Casting my eye back over my ever-expanding Woolamaloo Flickr stream (now approaching the 7, 000 image level, unbelievably), I thought since it was the end of the year I’d chose some of my personal favourites from my own photos I shot over the last twelve months. I know I carry the camera in my bag everywhere but even I find myself a bit taken aback with just how many photos I’ve shot over the year… But I see something interesting, be it a performer on the Royal Mile during the Fringe or simply the sun casting shadows over an old, stone building in Edinburgh or a famous author at the Book Fest. Out of the hundreds I shot this year, here are a few I was particularly pleased with:

The Mad Hatter on the Mile during this year’s Fringe:

Using the longer zoom on the new camera to get closer in for a portrait of this percussionist performing on the Royal Mile to summer tourists as the evening light plays on him. I love getting unposed, natural street shots:

I was shooting in the Dovecote Studios during Doors Open Day when my eye was drawn by the autumn sunlight coming in the skylights of the studio to cast bright shafts of light and shadow over the upper gallery, which these two women walked into, so again I took advantage of the bigger zoom on the new camera to take this quick scene which worked nicely in black and white in a way it never would have in colour (and a reminder, if you see a pic of mine in B&W I shot it in B&W, I refuse to shoot in colour then grayscale it in Photoshop afterwards, it loses the texture):

I don’t just shoot my ‘arty’ black and white though! Here’s some quite glorious colour, Riddles Court, just off the top of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, beautiful, bright, warm, autumn day, the colour of the centuries old buildings (reminiscent of the mustard colours used in the palace across the river in Cuiross) in strong light with that magnificent sky, a gift from my city to me as a reward for looking up:

My adorable wee cousin Caitlin, learning how to use my dad’s camera (which is almost as big as her head!). I took several shots of her while she was busy trying this out but my favourite from the sequence is this one where she’s cuddled right into my dad (her beloved ‘Uncle Jojo”):

The magnificent Victorian atrium of the National Museum of Scotland, now re-opened after several years of refurbishment, flooded with natural light, quite wonderful to take in

And some old typewriters hanging from the wall in the Museum, seemingly without support, floating, it said black and white to me, so I did:

My gorgeous city seen from the roof terrace of the National Museum of Scotland, one of the best spots to take in the roofs of the Old Town:

A candid, quickly captured shot of my friends Colin and Frances in between the more formal, posed photos at their wedding:

And I was quite pleased with this shot of my friends Malcolm and Rhona I managed to get at the same wedding – obviously this one is posed unlike the preceding pic, but still quite pleased with this one:

Statue of Hugh Miller, pioneering Scottish geologist, in the revamped National Museum of Scotland, as the autumn sunlight slanted through the Victorian iron and glass roof into the galleries below making some lovely light and shadows:

The always excellent artists at Saint John’s Church on Princes Street post a new mural commenting on current events, this time on the Occupy movemnt:

Quickly snatched candid shot (I love capturing natural, unposed scenes in the street, or in this case, park) of young folks practising their juggling on a nice day in the Meadows, Edinburgh:

Bagpiper on stilts on the Royal Mile (a few nights later I heard him piping the Star Wars theme on the bagpipes!), spotted walking home from work in the summer (another reason I carry the camera in my bag all the time, never know what you might see):

Launch for the programme for this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival, bumped into a bunch of book folks I know, including Aly and Bob here, who I used to work with back in the day when Waterstone’s was still a real bookstore:

Walking home in the middle of the summer and find a brace of classic old touring cars parked on the Royal Mile. This chap got into his and fired it up, started turning it around as I was shooting so instead of still life shots of classic cars I got him driving it too:

In the National Museum of Scotland with my dad and uncle earlier in the year, taking in the exhibition on Scottish lighthouses (including the huge contributions to maritime safety and engineering from the famous Stevenson family – the same family that produced the great Robert Louis Stevenson). This was a giant representation of the Fresnel lenses used in lighthouses to hugely magnify the power of the rotating light. I noticed after I shot it that I had also captured reflection of my dad and myself, looks very well timed but actually accidental!

quick, candid shot of one of my favourite watering holes, the Abbotsford in Rose Stree in Edinburgh’s New Town:

Walking home from work way back in January of the year, a huge, orange moon was rising above my ancient city, as large as an autumanal harvest moon but in the middle of the winter. Had to stop and try and improvise a quick night shot:

André Øvredal, Norwegian director of one of my favourite films of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, in the Cameo after the debut of the brilliant Troll Hunter:

Fringe performers made up and dressed as 1920s silent cinema stars – I have such a weakness for women in the Louise Brooks bob and was lucky enough to get this unposed, candid shot while I snapped a series of them…

British published graphic novels dominate in the bookstore tent of the Edinburgh International Book Festival:

Neil Gaiman at the BooK Festival this year, first time I have managed to say hello in person for years – I’ve had the pleasure of hosting Neil for book events several times going right back to the early 90s while he was still writing The Sandman, but not seen him in person for a good while (although we do get to swap the odd email, which is nice considering how many emails he must have to deal with):

Scottish comics superstar writer Grant Morrison at the BooK Fest:

Some scantily clad performers during the Fringe saw me snapping away and posed very nicely for me, normally prefer candid to posed, but I was quite pleased with this:

Nick Hayes and William Goldsmith who first came to my attention with their debut graphic novels works from Jonathan Cape this year, got to meet them in person at the Book Festival during the summer:

A really good Charlie Chaplin impersonator on the Mile during the Fringe:

And I loved this candid moment during on Fringe performer’s act as he kissed the hand of the lady who agreed to assist him:

We had the Jungle City exhibition of statues of endangered species dotted all over the city, each decorated differently by various artists. I especially liked this big cat covered in shiny one pence pieces by the Scott Monument:

The final remaining parts of the old Scottish & Newcastle Brewery were at last demolished after a pause of a few years caused by the financial crisis, now totally gone and site cleared for new work, here is one of the large structures when only partly demolished – how odd to be able to see inside, almost like a cutaway diagram of the building:

My view on the way home from work – I do love this city!

Okay, I could probably pick a few more, but I think that is more than enough, you can always go browse my Flickr stream yourself, after all!