Sometimes I feel like making the wildest of changes to images that I have taken, I very rarely post them, but I feel like mixing things up a little of late. This was Edinburgh on a nice day, until I played around with it. :-)
I like to think that most people that know Edinburgh from the North Bridge would still recognise it.
As October has drawn to an end I have been trying to reflect on what I have achieved over the last month. Little has come to mind. It has been filled mostly with searching for a job, interviews for jobs, a little demonstrating and a trip to The Hague. I am left wondering how this leads to me to meeting my goals and it's at this point I realise that perhaps I have not set any goals which is causing the lack of direction I am currently feeling.
Knowing what you want to achieve has been something that I have discussed with many people (t.b.h. mostly MoneyPenny) over the past few years and I have usually been in the position of having some aim or goal in mind, whether it is writing a thesis or a completing a project at work.
I am pretty sure that watching all 8 seasons of Dexter in a month should not be something I am aiming for in life (although it may be achieved relatively soon).
Taking more photographs again has been a recent aim but has failed to materialize. I am also reminded that I am living in an amazing city for photography but travel through it each day blindly without my camera. A small step in the right direction would be carrying my camera, and a tripod... Small changes add up to large changes?
The dark nights of winter are almost here and that is great for night photographers. These are some of my favourite scenes to shoot and I have spent many nights in Europe encapsulating history this way. I learned a lot about the cold, about having a good tripod and how essential gloves and snacks can be! I have posted a few of my favourite photographs below. Lisa Bettany reminded me what is possible with a little patience and practice, without having to travel far and wide. She gives some great advice on night shots (with trailing lights) in her blog and they are from Edinburgh and St Andrews.
I feel like I am in Edinburgh more now than I was last year, but I am pretty sure that it's just the train journey that makes me feel like that. During my wanderings, before and after, being at Drummond Street I have been taking a few photographs that I though I would share here.
Taken at sunset from Northbridge looking towards the Castle on the left and Scott Monument on the right.
Taken from the Waverley Steps looking towards Market Street
Taken after sunset when the light were illuminated towards the castle. Shot from Princess Street.
Taken from Princes Street towards Market Street and the Castle.
Have only been using my iPhone for photography around Edinburgh of late and it isn't really satisfying me. I need to keep my DSLR on me and start going to locations that I haven't been to before and get back to some serious practicing.
I spent a morning taking a little video of a Unicorn cake getting baked last week for Instagram. Like most things in life what should have been fairly quick ended up taking a lot longer than I estimated. I forgot to use the rule of Pi, "however long you think a task will take to do, multiply it by Pi".
It was the first time I have used time lapse on the iPhone so it was a little experimental, but it was fun, and there was cake at the end of it. Tasty, tasty cake. I also make a guest appearance in some of the scenes ;-)
The cake was made by Clare from Florence and George. I edited the video together and composed the music on the video as I ran into copyright issues when I tried to use Hyuna's Bubble Pop song (remember that rule of Pi?). Anyway, see the video below or on my Instagram page.
For tasty cake or proper afternoon tea see Florence and George.
A lack of posting has mainly been due to being kept busy with my to-do list. During one of my many procrastination points I did find this excellent video on YouTube that discusses Photoshop and some of the more powerful techniques that can be used.
It's a bit more technical than I usually post.