Off the Beatson Track

I was delighted to be invited to take official photographs for the Beatson Cancer Charity's first annual fun walk on Saturday. http://www.beatsoncancercharity.org/ 

The charity has been founded quite recently to devote funds specifically for the Beatson Hospital. The hospital itself is an impressive place, and is the busiest cancer centre in the UK in terms of both clinical activity and patient numbers, seeing more than 8,000 new patients a year. 

The cause is close to my heart, as I have been being treated for thyroid cancer at the Western General, St John's and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary since February. The shoot was therefore a much more emotionally charged event than any of my other jobs to date. I met many other cancer patients, not a single one with the same type of cancer as the next. I found myself thinking just how lucky I am, for there were plenty of people in attendance who were much, much sicker than I. 

The day was full of positivity, and had an incredibly friendly, warm and supportive atmosphere. There was such a lot of laughter and fun, which was great news for the charity as this had indeed been their primary goal for the event. Well, that and fundraising! There was a beach complete with deck chairs and buckets, bands, and plenty of donated food and drink to hand out with the goody bags afterwards. There were three times more the amount of people than they had initially predicted the event would draw. For a first time event 1500 participants is just excellent, and we predict numbers to at least double for next year, perhaps triple again. It really was a fun day out and a great way to make money for this brilliant and very necessary charity. I'll see you there next year!

Highlands in the Lowlands- Royal Highland Show

A couple of weeks ago- my friend Daz and I trundled off to the Royal Highland Show at Ingleston, the largest agricultural show in the country, a four day festival of all things farmy. We were indeed 'Dazzled' by just how much there is to see, and by the end of the day I was sorely wishing I had bought a two day ticket. Next year I shall do precisely this, and spend one day shooting and one day socialising! I did not have anywhere near enough time to begin to cover all the animals and stalls on offer. Still, we tried our best to explore the rows and rows of animals, eating our way round the show. There were literally THOUSANDS of animals there, and lots of different events throughout the day. 

I simply love Clydesdale horses, their sheer strength and size is not something you would associate with one of the most gentle of horse breeds. When I was younger there was a visiting centre in Fife called Cambo, with a cafe and playbarn. My mother also ran the tourist centre there for a while.  There were rabbits, pigs, goats, geese and of course, Clydesdales, and the children were encouraged to get up close to the animals to experience the country.

I took this image in colour, but I think that black and white betters the emotional charge of the shot.

I have been chatting to a friend of mine who is a photographer across the pond, and she is looking to maybe do some equestrian shoots- I spent a lot of the day milling around the horsey section of the show and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am in the process of organising a shoot at a prize stable yard very soon, so we may end up doing the same thing a thousand miles from each other! There are horses in just about every second field near my new cottage, so I'll be able to get plenty of practice in this week.

I thought this a sweet image of mother and daughter competitors. It's not that clear as I was very far away, but this type of documentary image is the type I enjoy best.

This little piggy definitely went to market.....

 There was quite simply, a wonderful selection of eggs and birds on show... I saw the largest and smallest chickens I had ever seen in my life. One was nearly as big as a swan, and one was like a hedgehog! Take a look at the chicken on the bottom left of this picture- one of the larger chickens that could probably see off a turkey.

Daz's mum loves to knit, and she is very good at it too. She made us some tremendous flourescent ski hats for our last trip to France, out of wool with reflectors in it so we glowed in the dark! We found the most delightful stall selling alpaca wool as soft as silk- and met the lovely proprietor Sue. Daz picked out a couple of yarns and a pattern for his lovely Mum- you can too! Highly recommended. http://www.alpacaloft.co.uk/
 

 little owls

 Well, I suppose that's enough 'yarning' on from me for now. TTFN

She Sells Sea Shells on the Sea Shore

KINGHORN HARBOUR

 I absolutely love the sea, it is my most very favouritist thing in the whole wide world. I love the smell of the air, the saltiness of the water, the rough texture your hands are left with after touching anything from the beach. To this day I find it incredibly hard to not take off my shoes when on a beach, to feel the beautiful fine grains of sand escape between my toes.  I grew up in a small fishing town called Cellardyke in the East Neuk of Fife, in Scotland, part of a collection of unique old fishing communities that all share an inherent beauty, a beauty that has been etched into the stone over hundreds of years which could never be replicated. Many of my childhood homes were but a stone's throw from the beach, quite literally. Some of them were even on the beach! There are some truly spectacular properties to be had along the Fife coastline, and I don't think the view across the water to Edinburgh and East Lothian can be bettered.

A couple of weeks ago I moved from the city centre of Edinburgh to a new house in west Fife, and we have also acquired a dog, so now was the perfect time to explore the beaches closest to our new home. First up was the beach at Kinghorn Harbour, small but perfect. The harbour is constructed of huge slabs of rock like all the harbours in Fife, and was full of small traditional fishing vessels, which used to be powered by oars but are mostly now powered by outboard. These little boats fish close to the coast for lobsters and langoustines, which the locals in the East Neuk refer to as prawns, in handmade baskets we call 'creels' (more commonly known as lobster pots).

I would be very tempted to take this wee boat- though I'm not sure how long it has been for sale judging by the weather beaten sign! A dream of mine is to retire to the coast somewhere and have a few creels of my own one day, so I'll be 'swimming' in lobsters for the rest of my days. 

Mostly Macro

The weather the other day was terrible- so I thought I would set myself a task to find some subjects within the house that may prove interesting to photograph. I also got a new Macro attachment for my lenses through the mail... I went for a really good glass version as attachments are not as brilliant as dedicated macro lenses, nor as easy to use, but the results are pleasing none the less.

Luckily, my new dog, a gorgeous 6 month old cocker spaniel who had been kenneled his whole life, had decided that I didn't really need the beginning of the book I had been reading. He's right, the introduction is boring anyway. Here it is after Merlin introduced himself to it's pages! I have taken a series of the bits of book to print and display next to each other.

A Very Kelly Wedding

Last week we had the pleasure of being guests at Jim and Michelle Kelly's wedding near Bathgate. The ceremony was led by a mad reverend, who had the guests in fits of giggles before the bride had even arrived. I think he would do very well indeed as a stand up at the Fringe this Summer. The day itself was a little wet, but that did nothing to 'dampen' (ahem) the spirit of the day. Michelle was a gorgeous bride, and the couple were very graceful hosts. This was the first wedding I had been to with my camera, and wedding photography is certainly not easy as it may seem. There are all sorts of concerns, mainly to do with the fact you can only possibly be in one place at any given time! I can definitely see the advantage of taking an aesthetically eyed chum along as an extra set of eyes.

Throughout the day I took over 600 photographs, and that was in between eating, singing and dancing! I shudder to think how many I would have taken if I was actually the professional, with no socialising to get in the way- easily thousands. Just imagining the weeks of editing is a daunting thought, it's a good job I enjoy my own company....