GP1 Selkirk Common Riding, 2 minutes silence 12th June 2009 by Keith Rodgerson

Epic 100

Selkirk Common Riding is a commemoration of the loss of the young men of Selkirk (Scotland) at the Battle Of Flodden on 9th September 1513. Legend has it that only one returned carrying a flag from one of the English armies. The flag casting ceremony held in the town square ends with two minutes silence followed by the playing of "The Floors of the Forest" a lament written for the men lost in the battle. This ceremony is preceded by the Riding of the Marches which is a ride round the town boundaries by the largest cavalcade of horses and riders in Europe (up to 650 riders have been in the cavalcade in past years). The ride is led by the Burgh Standard bearer carrying the town flag. After returning to the town they process behind the bands to the Market Place for this ceremony.

The trouble with getting Gigapan of this ceremony is that the whole event is over in about 20 minutes and so the 800 pics suggested by Gigapan at 550mm would have taken longer than the event to photograph. I compromised by zooming out to around 200mm so as to take fewer snaps in the time and therefor managed to get three gigapans shot. There is a problem with some of the elements which must be due to camera shake as I reduced the time between pictures to .8 sec. My next shots will be landscapes which don't move away after half an hour!! However as a first try I'm not too disappointed. Try share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=26053 and share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=26062 too.

2011 ceremony gigapan.org/gigapans/80048/ See Video of the ceremony at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPtceF7L9Cs