Strictly Mark Foster

Olympic gold medalist and Strictly Come Dancing star Mark Foster dipped in to Glasgow recently to launch the British Gas Great Scottish Swim. Scotland's biggest swim takes place at Strathclyde Country Park on the 21st August. Still time to enter. More info here.

Racewall - Cowdenbeath

I was recently commissioned by Scotland on Sunday's Spectrum Magazine to photograph an afternoon and evening at the Racewall in Cowdenbeath - home of Scotland's Stock Car Racing. The photographs appeared in last Sunday's magazine.

Click here to read Peter Ross's Spectrum Feature

Wickerman Festival

Last weekend I was commissioned by 3x1 to provide press and event images from the Wickerman Festival which takes place near Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway. The festival is now in it's ninth year and this year attracted bands such as The Charlatans, Ocean Colour Scene and Tony Christie. Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos also made a surprise appearance.

I spent Saturday afternoon and evening capturing the atmosphere around the festival and wiring out photographs to the national and regional press. The highlight of the weekend was the burning of the Wickerman which took place at midnight on Saturday.

It was touch and go for a while as the mist rolled in from the sea and threatened to obscure the effigy. In the end the mist added to the feel of the magical event and fireworks provided a backlight to the sculpture, picking out its shape though the mist resulting in a great image.

Achieved good coverage in, amongst others, the Sunday Herald, The Scotsman, Metro and on the BBC website.

More pics on Facebook.

Starbucks Edinburgh Re-design

I have been working with Starbucks over the last couple of months to provide photography services for the redesign of their flagship store on Edinburgh's Royal Mile which has been completely renovated.

I was commissioned to photograph the store before and after renovation and also to provide press images (above) on the opening day. The press photographs show customers enjoying the new store and include portraits of Darcy Willson-Rymer, managing director of Starbucks UK and Ireland.

The press day also included an illustrated talk by Tim Pfeiffer, senior VP Global Design, coffee masterclasses by Alan Hartney, Starbucks UK Coffee Ambassador and specially created canapes by Edinburgh chef Tony Singh.

Into battle

I was up at Stirling Castle last week to carry out some photography of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Museum which is situated within the castle walls. Stirling Castle is home to the regiment which gave us 'The Thin Red Line' and which also boasts 16 Victoria Crosses (which are on display).

The photography is to be used to enhance the Stirling Castle website.

Well worth a visit and worth the admission price to the castle alone.

Games For Scotland

EVENTSCOTLAND AND THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT RECENTLY LAUNCHED THE £329K GAMES FOR SCOTLAND PROGRAMME DESIGNED TO ENGAGE COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT SCOTLAND IN THE LEAD UP TO GLASGOW 2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES.

View the full set of images on my Facebook Page here.

That's Magic

Ian Kendall, Magician, Edinburgh.
Commissioned by Spectrum Magazine.

Scotland's Shops

Fiona Hyslop, Minister for Culture, at the launch of “Scotland’s Shops”, a new Historic Scotland book examining the architectural history of shops in Scotland.

The book, written by Dr Lindsay Lennie, and funded through a three year Research fellowship with Historic Scotland, was launched in one of Scotland’s most iconic shops, Jenners Department Store, Princes Street, Edinburgh.

More information here.

Joust The Job

Photographs to promote Historic Scotland's Jousting Spectacular which took place this weekend and continues next weekend (10th & 11th July). More details here.

Coverage was achieved in The Scotsman, Metro, BBC and other outlets.

Food for Thought

Tempted? Continuing my work with the Dakota Hotel just outside Edinburgh, I was commissioned to photograph a range of dishes prepared by Executive Chef Marc Robertson. These images, along with others will be published in various magazines and also used to market the hotel.

Visit the Dakota

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!

James VI Heads for London

An early start up at Edinburgh Castle on Friday morning to capture the departure of James VI. A rare early portrait of the Royal monarch - thought to have been used as part of marital negotiations with the Danish court - is leaving the castle this week to appear in an exhibition of Stuart and Tudor art at London's Weiss Gallery.

The painting, which has been attributed to Flemish artist Adrian Vanson is one of the few remaining portraits of James and certainly one of the most significant covering the period prior to the union of the crowns.

More information from www.weissgallery.com

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.

Corporate Portraits

I was recently commissioned by TC Young Solicitors to provide portraits of their law staff for use on their website and also for inclusion in tenders.

We agreed to shoot the portraits against a white background to give the images a clean, fresh modern look. This also complimented the new look of the website.

I took along a portable studio to their offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh and set up in the board room, allowing for staff to pop in for a portrait session and importantly cutting down on the time away from their desk.

A bit different from a mugshot using the office camera against a door!

To find out how I can help you show your employees in a good light, please get in touch for a consultation.

Time for Tea

Sarah Boyack MSP joined Marie Curie nurse Valerie Hepburn and Myra Colville for the Blooming Great Tea Party at the Scottish Parliament to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Willie Nelson

Country music legend Willie Nelson performing at the Edinburgh Playhouse last night.

A Year of Celebration

Event Scotland recently published its report 'A Year of Celebration' on Homecoming Scotland 2009 which features a collection of photographs I took in my role as one of the official photographers.

The key findings for Homecoming Scotland 2009 are;

• £53.7 million of additional tourism revenue was generated for Scotland, representing a return on investment of nearly 1:10 and 22% above the target set for the year.

• 95,000 visitors to Scotland were influenced to travel to Scotland as a result of Homecoming. 72,000 were exclusively drawn by the celebrations, with a further 23,000 citing the year as a factor in making their decision to visit in 2009.

• £154 million of positive global media coverage for Homecoming and Scotland was generated by the multi-award winning PR campaign.

Download a copy of the report here.