Last night in Scotland

Arthurs Seat, Edinburgh

I have been incredibly lucky to have spent the last 5 weeks in scotland with some truly amazing photojournalists. I've realized yet again that this is definitly what I want to do with the rest of my life and I am so glad to be a part of the viscom program at Ohio University because of the talent which is there. Although we are all great friends we're also incredibly competitive and push eachother to photograph better than ever. I've improved the way I shoot and go about photographing a situation so much over this trip that most of my portfolio will be turned over from this trip and what isn't will soon be replaced in the following months.

North Berwick Highland Games

Terry says he takes the field school to Scotland because there are hundreds of good pictures to be made, Its not like its hard to find a story or great light here, the challenge is to shoot in ways that we've never shot before and at a level that is much higher than our normal shooting. I have been stunned by the work that has come out of this program.

William Kerr, has been a piper for 40 years

Our last day in Edinburgh Sara and Kristin and I walked down the royal mile and princes street, picking up a few presents for friends and family back home. Its weird to look back and remember coming into town right after we arrived and figuring out how to get around this city which I'm very comfortable in. I have to say though that knowing that our last ride back to Queen Margaret College on the 26 bus was over was a relief as the buses have become slower and slower since the festival started. Its going to be odd coming home and not seeing men in kilts walking down the street everywhere you look and not being able to hear bagpipes 24/7.

The Fringe Festival on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh


Thistle

Cheers!

Linlithgow and the Burry man

One of my favorite places in scotland I ended up at by accident by missing my bus to where I was going, so I decided to make the best of it and just photograph the city I was in, Linlithgow. I ended up lucking out because the day I came they were having the Linlithgow scotch hop, which is a huge dance in the palace Mary Queen of Scots was born in and then having retreat that night with their pipe band. The palace there is beautiful because it sits right on the loch.



The Burry Man

The burry man is a tradition which goes back hundreds of years in Queensferry where during the summer one day a man dresses up in all burs and walks through town all day and is offered whiskey and money. The money is given to charities although it used to be to pay the two people who help him by holding poles covered in flowers which the burry man holds onto because he has to keep his arms outstretched the entired day. He drinks the whiskey, which you can imagine gets interesting after several drams and no way of going to the bathroom the entire day. The burry man and his whole family are all really nice people and the whole community knows them so they make stops throughout the day to just talk with people.

Scotland

I've been in Scotland for the past five weeks and I cannot even begin to describe what the expierence has been. This is an amazing country which continually stuns me with how beautiful it is, and the people are willing to let you into their lives like no one else I've ever encountered. I've been living in Edinburgh and most of my time has been spent in and around the city although I have had a chance to travel to several other parts of the country including St. Andrews, Inverness, North Berwick, Pittenweem, Dundee, and Dunbar.

The Fringe Festival is going on in Edinburgh right now which is advertized as the largest arts festival in Europe and it lives up to the hype with around 50 street performers daily, many shops and hundreds of shows going on, not to mention the thousands of people who've come into the city over the past two weeks to see it and Edinburgh's Military Tattoo.



Edinburgh from Carlton Hill at sunset



Amelia and Francisco are street performers from Seville, Spain who are in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival. I have had such a great time talking with Amelia about the fringe and being a street performer.




Elaine Davidson is the world record holder for body piercing and is from Edinburgh. She doesn't like photographers that much which I couldn't understand at first but another one of the photographers who is here in the same program I am talked to her and she doesn't like photographers because she feels like they use her, just taking her picture and then not giving her any money. Many people watch the performances of the street performers and then dont give them any money, not realizing this is how they make all their money



Linlithgow retreat




Edinburgh Military Tattoo


Linlithgow Castle and loch