North Queensferry

With the roads quieter after the Christmas Festivities I took the car out to refuel and to have a drive to get rid of the cabin fever. I invariably end up near the Forth Bridges when I drive without a real destination in mind. This time in North Queensferry.

It was eerily quiet so I stopped to fire off a couple of shots from the camera. This one of the Forth Rail Bridge, after a severe amount of manipulation, I liked.

Still sculpture

It is well known that I am not the most spontaneous of people, but on Monday night I decided to take a drive to St Fillans, a small town in Perthshire at the eastern side of Loch Earn. It had been a clear cloudless day and I was hoping to get some photographs of the sculpture - Still, by Rob Mulholland. He is a sculptor and environmental artist based in the United Kingdom who exhibits throughout the U.K and world-wide.

From his website he describes Still:

The solitary figure stands at the head of a Loch Earn. The figure symbolises the physical and spiritual relationship between humans and the natural wilderness. The figure is in constant flux, the small panels that form the sculpture are being torn away with the prevailing wind, being re - shaped by the natural forces. It investigates the fundamental aspects of self awareness and our connection with our environment.
— Rob Mulholland

For a photographer it's an amazing thing to photograph as it looks very eerie standing on the loch. I spent at least two hours at the loch side taking photographs and meeting a fellow Instagrammer @davidmccr

The first two photographs were my favourite and these were "squared" and uploaded to my Instagram profile. These shots were featured in @icuscotland and @sunrise.sunset.scotland, which I was really happy about. It was nice to receive some positive feedback about them.

The next two I also liked, one wider shot than the other, the left one taken a little earlier than the right shot.

I was really happy with these photographs primarily because I think that I am starting to get a feel for taking more moody photographs, especially the darker shot in this series. Some of the ideas and techniques that I learned recently really paid off in this trip.