Contemporary Makers

Meeting at the Dovecote Studios today http://www.dovecotstudios.com. Interesting exhibition of Contemporary Makers that's worth checking out. Jerwood Contemporary Makers

Sun machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party ...

The Weather Project. The fourth in the Annual Series of commissions for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, Olafur Eliasson, 2003.

This image has been dug out from the archives. It was my first time at Tate Modern and I was understandably blown away!

Knackered tonight! A heavy duty day. Meeting from 10am to 4pm discussing the last 15 years (I have been there 8) of lottery support for the arts in Scotland, with a view to informing how this will be taken forward within Creative Scotland.

Cafe Society

It's not actually a cafe, it's an antique lamp shop (note the price label on the lampshade). Have given it a slight tone to give an antique feel. 
Just another uneventful work day. Weather getting cold. The days getting shorter. Happily off to sunnier climbs next week for some pre-op R&R.

Correction (1 Oct 2010) - it's no longer a lamp shop, it's a cafe!

Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday spent trying to sort out someone's laptop. Computers at times can really do your head in! You can, as I have just done spend hours trying to get someone's on-line email account to work with Outlook to no effect. The endless loop and no clear idea why the bloody thing won't work! Please no its-so-much-easier-on-a-Mac comments, or I may come round and kill you.
Postscript - After a long on-line conversation with a nice Sky person and trying lots of things - finally a result. Now the solution was totally different from their set-up instructions - No surprsie there then!!! 

Where have all the people gone (long time passing)

Saturday morning wander with camera. Edinburgh very quiet now that the bulk of the visitors have gone. More limited in terms of candid opportunities. Visited some of the usual haunts but next to nothing. Todays batch (on Flickr) are therefore mostly of things!
This is worth checking out!

Viva La Revolution!

I came across the following phrase while reading one of the many things that I have to read in the course of my daily work. I feel it perfectly sums up my current approach to the day job.

Adaptive Resilience

This is the capacity to remain productive and true to your core purpose and identity, whilst absorbing disturbance and adapting with integrity in response to changing circumstances.

Life is full of little disappointments.

A colleague brought their Leica in today for me to have a look at. It was bequeathed to them in a relations Will. Now when I heard about this I was understandably excited, imagining a classic Rangefinder. However, like many things in life it proved to be a wee bit of a disappointment. It was one of the SLR type (early one I think), film not digital. Now I know the build and optics are second to none, but to my eyes it was an incredibly ugly beast, but worst of all it was so heavy almost to the point of being unusable (I certainly wouldn't want to lug it around)!
Now it's not that long to that time of year again ... Dear Santa ...
As an alternative, does anyone know roughly how much this little gem is likely to retail for? 

All dressed up and somewhere to go.

A very ordinary working day and nothing much to say! Usual, reading, writing and meetings. Much rather be out and about (I was but only briefly).

Hangin' around ...

...which is what I was mostly doing over the weekend. At the Carnival and performance stuff at Perth Concert Hall on Saturday (aerialist image above). Then hangin' out with chums, eating, drinking wine and playing games. Couldn't have been better! Thanks to Bob & Marilyn for all the hospitality.

Hand stitched

"Your pretty face is going to Hell ..." I should have got closer. Then again maybe I shouldn't!
An excellent day seeing the results of the good works. An opera written, designed and performed by the prisoners (7 years +) of HMP Shotts in conjunction with Scottish Opera, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Motherwell College Learning Centre HMP Shotts. Inspiring! Can the arts really make a difference?

"Singin' I'm no a Billy I'm a Tim"

A historic day in Edinburgh. Wonder if yer man is aware of Scotland's sectarian divide. More of my view of this special day on Flickr

Wooden

Got some sampler business cards in the post today from www.moo.com . Even better than I expected. For those of you who don't know you can get a minimum of 50 cards all with different images on. It's like having a mini portfolio in your pocket. You can import directly from your Flickr account which makes the whole thing very easy. 
Just another work day, primarily putting together a presentation for tomorrow for the new senior team. Ugly B and Mad Men on later. Not much else to say really!
Sabastiao Salgado long but worth the effort. Photography, politics and social consciousness.

Pond Life

Another good day, but I've now got heartburn. Had to get those things for wardrobes today that kill moths, as those itsy bitsy ones are eating holes in my natural fibres.

I know you guys like to support the arts, so check this out and sign up. 

http://savethearts-uk.blogspot.com/

The Shrigley cartoon is particularly good.

Plantman

A miserable day weather wise, but I seem to have been in a really good mood all day. It's unlikely to last given the level of negativity around at the moment.
Have at last taken the plunge and ordered a copy of CS5. Elements and Canon's DP Pro, are proving to be too limiting for what I want/need to do.

View from a bridge

Wander around SD's Village early on Sunday morning while D having a swim. Like just wandering about with camera (compact) to see what I can see. Then to Tesco for stuff and the Sunday papers. Spend the afternoon sorting out a laptop that needed some TLC. Quiet weekend all round.

Pretty in Pink

Now I have been getting in a lot closer recently as my candid confidence grows. However, this was taken at 250mm and I still cropped significantly. Early Autumn in the Botanics sees the last of the flowers, but this lovely lady out bloomed the lot ... and just look at the concentration. She clocked me (though I don't think the camera), I smiled, I thanked her, and went in search of other opportunities. I will be back in the Spring. 

Pedal porn

It was the World Duathlon Championships in Edinburgh last weekend. For the elite that's 10k running, 40k on the bike, then another 5k running, all in under 2 hours. As the commentator pointed out anyone could take up Duathlon. You may prove to be crap, but if you had the cash you could go out and buy one of these beauties and at least look the part. For me a serious case of wheel envy!  

So much to do, so little time.

It's not that I haven't been taking lots, it's simply that I've not got around to processing and posting. Will try to be better organised over the next few weeks.