Samhuinn 2006 in Edinburgh

80-200mm f2.8 zoom handheld in available light

I was invited to come out and photograph the Samhuinn celebrations in Edinburgh by fellow Flickrite Sibelian, who's taken part in the ceremonies in past years; it's a big theatrical pagan event, enacting the overthrow of the court of summer by the court of winter.

I got into a rather poor position for the main event, jammed into a crowd so tightly packed that I couldn't get into my rucksack for my telephoto lens until late in the proceedings. As a result, I didn't get a record of the whole thing (I also forgot to take establishing shots again), but I did get some good single shots, including the dramatic bonfire shot above, and some good individual portraits of interestingly painted people in the procession down to The Mound.

80-200mm zoom with SB-24 flash in manual mode

18-50 f2.8 zoom @ 18mm, f8, focus pre-set at about 10ft, SB-24 flash in auto mode - exposures were pretty reliable

18-50 f2.8 zoom @ 18mm, f8, focus pre-set at about 10ft, slow-sync flash with SB-24 in auto mode.

Stuff That!

Nikon D50 & Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX Zoom

I've been getting a bit stale recently; shooting a lot of stuff to test new cameras, but not really getting down to any serious (or frivolous) photography. Since moving to central Edinburgh, I decided to revive an old project by re-shooting some of my portraits of stuffed animals on better-quality digital (my first tries were in 2001 using a Canon G1, a camera not best suited to low-light work.)

Nikon D50 & Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX Zoom; obligingly, she wore headphones,
so I could practically stick the camera in her ear
without her noticing the shutter click.

The faster response of my new cameras has meant that instead of just concentrating on the exhibits as I did the first time, more candids are creeping in too. I'm looking at extending the project out into the rest of the museum and maybe to others in Edinburgh too.
The existing images are on Flickr; just click on the pictures here to get to the set.

More E550 Candids

Johnny REM in Bradford, September 2006

Since moving to Edinburgh, I've not been getting out to shoot as much as I'd like, but I've managed to collate some more shots from my Fuji E550 into a Flickr set.
Despite it not being quite as nice and jewel like as my old Canon S50, I note that it's become my first choice carry-everywhere camera. Noise at 400ASA is much better controlled than with the Canon, and the battery life using NiMh rechargeables, which I was a skeptical of, is pretty impressive.