Blog

Don’t drop your camera!

Could also be titled “what those ‘useless’ UV filters are for”. A cautionary tale for other photographers.

Yardworks

Some of the best street artists descended on Glasgow this weekend and their work is fabulous. There was a great atmosphere as the artists have a sort of social meet-up at the same time. There were a fair few photographers out there not just the group I’m part of.

Dundee

So I spent a brilliant weekend in Dundee… I started shooting when it was getting dark on Friday evening then went on to visit the V&A Dundee, RRS Discovery and the best statue I’ve visited in a long time.

The V&A is brilliant inside and out and of course they have a specially commissioned item in the shop that shares its name with me. A Selkie cushion. Yes, I brought one home with me. You can take photos in some of the exhibits just be careful of flash. So from there it was all aboard the RRS Discovery which lives next door.

Photography is actively encouraged and its a great exhibition and place to learn about how we finally made it to the South Pole and Antarctica. Amazing to think this ship was frozen in ice for 2 years while they investigated and made all sorts of scientific discoveries.

They wouldn’t let me use the darkroom but then you don’t really need it with a DSLR……. Yep they were taking photos all the way down there….

I had time for one stop before home but I’ll post about that tomorrow….

Bank Holiday Mural Hunting

We are well known for covering walls in paint around here. So I took myself out on a wander to find some of them.

Most of these are hanging out the the Merchant City area, indeed many are attached to my alma matter (for all of two years before I left). There’s even a website dedicated to the Glasgow murals.

My personal favourite is this one although I needed to crack out the wide angle lens to get it all in….

Ah now, that doesn’t do it justice. Also I have no idea why you would need to get the tripod out…. It was so sunny I was working in ISO 100 most of today. Here’s a set of photos with each of the major scenes from this end to the other side of the car park.

T Rex in Town

Across the road from Glasgow’s oldest adopted resident, Dippy, who is still hanging out in Kelvingrove Museum, there’s a new dinosaur in town. Trix, the Tyrannosaurus rex, is now in Kelvin Hall and she’s a real fossil. Not to throw shade at the still popular Dippy but he (she?) is a plaster cast of a true fossil. Abet a plaster mould with a prestigious permanent home in London.

Being the Easter holiday it’s the busiest place on earth…. (I’ve never been to Disneyland so can’t comment)…. It’s also hot for Scotland right now. The temperature is officially “taps aff” (feel free to google that) in the Glasgow area so of course I chose to kneel on the floor of another museum for extended periods. I think it was worth it though as I have some more long exposure (ghost people) shots. I went all out this time having learned from Dippy. I’m now equipped with a mini tripod (which is usually museum friendly) and a 2 stop ND filter (just enough to stop the camera over exposing the shots).