After a wee walk through the South Inch to get the kids to sleep we ended up at the Manna House on the old high street in Perth. This is a christain run cafe which is reknowned for it’s good food and fabulous homemade cakes, as well as it’s bookstore that is attached, As it wasn’t too busy we managed to rearrange a couple of tables to make space for us all. Food wise I was a bit limited by my intolerance as most things were breadular (as in made of bread) but they did have baked potatoes and soup available in a selection of Veggie options. Me and A had a baked potato with cheese and pineapples and MS had soup and a sandwich. It was all quite simple with no fancy displays but very tastey with properly oven cooked potatoes. They also do a selection of fruit teas for those non tea and coffee drinkers, like me, who sometimes still want a hot beverage.

MS and A also had a cake each, which both looked lovely and must admit I had a wee taste. The carrot cake topping was divine and the apple pie filling excellent! In general the service was polite and friendly, though a bit slow. The young man on shift was by far the best (sorry didn’t get his name), with a good attitude, friendly and cheerful manner and very good manners (which I value highly, cost you nothing but make all the difference).

Frontage of the manna House, unfortunately was traffic on road so coudn't stand far enough away to get whole front.

Rocks in the fast flowing Braan

Photo wise i decided to keep the ISO low at 100 and use the tripod, choosing the shutter speed, leaving the aperture to be decided by the camera. The River Braan was full and fast so the shutter was kept about 1sec to capture the movement but without whiting all detail out. Main problem was getting a different shot in such a well photographed place. The main falls are so often shot, as is the viewing hall and hermits cave. So settled for some more detail shots of the smaller falls and some of the low cloud snaking through the trees of Craigvinean Forest.

Low cloud in the Craigvinean forest

Although the ground was muddy and there was a dusting of snow we continued over trees, down paths and ignoring fathers idea of direction until we passed through a clearing, where a selection of bouders overlooked a rather Scottish looking, baran, mist filled clearing. Very atmosphereic in the winter weather. Then it was on to Rumbling Bridge, which we could hear well before could see as the river was so full and fast. However didn’t get many shots as the spray from the falls was pretty intense and couldn’t get down to usual vantage points due to high river and very slippery stones. So after a wee trip along the riverside we headed back to the car, taking the main path, which was also strewn with fallen trees and debris. So although cold and covered in mud by the time we got back, it was a good outing and was very glad to be out and about with the camera again.

Boulders overlooking the Misty Clearing

We went along the riverside passed the scary, angry looking fish, which Sean seemed to like, then on to a small harbour. Where I slipped on black ice and almost went head first into the Tay, thankfully one foot was still on the grass and I manged to hold onto myself and just as importantly, the camera!

Photo wise, it wasn’t exactly inspiring, but managed to get something. No fancy tricks either, just on aperature control, ISO 100 and on tripod. Did some work in photoshop to get a bit more texture, contrast and hint of colour to decrease the flat grey a little. So not the best trip out, but at least we got out!

Sean and the Scary Fish

Slightly Icy Harbour

I was there. I got a picture of a padlock. That is all…

It's a padlock!

Last night three of us headed to South Queensferry in order to shoot the Forth Bridge in the dark. Mike, Sarah and I left Perth at 7pm with the sun already down and the clouds coating the sky. No star trails shots were going to happen on this night…

I was shooting at iso100, f7.1 and manual shutter times of anything between 1 minute and 5.

Why the rail bridge isn’t lit up like this is a mystery to me.

The tide was well out.

Trains were very frequent, and very loud!

Had nothing else to do with my evening so agreed to go on a night shoot with the guys though I would spend the whole time being insulted! But at least I didn’t leave my camera bag under the bridge!!!!!!  On similar settings as Ian and just guessing the shutter speed, sorry going by feeling, and using the wide lens I got some lovely calm shots. The trains helped light up the rail bridge, which was finally free of scaffolding as it now has the new super douper paint on it which does not need redone constantly. Pity they haven’t lit it up like all the other main landmarks. But was a good shoot even with the insults!

The 2 bridges together thanks to my great wide lens

Train on the rail bridge and ships in the river.

Bruar and Moulin sounds all a bit French, but no we didn’t travel the country and cross the channel, just went up the A9 to North Perthshire and the start of the Cairngorms. It was a bit last minute as had planned to go out tomorrow but the forecast was crap and we were both free today and it wasn’t raining. Though def had a autumnal (love that word, though father would say autumny!) feel about it.

I just randomly chose Bruar as felt it would be a bit sheltered from the rather brisk wind, the trees should be turning and it had water falls (which wouldn’t need a lot of light to shoot). And yes it had all these things and a fence to stop you seeing the water and trees in the way if you climbed over the fence, but hey you can’t have everything! After climbing to the lower falls we finally got something to shoot, though really wanted to climb down and get closer. But after investigations and hum and hawing we decided the climb down would be a bit mad even for us! Thankfully using the wide lens with polariser and zoom I managed to get some slow shutter shots of the autumnal (oh got it in again) colours and the swirling water.

Autumnal colours in swirling water

As we still had some time to spare we headed over Moulin Moor. What could possibly be wrong on a moor in autumn with strong winds forecast?! The weather was sitting on the moor waiting and windy is an understatement, thought we’d be blown back to Perth. And forget Autumn, it felt more like winter in that wind. However the view was spectacular, and very Scottish. The driving rain was sitting over the mountains, warring with the sun, leaving rays beaming through over cloud covered purple peaks. And the road was unfenced!!! Never really thought of it that way before, the sheep have the countryside to wander through but the cars are usually fenced in on either side, following the set track and the set way (so who are the sheep now!?). Anyway managed to get some extremely Scottish shots of the moody skies and interesting weather, though very hard to hold the camera still when being blasted by very strong winds.

Cloud hugging the peaks, all very Scottish!

On a day of very changeable weather we found ourselves in Bruar shooting the famous falls. Much has been improved of this tourist trap over the years and it was as busy as ever.

The lower falls heading under the bridge.

I was hoping for more of an autumnal scene but the leaves haven’t quite turned yet. If we get time when they do, a return trip may be on the cards.

After Bruar we headed to the Moulin Moor via Pitlochry to see what we could see. Not a lot due to the tears in my eyes caused by excessive wind!

The incoming Moulin weather.

Time off work and the weather quite nice. About time!!!!! To make the most of it I dragged mother out for a couple of day trips. First we went to Dundee to get an intolenance test done, only to find the shop gone, the next shop closed, the 3rd unfindable and the forth didn’t do it. Decided to accept that it just wasn’t meant to be and as the sun was out I decided to go to the near by Broughty Ferry castle so it wasn’t a wasted trip.

Although Broughty Ferry (or the Ferry as locals call it) is right beside Dundee and technically part of Dundee from 1913, which the people of the Ferry were not happy about, it retains it’s own idenity. Part of that is the rather odd looking castle which was a romantic ruin until the late 19th century when it was restored due to worries about war in Europe, and then again in the 20th century with the world wars. The castle itself dates back to 1495, but most of what you see today is military renewal. There is a story that the cannons at the front gate lay undiscovered until the 1980s when a photographer balanced his camera on the end of one of the supposed bollards only to realise it was so much more!!!

The strange looking Broughty Castle

Photo wise it is a hard castle to shoot as it looks so odd and doesn’t really fit together. The back, overlooking the Tay estuary, is very much modern history gun implacements and world war feel, but the castle itself looks like an ancient building with a slightly less anceint one stuck on the side. Bit like the Ferry sitting uneasily in Dundee. The wide lens was definately my friend, and helped encompass the feel of this odd castle sticking out into the estuary. But sometimes even the best lens can’t make the odd beautiful. However the beach, which the castle gives a great view of, was just asking to be shot. The sun was spilling onto the soft golden sand and the many jellyfish. The part of the beach nearest the castle is an animal exclusion zone, so is clean and child friendly. Walking along you reach the erosion barriers (or groynes) which used to stand proud and keep the sand in their strips from escaping to the sea. They are in ruins now and are being replaced by boulders at the back instead. However the ageing wood makes good foreground interest for photos. All in all a god day out and although the castle isn’t the prettiest it is definatley worth a visit.

The next day my eldest sister was up from Swindon so we decided to take her to a slightly sillier place. As a family we have always loved Monty Python and their quirky sense of humour so we went on a little holy grail trail and visited Doune castle near Stirling, the castle used in the Holy Grail where the french knights taunted the English knights. Now this castle is inpressive to look at and very much photogenic, which is probably why someone was getting married there and taking a very long time to get their photos taken. They were well into photos when we arrived and blocking access into the castle and 2 hours later the whole bridal party and more were still there with fake smiles and overly sweet pink dresses. Now I have done wedding photography before and never taken that long, especially with the entire wedding party and not just bride and groom. We got access to the castle in bits as the wedding moved around, which was a bit annoying and we “farted in their general direction”.

The amusing audio tour was done by Terry Gillian and had many Python jokes instilled in it. However with evryone walking around with earphones on, didn’t make it a social visit as noone was really talking to each other, just chuckling to themselves. My ear phones kept getting tangled up with my camera strap and backpack and hood and I gave up on them in the end. Finally I made it to the top of the castle where the Knights stood and taunted the English and mother hit her head in Python style to pose for a photo to send to my other sister, who replied that “her father smelt of elderberries”!

The Great hall with its’ moody light

Photo wise the castle has a lot of potential, but the main problem is that the inside is really dark so the ISO had to be put up for internal shots, but the windows did provide lovely mood lighting in bits. Outside the low sun was the enemy and kept strecking shots with sundots, regardless of new polarising filter and couldn’t put on the lens hood as it shows up in the photo as the wide lens is so wide. I struggled through though and think I got some good shots, without a shrubbery in sight, and only an occassional muffled “Nee”!!!!