Hmm, well, July doesn't seem to have been massively productive for me overall, though I've been working on a project based around local historical sites (most of the pictures are planned out, I just have to wait for the weather and light to line up with my visions) and a few urban explorations which I don't post on here.

August should be mucho better though. I've recently been accepted as a volunteer photographer for MacMillan Cancer Trust and will be shooting my first event for them on Sunday. The weekend after that I'm going to be covering Glasgow by Gaslight, a steampunk event at the Panopticon (Saturday 8th August, 12-6, free entry!). Beyond that there's a local Viking festival on at the end of the month and the fair is coming to town, and I'm also planning to get through to Edinburgh for a day when the Festival is on there so I should be able to get considerably more candid/street shots done this month.

I feel like I should be blogging or Twittering or something to promote meself, but I'm kinda concerned that a) I have nothing to say and b) what I do say will give unintended insights into my damaged psyche and I'll be shunned and nobody will ever want to work with/hire me again.

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Just got a last minute shoot arranged with Natasha Scott in Glasgow tomorrow.

Lordy it's nice to be working with people again!

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Hurrah!

I've just had my first two model shoots in 5 months. On Sunday I visited an abandoned shipyard with Faerie Emma and had fun poking around crumbling offices and warehouses with guns and goggles and Monday I spent the afternoon in the woods with Lilja Caskets doing a Red Riding Hood themed shoot which should be up in a couple of days.

I feel like I've just had a drink of water after trekking across a desert!

When I was out last I saw some posters advertising a free gig by a singer/songwriter named Esther O'Connor this afternoon, so I thought I might as well go along, bass neck it and see if I could shoot some photos. Luckily she was really nice and was happy for me to shoot, so I got to do some gig photography! Huzzah!

It's made me realise I could *really* use a fast prime, 85mm or longer, to get facial close-ups in that sort of situation. Even being close to the performers 50mm just isn't long enough and when they're not as theatrical as some of the people I've shot it's the expressions that really make the image. It's just a shame I have no hope of affording one anytime soon

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last journal and sorry for the not replying, but I'd shot off to Glasgow without having a chance to check my page.

Uuunfortunately the promo shoot never happened. Not sure why, the band just never got in touch with me but I'm sure there was a good reason. The gig itself was really good, though the photo pass I'd been promised hadn't been left for me. Luckily I'd had the foresight to print out that particular email and take it with me (what can go wrong will go wrong, after all) so I got to shoot with no problems.

In the end about quarter of the shots I took were useable, which is pretty good going for gig photography in my experience. I put it down to a decent lighting set-up and a frontman with a flair for the dramatic pose.

If nothing else, it's nice to be able to upload some pictures that don't have trees in them for once!