Jump To It! Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo enlists Edinburgh College of Art

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Chief Executive and Producer Brigadier David Allfrey MBE is joined by piper, dancers and Edinburgh College of Art students as the search for an Edinburgh College of Art student to become its official artist in residence is launched.

The post runs from May to September and carries a £1,500 stipend. It offers the successful student the opportunity to create original work for the promotion and celebration of the Tattoo and its 2012 production. It is anticipated that the student's work will be displayed at an exhibition held later this year.

Celebrate Burns Night with a Robert Burns Pizza

A SCOTS pizza company has combined two of Scotland’s favourite foods just in time for Burns night- haggis pizza.

Cosmo Tamburro Jnr, a restaurateur in Edinburgh has launched the UK’s first retail haggis pizza to offer an alternative to the traditional neeps, tatties and haggis supper.

And to celebrate the launch of the luxury pizza, available in supermarkets across the country, the Newtongrange-based restaurateur has designed a special Robert Burns’ portrait pizza.

Crowning Glory for Stirling Palace

A new, hand-woven tapestry depicting the Unicorn at Bay has been unveiled in the recently opened James V Palace at Stirling Castle.

The display of the tapestry also marks a funding milestone for the charitable foundation that made the project possible.

The 3.3m by 3.8m tapestry is the fifth in the series of seven to be specially commissioned to hang in the newly opened attraction within Stirling Castle.

The designs are based on a collection of original 16th century Flemish tapestries titled The Hunt of the Unicorn held in the Cloisters Museum at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as research has shown that the Scottish royal collection also included a series depicting ‘the historie of the unicorne’.

Fallen Angel

Soprano Lydia Teuscher is a vision, with angel’s wings specially created for her to wear in the Usher Hall this morning.

Lydia will be singing in Das Paradies und die Peri, the Opening Concert of Edinburgh International Festival 2011.

Her winged outfit is inspired by the plot of the Opening Concert which tells of the peri, a winged, fairy like creature descended from fallen angels who is regains paradise through the tear of a repentant sinner

Lydia’s wings have been created by Edinburgh artist Joanne Sykes. Their design was also inspired by the chrysanthemums on the front of the Edinburgh International Festival 2011 programme.

The Lovely Joanna Lumley

Plans to create Scotland’s First Centre for Children’s Literature at The Birthplace of Peter Pan were unveiled yesterday by actress Joanna Lumley.

A fund raising bid to raise £4 million to renovate Moat Brae House and Garden, birthplace of Peter Pan, and create Scotland’s first Centre for Children’s Literature were announced yesterday (2 August).

In addition to the front page of The Scotsman, coverage was achieved in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Herald and Daily Record.

More photographs here on Facebook.

Stirling Heads Together for First Time in 200 Years

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop yesterday unveiled the new gallery at Stirling Castle that will display the original collection of Renaissance sculptures known as the Stirling Heads.

A total of 34 Heads, some a metre across, have survived the centuries since their creation sometime after 1530. Many originally decorated the ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall at the heart of the Royal Palace and there is nothing quite like them anywhere else in the world.

Historic Scotland has 31 of the Heads in its care, and three original Heads from the National Museums of Scotland have now joined them in the new gallery.

Bit of a tricky shoot this one. The gallery is very dark (much darker than it looks in the photograph) with no natural daylight to protect the heads. An exposure of 1/6 of a second was required to capture the ambient light with a spot flash picking out the minister.

Festival of Museums

The first ever Festival of Museums takes place across Scotland this weekend. 80 events will take place across 70 museums to showcase what Scotland's museums and galleries have on offer. Many of the events are free.

More information can be found here.

I was commissioned by Festivals of Museums to produce press images to highlight events happening in Edinburgh. Blue skies and fantastic costumes helped ensure that coverage was achieved in amongst others, The Scotsman, Metro and Edinburgh Evening News.

You're The One That I Want

‘You’re the one that I want’! The iconic Pink Ladies from the hit musical Grease, running at the Edinburgh Playhouse (6-21 May) in the capital, know what (numbers) they want as they help celebrate tomorrow’s (Tuesday 10 May) launch of the new EuroMillions draw.

EuroMillions is launching a new Tuesday draw on May 10, with a stunning £85 million jackpot. The special draw marks EuroMillions moving to twice a week, as well as other changes to the game which are designed to create bigger jackpots and even more winners.

The ladies from Grease were a joy to work with - so professional and looked great in their specially made gold jackets.

1911 Census Released

The 1911 census was made public for the first time yesterday at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh.
On had was 100 year old Ann Moncus from Edinburgh who appears in the census when she was just 2 months old.
Staff from the National Archives of Scotland dressed in period costume to celebrate the launch.

See the full set of images on Facebook.

NEW HEIGHTS FOR EAST LOTHIAN SCHOOLS

Minister for Public Health and Sport Shona Robison MSP visited Knox Academy in East Lothian recently to learn of the latest progress in the roll out of community sports hubs.

Top marks to Shona for getting on the trampoline!

Dennis The Menace comes to Edinburgh

This was a tricky PR shoot yesterday to promote the City of Dundee as the King of the Castles - in Edinburgh.

The picture had several elements needed to convey the message; Edinburgh Castle, Dennis The Menace and an advertising trailer with a giant poster of a castle in Dundee on it.

What made the shoot difficult was the position of the sun which was directly over Edinburgh Castle. I had to use quite a lot of off-camera flash to compensate for the strong sunlight.

You can read about the campaign on the Guardian site here.

Expedia open Scottish Office

The world's number one on-line travel company Expedia recently opened it's first Scottish office in Edinburgh, headed by Irene Roberts.

The expansion into Scotland is part of the company’s plans to grow its global network of market managers at key destinations around the world.

Perfect 10

This image was produced as a publicity shot for the recent Euromillions draw which promised to make 10 people millionaires. It was shot in a studio in Glasgow and took a number of attempts until we got the numbers just the way we wanted them to look. Tricky job shooting in the dark but very pleased with the result.

Quarriers

YOUNG HOMELESS SCOTS CALL FOR MORE SUPPORT FROM SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT.

YOUNG HOMELESS SCOTS INCLUDING SEAN RICE SUPPORTED BY QUARRIERS PRESENTED A SIGNED PETITION TO RHONA BRANKIN MSP, CONVENOR OF THE PUBLIC PETITIONS COMMITTEE CALLING FOR SUPPORT FOR 'OUR CHARTER' WHICH SEEKS CONSISTENT SUPPORT AND CHANGES TO THE HOUSING AND BENEFITS SYSTEM.

Oil Museum Hits The Mark

Museums Galleries Scotland announced today that a museum collection which tells the story of the Scottish shale oil industry has been unveiled as the 37th Recognised Collection of National Significance. The collection can be seen at the Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston which contains over 2,500 objects including the paraffin lamp and oil samples pictured above.

Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop visited the centre to mark the occassion.

Well worth a visit. More info here. And the full story on the BBC here.

Feeling Lucky?

Scottish golden girls Sarah Montgomery, Bo Kawczynska and Diana Strausa were dressed to impress in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens yesterday when they sported specially commissioned gold kilts to promote the EuroMillions Mega Jackpot draw, when one lucky Scot could scoop an estimated £82 million*.

The kilts were created by Edinburgh kilt designer, Howie Nicholsby of 21st Century Kilts.

All the photographs on the Facebook page here.

Mackie's turn on the heat at the Highland Show

Scottish ice cream family Mackie's were blowing hot and cold on the opening day of the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh. The ice cream manufacturers launched a new limited edition flavour to their potato crisp range - Scotch Bonnet Chilli Pepper alongside the chance to cool off with a sample of Mackie's new 'Extra Posh' range of ice creams.

Many thanks to Flora, the prize winning Jersey cow for her patience.

More information on Mackie's here

Musselburgh couple scoop £2m lottery win

LIFELONG Hearts fans Brian and Ann Sharp won on each of their seven lottery lines on Saturday night, with one line scooping them a share of the Lotto jackpot.

The Musselburgh couple, who have two daughters and a son, won a £2,033,705 share of the jackpot.

The couple received their winnings at Tynecastle Stadium yesterday. Coverage of the story appeared in BBC online, Scottish Daily Express, Scottish Daily Mail, Scottish Sun, Daily Record, The Scotsman, The Herald, Press & Journal, Dundee Courier, Metro, Scottish Daily Mirror and even The Times of Malta!

Burns in Space

The mission has landed - at the Scottish Parliament! NASA astronaut Nicholas Patrick touched down at the office of the First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday to present him with a miniature book of Burns poetry which was on board the latest space mission to the International Space Station.

The project was the idea of the Scottish Space School which is a programme delivered by the University of Strathclyde. The book, which also contains a fragment of Jean Armour's wedding dress will be put on display at the new Burns museum which opens later this year.