Level Crossing
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Category Archives: documentary
Blue Graffiti
Glencaple Trawler Bow II
So here is the final image of the Glencaple Trawler. I thought i’d add a third photograph to make a nice trio 
This final shot looks up the River Nith towards Dumfries.
All of the photos were taken on the morning i was heading for home. After a rainy day or two the clouds finally parted, blue sky was revealed and the sun made a welcome appearance – just as i was heading back home. Typical eh. So I took my shots in the rather warm light of the mid morning, got back in the car and headed for home.
As for the trawler seen in the photographs, i’m not exactly sure if it was in the early stages of restoration, used as somewhere to stay or just waiting for the scrap man to arrive. From certain things i saw it could be the second of those options.
There is something compelling though about boats and ships that are at the end of their working lives. Something rather sad. We attach a lot of emotion to boats and ships, maybe more than we do any other method of transport.
A new Scotland gallery has been started on the main website and features a rather good panoramic photograph of the River Nith. The gallery, which is a work in progress with new images to be added regularly, can be found at:-
Glencaple Trawler
Rusting trawler moored at Glencaple near Dumfries, Scotland
Durham, Durham
Images taken around the old English city of Durham, located in the North of England.
A Portrait of Hamish
This rather impressive looking chap is Hamish, or if you want to use his full title – Hamish McKay Denovan. This shot was taken and uploaded to Instagram but also shared on Twitter via MobyPicture. This portrait of Hamish is the most viewed image I’ve had recently on a social network and the retweeting of the photo started almost instantaneously.
Mountainous landscapes of Glen Coe… meh! Scottish castles and lochs…. meh! A picture of a Highland cow…. yay!!! Why some images take on a life of their own after release onto the net, while others do not, is the reason why photography, and how we view and consume images, is so fascinating. Some photographs just hit the right audience and surprisingly Highland cattle appear to have quite a following out there on the internet. One re-tweet even came from a Highland cow who claimed he was a relative!
As regular followers of the blog may already know, this summer saw me start using Instagram, the photo social network app that allows you to add filters and upload images. The real test for any social network service is how the user engages with it, and Instagram, while it looks relatively limited in usefulness, is actually quite adaptable as a publishing platform. It’s fast, convenient and can be used in any number of ways. How you use the service is pretty much up to you and the variety of use is quite amazing. Family albums, celebrity worship, photojournalism, fine art photography, magazines, news channels and more can all to be found on Instagram. If you think that it’s all about pictures of feet or cats (there is a bit of that of course) then you’d be wrong. Instagram has a very varied user base with a broad range of photography to follow.
Distribution seems to be key for Instagram’s success, even though the filters usually get all the headlines. The photography is uploaded to the same place making it easy for others to view and follow the work of a specific photographer. You can quickly develop an audience that’s all on one website, able to view your work in one place but with the added benefit of also spreading the message outside of the Instagram family using Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr. For me, and it seems for Hipstamatic too, that is where the the real strength of the Instagram network lies. Although I only upload images taken with my iPhone to Instagram, a number of photographer upload images shot on other cameras. Many photographers seem to use other photo apps to get their images and then upload to their Instagram account. Instagram is, at its core, just a very simple photo blog that’s easy to follow and publish to, with the added benefit of being extremely portable on your mobile phone. No wonder photographers, and especially photojournalists, love it!
So as you can see i have gone from a sceptic to a fan. Last month, in Scotland, I found Instagram a very useful tool for simple sharing what I saw. Often I would shot using just the iPhone’s camera app, then later tweak the images in Snapseed and publish to Instagram. The process worked really well and I’ll certainly be doing something similar again on the next trip up there in 2013.
Recently a great series of blog posts came out detailing the confused situation at Hipstamatic and how they view Instagram. It makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the photo app/photo social network business.
The articles can be found HERE
Check out my Scotland and Skye Instagram images HERE
Back to the Borders
The only problem with going away to a place is having to leave it. Yesterday was the day to pack (reluctantly) and head south for Dumfries. I wanted to stay in the Highlands longer, explore further, take more photos but time had finally run out. It may take me time to adjust to a scenery without the high Misty mountains and lochs though.
So it was with a heavy heart that I headed down the southern Scotland for the second week. On the route south I passed the impressive Commando memorial at Spean Bridge. The statue features WW2 Commando figures facing towards the mountains that they trained in.
The memorial also has a remembrance section that sadly reflects the more recent Commando casualties from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Within Tartan
It was a tartan sort of day really. While out and about, I came across a wonderful mill shop selling and producing all kinds of tartan for all sorts of occasion. You could kit yourself out for a wedding, a family event, highland dancing or get your clan’s tartan made.
Sadly i’m not aware of any Scottish roots ( it’s possible i could have some though as I have Welsh and Irish) so I couldn’t have my clan tartan made. Pretty gutted about that because I have the legs for kilt wearing.
I decided to buy a scarf featuring the tartan of the 42nd Royal Highland regiment known as ‘The Black Watch’. I have a thing for scarfs The range of tartans is amazing, with patterns representing almost everything you can think of – even thriftiness! I may be back for another scarf.
While purchasing my latest scarf I mentioned how brilliant the shop was. The reply from the lady owner summed it up nicely when she remarked about the tartans representing the old Scotland. She’s right. Contained within the intricate tartan patterns are the history, the culture and the identity of Scotland. A Scotland without tartan is just plain unthinkable.
