Locations – Page 2 – Selkie’s Photography

New Lanark

The beautiful village of New Lanark is one of my favourite haunts, even before I became attached to a camera. There’s something about its selfcontained nature and the history attached to the place that keeps dragging me back. Well that and the fact that I still feel like I haven’t seen every single corner yet.

I have photos hailing from every season and every incarnation of my kit. All of these are from 2018/2019. Even if you don’t leave the village for the Falls of Clyde then there is a wealth of history and places to discover. Pre-Covid the Spinning machine works Monday to Saturday so you get a sample of the noise and atmosphere of the mill when it was in operation. The wool that is spun here is on sale in the gift shop and the cafe is an essential stop on any trip. Additionally you can explore the houses of the mill workers, village shop, Robert Owen’s house and the school when you get a entrance ticket (worth it!).

The beautiful walk along the Falls of Clyde is a great way to spend the afternoon it too changes with the seasons as you can see from the gallery above. This land was part of the Bonnington Estate and there are still pieces of history dotted all over the hiking trails.

This land was part of the Bonnington Estate and there are still pieces of history dotted all over the hiking trails. Interestingly the archway at the start of the trail marks the land boundary and the workers of the mills were not permitted to pass through.

I’m lucky that I have been to a couple of events at New Lanark as well. Most notably I was able to attend a press launch of Shining Lives: Fortunes of Fate last October. It was an installation of light and images projected onto the buildings, telling the story of highlanders who were on their way to America only to find an opportunity and a home in New Lanark. This was a beautiful way to see the buildings and to learn about another part of the history.

It’s safe to say it’s well worth the journey at any time of the year. Although the virus has temporarily closed the exhibits, you can still hike the falls, appreciate the buildings, learn about the history and enjoy some time off in the cafe.

Teide

Well I’m home and this is the last of the main days of shooting in Tenerife. The beautiful volcanic mountain of Teide. It’s last eruption was in 1906 so the thousands of tourists that visit everyday are probably safe. It’s the highest point on the island and national park status makes it a massive draw for those who love climbing and hiking.

You can still see the lava flows on the surface of the mountain and the edge of the crater.

There’s a cable car that runs up to a considerable altitude. From previous experience I know I don’t do well at altitude (I did plenty of that in 2013 when I went to Switzerland, before I took any serious photo.) so my time at the top was short and peppered with the sight of me utilising my asthma inhaler. But as the cover image for this post shows it really is the top of the world…..

These stacks of rock from the volcano remain when the softer rock around them wears away.

If the whole thing looks a bit other worldly then you won’t be surprised to hear that it’s sometimes used as a replica for the surface of Mars as it has similar properties. I could quite easily imagine this as a backdrop for sci-fi B movies.

The National Park requests that people keep the the paths to reduce damage to the landscape. Which must be a mammoth job.

Santa Cruz

The capital of Tenerife and a city with so many different architecture styles thrown together.

Mostly taken from the city tour bus as it was only a short visit. I could have spent all day staring at the Auditorium. It’s designed to look like a wave crashing.

It fairly dominates the view in the area.

A Little Early Summer Sun

I’m taking a break from the almost endless street photography in Glasgow rain for my higher to enjoy sun in Tenerife. The higher is going well I’m 4 shoots into the 7 I’m aiming for. I kicked myself for missing big things like the Independence March and the opening event for Celtic Connections. But I did a lot over Christmas in the markets and the Style Mile Carnival. I’m not really meant to share them till I’ve done the project submission and I’ve nearly hit burnout because everything was starting to look the same.

In fairness though I’m essentially doing the same but as my tutor was trying to encourage me to do at one point was to embrace the banality. However, its much easier to do in a different country where everything that would be boring, or everyday, is strange and unusual to me. Try doing it in your day to day life when you are in your third month of processing invoices.

Stick a palm tree beside a motorway and its something worth looking at.

I went to the market today and hoping to go back on Tuesday morning because it got very hot and was almost unbearable at the end as they were packing to go home. It was brilliant but the harsh midday sun was causing shadows that are hard to compensate for.

It’s an enjoyable way to spend a morning.

And finally…………

Glasgow University

So months ago now I went on a shoot to Glasgow Uni. Not the one I attended many years ago, that was Strathclyde, and while I say attended I mean dropped out of. Ah well. I was attempting to be a little different as there are plenty of shots of the famous cloisters.

So I dragged out the wide angle and my dusty fish eye since I almost never use it.

It’s not for everyone but I enjoy the change.

Edinburgh Night Street Photography

So last night I took part in an event run by Wex (where most of my wages go) to learn nighttime street photography from Edo Zollo. His work on the streets of London at night are great and figured it would be fun.

It was mostly about getting the lighting and camera settings right. If I can get past putting heads dead centre of shots then I might have a chance. It was quite different to what I usually get up to and I think I have really learned something.

Pollok House

So I haven’t made a new post since June. Sorry about that. In between starting the house moving process I had a mental health wobble. I’m back on track now but was taking photos the whole time. Now it’s only two weeks-ish till I head back to night school and start my higher. They are like Scottish A levels and I have 6 of them from when I was in high school…. which was a few years ago now and I barely remember half of it. So this could be interesting.

So the subject of this post is Pollok House. Owned by the National Trust for Scotland and with extensive grounds it makes for an excellent day out. As always the cafe is great and it’s safe to say if it’s not bucketloads of rain there’s a fair few amateur photographers kicking about there. I’ve been a lot over different times and with different equipment. The photo above I took with my 1300d and kit lens on a walk about last autumn before I started any of my courses. Walking around was so peaceful and I didn’t need distractions because I was looking for the shots I wanted. Even though I was on auto mode back then with the camera making my decisions. I also didn’t respect the rule of thirds then either. The photo I’ve used as the featured image at the very top was one I took way back at the very start. When my dad would hand me the camera and watch very carefully in case I did something daft with it.

So it’s also a reasonable test bed for my newer kit. My 77d was taken there on it’s first outing although it wasn’t my most inspired day I did manage a slightly longer exposure on the weir…. I don’t care if some folks think that the smoothed out water shots are awful. It’s a technique worth learning and water nearly always flows.

So my most recent trip was out with the 77d and it’s new glass….. a 24-105mm f4 L. For awhile I’ve been needing a touch more reach and the 77d fell out with the old 70-300mm I inherited. It has some interesting vignetting when I was at lower apertures. You can see it appear in the photo of the single female rower at the Regatta. It’s not always an effect you want to break out. So I sold a lot of things on gumtree and put my hands on new-to-me lens.

Safe to say I have found odder angles since I started out…..

I imagine that I’ll be taking photos here for a long time to come.

Culzean Castle

So back in that summer we had (that lasted all of 3 days) I took a jaunt down to Culzean Castle. I’ve been there a few times as there’s a cracking Scout run campsite where I’ve taken Guides.

It has fake ruins on the way to the house which I think are brilliant. Not super modern (Victorian even) but built at the same time as the main castle. Somehow I’ve ended up as a National Trust of Scotland member. Not complaining as they hold several places I want to visit.

Modern for the time, the house had is own coal gas plant supplying the house. The farm buildings nearby are the gift shop and main cafe. I’ll admit I didn’t walk far in the heat. There’s extensive grounds and swan pond as well as walled garden and cliff walk. This was just a short loop round the bridge, castle and back to the cafe to cool off.

Barrhead Colour Run

I’m a bit late in posting these….. They have been all over the social media though.

So I’m slightly cautious with these as a got some cracking shots involving people I don’t know, mostly children. Although as a public event in a public place it’s not as problematic as say a private kids party. I’m also not selling these for commercial gain. I would need model releases for an awful lot of people.

If only my back wasn’t hurting so bad (I toppled over 6 days before) I would have liked to arrive earlier and work for longer. Maybe next year.

Friends of mine – Elaine and Anne, nearing the finish line.

So I wasn’t willing to risk destroying the shiny new camera body on the powder paint… the night before I fitted it into an OpTec rain sleeve (cos they are 2 for £5 and I wasn’t gonna cry over that. They do also work well in the rain. No I’m not sponsored by them.) I sealed it in with duck tape (tie dye cos colour run obviously) round the lens hood, viewfinder and the neck straps. The sleeve doesn’t normally accommodate the straps but I popped holes in so it wouldn’t accidentally turn upside down when I wasn’t using it. (I’m more guarded in the rain but figured that I would need to volunteer occasionally. The other Girlguiding leaders were throwing the green powder around.)

It did inhibit the autofocus at the extreme ends of the lens’ ability so I’d move the sleeve further down the hood before taping it off. It was successful though. The strap is still green in places but no green inside the lens mount or on the mirror/sensor. I’d call that a success.

Summerlee

So this one took me two visits to get all the way round. I seriously underestimated the amount of glorious things there were for me to snap. Also the cafe is brilliant.

Out in Coatbridge, Summerlee is an old iron works now home to an almost endless display of the industrial heritage of Lanarkshire. Even up into my youth still a source of steel, Lanarkshire was home to many coal mines, weavers, engineering plants, steel and iron works. Summerlee is the child and photographer friendly home to a collection of social and industrial history exhibits. There’s a working tram service, coal mine (recreation), canal barge, miners’ cottages, trains…. you can see why it took me so long with my rust problem (I have a lot of rust photos).

So you have the iron Vulcan barge in the post feature image and the the beautiful entrance way now for a few more…

The tram leaving the miners’ row cottages

The old iron work foundations and their residents.