Location:- Stonehaven 13th November 2010 at 1400 ish
Finally had a day off when it wasn’t pouring down with rain so arranged to take father out for a wee trip. As the forecast said the better weather was North we decided to head up the east coast a bit. After having Lunch in a lovely little place in Arbroath (which I can’t remember the name of!) we decided to head up to Stonehaven by Aberdeen. Luckily I had come prepared with hat, gloves and 2 jackets as it’s not exactly the warmest place in the country. We drove though some pretty rough weather before we broke out of the cloud into a lovely sunny but cold day.
Kissing gate with a rather large step on the other side
Our 1st idea was to walk along to the dramatic Dunnottar castle, but on a whim we headed the other way along the cliffs to Aberdeen, which was a 1st for us, a little adventure. Also a challenge for my poor legs after playing short tennis the day before, which really involved me doing all the running around! Also led to some slightly dodgy texts about tennis skirts, but less said about that the better! Anyway me and father headed off along the cliffs. The cloud was starting to catch up with us but the sun was managing to break through a bit and reflected off the water like diamond on ice. On a bit of a whim and with encouragement form father I did something I have never done before, I turned my camera settings to Black and white. It was like the good old days of film when you can’t just swap it over in photoshop, and really got me thinking about the light and compositions again and not relying on colour to make the shot.
After I took a few shots of the castle from across the bay and by standing on the edge of the bench, and trusting father to tell me if I was going to step off it, we wandered onwards and came to an old Kirk which we never knew existed. It was beautiful especially with the strong winter sun on it. We climbed up the very eroded step through the kissing gate and explored. We found it was called Cowie Kirkyard and had been the site of a Kirk since the 7th Century and the standing remains date from the 13th Century and were dedicated to St Nathalan, a Scottish Saint although the Kirk is of English style. It had an odd bump at one end which ended up being Victorian and was used to store bodies, tried to find the way in but couldn’t!
Keeping on Black and white I captured the light through the graves, doorways and gate and must say thoroughly enjoyed it. As the weather was creeping in behind us we retraced our steps back into town and had a wee drink and cake at a coffee shop before starting the longish journey home. So although rather cold it was well worth it and has got me challenging myself again so I have decided to keep the camera on Black and White for a few weeks yet.
13th Century Kirk with Victorian body storage bump
