Nine from the Festivals

During August, the city of Edinburgh is transformed to be the home of several festivals. Most people will know about the Fringe Festival, but that isn’t the only one taking place. The original festival was the Edinburgh International Festival, which first took place in 1947 and has taken place every year since except for 2020 when it was cancelled due to COVID. This year, there is also the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the Edinburgh Art Festival, all taking place in August. I have been photographing events at many of these festivals, and I thought I’d share nine of my favourite photos from the month so far.

Duel Reality

Photographers who gain accreditation to photograph the festivals are invited to photo calls. In the first few days of the Fringe festival, there are many press junkets taking place, often at the same time. This call with the Canadian circus group 7 Fingers, was only attended by two of us, so it gave us some time to be creative. Their Edinburgh show re-imagined the Romeo and Juliet story as a battle in a sporting arena, so Meadowbank Sports Centre was a cool location. We had two suggested rooms, but neither was lighting our collective creative juices. As we walked around, we spotted the signs for a boxing ring and got the centre to agree to open it up. I like this shot as it frames an interesting pose by the company between two of the ropes. Setting the shot up like this tells the show’s story in one image.

Massed Bands at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

One of the highlights of August is getting to shoot the preview night at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. It has been running since 1950 and brings together musicians and dancers from all over the world to perform on Edinburgh Castle’s esplanade each evening throughout the month. The night before the Tattoo’s official start, a performance is open to the public, where selected members of the press can get close to the performers by weaving in and out of the marching bands. This shot needed me to walk backwards as the entire massed bands were walking toward me. All it needed was for me to stumble, and the crowd would enjoy me trying to roll out of the way of dozens of hobnail boots. Fortunately, I stayed on my feet and got the shot of the brightly coloured marching bands in front of the beautifully lit castle.

Pleasance Opening Gala

Another of my favourite festival events is the opening gala at the Pleasance venues. The show is open to the public and allows the Pleasance to showcase some of its performers in the opening weekend of the Fringe. The photographers are given the first two rows so we can get sellable shots. We aren’t told what will happen or who the performers might be. That means we need to be trying to pre-empt which bit of the stage we need to be focussed on and hope there isn’t something more interesting elsewhere. We are also allocated a single seat, so unless you’re there early enough, there’s a good chance the performers will have their backs to you for all the great shots. I was in the hall early to get a good seat, and then I got lucky to be in the right place for the interaction between two performers from A Comedy of Operas.

Penny Mordaunt

As you can imagine, the market for selling photographs during the festivals is highly competitive. This year, I agreed on a deal with one of the promoters to be the only photographer to shoot a series of interviews of people from politics and entertainment by the LBC presenter Iain Dale. He always gets guests likely to say something newsworthy, so I knew the photos would be more likely to make the papers the next day. One of the guests was the Conservative MP, Penny Mordaunt, who made the news by being critical of the SNP, the party in power in Scotland. Several of my photos were used, but this one is my personal favourite, as it shows Ms Mordaunt in a relaxed and funny way – typical of how she was throughout most of the 70-minute interview. It’s always nice when you take a photograph that the sitter gets in touch and asks for a copy for themselves, and that’s just what happened with this picture.

Todd Various

The festivals bring performers from all over the world to Edinburgh. However, there are home-based street performers working the Royal Mile for the other eleven months of the year. Todd Various is one of them, and I have got to know him pretty well. On the first official day of the Fringe, Todd was the first performer to be allocated a spot in Parliament Square. I just happened to be walking by and started to snap his escapology show. I know he always interacts well with the crowds, so I’d pushed myself to the front to try and capture this. Always the performer, Todd shouted that I’d be much better facing the opposite way for the next part of the trick and as I walked around the crowd, he spun the two burly men, wrapping him in chains so the audience was behind him. Todd jumped forward and made a great face that jumped out from the screen. All I had to do was to keep my thumb on the focus button, and another engaging shot was in the bag.

Fringe Cost of Living Crisis

Part of telling the story of the Festivals isn’t always the colourful and cheery stuff. There are issues that the city and the organisers will need to find ways to deal with. This year’s biggest issue has been the cost of short-term accommodation in the city. Many performers have been prevented from attending this year’s Fringe because they can’t afford to stay in the city. This was the case for a group of performers from New York. However, one of their friends is working on renovating a cold-war nuclear shelter that is buried deep under a quarry to the west of the city. There are a few caravans on the site that the performers have set up home for the month. We got access to the entrance tunnel that leads down to the four stories into the bunkers. A couple of lights inside the tunnel and a wee bit of direction to seven performers made the most of this great location. Hopefully, it will be open to the public in a few year’s time, and you’ll be able to experience it for yourself – I can see this being a future location for many more shoots in the future!

Street Performer

The Royal Mile becomes a stage for performers throughout August. There’s no written programme in advance, so you just need to be there at the right time. This was a group of dancers performing by the Mercat Cross. The audience was facing toward the cross, and I was able to sneak around the back and capture the dancer spinning around with the adoring crowd behind them. I always think that a photograph has more impact if you can position yourself somewhere in a place that you won’t usually see the action from. You might recognise this photo from last week’s blog on masking techniques in Lightroom.

Nice shoes Barbara

Red carpet events at the Edinburgh International Film Festival are quite unique, although they aren’t quite as busy as they used to be. However, the talent is usually bemused by the line of photographers all wanting them to look directly into a particular camera. We all have different techniques to get them to do something different. When I spotted the rather classy shoes being worn by Barbara Probst, one of the actors in the film Silent Roar, I shouted, “Nice shoes, Barbara”. She was obviously made up with the compliment, and a few frames later, I had a fun shot of Barbara and her co-star, Derek Horsham.

Minotaur

The last of my selection of the 2023 festivals photographs is from an Edinburgh International Festival photo-call. The international festival has invited performers, and they are usually from the more high-brow art forms such as classical music, opera and dance. We are invited along to photograph excerpts from the performance. The set for the dance piece Minotaur was particularly striking, with a reflective floor. When it comes to photographing dance, I always find that triangular shapes are more appealing from a photographic perspective. Before I became a full-time photographer, I used to play percussion at quite a high level. As a result, I think I can understand the rhythm of the dancers, so I can predict a few seconds before the right time to press the shutter.

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About the author

As well as running Edinburgh Photography Workshop, Rich Dyson is a professional photographer. His photographs are regularly used in newspapers such as The Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph. He also had two solo exhibitions and was featured in a members-sponsored exhibition in the Scottish Parliament. You can see and buy his photography at richdysonphotography.com.