The Kiss

Signing off for Summer with a x
(see me at www.awinterlens.blogspot.com)

Rainy Day People #4

I had a successful exhibition during the Edinburgh Festival last year as part of the Edinburgh283 collective. A group of us came together to create our visual interpretations Edinburgh for the 283 days of the year when there are no festivals on. My 'Rainy Day' series sold well and their were requests as to whether there were any more. I've been revisiting the images and thought this one worked well.

Testing the Nikon D90

Still Water

A calm Firth of Forth is a wonderful (and rare) experience.

Nevermind

I've been cycling past this everyday for a few weeks. It's only at the end of my road but for once I had time to stop. I'd already missed the train.

There is another piece of graffiti just around the corner which tells us 'Everything is OK'.

Lake Windemere

this was taken from the National Trust campsite at Low Wray on the shore of Lake Windemere. We had managed to get away for a week and were lucky to get mild, dry weather. It is a stunning place to stay.

My first exhibition!

I've had such a busy time of it this year that the photography has been taking a back seat behind family, work and road cycling. But now, bubbling up to the surface comes my first proper taking part in a proper exhibition type thing. I was asked by a work colleague, Rebecca, to contribute to an Edinburgh Festival exhibition with a group of other photographers. We are all connected somehow or other though the arts and the theme is 'the other 283 days of the year' or however many it is that the festival isn't in town. While it has a cultural theme it is really about living in Edinburgh and we've all taken different viewpoints. Here are my 3. If you can make it along to The Zoo, we are there from the 7th until the 31st August.

http://www.zoofestival.co.uk/shows/09/edinburgh%20283

Here's looking at you

Bindweed

I've been ruminating on my photography as I head towards the end of summer and a change over to A Winter Lens. The biggest change for me has been making more use of the scanner to make images. As a result I've done less seeking out of scenes and become a collecter, ambling along the sea shore picking up things that interest me. Here's one of the better results - the common bindweed. For gardeners it's a problem but it is very elegant.

View to Burntisland

I'm not usually one for picture postcard images but I did like these scenes looking across Pettycur Bay with the evening sun going down over Burntisland.

A Scottish Embrace

"Late in the summer of 1263 King Haakon of Norway, intent on conquering the Scots, set off with a sizeable fleet of longships for the Scottish coast. Gales and fierce storms forced some of the ships onto the beach at Largs in Ayrshire, and a Norwegian force was landed.
Legend has it that at some point during the invasion the Norsemen tried to surprise the sleeping Scottish Clansmen. In order to move more stealthily under the cover of darkness the Norsemen removed their footwear. But as they crept barefoot they came across an area of ground covered in thistles and one of Haakon's men unfortunately stood on one and shrieked out in pain, thus alerting the Clansmen to the advancing Norsemen.
His shout warned the Scots who defeated the Norsemen at the Battle of Largs, thus saving Scotland from invasion. The important role that the thistle had played was recognised and so was chosen as Scotland's national emblem." http://www.historic-uk.com/

Interesting stuff. And did you know that England shares the floral emblem of the rose with some other countries?

Iraq, Iran and the USA.

Play

I showed this photo on filmwasters.com and someone posted that I'm lucky to have memories like this. They're right; a lovely, oblique reference about the beauty of photography too.

Daisy Heads

The petals are dropping off most of the flowers that grow along the beach, such as these giant daisies. Tonight I took my 6 year old son out to look for animals in the woods. He'd been asking to go all day but when we got there he wanted to go home because he was scared. We laid out some monkey nuts and left, eating our biscuits on the way home. The sea was crashing over the sea wall - as the season changes so does the tide.

A sculptural branch

I was out on one of my usual walks with the dog and I passed this branch on the way back to the car. It was quite striking seeing as it looked so human. The trick, as I have learned, is to pretend that I haven't seen it. This allowed me to reach the car, put Skipper in the back and then go and take a photograph. You see, if I show an interest in something, Skipper does too and then he destroys the scene/object. It doesn't help that I get drawn to things like old boots, seaweed and driftwood which may as well have 'chew me' written on them.

Gypsy Rose

It has been a spectacular summer for wild flowers. This was taken down at West Wemyss on the Fife coast.

Inchcolm Abbey

The island of Inchcolm lies in the Firth of Forth. In the dark ages it was home to a hermit but emerged as a prominent religious sanctuary in the 12th Century when it became a priory for Augustinian canons. It's existence as a religious institution ended with the reformation in 1560 and it was used as a strategic fort during the second world war. Today you can visit by boat from South Queensferry, buy beer and crisps and look out for seals.

Best Day Out In Scotland

Robert Louis Stevenson had a grudge against the Scottish weather, in particular here on the east coast, which he described as having 'one of the vilest climates under heaven'. Here is a shot taken at the end of July looking across to the promenade in Kirkcaldy. RLS got the summer spot on: 'shifty and ungenial'. The cold sea fog is called the haar and it appears out of the east, a spiteful gift from the north sea when the sun shines and dares to warm our faces. I've got it into my head that we must somehow anger the sun god, to whom I am particularly worshipful.

Throwing paper planes

school's out and you can't beat a good paper plane when you are 5.

I've never taken a polaroid, so there

But I have been trying out pics with the Fuji Instax 200. A bit of an odd experience to be truthful. The camera is huge and unwieldly and the viewfinder offers a vague idea of what might be in the frame, perched as it is on the extreme end of the body. It was originally advertised as a camera to take to parties but I don't know of anyone with a handbag big enough. Difficult to lose I suppose. The exposure capability of the meter is minimal so the flash kept firing (memo to self, tape over the flash). It popped out a few that I liked.

I Support Photovoice

You can too...

http://www.photovoice.org/