Falkirk Wheel

I have several pictures of the Falkirk Wheel through these pages, partly because I live so close to it and partly because I have never got a photograph that I have been really happy with.

I spent the magic hour taking shots there this evening, it was a lot colder than I thought it would be and was annoyed with myself when I realised that my down jacket was in my car!

I posted these two photographs, the first one a HDR shot from the west side and the second is a silhouette shot from the east side. I like the silhouette shot as the structure cuts between the sunset and the darkness. I am sure that if I had stayed longer I was have been able to get some stars in the photograph, perhaps I'll do that next time.

After a particularly challenging day it was good too spend a couple of hours recharging my Chi and watching the sun go down.

#lighttrailsnotlovers (update)

Update - Contrary to what is written below we have decided to use  account @lighttraillovers and not @lighttrailsnotlovers. 

The wonderful @alycoste came up with the hashtag "#lighttrailsnotlovers" last week during our trip to the meadows. Having purchased a DSLR recently she was very keen to try it out on light trails. Her recent evening trip to shoot light trails in Glasgow took a few unexpected turns, mostly to  bars, thanks to @archarlton1 and @davidgulliver_photography. So we hit a road bridge over the M8 last night in Swanston to practice the art of long exposures (in the photography sense).

This was my favourite shot last night: f9, 21mm, ISO 100 and 30sec exposure. The sky was a merge of red from the light pollution of Edinburgh and blue from the darkness of the Pentland Hills. The cold and misty rain added to the fun with @tinagulliver, @davidgulliver_photogrpahy & @alycoste!

Seeing as the hashtag is new and the instagram account was free I decided to setup the instagram account lighttrailsnotlovers, use the hashtag if you want to be featured!

 

Swanston @lighttrailsnotlovers #lighttrailsnotlovers

Friday Night

A little something from Friday night. Bonnybridge doesn't have many photographic locations that's worth spending time at, but this is one of them. This is near to the entrance of Chacefield Woods, just off the the Drove Loan, Bonnybridge.

A long exposure of 60 secs, f4.0, 24mm and little tonal changes in Lightroom.

The Meadows, Edinburgh

I spent a sunny, rainy and cloudy afternoon wandering around the Meadows with @alycoste getting some pictures of the Cherry Blossoms before they leave us again, until next year anyway.

The Meadows is a large public park in Edinburgh, Scotland, to the south of the city centre. It consists largely of open grassland crossed by tree-lined paths, but also has a children's playground, a croquet club, tennis courts and sports pitches as well as the Cricket Lawn and Pavilion Cafe. It is bordered by the University of Edinburgh's George Square campus and the Quartermile development.

It was a busy day with tourists and photographers but fuelled with Starbucks we persevered to get some photography done! :-) I realised earlier that I shot some of the same images last year around this time, on a Saturday morning walk.

 

Linlithgow Palace

I spent Sunday afternoon wandering around (and in) Linlithgow Palace, mostly wondering why there was no coffee available there. The ruins of Linlithgow Palace are situated in the town of Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, 24km west of Edinburgh. The palace was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was maintained after Scotland's monarchs left for England in 1603, the palace was little used, and was burned out in 1746. It is now a visitor attraction in the care of Historic Scotland. Several monarchs were born in this royal ‘pleasure palace’, such as Mary Queen of Scots'.

This impressive retreat was an ideal place for royals to break the journey between Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle. High towers look out over lush greenery and a loch brimming with wildfowl, which is today a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

I have put together a gallery of the shots that I took here. and there are a couple of them below.