My Camera Stories

My photos and the stories behind them

Category: street

  • Theme: empty chairs

    Sometimes a theme emerges quite naturally from your photography. Many years ago I photographed an abandoned cane chair in Kelso, in the Scottish Borders. It was a simple photo, but that simplicity captivated me. Since then, I’ve continued taking photos of abandoned or empty chairs wherever I’ve found them And that’s the advantage of a…

  • Street: photographing people is hard

    Street photography is hard. Usually you’re looking for the right moment. The eye contact. The point when something happens. Of the hundreds of photos I took of Olga, this is the one that works for me because this is one that succeeds in that aim. Of course Olga knows I’m taking the photograph – she’s…

  • What are those big yellow things dominating the Leith skyline?

    TL;DR – They’re wind turbine jacket foundations. They were made in China by COOEC–Fluor Heavy Industries, and shipped here on the heavy transport ship Hua Yang Long. They are being stored temporarily in the Port of Leith before being installed in the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm – about 15km off the coast of Angus.…

  • The photo I shouldn’t have taken

    Picture the scene. A baking hot day. Bright sunshine. Deep, dark shadows. The sort of day that colour photography just doesn’t work, so instead you shoot black and white. Or even better, you shoot infrared black and white. Infrared-adapted cameras love bright, harsh sunlight. The sort of light that leaves you peering at the world…

  • Police van on Whitehall

    I’ve lived in cities all my life, but living in Edinburgh is a completely different experience from the hustle and busyness of London’s West End. I was in London for a few days on business so my free time was restricted to an hour or so in the evening, before a rushed dinner with my…

  • Agfa Ultra 100 – how much saturation is too much?

    Back in the day, my favourite film to shoot with was Agfa Ultra 100. It wasn’t a subtle film. The colours were punchy, saturated, and – so far as greens were concerned – often quite unrealistic. This photo shows all the characteristics of Agfa Ultra. The deep cyan-blue, the warm reds in the masonry, the…

  • A change of perspective

    Many visitors to Tuscany bypass the town of Pietrasanta. There is no single, iconic sight associated with the town. The appeal comes from small galleries and workshops. Temporary exhibitions of sculpture, usually featuring the local Carrara marble. And partly, perhaps, that’s because there’s no direct train from the main tourist hubs – from Florence, Cinque…

  • Olympus “keep warm color” menu option

    What’s all that about then? Dig into the menus of your Olympus camera, and you’ll likely find two different options for auto white balance. There’s the regular, default mode, and there’s another mode that says “keep warm color off”. Now, much as I love Olympus – and I’ve been shooting Olympus for long enough to…

  • Where are your photos from 20 years ago?

    Do you know where your photos from 20 years ago are?  The big social network of the day was MySpace. Theoretically it still exists, but a botched server migration in 2015 led to the loss of most user data – over 12 years of content – so if you were hoping to find your Christmas…

  • When inspiration fails

    Picture the scene. I am standing underneath an old railway clock with a group of friends. The railway station is long-gone, over 60 years ago. The clock isn’t even in its original location because it’s been relocated to the side of the road, a victim of Edinburgh’s relentlessly increasing traffic. This is a regular catch-up…

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