Seasons of Change

Last year, my Fringe photography was one of my favourite projects of the year. I can actually see changes in my work over the month, getting more comfortable with my edits - refining what I wanted from the project. I got to connect with performers in a new way and - as with many photography projects - it got me out on my feet walking around, having fun in Edinburgh's sunnier of months.

This year, life is headed in a different direction. My Fringe photography was actually compressed into a brief few days at the turn of August - in some of my more busy, stressful days of the year. It's definitely different but I still love some of my output. The future promises other exciting opportunities to replace it. But as I draw my editing/publishing to a close, I want to sit with a few of the photos for a while.

It's often hard to bring interest to static performances. I use heavy colour work and layering is my go to in some photos (this one for example). But here, just the composition and extreme crop (64:27) brings about some drama and maybe a stagelike feel for these two. The beautiful Edinburgh stonework doing heavy lifting too.

Maybe the best photos to reflect on, are the ones where you tried something and you're not sure it worked. The dichotomy, conflict even, between performer and spectators serves to tell a story about busking on the street. The performer's back to us, helps us focus on that. Maybe an opportunistic attempt to salvage a non-obvious winner or a more artful attempt than usual. It's not obvious to me.

A delightful contrast to before. This photo - as with many - the subject isn't quite in the right pose to be a naturally great photo. Somehow I love it regardless. This performer was very confrontational with the audience, perhaps that makes me take more delight in this moment. No need to always "Kill your darlings".

Magic! A hard subject. On reflection, the best approach might be to focus on the smiles shared with the audience. This captures a classic moment in a magic show (particularly a street magic show) and for once it reads in the still. The audience - as with the best performance photos - are supporting beautifully here.

My favourite batch of photos for a good while were from this Diablo artist. I gave it a traditional wordy treatment in my previous post, so I won't dwell. But the lines, the natural story, the opportunity to play with composition - all were very rewarding. I love 'em. Have some more.

Here's the post and accompanying gallery.

There's no great photography reason to like this photo I'm afraid. I saw this dude on my last Fringe day - and he's a good friend. I always want to do capture the people I know well - I worked hard on the edits but there wasn't as much magic there as I wanted. I may as well give time to be sentimental here. This one makes me pause because I can see 'me pal, looking back at me.

2025's Fringe gallery is available here.