Speranza and I are off to Bonnie Scotland for ten days. I am taking part in two workshops with photography legend Joe McNally, whose work – if you don't know it already – you should really take a look at. You may have heard of his "Faces of Ground Zero" portraits – taken on a giant Polaroid camera that produces life-size instant prints. Here's a video of the man at work at the top of the Burj Khalifa Tower.
Joe McNally Photography- Climbing the Burj Khalifa (The World's Tallest Building) from Joe McNally Photography on Vimeo.
After a one day seminar on the use of flash in Edinburgh, we will take to the road around Scotland for a few days.
I have been on a course with Joe before (last year in Vienna and Prague). He's as amiable as he's talented but prides himself on the severity of his critiques. If you want your photos praised your friends and family will always "like" them for you on Facebook, regardless of their merits. If you sincerely want to improve however, you had better hear the truth. So Joe channels the New York photo editors of his early days and tells it like it is. It's demoralising but educational and is certainly a test of commitment to the craft.
Scottish broadband and post-Joe remnants of self-esteem permitting, I shall post some of the hundreds of photos I shall be taking here.
The Last Ditch by Tom Paine 
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