Walter Hampson Photography

Stage Photography - Colour Casts.

2012-02-26T16:12:00.001Z

One thing about photography is you never stop learning. Last year I was asked if I would take the presentation shots at the finals of SCDA Youth One Act Festival. I was pleased to be asked and did so. My task was made easier by the fact that the awards were being made by Councillor Tom Kerr, who skillfully made the recipients stop turn and look at the camera, with daylight lighting being used.

This year I was, again, asked to take the photos of the presentation of the awards at the Edinburgh and Lothians District finals of the One Act Festival, with the addition of taking shots of the participating acts during their Tech rehearsals on the Saturday.

The SCDA One Act Festival has been going for 80 years and Edinburgh & Lothians District have entered every year. I'm not a theatre goer so have very little idea of what goes on, or what is needed to get a play on stage. On Saturday the 18th February I was educated in what is needed to meet the challenge of entering a one act play in this festival. The play must be one act, it must fit a 50 minute schedule (it is marked on timekeeping). Other criteria assessed is production, stage craft, technical skills, direction and of course acting. There are marks regarding the script -not the play itself only what the teams have done with the script. The day of the play the clubs are allocated 60 minutes of tech time where they can set up lighting cues, sound and a chance to run through the play to ensure the cues come together. It would be unfair if I, as a photographer, impeded on their time so I have to make the best of the opportunity to get some shots of them during this time with no impact on their concentration or interfere with the crew and technicians carrying out their tasks. Now never having taken shots during a rehearsal I was uncertain of what to expect to I took my trusty Canon 5DMkII a 70-200 f2.8 zoom and tripod and made my way to St Serf's Church Hall Edinburgh. I was made very welcome by the stage crew and shown where I could set up my camera and requested that I stay in that area - no roaming around. I readily agreed and was very pleased to see that I was placed in centre of hall giving a full coverage of the stage, yet close enough to get shots of individual actors or groups.

I think all were pleased with the shots I achieved - although I was horrified at some of the lighting - great for the plays but hell for photography - producing some weird colour casts.

Uncorrected image

Corrected Image

The awards shot was of the Adjudicator and the directors of the winning clubs.

It was used by the Edinburgh Evening Times on Wednesday, 22nd February, page 26, fame at last eh :)

Peregrine, Merlin, Eagle and Ravenous Goshawk

2012-02-13T13:22:00.036Z

Sunday 5th February found Sid and me heading to Maybole, Ayrshire for a Raptor bird shoot. The shoot had been organised by Dean Bricknell and we were looking forward to the shoot. The weather was typically Scottish winter February day, we had the four seasons on the journey down. Arriving at the location Dean briefed us on what we would be seeing, where we would be going and how were were to behave when the birds were setup. These were working birds and some were skittish, namely the Eagle and the Goshawk. At that time we were not sure if we would see the Goshawk. Dean then introduced Alan the owner of the birds and advised that he (Dean) would be the one to ask questions about photography but Alan had the last say on anything to do with the birds as their welfare was more important than us getting shots. We all agreed to this.

Alan setting up Goshawk.

The first bird we would see would be the Peregrine a bird that Sid likes - to be honest Sid likes all raptors . The bird was posed on a rock to allow us to get to see it and also for the bird to get used to us.

What are they all looking at?

Like all of Alan's birds the Peregrine was in lovely condition, alert and behaved beautifully. It did not get fazed with the sound of 5 cameras clicking and large lenses peering at it.

Head and Chest Shot - Peregrine

Once it was put on food it ignored us completely.

Our next model was a lovely little bird, the smallest UK bird of prey the Merlin.

This wee bird was in tip top condition, lovely colours .

The next bird we would be photographing was one I had never seen - well I had seen it as a small black dot in the sky, so I was really impressed - not only with the condition of the bird but its sheer size. Alan and Dean had warned us to make very little movement when the bird was brought out and to give him time to settle, otherwise he would turn unco-operative and just sit. I would not have cared if it had just sat - it was a magnificent Golden Eagle

I'm certain I got my shots of the day with his bird. As requested we gave the bird space and time to settle. It had a good look around and a very good look at us. Alan advised that we kept movement to minimum and to stay where the bird could see us. This ruled out side shots but did allow us to capture some flight shots - and this gave me my three top shots of the day.

I was over the moon with these shots and intend to have them printed on large canvas to hang on my wall. We also had the opportunity to get shots of the bird on the carcass of a deer. I did have a small smile as I watched Dean trying to manoeuvre to get a head portrait shot - not only was I watching him - the eagle was, and it watched him as he returned to his former position.

We took a break after that shoot, all of us were buzzing after that session all the birds had co-operated and all of us had very good shots of the birds. We headed back to Alan's house where his wife gave us a smashing plate of home made broth and crusty bread - just the job to heat us back up. I had not realised how cold it had got up on the hill until I was in the warmth of that kitchen. Thank you Mrs Alan for that lovely large bowl of broth it hit the spot and set me up for the final photo session, the Goshawk.

Whilst we ate the broth we chatted among ourselves, what was the best bird - I originally thought the Merlin, but looking back I think I really loved that Eagle. Talk soon turned to the possibility of getting the Goshawk out. Alan was doubtful as it was a new bird and was very skittish. We left it up to Alan, it was his birds and looking at the conditions of the three we had just photographed - ll were well looked after. He put the well being of the birds first, his doubt was over the fact that the bird may not perch so we would not get shots of it on the rock or branch. However, it might settle if it had a carcass - he agreed to try on then understanding that if the bird looked stressed it would end there. All were more than happy to agree to that. Out we headed back to the hill, Alan would follow with the Goshawk. As before we gave the bird space and time to settle, not that it needed much time.

As Alan was setting up the shoot the bird was doing it damnedest to get to the Partridge carcass as when Alan finally presented the bird to the carcass the feathers flew. We jokingly asked Alan when was the last time he had fed the bird as it was attcking the carcass like no tomorrow was coming.

By the time the Goshawk had finished with the carcass there was little left and it had a full crop.

I think Alan was surprised at his bird, once it got on that carcass it did not let up, we were not totally ignored - but the bird was concentrating on the food. There was one point were the bird was falling off the log but it did not let that deter it from its meal.

The Moods of Buachaille Etive Mor

2012-02-12T19:27:00.000Z

Winter in Scotland can be drab, driecht and very cold, it can also have clear blue skies, crisp days with sunshine a rarity I know but, never the less Friday 27th January at Glencoe was such a day. We had left Livingston at 7:15 a.m. to make our way north to deliver photographs for an exhibition and after a brief stop at Tyndrum for breakfast and a weather check we headed on up to Fort William crossing Rannoch Moor. As we approached the Buachaille Etive Mor the sun was shining in a blue sky and the moor had a dusting of snow, at the Buachaille there was a nice temperature inversion and the light being so good I did what any photographer would do I stopped and took a few pictures:

Mind you it was a different tale on Sunday when I paid a return visit:

New images uploaded to Site

2012-01-24T07:43:00.000Z

Three new images available for purchase have been uploaded to Walter Hampson Photography Web site. They may be found in the 2010 album.

New Web Site - Walter Hampson Photography

2012-01-24T07:37:00.001Z

New web site now open. Over the past year I have been asked if I would sell my pictures and I declined as I had no way of tracking payments etc. I now have the payment scheme set up and in a position to offer high quality prints up to 12x8 in size. You may order on line and pay using PayPal - the new web site can be found here.

Eilean Donan Castle - Photo Exhibition 2012

2012-01-06T22:50:00.001Z

Eilean Donan Castle, one of the most photographed castles in the world celebrates its Centenary this year. As part of the celebrations there is to be a Photo Exhibition to be held in the castle. The organisers ran a competition on Facebook during December 2011 requesting that anyone who had taken pictures of the castle upload up to three images and they would select the 100 best images for the exhibition. I am very pleased to say that I was one of the 50 photographers who had their images selected. Two of my pictures were selected, the first was taken in April 2008 with a Pentax K10D DSLR.

The second one was taken in June 2011 with a Canon EOS 50D DSLR.

Change of Name

2012-01-06T15:28:00.000Z

After 2 years blogging on Photography I have closed down the old blog and renamed it to Walter Hampson Photography. On here I will show my best shots taken from sites I visit with my friends in the Intrepids, on my travels etc. I will use this as a showcase to my photography and hope you continue to show interest in my work.

Walter