You can see the entry down the bottom on the right hand side here.

PS please let me know if the title of this post doesn’t display properly.

The first is the cover shot for their upcoming ‘Cuisine and Culture’ trip around Asia in 2007, and features as the first photo displayed on the website, and the cover shot on the print version of the brochure.

The second shot is used on the last page of the print brochure.

Feel free to contact me if you would like an electronic copy of the print journal.

There’s a number of groups like this on Flickr where people post photos of their town, state or even country…however no one took up the challenge of the whole world…that is until i came along!

If you’re not already a proud Flickonian, then what are you waiting for? If you are…then why not come meet some of us on the 17th for Sunday lunch in the Antiquary on St Steven St around 2pm. Should be a jolly good crack (hopefully not in my lens!).

Today is world aids day. A good chance for us all to step back and think about others…especially in the old festive season.

And that brings me to my next point…it’s the 1st of December! Already! Wow has this year gone fast…to think that this time last year i was dancing about on rickety buses in Laos with me big bro and Erik!

Other than that…photography’s going well i guess. Edinburgh Photographers (new window) group is going pretty well…we’ve had a couple of meet-ups and there’s some good folk in the group with a lot of interesting stuff to say! Still not finding a huge amount of insipration in Edinburgh…but i think i’m going to start shooting with more black and white in mind which should get rid of my hate of these boring dull colours!

Uni – finished with a report and a presentation on Wednesday, so officially on holiday until January…which aint all bad! However…dissertation looming…and lots to do on that – it’s 30% of my grade!

Jobs…already thinking about getting a job after uni – scary business!

Going ice skating on the rink in Princes St gardens this Sunday for the first time ever! That should be exciting…possibly rather tough as i’m taking this little monster and his big bro with me!).

Sadly, my sports photography skills weren’t quite up to scratch, and i managed to miss the crucial moments of the match because i was too busy watching the match! I then managed to miss more crucial moments because i was complaining about the fact that i had been busy watching the match instead of taking photos of it! So…after a hard day’s watching football…i did manage to get a couple of snaps, and if you want to bore yourself through 25 pictures…then feel free to check them out here (new window) (some funny captions!).

Must also make special mention of my faithful assistant Nikki who stood by my side throughout the second half, after turning up 5 minutes before the end of the first half, then refusing to believe that it was half-time…thinking that my usual completely honest and trustworthy nature had been caste aside and that i was lying to her! However, as the second half rolled on, she stood there holding my umbrella and wolf-whistling at the passing players who felt the need to take their shirts off every now and again.
Unfortunately she wasn’t quite sure how to hold said umbrella so spent most of the time trying to get it to stay up and protect us from the rain! It goes in your hand Nik!!

Does this mean my photos will now be uber good and utterly photoshopped? No…of course not. Nearly all photos on Flickr and elsewhere are completely uneditted (except for inbuilt processing done by the camera).

Since we’re already on the delightful topic of photography…i attended the open night of the Edinburgh Photographic Society (new window) last Wednesday. Seems pretty cool, though definately a hang out for retired men! Unfortunately, i don’t really need use of their facilities so i don’t think i’ll join…but will go along for a couple of free talks. You can check out their website and see the timetable of their Wednesday night speakers…and all talks are free!

However, a guy said something interesting to me that night about photos and licensing. He said that if anyone wants to publish your photo then you should charge – if they think it’s good enough to print – then you’re good enough to get paid! Interesting point and possibly true. However, since i am happy purely to have my photos published…i don’t mind too much not getting a couple of quid here and there – but it’s definately an interesting point.

On browsing the comments of his latest strip – there is a link to a 160MP camera! (new window) Can it be true! My stylish and sexy new camera is 10MP and i thought that was quite a lot!!! Now, it’s not very small, or very cheap, but they must be some awesome images! One uncompressed picture is a whopping 950mb! Nearly 1Gb per picture!! So, on my memory card…i’d be able to store a whopping 2 images! It’s simply insane – kudos for making it though!!

Had a rather uninteresting morning at uni, followed by a nice lunch in Black Medicine Coffee Company (my new local spot since my recent move to Old College and the Old Infirmary for my classes). Took a little detour on my way home and stopped off at the City Arts Centre for the Albert Watson exhibition – what an exhibition it was too! Over 200 prints by this fine Edinburgh gent…from kids in Morocco to hookers in Las Vegas…it’s pretty good!

While dreaming of my exhibitions after my 40 year career (and reading the dull article for my Management of Technology class) on the bus on the way home, i was to be greeted by a nice surprise on checking my emails. Yet another person is looking to use one of my photos…this time in a book on human pigmentation. Rather exciting i thought – oh…and if you’re reading this then would love some more info about the book!

However, at the thought that this is a bit of a boring post, i shall promptly stop writing and brighten your day with a photo of my brother messing around on the monkey bars…(not the aforementioned brother!)…

You might remember some time ago i mentioned that a few people in America were setting up an exclusive travel agents, tailoring amazing trips all around Asia. Well, said company’s website is now up and running, and features a few of my shots.

Check out www.remotelands.com (new window), and you can see some of my shots here (new window), and here (new window).

To continue on my artful day, i also went to the Robert Mapplethorpe (new window) exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (new window). Quite an interesting exhibition, though not completely my taste in photography – a lot of his work is very thought out and posed, often in the studio – i prefer much more candid and spontaneous work, like Cartier-Bresson (new window).

However, was still very interesting…unfortunately the Dean gallery’s Van Gogh exhibition was closing as we arrived, so it’ll have to wait for another day.

Seriously Fergus…why on earth do you need two cameras? Are you mad?

Well…i don’t need two cameras and yes i think i am a little mad. However…you must admit they look cool next to each other now! I think part of it was the fact that i’d been in China for a month…seeing all those one child families, i couldn’t resist getting my camera a big brother! I mean…look how happy they are together!

So….honestly…why did i buy it? Well, it’s 10.2MP instead of 6, the screen is bigger, it shoots more frames per second, it’s got a few more settings and it’s a whole lot more sexy. It also means that now my beautiful D50 will be up for sale…so any interested buyers drop me a line…

Check out Ken Rockwell’s stonking review of the D80 here… (new window)

I’ve recently started a group on Flickr for photographers from Edinburgh. If you’ve taken a picture sometime in your life and you’re from Edinburgh…all the more reason to join Flickr!

Great quote by the master that is Henri Cartier-Bresson too!

It’s a bit like a cross between the D50, D70 and D200, taking in the best of each. Well, really more a cross between the D70 and D200, except that it’s switched to SD cards, like the D50, and borrows it’s new metering sensor.

So…you ask…what are the details…well…it’s got a 10.2MP CCD, new image processing engine, 3D Color Matrix Metering II, 11-area AF system, configurable Auto ISO, configurable high ISO NR, a larger and brighter viewfinder, in-camera retouching (including D-Lighting), built-in wireless flash commander, SD card storage (with SD-HC support) and the D200′s higher capacity battery (copied straight from here (new window)!!).

It looks like the perfect shooter for me! I can use all my SD cards, and get the advantages of the D200 without shelling out a grand! Oh…darn…it’s still 700 pound…hhmm…i think i’ll start the Fergus Needs A D80 Fund…please send all donations to me.

Full specs here (new window).