Drummers on the Mound

A guest entry from Difa - during the Fringe, this well-known group of drummers & piper often perform on the Mound next to the National Gallery. Can anyone remind me of their name?

Wedding at St James's

At the weekend I photographed the wedding of this lovely couple, Kaivo and Margit from Tallinn, at St James's Church (see post on Sunday). See here the happy two, accompanied by the Rector, Tembu Rongong, in kilt!

May the 4th... Edinburgh Run part 2

What can I say....? Except that last year, the Great Edinburgh Run was held on May 4th, aka Star Wars Day, and so this year I suspect that Princess Leia and this Stormtrooper wanted to recycle their outfits... May the 4th be with you today!

We Love Ice

And another clear sign that spring is fast approaching! (OK it's a little Photoshop-tastic, but who cares!!)

Students protest against war

Anti-war protest by students on Bristo Square, yesterday lunchtime.

A bit of cheer

It's been raining solidly for the last 24 hours, and with the doom and gloom of banks collapsing and markets falling, how's this to cheer us all up!? (Well perhaps just the female part of my readership ;-) )

Floral Clock maintenance

Edinburgh's Floral Clock, on the corner of Princes Street and the Mound, is the oldest surviving floral clock in the world. It was commissioned in 1903 and is replanted every year with around 35,000 frost-resistant plants. As part of the Sister City theme day, Nice Daily Photo featured a picture of the clock in all its glory. This one hopefully gives an indication of the painstaking work that's involved maintaining it!

Edinburgh Mela

Each year the Edinburgh Mela takes place during the final weekend of the festival season. Mela means gathering in Sanskrit, and the events, stands, food and music at the Mela have a distinctly Asian character. As we were watching a performance of Scottish, Japanese and Asian music all blended together I spotted this explosion of colour just to the side of the stage. Must have been a great picture from the other side too!

Walking to Work - North Bridge

After passing the Omni Centre I walk up along Leith Street - the steepest bit of the journey! - and cross the road at the east end of Princes Street onto North Bridge. Nearly there - though the road is still going up into Old Town so by this point I'm pretty knackered!

OK, so I couldn't help tinkering with the contrast a bit - but I only did it to create a slightly more painterly effect in keeping with the topic!

Flute man

Having posted a Guitar man for one of my sisters a few days ago, today I'm posting this Flute man with fox (which has its own microphone!) for the other one. She will know why :-).

I have the best sisters in the world. 'k Hou van jullie!

Spiegel Garden

Remember how on the 8th of June I showed you a picture of the peaceful park in the middle of the University's George Square? Well for the month of August it has been transformed into the fabulous Spiegel Garden and looks like the above! Spiegel means Mirror in Dutch, and refers to the Spiegel Tent; a beautiful, wooden, moveable, art deco-style venue that is decorated with mirrors, period lights and coloured glass panels. If I get a chance before the end of the weekend I may pop along and take a photo of the actual venue- which is what I had planned to do last time, before my camera batteries gave up...

Guitar man

This picture is for my sister, whose birthday it is tomorrow. Guitar man on the Royal Mile, with a background of typical Edinburgh sandstone.

Hamlet Episode 2

Part two of the Hamlet Episode preview performance (see yesterday's post). There was something almost otherworldly beautiful about the girls dancing in these wonderful dresses, which fell down sleekly when still but spinned gorgeously when moving...

Hamlet Episode 1

The first of two posts on a Korean group called the Daegu City Modern Dance Company. They were promoting their show, Hamlet Episode, on the Royal Mile. Described as a 'non-stop visual splendour', their performance contained elements of acrobatics, modern dance and ballet. Come back tomorrow for the second part of this post.

More Royal Mile mania

Lo and behold, a couple of hours sunshine late yesterday afternoon made for some frantic running around with my camera on the Royal Mile! Too much to choose from today, but I've gone for this guy because of the sheer weirdness as well as the look of utter concentration on his face. I also like the fact that he's in the light whereas his spectators are lurking in the shadow of St Giles Cathedral.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Today's post is strictly in the interest of balance (see yesterday's picture) - and to appease my grandfather who thought my blog was 'disgusting' ;-). This singing nun was part of a group performing on the Royal Mile on Tuesday, on one of the stages that are there to showcase some of the Fringe shows. They were very entertaining, but weird...

True Scotsmen

Ever heard of the expression 'to be a true Scotsman'? Well this one certainly is, as for the other one we can only guess! Call me cruel but I've been dying to post this one ever since I took it on the Royal Mile yesterday (And for the gorgeous guy 'adjusting the kilt' - good on you!) This photo is really for all of my non-Scottish family who were dead excited when I brought home a man in kilt!!

To buy this photo as a greeting card or a print, click here.

Waking up the Fringe

Despite the awful weather that has somewhat put its mark on this year's Fringe, the show(s) must go on! Every morning, the Fringe awakes around the time that 'normal' Edinburgh people go to work. Here, a craft market stall holder is the first to open for business on the Mound.

Free Fringe Music

Apologies for my absence the last few days; I've been away without internet access but will try and fill in the gaps soon.

This photo is of one of the free lunchtime performances in the National Museum of Scotland, by a 'Scottish boyband' called Skerryvore.

Runaway bride

On Friday I shadowed a professional photographer at a lovely wedding in the Clermiston area of Edinburgh. At one point we did a shoot in a very colourful busstop full of graffiti, but in order to get there we had to cross a very muddy and wet bit of grass! As you can see, the bride was a great sport.

Mr and Mrs McC (you know who you are) - many many congratulations!