Pink flamingos, a “mad hatters tea party” and an enchanted garden. All just a very average day shooting pics for the Magic Festival then….

My second year working with the EIMF, creating eye-catching pictures to publicise their colourful launch. And this year we had a veritable ball of surreal fun picturing a “Wonderland” theme in the magical grounds of Edinburgh’s Lauriston Castle, one of the festival’s venues.

Left: In this style, 10/6: a feathered friend joins Magic Fest director and magician Kevin McMahon in Lauriston Castle’s historic drawing room.

Above: Launching Edinburgh International Magic Festival in the magical grounds of Lauriston Castle.

Pictures in The Herald, Daily Record, the Edinburgh Evening News (two publications), STV Online and other newspapers and news websites this week.

The festival runs from 28th June to 5th July – see: www.magicfest.co.uk

Live leeches, a psychotic Easter bunny and Dr Knox all came together for a messy and scary but drama-filled photocall at the Edinburgh Dungeons this week.

All to promote the top tourist attraction’s latest feature. Are leeches really on the loose? – you’ll have to be brave and find out for yourself, because I’d be horribly tortured if I revealed anything more about the horrors that await the wary visitor this Easter.

Pictures for 3X1 Public Relations and published in the Edinburgh Evening News and other daily papers.

Left: Dr Knox and a psychotic Easter Bunny at the Edinburgh Dungeon ‘operate’ on leech-filled Easter eggs.

Wood you believe it? – Heriot-Watt University student Dawn Ellams designs a range of eco-friendly jeans made from wood pulp with an ink-jet printer sprayed-on ‘denim’ pattern.

The high-tech cloth uses a fifth of the water and energy of a traditional denim, and drastically cuts out water pollution at the indigo dyeing process.

Above left: does my bum look small in this? – fashion student Amber Lorimer road-tests a pair of the no-denim legwear.

Below left: Dawn Ellams fits out fashion student Amber Lorimer.
Below right: you can (almost) try this at home – an ink-jet printer creates the patterns on ‘Tencel’ wood-pulp light cloth.

Publications include a nice big spread in the Daily Mail in print and online, the Daily Express, Daily Star, Sunday Post and the Border Telegraph. Also in trade publications including the World Textile Information Network.

Pictures for Heriot-Watt University School of Textiles and Design and Pagoda PR.

Scottish film star Atta Yaqub (star of “Ae Fond Kiss”) joins pupils from Whitelees primary school, Cumbernauld in Glasgow’s Buchanan Street to launch an “Enough Food For Everyone IF…” campaign across Britain.

The campaign, involving over 100 charities and faith groups for international development – including Oxfam Scotland and Save The Children – calls upon David Cameron to use his presidency of the forthcoming G8 to tackle the root causes of hunger and poverty.

Pictures for Oxfam Scotland and in tomorrow’s daily press and news websites.

See a larger selection of my pictures for Oxfam Scotrland on the charity’s campaigns picture gallery.

Greyfriars Bobby was honoured with a major ceremonial event overseen by the Edinburgh’s Lord Provost almost 150 years after a predecessor stepped in to rescue his life.

The event in Greyfriars Kirkyard was being staged to mark 140 years after a statue was erected in Bobby’s honour.

And the event coincided with the publication of a new “Greyfriars Bobby Trail” highlighting the dog’s favourite haunts around the Old Town, as well as a new exhibition at the city’s central library.

Left: good dog: Ruby, a female hound from the Edinburgh Cats and Dogs Home, stands in for Bobby.

Published in The Scotsman, the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotsman.com

Portraits for jazz pianist and composer David Patrick.

Above and below right: echos of Igor – pictures inspired by Life photographer Arnold Newman’s famed portrait of Stravinsky. With an added ‘ray of light’ – flare from a flash light.

A private commission by David for publicity material to launch his forthcoming series of large-scale jazz events and a new CD album.

Testimonial from David: “I can’t believe I had so much fun (doing the portrait pictures) as I usually freeze in front of the camera. After having worked with Colin, I can’t imagine ever taking my business elsewhere…”

A Christmas Carol by the National Theatre of Scotland performing at the historic Kirkcaldy Old Kirk.

The production shows in a specially designed moveable set which faithfully recreates Messers Scrooge and Marley’s dingy money-lending office with superb lighting, props and furniture which moves on the arrival of the ghosts who haunt the hapless Ebenezer Scrooge. You can see a 360-degree view of the set here.

Above: Scrooge (bottom right) and his new friends – this picture appeared nice and large on The Herald’s news pages.

Photography for the National Theatre of Scotland and published in national Scottish newspapers and online, including The Herald, The Scotsman and The Courier.

The Scotsman lead on a story about a one-off adaptation of the show with redesigned lighting and sound effects especially for autistic theatre fans, see: scotsman.com/arts

A Merry Christmas to us all, God bless us, every one….!

The Forth Bridge was among treasured British landmarks that were “sold”, as Oxfam brought the need to tackle land grabs in developing countries to the public’s doorsteps.

Oxfam put up “sold” signs the length and breadth of Britain, from the White Cliffs of Dover to the Angel of the North. In Scotland, campaigners staked ‘SOLD’ signs in front of the iconic Forth Bridge, various locations in Glasgow city centre and the historic heart of Inverness.

The spoof signs are part of Oxfam’s ongoing campaign to stop land grabs, which leave poor people in Africa, Asia and Latin America homeless and without access to the land they rely on for food to eat and to make a living.

Publications in Scotland’s national and local press, including The Scotsman, The Courier (front page main picture) and Third Force News.

Photography for Oxfam Scotland.

Above: ‘Red Ken’: posing for the press during the Base Glasgow lunchbreak

Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London and MP at Base Glasgow – the low carbon city conference at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall.

Above: with Donald Dewar’s statue outside Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall

Transport reformer Ken was the keynote speaker at Base Glasgow – the low-carbon planning conference for delegates from business, industry and government.

Photography for Base Glasgow and Weber Shandwick PR for publications in the national press and trade magazines.

A Heriot Watt University team of bioengineers has created a process for manufacturing human liver cell tissue, which will end the need for animal testing.

Above: Alan Faulkner-Jones from Heriot Watt University who has created a process to artificially manufacture human liver cells. And below: Alan with Dr Will Shu.

The technology – essentially a ‘breeder’ box (see picture below) – developed by Dr Will Shu and his team, ‘prints’ 3D layers of liver tissue. In the near future this is expected to fast-track the development of drugs, and in the longer term end the need for testing on animals as human tissues are more accurate test models for human drugs.

A commission for Heriot Watt University / Pagoda Public Relations and published in Scotland on Sunday, Metro and the Daily Express.