungle somewhere or you'll have heard of TWITTER. It's one of the simplest and greatest of the Social Networking devices currently available. And at less than 3 years old it is having it's first global festival or TWESTIVAL next Thursday, 12th Feb, 2009. Moving from the virtual to the real, faces behind the avatars will meet and greet in person at over 175 different venues throughout the world and all in aid of CHARITY:WATER.
In Edinburgh it's happening at 19:00 at Hawke and Hunter, 12 Picardy Place, Edinburgh EH1 3JT.
And one part of the evening is an auction that I've been persuaded to contribute to. So if you want a print from my Shadow series (normally £150 at Bohemia, Dundas Street, Edinburgh) get on down there.
(Further images and info on next post).

New Town Nudes

Edinburgh's New Town that is.
My friends at Bohemia are about to add to their stock lines by selling original art. And they've asked me to kick it off by reinterpreting a series of 8 nudes (6 shown here) that I shot a little while ago. Sized at A2 and editioned at 25 each these are on sale at their Dundas Street, Edinburgh shop and also online. Printed on heavyweight archival art paper and framed by Carol Coulter Framing.