British Car Show

British Car Show

One part of the Greenville Scottish Games that I enjoy is the British Car Show. It is held on Furman University's shaded mall in front of the main gate to the games. There always seems to be a slightly different mix of cars in the show each year. Many of the cars are older restorations, but there are sometimes new British branded automobiles as well. The new Lotus sports cars are almost always a crowd pleaser.

The car show is now kind of a sentimental favorite of mine since it was some of my photographs of cars from a couple of years ago that got me invited to be a photographer for the games last year and now this year. I wasn't able to get many photographs from the car show last year due to the VIP's schedule. However, I did make it a point to get some shots from there this year.

This particular photograph shows that the cars are lined up for quite a long ways down the mall. In fact, they are lined up down both sides of the mall. Quite an impressive collection of classic British automobiles. The photograph is also a handheld, three-shot HDR composite so that the shadows are not blocked out to complete black. I tried to process the image so that it would look fairly natural without the over exaggerated colors that HDR can sometime cause. It's not perfect, but I think it gets close to it.

Keep shooting.



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2d Marine Division Band

2d Marine Division Band

I love marching bands. Way back when I was in high school I played trumpet in the band. My high school had an excellent band program for both concert and marching bands.

Thus, I was thrilled when the 2d Marine Division Band came out during the Greenville Scottish Games' opening ceremonies. One thing that I didn't know is that they serve as security platoons for their headquarters command elements as well as providing musical support for the five major commands at their base in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Being in a Marine band doesn't get you out of combat. They have been deployed into active combat deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here is a grateful salute ...

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USMC Color Guard

US Marine Corps Color Guard

The US flag was presented by a color guard from the US Marine Corps during the Greenville Scottish Games' opening ceremonies. I have always liked the Marines' "dress blues" uniform. They are very striking and formal. However, I did not envy those young men being out there in the mid-day sun and heat. I suppose that they get used to it when they go through boot camp down at Paris Island. On the other hand, I was sitting on the ground in the shade of the review stand where it was at least somewhat bearable.

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Published in Fete Greenville

Some of my photographs from the Scottish Games were just published in Fete Greenville. Fete Greenville is a monthly, online magazine about events happening in Greenville, South Carolina. My photographs are on pages 5, 11, and 43.

It is kind of neat to see my photographs used in some of those layouts.

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The Royal Highland Fusiliers

Royal Highland Fusiliers

The gentlemen in the above photograph are members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS). These eight men were the honor guard for the VIPs of the Greenville Scottish Games. They recently returned home from deployment in Afghanistan.

I find it fascinating how military uniforms and traditions vary even between nations as closely related as the US and Great Britain.

More later.

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2011 Greenville Scottish Games

2011 Greenville Scottish Games

The Greenville Scottish Games were held this year on Saturday, May 28 at Furman University. This was the second year in a row that I volunteered to photograph the games for them. Unlike last year where I was predominately charged with following Prince Edward, I was able to take in the games at my own pace. Both approaches were interesting and fun. However, this year I got to see and experience more of the games than I did last year. I also didn't have to run backwards near as much as I did last year while follow Prince Edward. ;-)

This photograph is the main field which is surrounded by the clans' tents and the review stand. Paris Mountain is visible in the background. I thought that the overall view was reminiscent of photographs that I've seen of the Scottish Highlands. Granted, the Highlands don't usually get temperatures around 95 degrees F with near 100% humidity. Still, it seemed an appropriate view of the games' character.

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