November

Image courtesy of @alycoste

November, for me, marks the start of dark nights and frosty mornings, usually still pleasant frosty mornings. The most exciting thing about the dark nights is the start of Light Trail Season again... I am sure that my Instagram account is going to start filling up with them, and I'll give some more attention to the @lighttraillovers account this month as well. 

I always take a little time at the start of each month to evaluate what I have achieved in the previous month and it would seem that October is past too fast and some of the tasks that I planned have been pushed back a little.

I didn't manage to get a webmap into this site of the locations of my photographs, primarily due to the platform I am using. I did do a lot of research on different webmaps that I could use and at this point I am just trying my hardest to avoid using a google map, I think there are more creative ways to provide a point map from a database.

I was able to visit a few locations that were new to me last month; Incholm Abbey & Island, The Birks o' Aberfeldy a more in depth visit of the Hermitage near Dunkeld and was able to photograph the Tay Rail Bridge for the first time. It was a good month for photography, I learnt a lot and re-discovered some forgotten techniques and developed a taste for apocalyptic processing.

I also have a trip planned back to The Hague for a long weekend in Novemeber, make sure the apartment is still where I left it and catch up with friends and see what opportunities can be taken in The Netherlands. The winter lights will be up by now and the city always looks great at this time of the year, I am very much looking forward to going back. 

I only include one photograph in this post, which is of me, courtesy of the talented @alycoste, taken during our recent trip to the Birks o' Aberfeldy (of which I'll be posting photographs of soon).

Glencoe

Glencoe, arguably Scotland's most famous and most scenic glen, filled with history, romance and the ghosts of a massacre. An amazing destination for walkers, climbers and tourists. My goodness, so many tourists. So many foreign tourists! It was like a meeting of the U.N. at the Loch Tulla Viewpoint on the way up.

It's one of my favourite places in Scotland, no matter what the weather there is always something to see or, more importantly for me, something to photograph. The first photograph was taken just past the Loch Ba viewpoint on the A82. The second needs no introduction but for those that need the correct spelling: Buachaille Etive Mòr. 

Scotland is now in the last throws of Autumn with winter starting to find a grip, hopefully there will be snow in the glen next time I visit.

 

Still

I have just heard the the piece of modern art "Still" has been 'relocated' from St Fillans (Loch Earn) to an undisclosed location, according to @scottjessimanphotography and a few others on Instagram this morning. Hopefully it will re-appear somewhere else as beautiful as Loch Earn.

This is really disappointing as I have spent many hours there taking pictures of this fantastic figure. I should be happy that I still have the memories and the images. Here is one to remember it by.

The Tay Rail Bridge

The Tay Rail Bridge carries the main-line railway across the Firth of Tay in Scotland, between the city of Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. Its span is 2.75 miles (3.5 kilometres) and is the second rail bridge on this site.

The original bridge was designed by Sir Thomas Bouch, an engineer who popularised lattice girders in rail bridges and his design for the Forth Rail Bridge was also the first accepted. Unfortunately on the night of Sunday 28th December 1879 the Tay Rail Bridge collapsed when a train was passing over it from Wormit to Dundee, killing all the passengers and staff aboard.  Investigation found that Bouch's design was flawed.  Needless to say Bouch's Forth Rail Bridge design was cast aside after this disaster.

The new Tay Rail Bridge was opened in 1887 and is still in service today, in 2003 a strengthening and refurbishing project was carried out. It was this bridge that took me to Dundee to finally take some photographs last weekend.

I posted the first of these images on Instagram on Sunday night and have been blown away by the feedback and features that I received, currently it has been liked over 5500 times through my own portfolio and the four hubs that featured it (thanks to @loves_scotland @sunrise.sunset.scotland @scotland_greatshots @this_is_scotland).

The shots that I liked and did some processing on are below.

Incholm Abbey

I finally made it to Incholm Island and the Abbey last Saturday. It was actually on my list of places to see, but I totally forgot until the @alycoste invited me for a boat tour of the Forth River with a landing on the Island. So close to where I live yet I still have so much to see that's a stones throw away from me. I think I often forget that!

The shot to the right is of Alayne, who was kind enough to pose for me while I tried to do some artsy stuff... 

The island is dominated by Scotland's best preserved monastic buildings. It was established in 1235 when Augustinian canons built a priory, which was later given full Abbey status. The Abbey has an amazingly dramatic location and looks beautiful from the boat when passing on the south side. I can only imagine how great it most look in a storm, or with deep snow! Fortunately we had great weather on the island even though it was raining when we left South Queensferry.

The boat trip also went round the bridges; The Forth Rail Bridge, The Road Bridge and of course the new Queensferry Crossing. Have you any idea how difficult it is to take a good shot of bridges  when on a boat? Well, I do. Hence the lack of shots below! :-)

Ok, I got one and you can see it here.