I started by checking my 70-300 mm lens to ensure I could get close without getting in the audience’s way. This fine waiting telecaster seemed a good victim.

When the music started, I realised that a tent with the sun almost down but behind the band was a recipe for dark faces.

It must be further observed that the marquee was a bit stained and blotchy as well.

So the old black and white was largely my fall-back again to introduce some atmosphere.

And the other last refuge of a photographic scoundrel, added grain!

But all this is irrelevant when a jangly telecaster features in the pictures.

Oops, two telecasters!

I feel sure there is a bassist in among all that camouflage.

In colour this photo of the band in full flight was a mess of clashing shades, so black and white again.

The band had a minor setback too, as the programme for the day listed them as the “Vampire Parade” instead of the actual name of the “Viper Parade”.

But none of this was troubling them at all.

Nothing would throw “Breeks” of his stride.

Black and white is the very thing for accentuating Mike’s manly rock and roll stubble.

It isn’t actually known whether Mike practices the “Springsteen look”, but it’s working.

Eventually, the revellers of Drymen were infected by the vibe and took to their feet. Let the dancing begin.

As you can tell I would have dearly liked to set up a flash or two for drama, or better still have the “Vipers” under a flashy lighting rig, but in the end thoroughly enjoyed making the best of the light that was there, and more importantly enjoying a brilliant gig. Flashy light shows regardless, they sounded tight and put on a great show.

Perhaps the devil might find me a tough proposition:-)

You must check these guys out, they have some great MP3′s on their site and some pictures from my last session with them.

http://www.theviperparade.co.uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYXFhn7WKco&feature=related

http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/The-Viper-Parade/134157649930793

http://www.theviperparade.co.uk

First the amazingly upbeat skins-man, Andy “breeks” Brand. He likes AC/DC apparently, that makes him very cool in my book.

And of course, Mike Ritchie, AKA Sean Hughes, comedian! (Anyone else think so)?

Betraying a shocking disloyalty here to the beautiful acoustic instruments he creates.

I have to admit though that telecasters are cool!

Introducing the other half of the solid-as-a-rock rythm and bass section, Andy, AKA Refugee.

Last but not least, lead guitarist Francisco Davidson. A guitar afficianado’s dream but a photographers’ nightmare. Dancing compulsively while playing guitar doesn’t lend itself to focus locking on eyes; I’m just saying…

Stick in, practice hard, and one day guys, you too might get to play in front of flourescent wall-lighters! Very hip!

Just to prove they were all in one room at the same time.

And the obligitary, the van is packed, “how about one for the road guys” shot. Identity parade anyone?

By this time I had broken their spirit and they had finally connected with the “posers within”…

I don’t think he actually smokes, the thought of that album cover just turned him into a “bad boy of rock”

Catch them somewhere if you can, watch their facebook page for gig info.

And again, just giving a sense of setting. Somehow Mike just fits these surroundings, he doesn’t just work with wood, he is utterly passionate about it; where else could he be but here.

A closer picture of Mike here, but critically folks, just for a change ignore the relaxed expression with the nice graduated light across the face, that’s the headstock of my new guitar.

And here it is, Indian Rosewood, Sitka Spruce and Mahogany, all assembled by Mike’s expert paws. I’m so excited!

Mike isn’t just a learn it and get in a rut luthier. He has made it his business to spend time in Spain studying with the spanish and flamenco guitar builders, and he has adapted many of their traditional techniques for use here in Scotland. Note the use of string and wedges where many might expect metal clamps. It’s a joy to watch this work happening.

And finally a detail of one of Mike’s near complete Classical instruments. Look at the hand finished detail round the soundhole. This is a pre-polished and finished guitar. Some lucky person will own this soon.

Mike’s workshop is pretty dark and presents a difficult photographic environment. I used a little offboard flash on occasion, and a couple with natural light only. The picture of mike holding my guitar neck was ISO 2000, and the picture of my guitar nearing completion was ISO 2500. No noise reduction was applied in Lightroom 3. You couldn’t say the Canon 7d has no noise, it has plenty at these settings, but it is surprisingly unobtrusive in real use.

There will be more pictures of Mike’s band posted soon, once I can process the next batch of challenging, low light pictures I took.

I can’t tell if this is contemplative or “little boy lost”? A friend who was strolling with us held my Canon 580 remote flash about 30 degrees to his side for all of these shots. It’s great to have a helper. The whole “session” was done in only about 10 minutes.

Jay has a real confidence, that he wears well. He is generous and looks after other people both professionally and by disposition. I think this direct and relaxed look captures him very well.

Talking of confidence though, he was too shy to also wear the pyjama bottoms!

My “Lightroom” adjustments aside, you can just see the acceleration of the warming of the light in these last two pictures. Sunset was upon us. Without the flash, Jay was just a silhouette. My 7D triggers the Canon flashes without the additional infra red transmitter; it’s great to carry one less piece of gear.

The sunset now entering its “full bhoona” phase, the flash makes the foreground colours leap out against the darker surroundings. It actually makes Jay look a bit stuck-on to the background, but I STILL love the picture enough that I don’t care; he looks seriously cool.

This last one is the only one I have used from my beloved Sigma 28mm. Very unusually for me, the rest are the 50mm f1.4. I suspect the reason these work well is that the 50mm being slightly telephoto compresses the scale of Jay against the roofscapes of Campbeltown in a nice way.

As many of you know, I really enjoy photographing people who are not confident about having a portrait done, I kind of like the challenge, and pretty much always get results that my subjects like. Jay was almost too easy for me, he behaved perfectly, was totally relaxed, looked where I asked him to look, smiled and seemed to take everything in his stride. I think I could get used to that as well:-)

Hope you like these as much as I do Jay.

Truthfully this was just a set-up shot to get the lighting and the composition right, but as so often happens I kept coming back to it is the most relaxed and compelling picture of this set. So often when your subject “knows” you aren’t really doing the picture for real, you get great results; it’s not a ploy I would deliberately use though.

Anne has a black cat! I’m just saying…

The previous shot is really unusual for me, more “set-up” and formal than I have specialised in, so a quick return to a handheld, simple close up was inevitable. Anne’s hair frames her face beautifully from this angle.

Handheld again, I couldn’t resist the mirror. I love this composition because Anne looks confident and happy in the real image, but sad in the reflection.  (ISO 1000 here as the light faded)

And finally another handheld shot at ISO 1600. Anne has this great clock and I really wanted to use it in a simple composition that reflected the slightly fantastic and surreal quality that Anne seems to me to possess. Think Alice through the looking glass? Bet you can’t guess when the picture was taken. I was really hungry! Anne has a few beautiful photographs on her walls at home. My self imposed challenge was to produce a picture that Anne will be happy to have in print on her wall. What do you think folks, will one of these meet the standard required? Wish me luck:-)

This is the mouth of Loch Sween where my friend and colleague Dick Edie lives. Dick and I share a love of photography and we both use Flickr. Truth be told, I’m not very active now but as I throttled back, Dick started using it more. The common thread is that we were both part of the mighty, Seven Days of Shooting group in which weekly themes were translated into daily challenges which really brought your photography and creativity on. Anyway, Jim Hulme from Brisbane, AU, is a leading light in that community and is visiting his relatives in England at present. Dick kindly invited Jim to his wonderful home in Achnamara in Argyll, and thoughtfully asked if I wanted to join them; I did! (Sigma 10-20)

(Dick in the foreground on the beach) 70-300 mm lens

Here’s Dick, the perfect breakfast host in his “can I get you another egg” mode; the way to my heart anyway! (Sigma 28mm)

Dick took us to the Atlantic mouth of the Crinan Canal near his home. This was a puffer, (strictly a “VIC”) that Dick had photographed and I had seen travelling along Loch Fyne earlier this week. The sun was high and bright, which can be uninspiring for pictures, but the smoke from the puffer seemed to me to add interest along with the still, reflective water. (Canon 50 mm 1.4  prime)

OK, I have hung my hat on the portraiture hook, but I am so pleased with the curving harbour leading the eye to this colourfest of a boat from ullapool. (50 mm f1.4 prime)

Our gorgeous and charming co-host for the visit was Jacqui; I can attest that she cooks, and bakes in a way that would make Nigella Lawson weep. Truthfully I wanted the yellow of the boat to complement the green of Jaqui’s T-Shirt, but I made the error of keeping the aperture too wide. If doing it again I would choose f5.6 or 6.3 to get a little more detail in the boat to balance the picture  as Jaqui was deliberately placed on the right of the picture thinking that the yellow stern provided balance in composition. Thankfully Jaqui’s eyes and warm expression carry the picture anyway. (Canon 50mm f1.4)

Having only spoken on Skype with this wonderful man from Queensland, meeting him in person was a real thrill. I will be sad when he returns to Oz. He is a really likeable man, with a killer mix of humour and warmth, and despite the endless modesty, a striking man too. (Canon 50mm f1.4)

See what I mean!

Here are the Flickr Stalwarts in their full glory, both taking sensible precautions against the uncharacteristically hot Scottish sun today. (Canon 50mm f1.4)

However Jim could only behave for a little while while being photographed, eventually the playfulness/ misbehaviour has to break through. If Mrs Jim is looking at this, could you slap him for me on his return please! Dick is modelling headgear by Buff TM).

On my way home from this wonderful time in which Dick showed us Herons and Otters, I saw these disarmingly cute geese just strolling along the road as though it was their walkway. (Canon 70-300) This was the self timer  picture from last night using my 7D and Dick’s tripod and automatic mode for the first time in ages. This uses fill flash and I coped with the burned out sky by combining two lightroom exposures in Photomatix to let the happy quartet be seen with some detail of the Isle of Jura in the background. Safe home Jim. Thanks Dick and Jacqui

As in yesterday’s picture, soft window light and appealing blue colours and a similar toned background were irresistible to this portraitist. Taking people pictures in colour is so often about spotting colours and thinking about backgrounds. Catherine’s blue eyes mean that blue clothes set a blue theme. The thing to look for then is either similar backgrounds or contrasting backgrounds like in yesterday’s picture.

Anyway, the new reading glasses needed a photographic début.

We loved the texture of these rocks so much that we just had to do something playful with them!

Sometimes simple light really is the best thing for a good portrait.

Oddly this forest looks like an autumn scene, but it’s spring! Where are all those leaves coming from? The light on Elizabeth is fantastic here. (Actually it’s a Canon Speedlite through my trusty brolly held by  helpful hubby Steven). The light on the tree is genuine sunlight!

And finally a black and white showing Elizabeth doing what she does naturally all the time, smiling!

I hope you like these Elizabeth?

]]> http://www.matthewboyle.net/2010/03/23/elizabeth/feed/ 0 http://www.matthewboyle.net/2010/03/17/victor-villena-tango-workshop/ http://www.matthewboyle.net/2010/03/17/victor-villena-tango-workshop/#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:24:47 +0000 Matthew http://www.matthewboyle.net/?p=953 In my last posting I shared my photo session with my friend Petrea’s tango band in Edinburgh. The bandoneon player from her band, Roberto, organised a weekend of workshops to learn from the expert bandoneon player Victor Villena  (ex Gotan project and currently playing with Quintetto EL DESPUES).  He was teaching about tango idiosyncrasies and techniques and how to play tango together as an orchestra. I was kindly invited to enjoy the rehearsal and take a few record shots of the get-together.

Photographically the lighting in the room was difficult for 2 reasons. It was low level, and it had a mixture of daylight from an overhead skylight and tungsten from a number of wall mounted sidelights. I have often had problems with that kind of mixed lighting giving an odd colour cast that can be impossible to fix.  I’m afraid that I took the last refuge of a scoundrel and solved the colour cast in most of the pictures by using black and white conversion. Getting a decent shutter speed was a challenge too; my fast 50mm f1.4 gave me a speed of only 1/125th at f1.4 using ISO 1000. Anyway, light problems aside, the music was fabulous and I’m in serious danger of falling in love with tango music.

Double Bass: James Stewart – Edinburgh

The strings:

Piano: Marc Fallon – Greenock

Bandoneon: Marianne Vinther Olesen – Denmark

And there they are in the gentile surroundings of the “Counting House” in Edinburgh. I wish you could have heard them.

Cello: Maria Rodriguez Reina – Spanish – London

Violin: Suzanne Senior -  Edinburgh

Bandoneon: Juanjo Passo – Sweden based

The organiser of this amazing event:

Bandoneon: Roberto Rabinovich – Edinburgh

Bandoneon: Victor Villena – Paris

When I was chatting with Victor and apologising for not knowing much about tango music, I explained that my only contact with it was my copy of the Gotan Project’s album. This is a real favourite of mine and I play it a lot. Imagine my shock when he told me that he was the bandoneon player on that album!

Flute: Sharon Dowsett – Edinburgh

Violin: Cathy Johnson

Violin: Petrea Cooney Edinburgh although very Irish, and I’m happy to say my friend.

Bandoneon: Marianne Vinther Olesen – Copenhagen (Denmark)

Thanks to everyone for entertaining me so beautifully while I got to do my favourite thing!

This particularly great looking bunch of musicians spent some time with me on Sunday doing some photos for publicity. I had a great day with them and enjoyed Edinburgh on a beautiful bright February day. I loved photographing them and loved their willingness top trust me as I dragged them onto the monument at Calton Hill in their light shirts in the FREEZING afternoon. Thanks guys, I hope you love the pictures as much as I do.  This would have made a fantastic day for me anyway, but to hear them play was really special; these guys are totally amazing. They play traditional style tango, and the sound of them, their soulfulness, their tightness makes your heart ache. They are brilliant.

Orquestra Atipica de Edimburgo’s Facebook page.

These images were done with one flash and umbrella on a stand fixed and one handheld by my helper for the day, Gustavo. We were able to move that one quickly to balance the lighting without wasting time.

One problem taking advantage of a band for photographs is that they tend to wander off all the time; with a little platform and a 30 foot drop on 3 sides they tend to stick together. Mwwwwaaaahahaaaaaaaa

An Edinburgh band need to have Edinburgh behind them. I love that city so much.

Back now on terra firma. Those smiles are relief. I don’t care what the motivation was however, I’ll take advantage anyway:-) Note the tiny Princes Street behind them.

And now, double bassist extraordinaire, James…

How cool is James’s hair?

What poise, what a shirt!

One of my favourites, the lighting, background and pose are totally classic. This is in Gustavo’s wonderful cafe, looking out on Broughton street.

Every tango band needs someone in a red dress. None of the guys were up for it, so Petrea stepped up to the mark.  No the background of Arthur’s Seat and the crags isn’t stuck on. She was way up high and keepin’ it real!

Here’s Petrea in the cafe later. I love the background and the catchlights in her eyes.

As a guitarist myself, the most humbling part of the day was hearing Mark making this astounding lightly built flamenco instrument sing and wail so perfectly.

Note the resemblance to the amazing David Gilmour Pink Floyd fans. The graffiti is a shame here. I wondered about cloning it out, I’m just not sure. It’s a love/hate thing..

And finally Roberto. Master of the bandoneon. If any instrument can be said to be hard-wired to the listeners soul, this is it. This man and his music will break your heart, and you’ll love it.

Check Roberto’s chiselled looks.

And then, in the cafe, Petrea sang and everyone turned to watch and listen, you have to, she’s that good. Don’t go to see this band if you don’t want to fall in love with Petrea’s singing.

Just a few angles on the guys now:

And finally, helper-for-the-afternoon Gustavo and Petrea showed their skills dancing tango while the band played. Beautiful and amazing.

Check them out.