Try not to 'should' yourself.

This morning I was shocked to hear the sad news of the death of a lovely guy and great guitar player, Norman Conboy. He lived locally and played with local musicians at various sessions. I met him a few times at the Cromar Folk Club and also on the rare occasion I made it down to the regular Tuesday night sessions in the Aberdeen Arms in Tarland. He recently played on the CDs of Paul Anderson  and David Anderson.

When I watched Norman, and watch other guitarists play accompaniment to trad folk music, I am puzzled as to what exactly they are playing. I learnt the guitar playing some blues, rock and the odd bit of bluegrass and jazz. None of what I could play seemed to fit with what trad folk guitarists did. So one night I asked Norman what was he doing? He never really answered my question. He just said come along to the Tuesday night sessions and watch. He also hinted that you kind of had to know the music and know what was coming in the tune - which is where I struggled a bit as our house was filled with jazz music more than folk music.

I knew he was right and I should try to get to the Tuesday night sessions and watch him.

But sadly, I found excuses - during the week I rise at 6am, commute 64 miles every day, work as a Principal Teacher at a secondary school and on average, see 190-200 pupils come through my door every week. When 9pm comes along on a Tuesday night, I really struggle to find the energy to go to a pub session which may end at 11-11.30pm.

Of course, deciding every Tuesday to not go to the sessions and sit beside Norman and learn from him for the fairly pathetic reasons given above, I regret now. Isn't it always a shame that some lessons in life seem only to be learned this way.

You should never 'should' yourself! I have to try harder to stop saying 'I should try to get to ...' and instead say, 'I will get to...', 'I am going to...' more often.

Norman will be sadly missed by many musicians, friends and of course his family. The few times I spoke with Norman, he was a gent. He was a handsome, funny and talented guy.

Rest in Peace Norman.

Summer months will be different in future.

Hello!

I missed blogging on here in July and I'm sure I could have and should have done at least one. Sorry guys.

A few things to report and update. My summer shooting started off well with a walk up a glen I drive past every day near Alford. Initially I went up the wrong track but this happen to be fortuitous as I spotted a ruin I didn't know about. Re-traced steps, moved the car and park it beside the gamekeepers house which meant I had to walk passed him and explain where I was going. No problem really with him but I think it is important to not draw attention to yourself or to antagonise gamekeepers. I got to the ruin which looked promising but, and I need to remember this, when I got to it, it was surrounded by nettles, ferns and gorse. Rural exploration should be saved for Spring, late Autumn and Winter. An internal shot of the the ruin called Mains of Brux is above and an outside shot below:

The great thing about this day was when exploring this place I spotted another ruin just up the hill a bit. I also spotted a red rusty roof - great! The place was called Ferneybrae:

So a good day and a fantastic start to the summer. More shots here.

Unfortunately, the weather this summer has been restrictive, so I've decided that, with the current poor weather we're getting in the summer in Scotland combined with the fact that the houses are so covered in undergrowth, I'm going to concentrate on other aspects of my photography during these months.

One project I'm starting to build up is photographing local musicians. A local folk club is run by renowned fiddler Paul Anderson and his highly acclaimed singer Shona Donaldson. Luckily, I know them both and have done work for them so I have been allowed to shoot during the folk night in Tarland. Here is a shot I took of Jonny Hardie of the Old Blind Dogs:

The challenge for me shooting the folk club, apart from the fact I am not really a portrait photographer, is the low light. I use the 85mm f1.8 on shutter priority to maintain the shutter speed no lower than 100s so it ends up shooting wide open, making focusing tricky. As the evening went on I resorted to flash which I hate when shooting performers, but it was needed in the dimly lit room. Next time, I'm going to  try the auto ISO to see how that goes.

Anyway, I'm glad to get back to the blog. I did actually listen to another Jeff Curto podcast but I didn't feel a blog could be constructed from it so that also delayed things. Also, my wife's father has been ill and in and out of hospital, so that takes priority.

Thanks for visiting, all the best, James.

Paul Anderson

Paul Anderson
Originally uploaded by James_at_Slack

A wee taster of the photo shoot I did with Paul a few weeks ago.

Due to holidays and going back to work with a bang, it is only now that I can share some of them with you. Hope you like them and I'm open to your thoughts as I'm not normally a portrait photographer and I don't have a studio or studio lights. We enjoyed doing them!

Paul was happy for me to take some shots knowing I didn't have any studio lights or a studio. I got some black curtains and rails from Argos and put them on the wall and on the floor. Just in front of Paul is a white sheet to reflect some light up. I set up a SB600 off camera to the left and a small reflector to the right. Some natural light came in from the left. We knew we were going to do something with the fiddle suspended and Paul would be in full kilted dress, so it a bit traditional and a bit fun.

Please tell what I should do to improve as inside portraits is not my normal shoot.

Try it bigger.