Great Wee Portraits.

Now you know the old saying "never work with children or animals", well every so often that myth is knocked on the head. I usually spend a lot of time trying to get kids enthusiastic, especially brothers and sisters. If only all the youngsters were as outgoing as Shamus and Murrin. When I told them it wasn't a stay still competition they took it all on board.






















Mum and dad are going to have a tough time choosing their favourites from this shoot.

The Journey Begins.

My young friend Paul and his wife Catherine brought their son Dougal to the studio last night for his first portrait session.

You only get this type of shot within the first week of life as nippers grow that quickly that by week two those really new and totally vulnerable features are gone.

Young Dougal at five days old was suitably bored by the whole event.

Four Newsmen Of The Apocalypse.

My other company Stop Press Media, is currently launching several media training courses. Now when this happens, you still have to produce hard copy literature as we have identified that even with just about everything being available on line, as humans we are still tactile. At least for the foreseeable future.

We decided to go for a something a bit different for the front cover and I gave my old cartoonist friend Liam, (aka Higgins) a brief about us and this is what he came up with.

The man is a genius, stop the press!

Southside.

Glasgow is known as the "dear green place" because of the amount of public parks created when it was known as the second city of the empire in the early 19th century.

I used to live on the "southside" of the city and regularly visited Queens Park when my
sons were wee boys.

I hadn't been back for well over fifteen years and was disappointed by the general state of the place. There was litter everywhere and the ponds were full of junk.

They say that the camera never lies but in this case even I would question that and I took the photo.

An Old Chum.

Isn't it funny how we loose track of people we either worked with or knew well.

I was asked by a client recently if I knew a good cartoonist. A quick Google and I was back in touch with my old pal Liam Saunders (aka Higgins) after nearly ten years. He happened to be up in Scotland last weekend and we met up for a chat.

He is still producing cartoons in his inimitable style.

He has promised me one for a front cover of my own corporate literature. I can't wait to see it.

Art Or Kitsch?

Along a stretch of wall in Kelvingrove Park you can see various painted scenes. It is all very Banksy-esque in my opinion.

What's yours?

Howlin' Wolf.

I have stated in an earlier blog that I have great admiration for buskers. They play in all weathers and best of all, are extremely varied in their acts.

On Glasgow's famous Buchanan Street on Saturday there were several acts drawing large crowds.
An extremely energetic and traditionally dressed band were playing a fantastic pipes and drums set to an enthusiastic crowd at the top of the street.

Further down, I heard a dog howling. Now being a dog lover I went to investigate and it didn't take long to track it down. Standing opposite the Argyll Arcade was a busker playing the guitar, mouth organ and singing away. Now I couldn't work out whether his faithful hound was singing along or had heard enough of his master's voice.

Only the dog can answer that question but the legendary Howlin' Wolf sprung to mind.