I could not be more thrilled with the theme of The Gallery this week – Street Photography. When I first got my camera, DorkySon was only a few months old. I used to push his pram round and round the streets of Edinburgh until he fell asleep, and then I’d spend a couple of hours snapping away and taking photos of anything and everything around me – buildings, people, parks – whatever was there.
Whoop whoop! It’s almost Edinburgh Fringe time, and I am hugely excited that DorkyDad has been asked to compere the BBC Poetry Slam again.
The Slam took place for the first time last year, and it was an absolutely brilliant line-up of poets, but this year it’s EVEN BETTER! (It’s actually a bit ridiculous how good it is.) This year it will feature the 2011 BBC Slam Champion, Catherine Brogan; Scottish Makar Liz Lochhead in her first ever Slam competition; and a special guest appearance from the 2012 Paris World Champion, Harry Baker.
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So yesterday I posted the first installment of my guide to Edinburgh, covering A-C, along with an explanation of why I’m doing it. Today I’m posting Part 2, letters D-G. Again, if you want to post any thoughts and suggestions, along with your own favourite things about the city, you’re very welcome to do that in the comments below.
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The theme over at The Gallery is ‘Faces’ this week. We actually have until next week to do a post, but as we’re moving house in the middle of next week and I’m likely to be offline, I thought I’d get in there early.
I was torn between a ‘pretty‘ picture and an ‘interesting’ one but in the end decided to go for interesting. I know this is not a photo that everyone will love, but it’s an important one for me for a couple of reasons.
The guy is called Lewis, and he is something of a local celebrity. He can often be seen walking up and down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, or sitting on a bench in the centre of town and chatting with a crew of assorted other characters. He is very friendly, and has some good banter, although has also been known on occasion to hoist up his kilt and bare his arse to tourists if they try and take a photo without asking his permission.
I think he has a brilliant face – brimming with character. You can tell that he is someone who has really lived. The slightly aggressive look in his eyes is tempered by the jingle bell and badges on his hat. And really, who wouldn’t want to grow themselves some awesome facial hair like that?
I like this shot because it’s the first time I ever approached a ‘stranger’ in the street and asked to take their photo. I got quite into street photography for a while, but to begin with I always took candid shots rather than asking for permission. I ended up torn between frustration at not being able to get close enough to people to capture anything very interesting (it’s quite hard to blend into the background when you’re pushing a pram with a noisy toddler in it…), and a slight feeling of unease I couldn’t shake off about taking people’s photos without them knowing.
There are some brilliant street photographers in Edinburgh. And also some brilliant opportunities for honing your street photography skills during the Edinburgh Festival, when there are all kinds of people wandering around the streets desperate to have their photo taken! But hardcore street photography, really getting into people’s faces and capturing them up close without permission, is not something that feels right for me.
This style – more street portrait than street photography, I guess – is the focus of the 100 Strangers project which encourages photographers to get out of their comfort zone and take pictures of strangers, but approach them for permission first, and have a chat to find something out about them. It appeals to me greatly, although I haven’t committed to doing a full 100 shots yet. If I did, I think I’d try and find Lewis again, and ask him to be my first.
What a face.
See how other people have interpreted the Faces theme over here on Sticky Fingers.
So we saved the best until last.
DorkyDad and I haven’t spent much time out and about together this Festival, because we’ve been so busy with work. Work finally finished, for both of us, on Saturday night.
Yesterday was DorkyDad’s birthday, and instead of going out for a meal, or seeing a show, we spent the day sitting on the sofa in our pyjamas, watching Peppa Pig with DorkySon. It was great. At 4pm I finally hauled myself up the road to get a Sunday paper and a pizza for dinner, but that was the sum total of our activity.
On the spur of the moment, about 9pm last night, I decided to see if we could squeeze into the Pommery Bar at the Signet Library on their very last day. Four years ago, we got married there – a magical, happy day in a truly stunning building – and I thought it’d be nice to pop in and see how it was looking.
So this morning, after dropping DorkySon at nursery, we giggled our way across the Meadows, and treated ourselves to a bottle of champagne and a couple of hours reconnecting.
The wonderful folk at Heritage Portfolio have done a great job. The Pommery Bar feels exclusive, but not intimidating in the slightest. The service is friendly and attentive, but not fussy; our glasses always seemed to be full but we were left to chat and admire our surroundings (although I confess that we spent longer watching the reflection of the champagne bubbles in the mirror-topped table than we did staring at the ceiling!). We got a little over-excited when, on the way out, we saw another couple being given a tour of the building and the same spiel we’d been given about why it makes a great wedding venue. “Do it!” we said, rushing up and interrupting their discussion. “We got married here and loved it!”
So that was a great start to the last day. Then on the way home we stopped off, at the Udderbelly, for one of those amazing burgers and chips that I was raving about yesterday. The food was still great… but we got a little distracted. In one of those one-in-a-million, once-in-a-lifetime moments, I looked up from my burger and spotted a bit of graffiti on the wall beside us.
‘I Heart Young Dawkins’
It was written in blue, although the heart was coloured in red. I took a photo, which I will post up here, when I’ve worked out how to get it off my phone.
Wow. Someone liked DorkyDad’s show enough to scribble his name on the wall! That’s crazy. But cool. I am a little bit jealous. But mostly impressed. He hopes it was a girl. I hope it was a guy. Whoever it was, it doesn’t really matter. The chances of us gong to the Udderbelly on the very last day of the Festival, and sitting in that seat, and spotting that writing… I’m not sure how it happened, but I like that it did. And now, as I write this, that wall has probably been removed. It’s in the back of a truck somewhere, and next year it’ll have had a new lick of purple paint, and the graffiti will be gone.
So that was pretty awesome.
And then we came home, and picked DorkySon up from nursery. And then my day really was made. I’ve already bragged about this on Facebook, so apologies to those of you who are encountering my hitherto hidden competitive side for the second time today… but I am truly bursting with pride. The nursery started doing a sticker chart for good behaviour this week, and, on the first day, DorkySon is the only kid to get a gold star on it. For tidying up all the books.
Yes indeed, that is my boy. Those are my boys. And that was my day. It was a good one.
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