The snow is mostly gone, here on the prairies, but it will be some weeks before we see greenery and flowers blooming. I can’t wait! It has been a long winter and I sure could use a bit of color. Late spring or early summer images are great for it because all is fresh and green is bright and not dimmed by dust of late summer days.
We are lucky here in Alberta, because some nights are full of light show. We had a couple of gorgeous Aurora showing last fall and I have managed to capture some shots without leaving the city.
I know, I know it is winter and everybody posts winter photography, but I am not ready for it yet. I see it outside my window every day, so I want to see something warm, colorful and pretty. Hope you are in need of this as well.
It has been a while since I’ve posted anything about Elk Island National Park. So, I think, it is time for some lovely sunset from the beginning of summer, when all was green, flowers were blooming and days were warm and long.
I set myself a task of choosing my favorite photos of the past year. I've never done it before so, optimistically, I was hoping to pick only a few, but the deeper I went into my files the more and more I added to the collection. I, honestly, don't know how to visit a location and take one, maybe two pictures and leave. There are way too many compositions to chose from and each and every one has something unique to offer.
At the northwestern tip of Trotternish Peninsula on the Isle of Skye, we have found another picturesque location for our photo adventures, right by the ruins of Duntulm Castle. Since the tide was low and a portion of the sea floor was revealed I have had a rare opportunity to explore the multitude of sea plants with their wonderful colors and shapes as well as take in the views.
With any new country we visit we try to find some point of reference while planning a trip. Such was the case during our first visit to Scotland, four years ago, when we decided to visit Glenfinan, a place of birth of a fictional character Connor MacLeod, from the movie "Highlander" (the original, not the re-makes.. ;D). This time around, I have managed to visit the famous Eilean Donan Castle,
Finally, to our dismay, the last day of our Scottish adventures arrived. Since we were all a bit tired and the weather was getting rather uncertain we decided not to venture too far away from Edinburgh, but visit one of the close by castle ruins. We have decided to go east of Edinburgh this time (since all our previous trips took us west) and visit Castle Tantallon located on the coast of Scotland close to North Berwick. It was built in mid 14th century and survived undamaged for only 300 years or so, but the ruins that are still standing give us an idea of how grand it must have been in it's time. Very tall walls and towers are still standing there surrounded by the sea from one side and vast countryside on the other. While you approach it from the road you can see the wonderful Bass Rock sticking out of the sea providing a great background to the castle on the near by cliff.
The first thing that struck me when we got to the ruins was what time and sea breeze did to the walls. The textures and colours of the eroded material were great and caused me to take a very many pictures of them. Here is a few:
The second this was the size of the structure, still easily recognizable regardless of the damage. I was constantly lost somewhere and only thanks to my older son looking after me I was able to find my way and find the rest of my family ;D
All of those little specs on and around Bass Rock are sea birds that live on the rock. There are thousands of them there!!
By the time we left the structure I was completely blown away by the wind (it was so strong that one had to hold on to the ropes hanged on the staircases otherwise one might fall down swept by it)... On the grounds my attention was caught by the walls surrounding the castle and the wild flowers that were growing out of them, planted by the birds or wind...
Of course, I had to take a closer look ;D
And that was that!! Next day we had to fly home and return to the present. I will always cherish my memories of this trip. It was absolutely wonderful!!! I still have hundreds of pictures left from the flights and both Spain and Scotland and, perhaps, if time allows I will share some more of them with you. But for now the adventure is over... Hope you've enjoyed this holiday with us. Until the next time...
Kasia
You know that I love colour. The more of it, the better!! I have shared some of the colourful Edinburgh pictures in my post The Royal Mile in Colour. Sometimes, however, a picture just asks to be processed in black and white.. There were quite a few of those ones taken around Edinburgh that required just such a treatment so here they are...
It's all in the details and mood, I think. Hope you agree. :)
Kasia
After such a long trip to Glenfinnan (see the series of my previous posts from our Scottish adventures starting with Scotland - the Road to Glenfinnan and ending with Searching for Rob Roy) we have decided to finally take a tour of the famous Royal Mile. The day started up with a lovely sunrise and no more rain and we took the trip on a double-decker bus to get us as close to it as possible..
Deciding to start with The Edinburgh Castle we have walked there from the bus stop admiring the old buildings with their interesting architectural details. Because of the amount of people waiting to be admitted to the castle we have decided to try our luck later on with Holyroodhouse Palace instead and after a short photo session from the castle hill, with a stop at Camera Obscura (a fun place to visit, whether you are a kid or not) located close by, we started our downward track towards the palace walking the length of the Royal Mile..
And finally we have reached the Holyroodplace Palace, where Her Majesty the Queen of England resides during her visits to Scotland..
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, since it is a current residence of the Queen, but we were told we can photograph everything outside so we have taken a full advantage of it while we visited the Holyrood Abbey and the surrounding grounds:
And from there we have started slowly back to the bus to get home. We have lost our way in the process and managed to walk the whole distance back to the Castle, only on the other side, discovering, in the process many more interesting sites and a lovely view of the Edinburgh Castle itself in the setting sun ,of which we took full advantage ;)
There are many more pictures we have taken that day.. I will share some of them in my next post. Until then..
Kasia
