I was playing today with a new tilt & shift lens. Oak was my patient model once more and Simon was responsible for the lighting, help and inspiration - very important parts of the photographying process as I could concentrate fully on taking pictures and trying to focus in the right place. I also had to hurry as Oak was only able to come to the studio during his lunch break.
Please click on the image to enlarge it.
Today we experienced something that Scotts call 'haar' (you should have heard Venessa pronouncing the word!) - it is a sea mist that obscures the town (and it's castle) almost completely and makes you feel like what Monika Zeromska described in her diary from a visit to Britain as standing in a stream wearing wet underpants.
We went to do some shopping in organic shop in the other end of town center so we had to cross Princes Street Gardens. With haar obscurring all the sounds from the nearby tram works and gently setting on our faces it was a mesmerising experience. Being photographers of course we left the cameras at home so we had to use our phones instead.
We had a friend from Krakow visiting! Szymon is a husband of my best friend, we have known each other for years and as he came to Scotland for a conference for psychologists at the St Andrews University we offered to host him for a day of a frantic Edinburgh sightseeing.
Our guest brought our wedding rings which we ordered on our last trip to Krakow (here) and patiently listened to Liska's reading from 'The Uselless Information Book'. It was a pleasure to meet him again - we chatted in a pub in Rose Street late into the night about children and bringing them up and how parents sometimes determinate their children future with their even unconscious actions. Szymon is not only a lecturer in psychology but he is also a proud father too so both Simons had a lot of information to exchange!
We just came back from another commission, absolutely exhausted, so just a picture for tonight - I am going to have a loooooong, hot bath with orange oils, thank you very much.
My guess is that without this very handy sign Simon would have been completely lost with where to take a picture of his daughter and girlfriend in the Princes Street!
I have to head to bed now to get some necessary rest as for a change to stomach problems I have injured my back this time: during a photoshoot today I lifted a hefty camera bag and...the rest was excrutiating pain and constellations of stars.
The illustration blog features my new Easter card too! Happy Easter and have a peacefull extended weekend!
Simon came back from London very excited and with his mood visibly lifted after enthousiastic receiving of his project. So maybe this funding is going to happen after all, but tsyk tsyk, simply keep your fingers crossed.
Simon also brought couple of nice prezzies from the capital - he had a look at the Deutche Burse Prize exhibition in Photographers Gallery (they moved recently to a very posh location just off the Oxford Circus - so he was even able to do some shopping for me in the Muji shop in Oxford Street) and also got Simon Roberts' signed copy of his 'Motherland' in the gallery shop.
We tend not to buy photographic books anymore after the removal we had to get rid of about 95% of our collection so we realised that in fact, apart from our favourites (Norfolk, Brandt, Leibovitz, van Meene and couple of others) we really do not feel any more any urge, whatsoever, to buy expensive, heavy, bulky photographic books. Simon said that Roberts was the only exception (mine is Alec Soth but hopefully ECA's library is going to get his 'Sleeping by the Mississipi' soon) and what is more - he got a signed copy. Well, signature looks like it's been signed by the seller in the gallery bookshop during a boring afternoon but the whole publication is exquisite - brings to mind vivid stories in Kapuscinski's 'Imperium'.
When I said that I will not be posting for a while I did not mean such a long break! 