Although the weekdays this winter have been really good (because of my desk lamp and my lunchtime walks), the weekends have been very difficult. This one has been no exception. Not only has the weather been overcast these last days, but Alex’ recent illness left him unwilling to toerate bright lights. I spent yesterday in a dim house, and by today it was starting to tell on me. I felt unfocussed, off-rhythm, and deeply depressed. I wanted to curl up in a corner and simply cease to exist for a while. (This does not mean I wanted to die. I simply didn’t want to exist.)
Martin, saw me sitting by my light box, leaning my forehead on it like it was my only friend. So, though he was unwell, he sent me out of the house while Fiona napped and Alex played video games. I decided to do something energetic and definitive: I would climb Arthur’s Seat, and take some pictures on the way.
So I did. There wasn’t a lot of light even out of doors, but what there was, I got. (I also took 75 pictures. Luckily for your bandwidth, dear reader, my usual 33-50% good photo ratio did not hold up! I was just short of 20%, partly because of the low light.)
Photos of big stuff
My camera isn’t much on the big shots – I feel that it makes them all look like snapshots. (Or maybe I’m not a landscape photographer…) But I got a few wider-angle pictures that were special enough to post.
On the way up, looking north.
Taken 7 January 2006
The moon rose over the ridge as I left. (Note that this photo has been cropped)
Taken 7 January 2006
Coming down the hill, toward Newington.
Taken 7 January 2006
Rock shots
Stone from the wall by the Commonwealth Pool
Taken 7 January 2006
Fragmented rock at the summit
Taken 7 January 2006
Stone from the wall by the Pollock Halls
Taken 7 January 2006
Plant shots
A single thistle head in the grass
Taken 7 January 2006
Gorse blossoms
Taken 7 January 2006
Dead thistle heads.
Taken 7 January 2006
Gorse against the sky
Taken 7 January 2006
Bramble leaves
Taken 7 January 2006
Moss and dead grass
Taken 7 January 2006
Stone in the hillside
Taken 7 January 2006
Seed heads against the sky
Taken 7 January 2006
Here’s to sunny days in your future, my friend. I especially like the seedhead shot.
Have you considered a polarising filter for the landscape shots? Worth giving a try, though there can be so little light about his time of year in Scotland.
Alistair,
I’m not sure my phonecam does polarising filters!
I’ve also been pretty chicken about getting into filters for my more serious cameras – it’s a sign that I am Not A Serious Photographer, I admit.
For the moment I’m hiding behind the notion that my current challenge is to see how much I can do with my phone camera. But point taken.