Youths making films

I was in Perth last weekend capturing the goings-on at the Scottish Youth Film Festival and came away smiling broadly and feeling revitalised. As a photographer at any event my job is to compose images that tell the story, and to do that well I think you really need to tune in to the vibe, listen to the conversations and feel a connection with the audience and the speakers as well as the team running things….but I didn’t expect to get quite so enthralled.

come to a workshop - get impaled

This wasn’t some self-congratulatory celebfest, but a practical hands-on series of workshops, panel conversations, outright silly fun and a showcase awards ceremony for the best films created by our young people. More than 250 travelled from all over Scotland – from Shetland to Dumfries – and were joined by actors, directors, producers, experts and professionals from Film, TV, Theatre and Games. The workshops were across a wide range from sound design, acting for screen, animation, scriptwriting, gruesome make-up, careers advice – but with added invaluable insights from working professionals who would answer ANY questions the kids could think of.

1st Assistant Camera Jonny Kerr, Camera Trainee Emily Ritchie & Director Andrew Cumming answer questions from the audience

Dave Barras and Scott Mackay founded the Scottish Youth Film Foundation charity and in 2023 partnered with the Sean Connery Foundation to take their work to new heights, into new classrooms and to fill more young minds with the power of the possible. The vibe at their festival was “Just try it” and the speakers and experts were saying “I’ve done it” and “this is how you can too.”

In a country where a government can just pull away the funding for creative organisations at the drop of a hat we should be very thankful for folk like David, Scott and the charity’s manager Heather Bowry for their relentless encouragement of Scotland’s youth, and for their own creative and persuasive skills in providing such a fantastic free resource for all of our young people.

Founders & Exec Directors Scott Mackay & David Barras with renowned actor and SYFF patron Andy Rothney

Being creative is a superpower that we have as kids but is too often drilled out of us by school and conforming to the norms of life. What was so very refreshing was to see creativity being celebrated, hear it being positively encouraged and feel the confidence in these young voices grow as the day progressed. The messages at this festival were loud and clear. Keep playing, experiment, do daft stuff, film it, write it, record and edit it. Take things you can only imagine and turn them into stuff we can see, hear and feel. Even ordinary folk can make magic.

Scottish Youth Film Foundation can be found at www.syff.scot

The nominees and award winners - from Shetland to Dumfries

A quick jaunt through some images from the festival

Edinburgh lockdown - Save Lives

We’ve got it very lucky in this current crisis all things considered, and being in walking distance of Edinburgh’s heart allows a photographer to continue to capture the city during lockdown. My pal Grant Stott decided to rework his parody (That’s Fife) of the Sinatra hit That’s Life - a parody of a parody really, and asked me to capture some images to fit his lyrics. Armed with toilet roll, hand gel, golf clubs and a Bawbags beanie I got to work across the city centre.

It had to be ready in very short order which gave Ryan Dewar the mammoth task of editing at breakneck speed. It’s gone a bit mental on social media across the planet with the USA particularly approving, and the current reach is well over 3 million pairs of eyeballs.

Grant Stott’s Save Lives parody edited by Ryan Dewar, with images by Tom Duffin.

Re:Capture Edinburgh

Recapture Edinburgh

That was what we asked of these youngsters from Syria, some of our #NewScots who are making homes and building their lives here. In a joint project with artist Leena Nammari, the Stills photography folk and the SCRAN archive people at Historic Environment Scotland this energetic crew delved into Edinburgh's history, and explored ideas of their place in the city.

Today is the launch of their exhibition at Stills gallery where they can show off the work for their Arts Awards project to their (soon to be very proud) parents. The ten weeks has gone by in a whirlwind of archive visits, taking shots with "proper" cameras out in the streets, darkroom jiggerypokery, printing malarkey and gallery visits, and I can't wait to see what the kids think when they see their work up on display.

We did some work creating Then/Now images using old images from the SCRAN archive and Scotsman Publications which involved the kids finding the exact standpoint of the original photographer and capturing what the scene looks like now.

Apart from all the fun they've had the kids from the Multi Cultural Family Base will also receive real recognition for their efforts. The whole Recapture project is underpinned by the Arts Award, allowing all participants to gain a recognised qualification within a framework to discover heritage, develop arts practice and grow skills. Thanks to Sarah at SeeThinkMake, Jackie at SCRAN, Claire at Stills and the inexhaustible Leena for being Auntie to so many delightful new Scots and for making it all happen.

(This was first published as a Facebook post on Lost Edinburgh Facebook page on 6 December 2019)

Stills
Multi-Cultural Family Base
SCRAN

Doing PR shots for a 200 year old

A bit of a dude was CPS. He was responsible for the One o'Clock Gun, and the Time Ball on the Nelson Monument, took some of the earliest photographs in Scotland, produced the world's first ever Stereo Photography book, and pioneeered the use of high altitude astronomy. That's just for starters, and fails to mention his talented wife Jessie.

I spent a week in August surrounded by academics, historians, astronomers, film-makers, egyptologists, art lovers and even some of the family of Charles Piazzi Smyth, in a symposium to mark his 200th birthday. Organised by the School of Physics and Astronomy at Edinburgh University, the symposium was based in the beautifully appointed Royal Society of Edinburgh on George St, a fitting venue as CPS was a member and bequeathed them his photos, paintings, journals and cameras on his death in 1900.

It was a real privilege to see and photograph items from the archive to help document the events.

Piazzi Smyth was based here on Calton Hill in the role of Astronomer Royal for Scotland, where he painted this view of the Nelson Monument. I spent a bit of time trying to reproduce the view, and it felt a bit hair-on-neck-raising weird sitting on the exact spot where CPS had sat to paint the view back in 1856.

His own photographs were ground breaking, using the various methods being developed as photography took leaps and bounds through calotype, colloidal and film.

The highlights of the symposium for me were the film about his Tenerife adventures "Residence Above The Clouds" and the presentation of his stereo photographs by Denis Pellerin. He's the guy responsible for the archive of Queen guitarist Brian May's massive collection of stereo photographs. Here's the audience wearing their stereo goggles during his show - can you see their minds being blown?

It was a fantastic week, filled with fascinating lectures, films and presentations and it was a real pleasure to meet and work with so many interesting and knowledgeable people. If you have a similar event you'd like to visually document and garner PR for, please do get in touch. Here's the page for the wee article we got in the Evening News.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/retro/salute-to-pioneering-astronomer-who-set-up-edinburgh-s-one-o-clock-gun-1-4998458

Beltane Fire Festival

It felt almost like a film set at times. Throbbing drums, dancing flames and writhing, shrieking, naked painted bodies. The Beltane Fire Festival celebrates the beginning of Summer, and is held on top of Calton Hill in the middle of the city. With its half-built acropolis, and open hillside park, it’s the perfect venue to stage a roving, multi-cheeked moonie at stuffy Edinburgh society. Three hundred (and more) enthusuastic volunteers wearing lovingly prepared costumes, summon the spirits of their ancestors, spark up hundreds of small and large flames, and get down to the serious business of welcoming Summer.

As a last minute addition to the photography corp I’d missed out on the priviliged spots alongside the main performers, so I took a reasonably long 70-200mm lens, braced myself for mixing it up amongst the thousands of spectators, and gave myself two photography missions.

My overall brief to myself was to capture the theatre of the event, but in two distinct ways. The first was to slice off intimate scenes from the general melee, and focus on individual performances - using shadows and selective focus to achieve the visual isolation of the people in my small vignettes. The second was to try and capture the whole massive theatre of it all, the atmosphere, the light, the closeness of crowds and performers, the unique location above the city, and the classical architecture of the columned National Monument as the centrepiece.

I love the isolated feeling in this shot….when the reality was a crowded noisy melee

Like a film set, the National Monument is the perfect stage for this manic event

I love the overall theatre of this one showing the mass of people,the performers and the fantastic arena of Calton Hill

The “Reds” ran around for 5 hours wearing nothing but red paint, big grins, and a couple of bits of string for modesty

This was a 30 second exposure while lots of people ran around with fizzing burning sticks in the stage area. I’m amazed how many people watching stood perfectly still.

Temptation

There is something very spooky about people carrying torches in a slow procession, especially if they are banging drums, at an increasing tempo