Seeing as it's Christmas I thought I would post a selection of photographs that I shot at the Christmas Market at Edinburgh's Princess Street. I hope everyone reading has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here's hoping for a prosperous 2017.
Strathy Adventure
I title the post Strathy Adventure because that's exactly what it was, an Adventure. Finding a cottage in the middle of a small village may sound easy but unfortunately it was pitch black and if not for some friendly highlanders at the local town hall we might still be looking for 'Samhchair'. Strathy is a small village on the very north coast of Scotland, surrounded by sea and hills. It's the kind of place you don't want to leave, it has no cell reception (which is magnificent) and is eerily calm and peaceful. The pictures below don't come anywhere close to doing the location justice, but there isn't much I can do about the weather (that's my excuse and I am sticking to it).
I have had an invitation to visit Samhchair for several years and have never had the time or opportunity to visit. The area is one that I am familiar with as family vacations when I was very young toured the majority of the North of Scotland. It was a long drive from the central region of Scotland (5.5 hours + coffee stops).
Strathy Point Lighthouse
Durness Beach
On the road to Durness
On the road to Durness
Chiquita, wondering where the next coffee stop will be ;-)
Dornoch Firth, looking West
Glen Loth
December Days
December rolled around just in time for the temperature plummeting. People that know me are aware of how much I like the cold and dark days of winter. It's perfect for light trails, Christmas lights and early golden hours. As demonstrated (hopefully) by the photographs at the bottom of this post. Since the Instameet I have been trying to post a new photograph everyday. It reminds me of the marathon photo days of 2013, which became very stressful towards the end of the year.
The majority of my photos get some post-processing, it is a perennial subject for me talking to other photographers. For some people post-processing detracts from the photo and think that it is 'cheating'. Other people think that it adds to the photo. I am in the latter camp, I like to think I can make the picture look more like I see it in my mind when I am taking it. I think it's good that there is discussion around these topics in photography, as there is no 'right' answer.
The photograph below uses Apple's new Depth Effect on their iPhone 7+. I was wondering if this is regarded as post-processing as the camera takes two shots at different focal lengths and mashes them together. It works quite well, although there it is no substitute for using my 50mm lens. Of course, I added a little more post-processing...
Pre-processing
Post-processing
I thought I would post some of the SOOC (straight out of the camera) photographs, that have been edited and can be found on the Instagram page that I have taken from recent trips to Edinburgh.
Instameet
I took part in the worlds smallest (unauthorised) InstaMeet last night! Well, the planning stages of an InstaMeet anyway! What's an InstaMeet you say? An InstaMeet is a group of Instagrammers meeting up to take photos and videos together. An InstaMeet can happen anywhere and be any size and are a great opportunity to share tips and tricks with other community members and an excuse to get out and explore someplace new.
This was on the roof of the bar, it would have been crazy not to take a shot of it.
I met a few new people and we discussed arranging an InstaMeet in Glasgow (Scotland) in January. As we met in a bar it quickly descendant into midweek drinking and complaints of hangovers this morning. Thankfully I did take some pictures, before the Guinness started flowing :-) Thanks to Jens, David and Tina for being willing (?) models for me! The links are to their Instagram accounts and are well worth checking out and following.
I have been wanting to start shooting portraits of people and this seemed as good a time as any to start. The photo's below are all shot with my 50mm fixed lens, f1.8, ISO200. I am moderately happy with the outcome.
If you would like to join our InstaMeet in January get in touch with me for more details.
Graduation
I graduated from The University of Edinburgh on Monday with an M.Sc. in Geographical Information Sciences. I have always felt a bit overwhelmed at the pomp and circus that is the graduation ceremony. It is a time honoured ceremony that is a celebration of completing a course. Celebrating the commitment and hard work that allows the conferring of the academic (in this case) degree. The graduation was at the Usher Hall as the McEwan Hall, where The University of Edinburgh usually has graduation, is undergoing renovation.
I think I find graduation overwhelming as it is nerve-wracking crossing a stage in front of over a few thousand people, trying hard to remember how to walk normally.
I thought I would post a few of the photographs that I took on the day and a couple from friends timelines.
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Edinburgh University Class of 2016 GIS / Earth Observation / GIS & Archeology
Kerst and myself.
Maria looking thoroughly delighted!
Nick, Will and Maia discuss the finer points of Python.
Ryan gives the ceremony the thumbs up.
The parental units and myself.
The published list.
Professor Bruno Labour's speech after receiving an honorary degree.