Spent some time with Rab today, a fellow photographer. It feels good to shoot a straight up portrait. It’s been a while since I’ve picked up my camera for just ‘me’. The aim of our day, however, was a tour of some of Glasgow’s indie coffee shops. Stay tuned for those photos…
John Rush
John Rush and I went to music college together in a past life. In exchange for hot chocolate, I photographed him and his sore thumb in Citizen M. He hates having his photo taken, so I had someone distract him with conversation while I ninja snapped.
Unlike me, John is still making music and playing in Glasgow.
Windswept Gary
Whenever I hang out with Gary, I feel like it’s summer of 2011 all over again. Except it’s not. It’s winter of 2014 and a lot has changed. We spent a lot of time together that year just hanging out, but now we’re both grown-ups, and—even though we live closer than ever—we just don’t see as much of one another. We both have demanding jobs (Gary plays keyboards in Red Hot Chilli Pipers), he has a fiancé (Katie, she gets the Ashley stamp of approval), and we both have scary mortgages to pay off.
Today we went for coffee and a walk around Kelvingrove Park. As always, Gary let me take his picture. He has hair now. Our friendship has, …
Photography Workshop With Girl With A Camera
I have some exciting news! I’ll be hosting two photography workshops in Whosit & Whatsit‘s new space in Newcastle in the first quarter of 2015 (wow, feels odd to say that). If you own a dSLR but still shoot on auto, this workshop is for you. I used to be one of those people, too!
You can select which date you want from the Indiegogo campaign (7th of February or 14th of March).
I’ll be covering photography basics (the technical stuff ), my personal approach to taking photos (things I’ve learned), recommended tools (what I use every day), and post-processing.
It also includes a photo walk around Newcastle, so get on it!
PlayMaker
These past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of photographing up and coming singer / songwriter, James Hopkins (aka PlayMaker). His tune, One More Night, has been stuck in my head since I first heard it. I’m going to try and catch his big launch gig at O2’s ABC in Glasgow this winter, ‘cos I think this boy is onto something.
Ayden Gets Inked
I had mentioned to Ayden a while back it would be fun to photograph her getting tattooed, and so – after a weights session at the gym and before I headed back to work – I popped into Timeless Tattoo for 20 minutes and did just that. I’ve never seen anyone get a tattoo before. I’m not interested in having one myself, but I generally quite like them on others. It struck me how much pain poor Ayden was in. She’s a bit of a veteran when it comes to tattoos, and I had gathered some people even like the pain. I like Ayden’s new tattoo because it reminds me of Bioshock.
Naconf 2013
Another January, another New Adventures in Web Design. I have attended this conference every year, and can safely say the third and final New Adventures was my favourite. The topics covered and how they were delivered inspired me, to say the least. I know a conference has been worth the expense if I’m itching to run home and create, which New Adventures did (and I’d be running almost 300 miles). My personal highlight of the conference was Wayne Hemingway’s talk.
Initially I was mildly displeased the conference fell on the day before my birthday. Did I really want to spend my 26th birthday driving home for 5 and a half hours to an empty house? Naw. I stayed an extra night and hoped there would still be familiar faces kicking about. Chloe, Andy, Stringer, Hughes, Jack Smith, Mark, Paige, Jack Osborne, Leckie and Robbie treated me to dinner at Bonzai, followed by cocktails at the Lace Market Hotel. I’m still very grateful for their kindness.
The photo walk was another highlight. Despite this being my third year visiting Nottingham, I hadn’t seen much of the city. I was surprised by how pretty it is. Of course, with my preferred subject matter being people, I spent the photo walk shooting the attendees as opposed to our surroundings.
All in all, a fantastic end to New Adventures in Web Design. Nottingham, you’re nice.
Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh
With a sister living in Edinburgh, I’ve come to hear of Arthur’s Seat a fair bit. My sister claims to have ran around it a few times (I don’t believe her), and it’s one of Edinburgh’s top tourist attractions. Despite that, it has taken me until today to finally pay it a visit, and I chose the foggiest, wettest kind of day for it. I even wore a poncho. A poncho.
The top of Arthur’s Seat was covered in a thick, dreamy mist. It meant that the view over Edinburgh became less visible the higher we got, but I took some of the moodiest landscapes I’ve ever shot. I would like to return during the Summer for a different vibe. Oh wait, it is Summer.