Session April 18th – pictures
I AM testing a Canon 450D camera for the British Journal of Photography, and by coincidence a US (I think) magazine was looking for low-light shots of people taken on new Canon cameras. Canon had sent me a 35mm f1.4 lens which is a) expensive b) just right for no-flash, hand held pix in the Cobbles using the camera’s maximum sensitivity of ISO 1600. These are the pictures I liked, if anyone dislikes the idea of appearing anonymously in print in a pro photo magazine test report, let me know and I will discard the shot!
Only the first five are the pix I felt had the right sort of atmosphere to submit with the camera test report. I always put the details in the captions, so we get some sort of publicity for the club as well.
Now if you wonder why Mr Adams features prominently, well, he just happened to sit under the light 
This is something we should think about… there are one or two spotlit positions in the new lounge, but this one is right in the middle.
For anyone visiting the site and unaware of the variety of instruments played, John Adams is playing an octave-strung (Greek tuning) Romanian bouzouki, aka ‘Irish bouzouki’ or ‘Celtic bouzouki’.
Cate is on electric fiddle – concidentally, also a Romanian instrument. The Cobbles has installed double powerpoints round the new lounge and personal amplifiers are acceptable even though we are an acoustic session. Electric smallpipes, fiddle and keyboards need power and for some guitar playing – tune solos – a small amplifier can help people hear better.
Mr Peter Fry with his brand new – acoustic! – Taylor 210 dreadnought guitar. Pete often plays electric guitar, but the clear and fresh sound of this acoustic wins for me. It must have a really good action for all those barré chords Pete throws in, but that’s the big selling point for Taylor guitars. They are legendary for fast-to-finger necks and the lowest string action height above the fingerboard of all the major makes.
Allan Connochie contributed his own songs to the evening (third from left).
Darren Scurfield on banjo.
Kelly Glasheen – Kelly has a short series of Edinburgh Fringe Festival gigs, at the St Bride’s Acoustic Centre, already slotted into the Fringe programme. We will be posting details here!
Martin Marroni with his 200-year-old Irish wooden flute. Martin is one of the prime movers behind the Border Gaitherin, which takes place in Coldstream at a later date than usual this year – May 30th to June 1st. See: http://www.bordergaitherin.com/
If anyone would like a large file of a picture, ask and I’ll send a JPEG. I thought it would be awkward to bring a camera along but the new amount of space available meant it was safe on my table and also made decent photos possible. I’ll probably bring similar cameras in future, or my own. I don’t often get lenses like the 35mm f1.4 and usually I only have two weeks with each camera as someone else is waiting for the review stock. All these pictures may be copied or linked to members’ own websites – links are also welcome from any other appropriate folk/music or Borders interest sites.
- David Kilpatrick
