Following our little jaunt up Calton Hill, my Mum, Dad, Auntie and I went a walk around the outskirts of the city centre. I felt this was a good opportunity to load my Contax T2 with Kodak's T-Max 100 and try to shoot some street photography/architectural stuff. T-Max is a black and white film that I was really looking forward to trying and I'm glad to say it delivered. Possibly my favourite black and white film I've used thus far.
Film Photography
Calton Hill
These images were all taken on and around Calton Hill using my Contax T2 and Fuji 400H. My Mum, Dad, Auntie and I went up early one morning for a walk and the light was particularly beautiful that day.
First up is an image of The Burns Monument on Regent Road at the foot of Calton Hill, the foundations of which were laid in 1831. The monument was built to house a white marble statue of Robert Burns and it did so until the statue was moved to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery due to smoke from the gasworks below affecting the marble.
The Old Royal High School, also known as New Parliament House, is a 19th century neoclassical building on Calton Hill which, despite its name, isn't home to the Scottish Parliament. A proposal in the 1970s for it to house a devolved Scottish Assembly fell through as the 1979 devolution referendum failed to provide sufficient backing for a devolved assembly. Since then the building has been used for various things such as a place for meetings for the Scottish Grand Committee and as offices for departments of Edinburgh City Council. In December 2015 plans to turn it into a luxury hotel were rejected by the council.
The view from Regent Road.
A closer look at the impressive architecture of the Old Royal High School.
Waverley Station and the North Bridge.
St Andrew's House, the headquarters of the Scottish Government.
The top of The Nelson Monument peeking over the nearby greenery.
Overlooking New Street.
It seems that people rarely take a picture of just the Dugald Stewart Monument on its own, it's almost always accompanied with the Edinburgh skyline in the background. For me, I wanted to focus on it along with the subtleties of its surroundings such as the lone tree, the green poles and the shadows on the paths in the foreground.
Old Observatory House on Calton Hill.
Some others enjoying an early morning walk.
Construction of The National Monument was started in 1826 but was abandoned in 1829 due to lack of funds. It was modelled upon the Parthenon in Athens and is a memorial to those who lost their lives during the Napoleonic Wars.
It's an impressive structure but that's not why I like this photo, let me explain why I do. Triangles are a big compositional tool in photography, and whilst I'm not going to go into the details of why (I'm not qualified/knowledgeable/talented enough to do so), they are something I notice quite often in my own work, sometimes after the fact. Which brings me to what attracted me to this picture, the people, particularly the spacing of them. For example the space between white trousers person, monument person and red top person. Or the space between monument person, red top person and the person to the left of the lamp post. Both of these examples also create triangles. I don't have a reason for why I find this visually pleasing, I just do. Another feature I found pleasing was the juxtaposition between the two people at the monument and the two people either side of them. One of the people at the monument is taking a picture of the other, there is a relationship between them, whereas white trousers person and red top person are heading in completely different directions and appear to be singular with no relationship between them. Now, I'm certainly not claiming that I saw all of these things at the time of taking the photograph, I was only aware of the pleasing spacing between the people and, in terms of timing, trying to make sure the two people on the right didn't intersect with the lamp post, but I think noticing visual features that you like afterwards is important because it gives you more insight into what kind of things you like to see in your photographs and also teaches you to look out for these things when taking photographs in the future. Hopefully that wasn't too boring of an insight and apologies if it was too convoluted.
This is the Nelson Monument, built in honour of Horatio Nelson. For £5 you can climb the spiral staircase all the way to the top and see some incredible views of Edinburgh.
The Scottish Parliament, Holyrood Palace. Dynamic Earth, The Crags and Arthur's Seat viewed from the top of The Nelson Monument. Film captures light like this so beautifully.
Edinburgh Castle, Princes Street, Waverley Station and the North Bridge from The Nelson Monument. Not the most unique image I'll ever take but I'm happy with my version of it.
A lovely view of the City Observatory. In 2009 the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh moved out of the Observatory and the buildings reverted to the City of Edinburgh Council. In 2012 the Council started redeveloping the complex in partnership with the Collective Gallery who relocated from their old premises in 2014. Today they run exhibitions in The City Dome and they aim to finish redeveloping the rest of the site and have it fully open to the public in 2017.
Another Edinburgh cityscape. I love the orange house down the bottom left.
This is my final image from up at Calton Hill and I think it might be my favourite. Like I mentioned with my photo of the National Monument, the placement of the people and the triangles they create really stood out to me. Specifically the couple admiring the view, the girl emerging from the shadows at the bottom of the path and the person under the tree. That was my focus with this one because, quite frankly, the view takes care of itself.
Berwick Law
A few weeks ago on a lovely, bright Scottish morning my Auntie and I climbed to the top of Berwick Law. I just received my scans back from that day and I'm really happy with how they've turned out. They are a mix of Portra 400 shot using my Mamiya 645 Pro and Ektar 100 with my Contax T2. It was my first time shooting medium format and also my first using these cameras and film stocks. I'm really loving the results. Anyway, here's the first picture. It's probably the weakest of the bunch but I liked the way the sun glistened off this pool of water, sort of looks like an infinity pool.
On the north side, just before you reach the summit, lies the ruin of a watch-house from the Napoleonic Wars. Soldiers situated here would light a fire whenever they saw French ships trying to enter the Firth of Forth. The Law has a long history of being used as a lookout.
The views from the summit, especially on a morning like this one, are beautiful. This image shows the majority of North Berwick and its lovely coastline. The island to the left is named Fidra (from the Norse for "feather island"), and it is claimed that Robert Louis Stevenson based his map of "Treasure Island" on it. A similar claim is made about Unst in Shetland. I guess we'll never know for sure, but what we do know is that he mentioned Fidra in his book "Catriona" and often spent time on the beaches which overlook the island.
The smaller island to the right is known as The Lamb and is flanked by two skerries (a skerry is a small rocky island too small for habitation), and they are referred to as North and South Dog respectively. Bizarrely, it was bought by serial cutlery destroyer Uri Geller in 2009 because he believed it contained ancient Egyptian treasure.
There are four islands off the coast of North Berwick, two of which I talked about already. Collectively they are known as the East Lothian Emeralds. The third island in the chain of four is called Craigleith. It was once a rabbit warren, which is a series of connected underground tunnels occupied by rabbits, until myxomatosis wiped out the population in the 1950s. Apparently, rabbits have since been spotted there after being mysteriously reintroduced.
One of the things I tried to capture with these images is the man-made patterns of the residential areas and I think this one in particular showcases that well.
My eyes always seem to be drawn to curves and in this instance they were drawn to how the houses curve round gently and lead the eye towards the Bass Rock. Bass Rock is the fourth and final island off the coast of North Berwick. On the island you'll find the ruins of both a castle and a chapel, a lighthouse, and roughly 150,000 gannets. It is the largest single rock gannetry in the world and that very fact is the reason why large parts of the rock look white from a distance. Its lighthouse was constructed by David Stevenson, cousin of author Robert Louis Stevenson. The Bass has a rich history for such a small island and has been used as a prison at various different times. The history books also say that the first inhabitant of the island was a Christian hermit named Baldred who died around 606 AD. A fact that I find hard to get my head around.
A nice shot of my Auntie looking out to the Bass Rock.
I wasn't sure whether or not I should post this one but I wanted to show a view from the summit facing south. In person the way the light was hitting off the perfectly cut straight lines of farmland was stunning but I'm not sure I managed to capture that. Also, due to somewhat limited space (falling to my death didn't really appeal to me) I struggled to get the framing the way I wanted.
On the way back down I swapped my Mamiya 645 for my Contax T2 loaded with Ektar. The first shot I took was of this rather nicely placed bench that's just over halfway up the Law.
A few seconds after I took this picture of my Auntie I lost my footing and duly rolled down the next part of the hill. My falling technique solely revolved around not smashing my Contax T2 off the ground after only taking two pictures with it, and luckily, I succeeded!
On our way back down we spotted the string of wild Exmoor ponies that graze on and around Berwick Law. I didn't count at the time but I've since read that there are seven of them and they are named Sherlock, Clouseau, Morse, Inspector Gadget, Artemis, Rebel and Oberon, respectively. They were brought to the area as part of a conservation grazing effort to help deal with the overgrowth of coarse grasses and gorse.
Exmoor ponies nearly became extinct after the second world war due to soldiers using them for target practice and some people killing them for their meat. At one point only 50 registered mares and 4 stallions remained but luckily they managed to recover and as of 2010 there were an estimated 800 Exmoor ponies worldwide.
And just like that they were on their way. I'd like to go back and dedicate some time solely to photographing them as I think I can do much better, but it was still a nice surprise having them wander by.
Managed to take a picture of my Auntie just as she walked through this little tree archway. Love the forest green of the trees in the distance.
I quite enjoy minimal landscapes like this one.
This is the last photo from my Berwick Law set and possibly one of my favourites from the day. It is exactly the image I saw in my head and it really shows what a spectacular camera the Contax T2 is. Speaking of which, aside from this shot and a couple of others, I don't think I did the camera justice. After using the Mamiya 645 at the summit my mind was still in that mode so I ended up metering for nearby shadows with the Contax by half pressing the shutter totally forgetting that doing so locks the focus. I think shooting at f8 saved me a bit but it wasn't ideal. The good thing about making dumb mistakes like these are that you feel like such an idiot afterwards that you won't ever make them again. My next blog showcases the Contax T2 way better and I'm looking forward to sharing it.
