No Michael Fish

Because when I took this picture out the front door I was convinced it was going to pour with rain and my first game of football (seven-a-side outdoors at Meadowbank) for a couple of months was going to be very wet. Turns out it didn't rain. My football skills have deserted me in the interim on the other hand, and I had the touch, first or subsequent, of an elephant. Hopefully it won't be quite so bad next time.
Yesterday evening was the trip to the Tattoo, courtesy of the nice people at Blipfoto. I had thought I would replace yesterday's placeholder picture with something from the Tattoo, but decided to stick with my image. I took so many that it seemed odd to pick just one. You can see a selection in another place.
It was an interesting experience, and although there were plenty of photo opportunities I was left a little disappointed, partly by the quality of images but also how the evening panned out. At lunchtime I went to sort out my pass and talked with the marketing manager and about the sort of pictures it might be possible to get. He said someone would show me round beforehand so I could see the different potential vantage points and then I would be able to ask to be taken to different places in the course of the event. He talked about the behind the scenes stuff, like the pictures I'd seen from the previous BlipTheFestivals winner, anth. Like the pipers tuning up in the castle in the'big blaw', or under the stands as performers waited to go on. All sounded very promising. In the event the person that was to meet me was a bit late, and then just took me straight into the castle, left me there while not much happened (no mass warm-up) and then directed me to a prime low level spot and sent a colleague to collect me towards the end who took me to a vague high position that I hadn't had a chance to check out before. Didn't turn out quite like I was expecting, which sounds a little churlish, as it was still a great opportunity, but I feel I could have made more of it. Perhaps that was down to me, and I should have asked for more, but the vibe I was getting was not that encouraging, and in any case I assume they had a job to do and I was a bit of a distraction. Perhaps if I'd had a bit more of a tour of potential shooting locations and, crucially, how to get between them without getting in anyone's way, I might have been able to vary my position more and get some different shots. Still, difficult experiences, when things don't work out as you'd hoped, probably teach you more than when things go right, so it was good in that sense. I guess I still need to be more assertive!