On reccie with Charlie

Having been commissioned to shoot a series of pictures for a local florist who wanted images to enter in a national floristry competition, I decided it would be best to reconnoitre a couple of suitable locations.

Also, as one part of the series involved a model wearing a dress ‘built’ by the florist, I asked the model – Charlotte - to come along with me.

I’d already been through to one of my favourite locations - South Queensferry - that week; another reccie I’d arranged to do with members of a band who have asked me to shoot some promotional pictures with them – that project is still in the pipeline and loosely ear-marked for the beginning of August. So, with that visit still fresh, I decided to take Charlotte to my current ‘next most’ favourite location, Blackness. I say current ‘next most’ favourite, because I do tend to chop and change my favourites about as often as I change memory cards.

Blackness has a number of plus points which tick all my boxes for a good location: it’s gorgeous; it’s generally quiet; it offers lots of options. Blackness boasts an old castle which was used as a military base as recently as the 2nd World War. It sits on the Forth and offers a great point of foreground interest for excellent shops up and down the estuary. It has great beaches; woods, open grassed areas and a harbour where boats from the local yacht Club are moored.

I didn’t take either of my Canon camera’s as I didn’t expect to be shooting anything but, when we got there, Charlie couldn’t resist getting into character, and I couldn’t resist shooting her with my ever present compact. The little camera did really well, I thought and, well, Charlie always does a great job.

Cloud dodging

Shooting outdoors these days has more to do with flipping a coin to second-guess the weather than it does technique and composition, and so it was with more than a little trepidation that I organised a shoot on the shores of the Forth

Fortunately, that trip out to South Queensferry along with Graeme, Rachael and Graeme’s custom-built Mini-Cooper saw us get almost the entire set consigned to efilm cards before the rain forced us to police all the equipment back into the car.

Yesterday

My camera invariably leads me out of doors; I've tried many of photography's various disciplines but, if I had to make a short-list then it would first include weddings, portraiture and landscape.

Needless to say, at this point in my business' growth, landscape offers an affordable and ever-able focus for my twitchy trigger-finger.

On Tuesday, a fine, blemish-free sky led me to Linlithgow; Birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. Now, I've passed through this elegant little town on a number of occasions - mostly to visit the Canal basin and journey along the towpaths - but I've never actually visited the Palace or the adjacent Loch. They are indeed a fantastic spectacle, but the sun was high by the time I got there, and a high cloud diffused the light slightly. I ran off a few mega-bytes of 'film' but wasn't overly pleased with the results; I should really make a note to revisit for either a sunrise or sunset; the unbroken carpet of the loch offers a fantastic lead-in to the palace itself. Also, as a member of Historic Scotland (whose card was left at home) I'd really enjoy getting onto the high ramparts of the palace. I expect the view over both town and loch must be fantastic in the right light.

Yesterday, I packed my gear early and drove to South Queensferry. Again, it was a lovely morning, but the light was poor. The enormous structures of the Forth bridges offer tantalising backdrops for photography and, though I'd captured them lots of time, I couldn't resist running of a little efilm.

My main purpose in making the trip, though, was to find the path which leads East from the town towards the village of Crammond which sits at the mouth of the river Almond. I did eventually find the start of this path but, as is my want, I found it about two hours later than I should have: the shore-line is such a distraction!

I did get to the start of the 'Shore Walk'; the attendant route-map promises a good number of photo opportunities, and it is a walk I'll have to try and complete before the winter sets in.




Linlithgow Loch.





The Forth Bridges, South Queensferry.