Category: landscape

Party Time – 14 May 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bWe were going to Moira’s party today, but Scamp suggested we go to Vecchia Bologna for lunch first.  After that, we still had some time to kill so we went to the David Stirling monument just outside Doune because there is such a good view of the Perthshire hills from there and I expected it to look good in the sun.  David Stirling was the founder of the SAS.  I took a few photos.  Usually with landscape the wide-angle lens is the best option, but for a change I used the zoom to frame the shot with some of the mid-ground trees and make more of that snow dusted peak in the background.  After comparing the two shots, I think the longer lens was the better shot of the two.  I did a bit of adjustment brush work to remove the blue cast from the hills, but left it on the distant peak to give a better impression of distance.

From there we drove to Ardgay to see if I could get a few shots of the Red Kites.  Unfortunately, we were just to late to see them feeding.  Next time we’ll go earlier and make sure we get the best view.  I did get a couple of shots, but the Panasonic lens isn’t quite up to this kind of photography.  Next time I’ll pack the Nikon and the Tamron.  For all its faults, it focuses faster and locks the VR solidly before you trip the shutter.  Next time!

Then it was off to Moira’s garden party.  It was indeed a garden party with all the trimmings.  Entertainment, food, drink.  Just good clean fun.  I hadn’t been looking forward to it, because I still don’t do parties – never have been a people person, but I did have a good time.  I was so pleased that the weather held up for her and Jim.

View from the other side – 8 May 2016

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combo2Well, today was supposed to be 18ºc and I think we met that temperature and probably exceeded it, but when we woke it didn’t look that likely. It was a slow burner.

Because the weather didn’t look as good as we had hoped, we waited before deciding that it really was going to improve. I’d intended going east, possibly to Cramond or if that was too busy, Portobello. However, our late start made a more local resort more practical. Scamp thought Glasgow Green fitted the bill, and I thought ok. Not what I’d choose, because how many other families would be thinking the exact same and there isn’t a lot of parking there. To add another factor to the mix, Celtic were playing some final or other at home at Parkhead which is on the route to The Green. After driving round the diversions to avoid the green and white crowds, I saw the last parking space at The Green disappear in front of me as the grey Astra in front of me nabbed it. Just managed to park on the roadside outside the West bar. Not perfect, but we were parked and I was beilin’. Whose idea was it to drive into Glasgow? I’ve been driving all weekend! Why do I have to do all the driving? Forgetting for the minute that Scamp had suggested The Green because I wouldn’t have to drive too far and after our walk I’d still have time to go cycling afterwards. No, the Red Mist obscures everything.

After I’d calmed down a bit, I had to admit I really enjoyed walking in the sunshine. We walked onto the suspension bridge and watched some rowers sculling with training wheels on the boat. Ok, really training floats, but that doesn’t sound so good. We had watched a white cabin cruiser heading up to the moveable weir at the Albert Bridge and when we walked down past the Western Boathouse the boat crossed the line of the weir and sailed merrily upstream. I was so taken back by this sight, my camera remained in the bag. I’ll remember it though because I’ve never seen any boat bigger than a eight man rowing scull on the river. To dispel the remainder of the red mist, I got us two Mr Whippy ice creams which were brilliant!

Just for a change, we walked across the Albert Bridge which is undergoing a fairly extensive refurbishment and not before time because this has been a rusting eyesore for a long time. That’s where the Glasgow coat of arms shot came from. I thought it was a good idea to get a photo of it before the graffiti artists got to work on it. Actually there’s more to this than meets the eye. Because I was shooting through the security barrier, I couldn’t get the whole thing in with the 20mm lens I had on, so I took two shots, one of the top and one of the bottom. Later I combined them in AutoPano. It’s not just for panoramas! After that we walked along the riverside walkway on the other side of the Clyde. Scamp and I have walked around Glasgow Green in all sorts of weather for years, probably about twenty years, we think. In all that time we have never walked along the path on the far side, the other side. It’s not as pretty a walk as the one on the green, but it gives a totally different view of the riverside. I’d never realised just how pretty the Western Boathouse was.

After the walk, it was time for lunch in the wintergarden of the People’s Palace. Roll ‘n’ Sausage for me, toast for Scamp. Then we drove back passing through the droves of ‘Sellic’ supporters.

When we got home I ‘dumped’ the photos I’d taken earlier at Glasgow Green and then got ready for cycling. Grabbed my cameras in their new sling bag and hadn’t realised that I’d left one of the SD cards on the table. Found out when I tried to take the mono shot. No card. Luckily I’d grabbed both cards, so I took the shot with the ‘5 which had the 9mm lens on and the shot from it was so much better than the one I missed with the ’10 and it’s 45mm lens. Just a short cycle today with a tail wind to start with – never a good scenario, fighting a headwind on the way back when you’re knackered. Got a photo of the ladybird in a group of aspen saplings. Actually there were two ladybirds, but when they saw one another, the both ran in opposite directions. Possibly two males or two females. The shot of the sprouting ‘baby corn’ was on the road home. I thought the perspective was interesting.

More sun forecast for tomorrow. Let’s see if it appears.

Another wet one – 2 May 2016

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comboToday was similar to yesterday with intermittent rain showers, but today’s showers were heavier and blown along by a stiff westerly wind. That’s the weather report done. Tomorrow looks much the same.

Got fed up sitting in the house and since we needed some shopping, I took the opportunity to go and get some photos – two birds, one stone, you get the idea. Actually two birds were involved in the photos. Two mallards sprang from a pathside puddle on the old railway and walked quite happily along in front of me. I had my camera ready, focus and exposure set, ready for them to fly off, but they just kept waddling along keeping a weather eye on me to make sure I didn’t get too close. When I did speed up, they did too, but they eventually tired of the game and flew off. It was either that or they were deliberately leading me away from their nesting site. That could have been the answer to their strange behaviour. After that the rain came down in torrents and there was nowhere to shelter, so it was just a case of grin and bear it. By the time I got to Dumbreck marshes the rain had passed and the sun was shining on the Campsies. Had a quick scout around to see if any deer would show themselves, but as I was upwind of them, there was little chance of me surprising them. Then the next shower hit and this time I did get a bit of shelter under some pine trees. By then it was time to head back and that’s where I saw the textures on the Broom seed pods. I liked the twisted pods which for some reason remained dry in spite of these showers.

Driving back home I got caught in a long and heavy hail shower. I’m glad I was in the car when that came. Wouldn’t have liked that stuff stinging my face.

Like I said, more of the same forecast for tomorrow. Oh what fun!

Snow Ride – 28 April 2016

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combo bToday after a dodgy night with an upset stomach I was feeling a lot better.  The upset was mainly due to too many Terry’s chocolate orange slices, but I don’t think the couple of mouthfuls of sour beer helped.  Anyway, I made a decent attempt at finishing off the breakfast that was set down to me.  It had snowed during the night and the hills across the loch from the hotel looked as if they had been dusted with icing sugar.  Outside the window as we finished breakfast, it was obvious that the icing sugar was an illusion because big fat flakes of snow were falling on the garden.  Nothing else for it but to get going, and that’s what we did.  Packed the car and headed out past the big garage behind the hotel that held, not a car, but a large model railway layout.  We saw it yesterday and I had hoped to have a word with the designer as he tended to it, but today the door was firmly shut.  Good idea, because I don’t think snow and model railways mix very well.

We drove over the bridge, turned left at the roundabout and then under the same bridge, hoping for some photos of Castle Stalker and maybe Oban.  It wasn’t going to happen.  The snow just kept coming and on a twisty coast side I didn’t get much of a chance to watch the scenery.  Castle Stalker came and went without a photo being taken.  In fact, without us stopping.  The sea was choppy and with the driving snow the view wasn’t what I was looking for.  Maybe another day, a warm day with a nice sunset behind the castle, or at least, no snow.

When we got to Oban we had to navigate its maze-like one way system.  When we eventually got the hang of it, we couldn’t find a place to park which was within walking distance of the main street.  By this time the snow had turned to sleet, so we both agreed to come back another day.  A warm day waiting for the sunset behind the castle and definitely no snow – or sleet.  Am I expecting too much?

Off on the road to Crianlarich which was a logistical nightmare finding the correct route through that one way system again, but we managed it.  Sleet had turned back to snow and it was getting heavier.  I remembered bits of the road through the Pass of Brander and I remember my dad telling me that birds didn’t fly over it because of the number of hawks that nested there.  I was watching the windscreen wipers and noticed that they didn’t have that much work to do as the streamlining of the car eased the snowflakes over the windscreen rather than splatting them on to it.  I even turned the wipers off and it made very little difference.  I think the fact that the snow flakes were light and fluffy meant that they floated better and this helped the effect.  Still it’s an impressive demonstration of the streamlining of modern cars.

Met the main road at Tyndrum and drove down past Crianlarich and stopped for a while just to get a rest from driving.  From there it was a fairly easy run to Lubnaig as the snow was lessening.  Stopped at the parking place at Lubnaig and had coffee and a jam scone each.  That’s where today’s photos came from.

Stopped at Dobbies in Stirling for Scamp to get some pansies to decorate her pots in the garden and that was the end of the run south.  There were blue skies over Cumbernauld when we arrived home, but soon after hail battered down and then the snow started.  Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

A Busy Tuesday – 26 April 2016

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comboA full dance card today.  Lots of stuff planned and some added later.

Tuesday morning we were getting the central heating boiler serviced, so that meant the cupboard it lives in had to be cleaned out so the gas man could at least see his quarry and with a bit of luck, reach the beast.  Once that was finished, the man arrived and the maintenance was completed.  Our boiler is about 15 years old and is getting to the end of its useful life so we signed up to an appointment to price a new one.  We did well to get the boiler through the winter and had planned to replace it during the summer, so this was a good opportunity to commit to the replacement.

In the afternoon we were getting Smart Meters fitted to replace the gas and electricity meters.  That meant the drinks cabinet, which doubles as an electricity cupboard, had to be cleared out.  I hadn’t realised we had so many bottles of spirits in that cupboard.  I won’t say how many bottle bags we filled, but it was less than six, just less than six!  Each bag holds six bottles.  Mind you, some of them only had a little drop in them, well, that’s what I’m saying anyway.  Scamp wanted milk so I offered to go and get some.  I was just putting on my jacket when my hand brushed the light switch and I got the lightest tingle.  I blamed it on static, but when I deliberately touched one of the retaining screws, it happened again.  Not static then.  Checked it with an electrical screwdriver and the little neon light went on.  Oh, oh.  We need to get someone in to have a look at that.  I checked all the other light fittings and all but one passed.  It looks as if the upstairs/downstairs cable needs to be replaced.  That will definitely need an expert to look at.  I taped off the screw heads with insulating tape and tested again and it is safe for the moment, but it needs attending ASAP.  Add to the list.

The Smart Meter fitter came and fitted the meters, but couldn’t get them to connect to the server in the office, so they need to be checked in the next two weeks.  Add that to the list too.

Scamp had phoned the osteopath in the village to get her shoulder looked at and had an appointment at 6pm, so we had to have an early dinner and then I dropped her off at the surgery then went to get some photos.  Got some decent landscape shots with dramatic rain filled clouds behind. as delivered above.

When I went back to pick up Scamp, I listened to Bryan Burnett’s programme Get It On which has a daily theme.  Scamp and I try to work out the most apt track when we are travelling in to salsa on an evening.  Today’s theme was “Vinyl Records”  I chose Richard Thomson’s “Don’t sit on my Jimmy Shand’s”  Which mentions 78s and “They don’t mend with sticky tape and glue”  I had the time and the opportunity to send in my suggestion, so I did!  I’d just finished when Scamp got in the car.  She was impressed with what the osteopath had said and done and couldn’t stop talking about it.  I was half listening to her and half listening to hear if my suggestion would get a mention.  We’d almost reached the Town Centre when I heard “Zog” from Bryan!  Yes!  I got my mention on the radio.  Unfortunately, Scamp just kept talking, and they didn’t play my suggestion.  Their loss.

One of JIC’s birthday presents was a lump of 99% pure cocoa with instructions for cooking it into a cocoa drink.  This is the one that when wrapped had a label explaining that it wasn’t a suppository!  Today I tried it and it was really rich and smooth.  Not at all what I was expecting, but I won’t say what, exactly, I was expecting!

So, a day of some successes and some failures and some “Work in Progress”

A Super Sunday – 24 April 2016

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comboWent for a walk around Broadwood Loch rather than its little cousin St Mo’s.  Broadwood is a bit duller than St Mo’s in my opinion, but nowhere near as dull as Strathclyde Loch.  Like SL it’s a manmade or manflooded loch that originally was a piece of bogland with loads of peat underneath.  It was always being set on fire during the summer.  Flooding the area produced a loch and reduced the possibility of it going on fire.  Originally there were great plans to have it stocked with fish and there was to be a sailing club.  Neither of these plans saw the light of day.  What NLC did was categorise part of the loch as a nature reserve which has the advantage of costing nothing and preventing either of the leisure activities from taking place.  Cost saving from NLC?  Surely not.

After lunch I chose cycling rather than the gardening that Scamp opted for.  Went out with the intention of finding some damselflies to photograph, but they were still swimming in the ponds dressed in their nymphal disguise.  Maybe I was being a little optimistic, but I just thought with the increase in the temperature and light recently there was just a chance of some of them hatching early.  Maybe next month.

What I did get were, from the right and going anticlockwise, Mr Grey’s cousin from the morning walk around Broadwood.  Next it looks like a volcano, but it’s a pit bing near Kirkintilloch.  On the left is a wee bit of interesting sky I saw on the way home.  At the top a monochrome landscape shot with the Arran hills in the background.  Centre stage is a recently ploughed and seeded field with tractor tracks heading over the hill.

Not a bad Sunday.  Not bad at all.

Out for a Spin – 19 April 2016

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combo bGot up this morning and couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do.  Yes, it was sunny, but it was cold.  Yes, there was very little wind (good for cycling) but that wouldn’t make for interesting skies.  I was feeling quite down.  In an attempt to lift this “creeping malaise” to quote Floyd, Scamp suggested we go out for a light lunch.  So off we went.

I’d driven over the new Drumgrew bridge yesterday.  Now don’t look askance, this is quite a big deal.  The bridge has been closed for over 5 months now to allow it to be raised to accommodate the cabling for the electrification of the Glasgow – Edinburgh railway line.  The closure has been a real pain as the only other direct route from Cumbernauld to Kirkintilloch is a single track road with very few passing places.  So to return to today, we drove over the new Drumgrew bridge and out towards Kirkintilloch – nobody in their right mind actually wants to go to Kirkintilloch, which means that the upgrade of the Drumgrew bridge was a bit pointless really!  To cut a long story short, we drove to Drumgoyne and had lunch in a garden centre there at a table next to the window and in the sun.  My ennui was lifted.

Rather than drive back the same way we had come, I turned at the end of the road and we went back through Killearn then over the hills to Fintry.  It’s been ages since I’ve driven along that stretch of road and today was a good choice.  The light during the run was lovely with bright sun and fluffy clouds driving shadows over the hills.  Just what I wanted for another time lapse.
[Have you ever had one of those words or phrases that’s in your head, but just won’t come out your mouth, or in my case down to my fingers and out through the correct keys.  Time Lapse is my blind spot.  I know the technique.  I could, and often do, give anyone the MEGO effect (My Eyes Glaze Over) talking and enthusing about it, but ask me what it’s called and all I can say is “That time exposure thing, no, not exposure.  Delay, no, not delay either.  It’s that effect you see on the TV all the time.”  One day I’ll remember the phrase, but by that time I’ll have moved on to some other obscure effect, I’ll forget ITs name, and the whole thing will start again.  Aargh!]
The Time Lapse.

It wasn’t the most dramatic scenery.  We’re not talking Rannoch Moor here, just some low hills with interesting clouds casting shadows on them and best of all, a convenient parking place.  Unusual in itself in Scotland.  This time I set an interval of 5 second and 60 frames.  That would give me just over 4 seconds of video time for 3 minutes of filming / frame recording time.  This was a much better setup than yesterday.  Firstly because I was using a tripod today, but secondly and mainly because I could sit in the car instead of wandering around like a spare …  The video, once the Oly had created it, was good enough.  More leisurely than yesterday’s one.  That may have been due to the shorter interval or to the fact there was less wind than yesterday.  However, it worked and that’s the main thing – and the focus was correct this time!  You might notice that I collected a few cars on the road in my time lapse (see, I’m remembering it now) and also, towards the end was photobombed or should that be time-lapse-bombed by a bee!  Once I get the thing sorted out in my head and remember its name, everybody wants to get in on the act!  While I was packing up I noticed a goose sitting snoozing among the bracken over in the next field.  By the time I’d changed lenses it had woken up and was keeping an eye on me.  I grabbed a few shots and left it.  I imagine as it didn’t immediately fly off that it was either hung over from the Old Firm match on Sunday or it was sitting on eggs.  Either way, I didn’t want to annoy it and we drove away.

We stopped further down the road at the Crow Road car park (remember going there to do mountain climbing JIC and Hazy?).  Spent some time watching the shadows running across the valley rather than trying to record them.  That’s where the monochrome landscape came from.  Behind me some sheep were lunching on the thin grass over by the rocks and I thought they’d make an interesting shot or two.  That explains the shaggy sheep shot (be careful how you say that!).

Hoping for more sun, less ennui tomorrow.

All Good Things … 10 April 2016

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combo bAfter breakfast we packed up the car and pointed it south. Made fairly good time all the way down the road. Stopped off at Spean Bridge for lunch which for me was a mega breakfast of bacon, link sausage, lorne sausage, haggis, black pudding, fried egg, beans, tattie scone, toast and tea all for £7.95. Scamp had a chicken burger which was uninspiring. Should have had the mega breakfast, even if as a semi-veggy you’d have had to donate your sausages and bacon to me.

Back on the road we continued south and stopped just past the Clachaig Inn so I could take some photos. The first of the day. I wanted some shots looking back at Loch Achtriachtan – bottom right. I also got a decent shot looking the other way up the glen towards the Pass of Glencoe. That’s the mono shot. Just got back into the car when a people carrier arrived and out spilled half a dozen Chinese tourists each with a smartphone on a selfie stick and I thought of Murd!

Found a slot in the never ending stream of traffic heading up the glen and drove on to Rannoch Moor. I was watching the cloudscape that was forming above the snow covered mountains and trying to figure out where would be best to park to grab the shot I could imaging was being created for me. I’ve been caught out before by ignoring the first parking place, trying for the optimum viewpoint and finding there’s nowhere there for parking – Scotland’s terrible for providing parking where there is nothing worth seeing and no parking where there is. This time I chose the first place that presented itself almost empty too – just a white van in it, and decided I’d walk until I found the best VP. As it turned out, there was a beautiful clear shot of the mountains and clouds right across form the parking place (top two shots). Took the shot (or 10) and then realised there was a tripod with a camera but without a photog, just to my right. Then I turned round and saw the driver of the white van watching me. It turned out he was doing a time lapse of the changing cloudscape. I asked him how long he’d run it for and after some thought he said “about 30 minutes should be enough”. He said he was driving down from Skye and really should be in a hurry, but the landscape was just too pretty to ignore. I told him we were doing the same and took my leave, wishing him luck with his time lapse.

Our next stop was between Crianlarich and Lix Toll for a coffee and to stretch my legs. Then it was on through Callander and Doune to the M9 and home. It took us just over six hours.

Thanks Murd and Jackie for the hospitality again and hope to see you soon.

Over the five days we clocked up around 660 miles and I took 335 photos, most of which were rubbish, but some of which I’m really proud of. That’s what photography is all about. A 10% success rate is pretty good. My success rate was about half of that, but then, you can’t quantify art 😉

Stunning Sligachan – 9 April 2016

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combo bDrove over Quiraing to reach Uig, then down the west side of the island to Portree. Stopped for a while at the top to take in the view and to grab some photos. I liked the style of the Indian bloke with his pink umbrella striding off across the footpath round the edge of Quiraing.

Had lunch at Jan’s Vans new café and also took on some petrol further down the road. Then we made our leisurely way to Sligachan to photograph the Cuillins which were looking quite dramatic after some overnight snow. Snow in April. Not unheard of, but after the fairly temperate winter we’ve had, it was not really expected. I got another painting done and was quite pleased with it. Just a medium sized sketch, but not timed this time. We made a really relaxed afternoon of it sitting in a lay-by off the main road with just the beautiful mountains and hills around us. Weather was kind with lovely sunshine and very little wind.

When we got back to Staffin I dropped Scamp off at the house and then headed down the slip. The place was quiet so I got to walk across the bog and on to the limestone pavement section and got a few shots, but not many. It was nice to sit there in the quiet and listen to the waves crashing and the birds singing. Sometimes that’s worth more than the dramatic scenery, but the drama helps too.

Remember, the mosaic at the top sometimes shows only part of today’s images and always at a reduced scale.  Click on the mosaic to be transported to my Flickr page.

Off home tomorrow.

And a Bang on the Ear – 31 March 2016

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comboWe set off fairly early on an improving day. Down the M80 on to the M8 down to and across the Erskine bridge, past Dumbarton (can you guess were we’re going yet?). On past Balloch and up Loch Lomond side. We drove past Luss on the right and Inverbeg on the left and north to Tarbet (not to be confused with Tarbert which is miles away). From there it was over the pass to our first destination, Arrochar. We parked in the much reduced carpark across from the collapsing pier and watched the light change on The Cobbler (Ben Arthur). We saw folk walking some of the paths through the pine forests. If I’d brought my boots we could have been up to the summit and back down again in about an hour – Aye Right!

Arrochar is scenic, but there’s not a lot to see in the village itself, so we headed up past the part demolished torpedo testing station, past Ardgartan and on up the long slow climb to the top of the Rest and Be Thankful, passing on our right the new landslide trapping nets. This was the end of our scenic tour. We sat in the parking place at the top of ‘The Rest’ and had our coffee and ‘pieces’ – not sandwiches, Pieces. I took lots of shots looking down the valley of the River Croe and off to the west to the higher peaks where the snow still lay.

I went off to get some shots of still, dark, gloomy Loch Restil and that’s where I got my ‘bang on the ear’. I walked right into a road sign and bashed my ear on it. How stupid can you be not to notice a notice? It’s not as if it was a wee sign, it was about a metre wide by about 60cm high. Having said that, it was a stupid place to put it, right where somebody would bang their ear on it. It’s amazing how much pain is caused by such a small cut. Numpty.

From The Rest it was all downhill – literally. Took a different road back, down the side of Loch Long to Helensburgh (It’s ok, JIC, we didn’t stop except to go to Waitrose) and then back over the Erskine Bridge. There I made the big mistake of attempting the M8 rather than the M74 to take us home. In future, remind me to take the left lane and head for the M74 because the traffic is less horrific there.

Good to get out and see some beautiful scenery in good light with great company. Must do it again some time soon, if possible without the bang on the ear.