Flickr Scotland

Waaaaaa, originally uploaded by Defqon.

Botanic Garden Railway Station Platform. August 2008.

Lick of Death, originally uploaded by bassqee.

for embraced vampire LARP www.embraced.org.uk

Loch Ard, originally uploaded by Stuart Stevenson.

"Jetty at Loch Ard on a cold and misty September morning. First attempt at HDR photography."

Waiting for a lift off a supertanker, originally uploaded by Craig in Orkney.

"The marine pilot waiting to be picked up from the super tanker Samco America which was taking part in a ship to ship oil transfer, Scapa Flow, Orkney."

Snowman Rally 3, originally uploaded by paulcampbellphotography.

David & John Wilson in their Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 4 lose it on stage 1 of the Snowman Rally

Glencoe, originally uploaded by ouldm01.

"I have been avoiding this shot for almost a year, taken in March 08, it was so covered in water drops it has taken an hour to process.. using clone tool in CS4... glad I did..."

The Rock, originally uploaded by 4eyes1lens.

"When I was a child, the family came every summer to the same guest house overlooking this rock in the middle of North Berwick's east beach. I never ventured much beyond this 'big rock' and probably know every foothold and way of clambering up it. When the tide is out a large area of rock is exposed along with freshly filled rock pools to explore or to sail a wee wooden yacht in.

Sadly, almost all the big houses along the seafront here that were once filled all summer long with holidaymakers are now private residences. North Berwick fills up instead with day-trippers looking for car parking spaces and kids aren't allowed the freedom to explore and discover for themselves the magic of The Rock."

Climbing on Skye, originally uploaded by darensmith88.

"Some old scanned film shots from this beautiful part of the world. Taken at least 15 years ago, I used to get up here at least twice a year to climb on the Cullin ridge. Although sometimes a week would pass without a successful attempt because of the weather!"

goynes of findhorn, originally uploaded by uniB.

"Thought I'd offer something up a bit more clichéd. I do like the movement in the water though."

Cairngorm from Loch Morlich, originally uploaded by freeskiing.

"This is shot shortly after the previous upload and you can see the magenta lighting up on Cairngorm and the ice of Loch Morlich."

Old Aberdeen High Street - Portrait Photostitch, originally uploaded by Bruce Sutherland.

"Canon 5D w/ 17-40 f4L portrait view. @ f16 - correct shutter speed = 15s - 17mm
4 images each with 3x, 2 stop + & - and one correct exposure. HDR'd & Tone mapped in Photomatix Pro and Joined manually in Photoshop."

My Guitar Hero, originally uploaded by Kenny Maths.

"On Thursday Morning, John Martyn died.

I've already said much of what I wanted to on my previous posting:

Go Down Easy (John Martyn 1948-2009 R.I.P.)

I spent parts of last night listening to his music, and getting more than a little misty-eyed.

In my experience, the world is divided into two types of people, those who had never heard of John Martyn, and those who absolutely loved him and his music.

There are only two musicians who I've ever seen "cold", and come away from that first concert as a total fan. John Martyn was the first, and Amanda Palmer was the second.

A couple of nights ago, I was asked if Amanda could make use of my concert shots of her. I said "Yes" and also mentioned her membership of this elite group of two.

Less than 12 hours after typing those words, I learned John Martyn was dead.

Damn.

For some years, each time I've gone to see John, I've been prepared that it might be for the last time.

On November 17th in Glasgow, that day came.

Thanks to John Hillarby, I was able to photograph the entire show from the edge of the stage. I was really keen to make that happen this time, as I had a sense of the ticking clock.

The Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow is a lovely venue...but awkward for photography, in that the stage is very low. You have to squat or kneel, to avoid getting in the way of the audience.

It wasn't exactly comfortable, but I wouldn't have been anywhere else. I loved every minute of the music...and of being able to photograph one of my heroes. He was recreating one of my favourite albums...and I was close enough that I could see a tear or two rolling down his cheeks as he sang songs written almost thirty years ago about the breakup of his first marriage.

Those are the kind of powerful songs he wrote...and that's the kind of performer he was.

Head and heart.

There's a line from "It's a Wonderful Life" which sums up how I'm feeling right now:

Clarence: "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

Aye...that he does."