Category: skies

Out for a Spin – 19 April 2016

Posted on by Zogman

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.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now – 11 April 2016

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combo bYesterday was a long day and a long drive, so today was just about relaxing and coming to terms with this urban environment again after the wide open spaces of Skye.

Didn’t do much this morning apart from my daily sudoku, but today’s game was an “Easy”, so not to much of a challenge.

While the “Gems” were practising I went for a walk along the Luggie, but under a milky sky, everything was dull.  I did find a new piece of graffiti under the road bridge.  Good bright colours, but poor shading and highlights which left it pretty 2D looking.  It looks like one critic has already tried to burn it off.  Difficult on a concrete wall, but that’s the Cumbernauld mentality for you.  Totally brainless.  The other shot was a couple of daffodils that looked like they were talking to each other.  Unfortunately, under the flat lighting, there was very little modelling.

I hadn’t realised until recently just how much the clouds and sky contribute to landscapes whether they are paintings or photographs.  The Indian bloke with the umbrella from a couple of days ago needed a plain, textureless sky to focus attention on the main subject, the man.  Contrast that with yesterday’s monochrome landscape.  A flat toned sky would have dragged that image down.  The wild sky in it – it wasn’t faked by the way – was in harmony with the wild land underneath it.  These are the extremes and there are degrees of cloud detail within those extremes and the sky must be in sympathy with the land and the subject.  Sometimes the land is simply a backdrop and then the sky too should be a supporting player, but if the landscape is the subject then the sky should play a more leading role.  After all is said and done, it’s the light from the sky that creates the modelling on the land.  Maybe I should think more about the effects of the sky light on the subject and if the light isn’t good or is too flat, I should re-assess my subject.

After all somebody said that it’s all about the light.

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.

Another day not wasted – 30 March 2016

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combo bUp fairly early and went to the gym. Scamp was quite circumspect with the machines, not wanting to aggravate here sore shoulder and then a heat soak in the steam room, the sauna and the jacuzzi.

After a quick light lunch I toddled off to fill up with petrol which has gone up to 101.99p per litre a rise of 2p since last week. I drove around for a while after that frittering away that expensive alcohol looking for some photos. I eventually settled on Hulks Road but luckily didn’t encounter any gigantic angry green men and got a few shots looking down the valley towards Glasgow an the incoming rain clouds.

Tonight we went to salsa as we hadn’t had our dancing fix on Monday because it was Easter holiday.  Drove through some torrential rain showers with the sun shining brightly behind them.  Worth it though.  Exhausted after two classes and found they were pretending to repair the motorway again and there were diversions everywhere. I made my own diversion and found a way back on. Why do they divert you to a slip road that’s closed? Only Glasgow has the answer and they’re not telling anyone. Looks like a decent day tomorrow, so we’re heading for some scenery somewhere. That’s the plan anyway.

Boats, Bridges, Bikes and Accents – 27 February 2016

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combo bBeautiful morning. Seemed a shame to waste it, so I got my bike on the rack and drove over to Culross (sorry Hazy, take that look off your face). I parked and cycled along the footpath back to Kincardine. The going was fairly easy. A few slight slopes, but nothing very strenuous. However when I was freewheeling down one hill, I just thought it might be a bit of a challenge on the way back. Took some photos of the bridges, Kincardine and Clacks (short for Clackmannanshire Bridge). Why are people paid to decide the names for bridges, then come up with a mouthful like Clackmannanshire Bridge? They know fine well that the folk that stay there and the ones that use it will make up their own names for the crossings. Clacks Bridge sounds so much better. Nothing to do with Diskworld though.

While I was there an old guy wheeling a bike came along. I say ‘old’ but he was probably about the same age as me. He spoke to me, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.  I thought he might be Polish. He repeated it and still I couldn’t make him out. It was only when he turned and said very slowly, “It’s nice to see a bit of sun” it twigged that he’d said “It’s a grand day”. His Fife accent was so thick it was almost impenetrable to my Lanarkshire ears. I agreed with him and he went on his way to the boat yard where he laboured a bit hauling a rowing boat down the jetty and setting off in it.

I’d just finished taking shots of the bridges and the mountains beyond and was ready to come home when I turned and saw the three wee boats sitting on the water with the beautiful cloudscape behind. Camera back out and got another load of pictures. The Oly isn’t tamed yet. It kept overexposing (sounds naughty, but it just means the photos are very pale) so when I got home I changed the exposure setting to Auto. That’s something I never do.

The run back was uneventful except, remember that hill? I was right, it was a killer on the way back. Got my blood pressure up and my pulse racing. Does you good to get out somewhere on a real bike, not a computer simulation.

Sirloin steak for dinner. It was lovely and I felt I’d earned it today.

An Early Start – 24 February 2016

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combo bSo what of the day?  Well, it was a really early rise with the alarm set for 5.30am.  A quick breakfast and a couple of mouthfulls of tea then out to defrost the car.  It wasn’t too bad really, only about -1ºc.  It had been colder during the night, but now there were clouds hiding the moon which raised the temperature a bit.  Next we loaded the cases into the car, because today Scamp and her sisters were off to a place where there is rarely, if ever a need to defrost the cars, Fuerteventura.

I was supposed to run them to the bus station in Glasgow, but the CITRAC signs said it would be an easy 19mins to the airport, so I decided to just extend the run out to there instead.  Indeed, for once, CITRAC was right and it was a textbook run out along the motorway.  Dropped them off and set off back down the motorway again in the opposite direction.  I had expected heavier traffic heading east into Glasgow, but the gods were with me because it was far lighter than I had anticipated and I made good time back home.  I was glad I’d left the heating on.  Nothing beats a warm house to come home to.

Today DPD were delivering my new (new to me) camera.  I’d finally settled on an Olympus OM D E-M10.  Apparently:

  • D is for Digital to separate it from the old OM1, 2 and 10 film cameras
  • E is for Electronic (duh, I think the word ‘Digital’ gives the game away)
  • M is for Mirrorless
  • 10 is for the model number

Really?  Do we need all those numbers and letters?  Why don’t they just call it an OM 10D?  Olympus don’t make anything other than mirrorless cameras and compacts now anyway.  Maybe longer names make the objects look more important.  Audi seem to do quite well with one letter and a one number.

Anyway, the parcel arrived dead on the target time of 15.08.  Signed for it and carefully unpacked it – no I didn’t, I ripped off the bubble wrap and stuck the battery in it to see what it could do.  As with my other Oly cameras there were a multitude of menus to navigate.  Luckily, this one was very similar to the E-PL5 (don’t ask what the letters and numbers mean), so it wasn’t the steep learning curve I had there.  Suffice to say that I headed off to St Mo’s to test it and some of the results are show above.  Am I impressed?  I have to say yes, reservedly yes.  It’s a very small camera.  Not too small, I think, but I wouldn’t want to work with anything smaller.  I remember when the OM1 came out in the mid ’70s, everyone said it was a lady’s camera, but a few professional photographers whe were big blokes took a shine to it and it gained acceptance.  I thought it was a lovely camera.

While waiting for the new toy to arrive, I monitored the sisters flight down to the Canaries on Flight Radar 24 which gives vast amounts of information to those interested in such things.

So, the car goes in for MOT tomorrow and I’m hoping to take my mind off that by taking some more photos.  Not testing – taking.

A Delightful day – 21 December 2015

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combo bWell, at times it was delightful.  It started well, with blue skies and early morning sun.  I had planned to go in to Glasgow to get my Christmas shopping finalised.  Well, sort of finalised.  Final is such a, well, final word that I very rarely use it.  Let’s say that “Today would see my Christmas shopping nearly finalised.”  That’s a better way to put it, it leaves a bit of wiggle-room.  “Wiggle-room” is a hyphenated word that will no doubt make it into the OED next year if it isn’t already there.  Scamp kindly offered me a lift to the station so I could travel in comfort rather than sit on a cold bus for 45mins.  The kind man at the station gave me £7 change with my tickets which was a bit of a surprise as I’d only given him a fiver!  I gave him the fiver back.  He smiled and looked relieved that I’d been honest.  After all, ’tis the season and all that crap.

By the time I got to Glasgow the rain was pelting down, so I cut to the chase edited out my window shopping and concentrated on the real stuff instead.  Got everything I wanted and headed home on the first available train.  I’d phoned Scamp and she was just driving in to the station as I was walking out.  Perfect timing.

After a swift lunch, we both went to the gym, separately.  She to have a ‘facial’ me to investigate the new whizzo machines in the gym and to have a swim.  Gym looks much better laid out now.  More stuff in it and it looks like there’s more space.  A sort of ‘Tardis’ conversion then.  I’m hoping to try out the machines later in the week.

Dropped in at Tesco to spend a Tesco voucher I got when I retired, that’s almost 18 months ago!  I bought myself a bottle of Glenrothes whisky with it (Whisky was what I was told to spend it on 18 months ago).  Glenrothes appears to have nothing to do with the New Town of that name.  I don’t think I’ve ever been to Glenrothes, but the name ‘New Town’ damns it anyway.  On the way to Tesco, the sky had cleared after dumping tons of rain on us from about 11.00am and it looked like being a great sunset and the statue of Arria was catching some great light, so I took the opportunity to combine the two and take some shots of it.  You get someone to build a gigantic statue of a Roman emperor’s mother (Why?).  You put it in a prominent place overlooking a busy motorway, but you don’t tell anyone how to get to it.  That’s Scotland for you.  Shoots itself in the foot every time.  Actually it’s quite easy to find if you know where, but isn’t that a universal truth.  You have to drive through Eastfield Cemetery, park at the end and find the overgrown path to the statue.   Simple!  Such a shame as it’s a stunning piece of work, but I’ve no idea why she has four arms.  There’s probably a good punchline waiting to be heard there.

So, for once it was a delightful day.  Started well, crap in the middle and finished well.  Sort of like a crap sandwich.  Now there’s a delightful thought to end with.

A Bum-py Day (Toilet Humour) – 29 October 2015

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAfter yesterday, I had a bit of an upset stomach. I’m not saying it was the chicken bhuna, but it was the only thing I had, but Scamp didn’t. Ghandi’s Revenge? Could have been. Despite this, I still managed a coffee with Fred P. I nearly laughed out loud when the barista told me to to tell him to stop ordering Cortados because she’s fed up making them.

I was driving out to the Tesco carpark when a woman reversed into my car, despite me virtually standing on the horn. Luckily, because of plastic bumpers on cars these days and the fact she was travelling very slowly, there was only the tiniest of scratches on the door, so I let her go without even a sweary word. I must be losing my touch.

That was almost it for the day. Went out later to Tesco (without an accident this time) and grabbed a few shots of the sun going down over the ‘pond’. Officially Broadwood Loch.

Looking forward to my Flu Jag tomorrow morning. 🙁