Shoot First

A lovely lazy morning seeing a friend off and catching up a bit here. 

In the evening I toddled off to the incomparable Filmhouse (it's such an asset to this city) to see Harry Benson: Shoot First, the documentary about the Glasgow-born photographer who has photographed pretty much everyone who was famous in the last 50 or so years, while being a serious news journalist. We were treated to a Q&A afterwards with the man himself, hosted by Linda Fabiani, MSP, Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. The Parliament is hosting an exhibition of his work.

When asked "what advice would you give to a young, aspiring photographer?" Benson replied "buy a guitar". He said that there weren't the newspapers and magazines any longer that he worked for (such as Life Magazine) and that everyone now took photos on their "telephones".

I had an unexpected treat afterwards. I ran into an old colleague who now works for the Presiding Officer at the Parliament. When he saw me, he said that he'd been to Canada a few months ago and the Speaker of the House of Commons had asked after me. I worked for him nearly 20 years ago and we've kept in touch all these years. It was lovely to hear that I was thought of. I had a great catch up with my old pal - a lovely way to end the day.