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

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

ISO: 3200 f5.6 1/15 (stabilised) (130 x 1.6)

OK, I know the picture of the Trotternish Ridge and the Storr on Skye is a bit of a cliché, but who can resist. It was a bit grey and overcast, so increase contrast and black and white conversion focuses on what matters in this ridge; the prehistoric, folded landscape. For those who are interested, the spike in the centre is an old sea stack called the Old Man of Storr, it is about 160 feet high, and must once have been at sea level. Skye is easily one of my favourite places. Taken from the summit of Ben Tianavaig.

The following 3 are on the descent facing the magnificent Red Cuillins and looking over the sound of Raasay. For a mere 1500 feet hill, this must have one of the loveliest and most dramatic ridges.

Did I mention it was really cold?

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!

Shortly before Christmas, as the current endless cold snap was taking a grip, I was treated to this beautiful light while travelling from Kilmacolm toward Bridge of Weir. Those are wind turbines in the distance. (f18 1/200 (80 x 1.6) ISO 200)

I don’t know these people, but looking down the mound and using this man’s arm as a frame for the lovely girl that he was photographing has caught a little love story in the midst of the celebrations. (f4.5 1/80th (70 x 1.6) ISO 1600)

If you know me you’ll know that I love gargoyles. Odd when I have no great fondness for churches. These I consider to be their cutest features! This one was on a fairground “haunted house” ride and I couldn’t resist it in the smoky torchlit atmosphere. The zoom was fully extended and the shutter speed was glacially slow. This illustrates well the effectiveness of Canon’s image stabilisation. No way I could handhold that length of zoom at that exposure without it.  (f5.6 1/13th (300 x 1.6) ISO 1600)

While passing the fairground rides I watched these two thrillseekers being locked into one of the scariest rides I have seen. This cage is on two massive bungee cables and on release launches the poor inhabitants of the cage at frightening acceleration into the sky. They then bounce up and down and frankly all around while the tall buildings next to them dissapear below them. This image would have been good if I had had the presence of mind to move a little to avoid the safety brace handle getting in the way of the man on the right. I knew it wasn’t right but didn’t think the picture was worth the bother. Moral of the story, listen to those nagging doubts as you photograph; so much of it is instinct. (f5 1/50th (165 x 1.6) ISO 1600)

Perhaps one of them at this prelaunch moment is beginning to realise what he has let his poor stomach in for. My pants were in danger of soiling just through watching! (f5.6 1/25th (300 x 1.6) ISO 1600)

And now to the kind of ride I could just about manage as long as it doesn’t go to fast. On this particular evening it was way too cold to contemplate sitting in an open gondola. Just a simple fairground shot, but the composition pleases me. I had switched here to my 17-85 lens. It has a really annoyingly slow aperture, but again the image stabilisation is effective.  (f4.5 1/15th (24 x 1.6) ISO 1600)

And finally, one of my favourite public monuments or pieces of public art. The Scott monument is a magnificent tribute to a damned good author and populariser of Scottish romanticism. I always think it looks like the rocketships on the covers of 1950′s sci fi novels. In close and wide to abstract the shape, a quick monochrome conversion to accentuate the shape and form and bob’s your uncle! If you want to see how good the canon IS is, note the 1/4 second shutter here, handheld!  (f4.5 1/4 sec (17 x 1.6) ISO 1600)

No-one could ever accuse me of being a landscape or architectural photographer, so you might be surprised that I am posting some pictures of an Abbey. Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire is a 15th century ruin preserved by the national trust. It is a photography playground because of the shapes and forms everywhere you look. It is however really difficult to capture in any single overview image so I have gone for a mixture of details to give you a flavour of what’s on offer. Black and white just seems to me to be irresistible for a 15th century ruin. I absolutely recommend a visit, its a good walk as well as an interesting sight.

Fountains Abbey website

That’s all folks!

Today in Renfrewshire there was a lovely mist after the rain went away. There was a layered “shades of mistiness” effect that I couldn’t resist. I haven’t felt like stopping by roadsides recently due to lots of large and upsetting changes in my life, but I’m glad that the desire to do so here was too strong too resist. This picture was very much snatched, and required a square crop to make the foreground wires work as a subject, but still captures something of the frequently misty landscape around Bridge of Weir in Renfrewshire.

The above scene is just a row of houses leading to the harbour using the 70-300 to compress the scale.

Same again with these pots that were pointed out to me. “What would you do with those in a photograph” was the question? Again, 300mm lens and compress the distance between them and saturate the colours a little.

Just a pretty little boat whose owner lavishes her unstintingly with paint.