Edinburgh Festival

I spent the weekend, as I have done for the past decade, up in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see a film at the Filmhouse or visit the National Gallery, but I still had a nice time seeing some shows and going to a few other galleries (The National Portrait, The Fruitmarket, and The City Art Centre). I also don’t have any photos to post, I decided to save my 35mm and Super 8 film - It’s expensive stuff, and I already have a roll and a half of festival pictures from last year.

As Stewart Lee remarked in The Guardian, The Fringe has become increasingly commercialised and fragmented over the past two decades - however the pace is increasing. I noticed this year that even more public space was being taken up by ‘pop-up’ bars and restaurants. The price of the whole affair is becoming difficult to handle.

Despite all of this, I’ll still return next year, even if just for a quick weekend.

Edinburgh Festival

Early on Friday morning I’ll be travelling up to Edinburgh for a few days to visit the festival.

I’ve got a huge list of places to visit; all the art galleries, the Filmhouse Cinema, the new Forest cafe, and of course the festival sites. I’d appreciate any advice on other places to visit and hangout though. This’ll be my 10th consecutive year visiting, but I still feel I haven’t properly explored the city.

This year I’ll be staying in a city centre flat rather than at Mortonhall, so I’ll be able to stay out later and avoid the £20 taxi. I’m hoping to take quite a few photos, as well as some Super 8 footage.

If anyone wants to meet up then send me a message.

Back from France

Last night after nearly running out of fuel on the motorway and missing our train we finally returned from France. Today Sye and I made the trip north and back to Sheffield & Manchester.

We all had a fantastic time relaxing and partying in the countryside, sneaking into the Palais Royale at night, and drinking on the Seine until 5am. The Tour de France went through the village we stayed at, and we visited the grave of Vincent van Gogh as well as look around the Musee d’Orsay and the Centre Pompidou.

Unfortunately my camera batteries died during the trip, so I haven’t got too many photos. I did take a lot of footage on my Super 8 though, so that’ll be uploaded in a few months.

A Week in France

I’m currently in France to spend a week at a friend’s country house in Lachapelle-sous-Gerberoy before heading to Paris for a few days. I’m taking the SLR and also my Super8, along with my pencils and sketchbook, so I’ll have some interesting stuff to post when I return.