True to classic Festival pace, everything is always half over before it even feels underway. So in keeping, here I am half way through the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and this is my first opportunity to relay from the frontier.
And the front lines is exactly how it feels. The photo team has been at the crest of activity for the last week and have had such a vantage point on seeing the whole festival unfold. We have been everywhere. We are tucked into a corner at every event and every screening. We are on every panel, forum and discussion. We have been side by side with the actors, filmmakers and companies that comprise this year’s program. We are amongst the audience and we move in convoy with the festival staff and directors. If omnipresence is all it is cut out to be, then this is as close as it gets to being a god.
Back to reality however, over the last week, me and the team have painted a wonderful tapestry of the festival in images. There is a full and ever expanding gallery of the festival’s activities online. We have been presented with such a range of people, circumstances and weather conditions that there is no end of colour to the proceedings. This is my first chapter for now at least.
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| EIFF Artistic Director Chris Fujiwara |
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| A Filmmaker prepares a rare projection of 16mm print for a screening |
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| Guests get ready for some mind bending 3D as part of the Black Box Shorts programme |
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| Carlos Acosta, Eva Birthistle and Christopher Simpson reunite in Edinburgh for the premiere of Day of the Flowers |
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| Festival staff are caught in a quick downpour before the red carpet of Killer Joe |
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| Tartan Troo’s on the red carpet |
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| Guests enjoying Innis&Gunn and canapés at the opening party at The National Museum of Scotland |
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| Actor Christopher Simpson during a photocall for Day of the Flowers |
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| The Silhouette of a speaker introducing a screening |
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| Sun Don’t Shine director Amy Seimetz answers a curious audience during a Q&A |
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| The restoration of cult classic Lawrence of Arabia is explained in a detailed presentation |
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| Tilda Swinton sits front row for a preview of a brand new restoration of David Lean’s Laurence of Arabia |
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| Rita Azevedo Gomes introduces A Woman’s Revenge |
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| Writer Paul Fraser discusses his work with Shane Meadows |
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| Maja Bjorg and Tilda Swinton |
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| The industry equivalent of speed dating, delegates network with established professionals but only have 20 minutes on the clock |
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| An industry delegate pitches his script at a one-to-one seminar |
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| EIFF Artistic Director Chris Fujiwara arrives on the red carpet for the opening of the festival |
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| BBC Broadcaster and EIFF Juror Edith Bowman arrives on the red carpet for the EIFF premiere of Killer Joe |
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| Ian Rankin arrives on the red carpet for the EIFF premiere of Killer Joe |
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| William Friedkin arrives in force on the red carpet for his EIFF premiere of Killer Joe |
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| Producer Al Morrow considers an audience question in an industry event on the Danish Documentary |
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| Peter Engel , Producer at Zentropa |
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| Erwin Houtenbrink, member of the International Short Film Jury |
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| Cast and Crew introduce the EIFF premiere of Guinea Pigs |
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| Brian Cox smiling on the red carpet for the EIFF premiere of Killer Joe |
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| Film Editor Colin Monie gives an inside view to the industry to a young audience at Scottish Screen Academy |
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| Craig Hill arrives on the red carpet for the EIFF premiere of Killer Joe |
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| Will Anderson, winner of both the British Short film and Maclaren Animation Awards, talks candidly with fellow filmmakers at the Cameo bar |
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| Miguel Gomes, director of Tabu speaks about his film in a Q&A |
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| Elliot Gould impersonates Jean-Luc Godard during his In Person event. |
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| Morv and Rab and the stag |
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| Guests rock the Jukebox at the opening party at the National Museum of Scotland |
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| A packed National Museum of Scotland for the opening night party. |
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| Ceilidh musician on stage for the EIFF Ceilidh. |
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| Actor Jim Broadbent at the EIFF Ceilidh |
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| A proper ruckus at the EIFF Ceilidh |
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| A debonair attendee of the black tie premiere of Killer Joe |
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| The silhouette of twin 16mm projectors of Black Box filmmaker Daichi Saito. |
This week is the beginning of the 66th Edinburgh International Film Festival and I am delighted to be back on board, but as one of their official Photographers this year. Everything kicks off on Wednesday and every year it is always those that keep their ears to the grapevine who make out like bandits! So keep in tune to their Facebox and Twitter for some offers, prizes and gems of worldly wisdom as the Festival unfolds.
I will do my bit as ever to keep you updated on the visual front, so take your seats!
Here’s one of many I’m looking forward to! But don’t read into it.
The National Theatre of Scotland are re-imagining a literally wicked classic in the most wicked way. Currently in rehearsal at Tramway in Glasgow, this dark, modernised rendition of Shakespeare is set against the backdrop of a ward in a psychiatric asylum. It’s sole inmate, none other than Alan Cumming, channels each of the main antagonists in beautiful, tortured monologues, echoing the darkest elements of the script in the shadowy, schizophrenic milieu.
Exciting stuff indeed. I was delighted to lend my interpretation to the rehearsal production images. It is always thrilling to see something monumental in development, and the scale of the set, rich with decayed, rusty detail, really appeals to the dark side of my image making. Images have already been used in an early review by the Scotsman.
For me personally, it has really blown off some cobwebs from the days I studied Macbeth for the marathon trials of Leaving Cert English in Ireland. Try as you might at that tender age when all that would make you happy in the world would be to barely pass a subject, let alone engage with the material. Something with as fresh and contemporary a treatment would have been just the ingredient for my young jaded mind. Still though, its not too late. Better get my tickets!
Check out the Trailer for the show below.
Macbeth – Trailer from National Theatre of Scotland on Vimeo.
So this is where we are. One helluva round trip coming up!
Just back in Scotland after a week of diamond weather and amazing shooting in Kohler, Wisconsin, working alongside Hamish Campbell and the Kohler team on some new campaign imagery for The American Club Resort. Just seen the weather report in Edinburgh for the rest of the week – Take me back now!
Back on the ground, and still a little jelly legged, here is a run down of my work over the last few weeks.
I was invited to cover the Write Here Festival at the Traverse Theatre last month, a series of workshops and events that support script development in theatre writing. Among the discussions and round-table activities I was also offered a privileged role in the rehearsal of Tim Price’s Demos (complete with gloves and scarf) that wrapped up the festival.
I have recently started working with the multitalented Scottish Chamber Orchestra who asked me to produce some new images for the SCO Chorus.
I was also invited to the Usher Hall to capture the performance and flower presentation of Nicola Benedetti with the SCO for their performance of The Four Seasons.
Events Consultants Scotland asked me along to get busy behind the scenes at the annual dinner of the Scottish Friendly Assurance at The Glasgow Central Hotel. What I thought was set to be sophisticated, calm black tie evening, soon became a full blown party thanks to Incognito Artists. Table dancing, bouquet swinging and chorus chanting all before desert.
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There is a lot to be said for the cold and the rain to bring out a darker side of the imagination. Mid May, and I was expecting a slow incline of daylight and a steady blooming of heat. We should all know better. Five degrees and a lead sky. The Arctic howl of December through our clothes, a flowing mire beneath our jaded shoes. The worst shock to the system is the disappointment, that we have to wait in suspense for our summer to ever arrive.
The upshot is that I started touring my archive of the images I took over Winter for some consolation on how bad it can get. We need no reminding of the dark once the sun is baking our pavements again so I am happy to post them here for now. Tragically enough, these images of a very sombre Edinburgh Haar are only about a month old. Scotland, as ever, defies the definition of Winter.
Down in Leith it is business as usual. A busy football Saturday, pubs rammed. The opposing ends of Hibernian Stadium invisible to each other through a thick wall of white, according to reports. Shops’ shutters up, dogs to be walked, traffic lights green, football practice at 10, paper supplements, bus stop queue, Kirkgate pigeons, shopping bags at the bar, traffic lights red. And all the while, a heavy silence. Like holding the world on mute as the white envelopes everything. I walk around and see some of the most banal things blown out of proportion. A woman and her dog, burnished like two spots of ink on canvas. A flock of seagulls, noiseless from nowhere, bluster limply overhead like debris in a gale. A father and daughter emerge kicking a football in the Links. Shrouded in a cavern of grey, their breath on the air like coal trains as they run directionless, only to be swallowed again into nothing.
And a solitary figure, who seems more at home in the blankness than anyone. Hi Rab:-p
…but you are hard work!
I am taking a break! I’m kicking off my boots and putting on my bare feet and heading off to Spain to enjoy a drink with every meal and some weather you can make sense of. I shall return with stories and photos galore I say. I am wielding not one but two film cameras on my travels. Not a pixel in sight.
I am overdue a few updates which I shall hopefully tackle on my return. The last crazy month has seen some production images for several shows which are starting touring. Some fabulous coverage of events from the NTS, Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre and the SCO, on top of the rest!
All going well I might also have a snapshot of a current personal project I begun at the start of the year. All very exciting stuff!
But get me out of here quick.
Adios a todos!
Last week saw the annual musical mélange of Wide Days descend on Edinburgh at Teviot Row. It is a two day consortium of speakers, panels, workshops, showcases and of course, blaring music: a hot bed of music industry knowledge to serve the uninitiated.
I was invited to cover the main events of the day-time panels and discussions. As the proverbial fly on the wall, it is hard not to pick up more than just photos. There was a lot of very solid knowledge from very sharp and sympathetic minds. Gems even that I could take on board for my own approach to creativity. First that it is a business, given, but second that it is important to share the workload and get hard hitting feedback when you can. Creativity is not a path to be gone alone, and there was a great vibe about the event that lit some flames and got everyone’s minds on building up the community.
Its not everyday the photographer gets a mention! When a picture is worth 1,000 words (on the old exchange rates anyway), there tends to be little editorial real-estate for the creative process behind the scenes. And rightly so, articles can be in depth enough without needing to know about the textile content of the backdrop materials and nasal shadowing of the subject. But interestingly, the interview and the photoshoot are almost as enjoyable as the finished product.
This flattering quote is from Julian Corrie in his New Blood feature in this month’s Skinny. The shoot in question was arranged by the creative folks at The Skinny at the Glasgow Science Centre. If you haven’t visited or don’t know anything about it, be sure of this: it is a world of fun. You could end up having too good a time. And so it went. Legging it through wonderful, interactive floors, setting up images at instruments, mirrors and displays and getting distracted by all the toys. Me and the staff bombarded Julian with sponge balls and built him a fort out of tetris foam blocks. Hardly what you can call “effort”, when you’re splitting your sides.
Here’s a little recap on some live music I have covered over the last month. First off is a solo set of esoteric loudness from electronica pioneers Silver Apples, live at Mono as part of the Glasgow Film Festival.
I shot the set of melodic drone masters Earth at the Caves a little while back. Clock their review for The Skinny here if you missed out, it does them supreme justice.
I Teamed up with Edinburgh musicians Hiva Oa to produce their publicity stills at the start of the year. It wouldn’t do us justice to say it was just a really good shoot. Apart from everything working out to plan, it was no sweat on all fronts. This could almost be a 6-step prescription for the perfect shoot.
First We shot in Leith. Well of course we did.
Second We used a great location with tonnes of possibility. We weren’t shy of creative
ideas for a second. There were surfaces, bookshelves, tables and wallpaper,
quite literally, to the ceiling.
Third We kept on the move. We took our gear to the stairs, we went outside, we tried
loads of space and made the most of natural light. We used the props we found
and didn’t weigh ourselves down. Just keeping it really simple.
Fourth We kept it really simple. Sort of. We lit a temple worth of incense to haze out our room. We even bunged an old fluorescent tan lamp into action to do wild
things to the shadows and spread the most eerie shade of green over everything.
Sweet! (but blinding) Things got so out of hand I even shot a roll of film.
Fifth We wrapped up and had a celebrated with a crate of wine and fell into the trap of
swapping an inexhaustible supply of YouTube videos. Basically when the wine is out,
you are on to a winner.
