Roslin Glen

A few months back my Mum, Dad, Auntie, Uncle and I spent the day wandering Roslin Glen.

This first shot shows the lovely curve of the bridge leading into the ruins of Roslin (or Rosslyn) Castle, you may recognise it from The Da Vinci Code, Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou did a scene here. The castle dates to various periods due to fires and sieges meaning it had to be rebuilt/repaired numerous times over the centuries. However, the ruins at the end of the bridge in the picture are the oldest part of the castle still standing and date back to early 14th century.

The only surviving building is the house you see in the background. It was built by William Sinclair when he extended the castle between 1582 and 1597. These days the house is available for lease by the Landmark Trust on behalf of the Earl of Rosslyn.

From left to right - My Dad, Auntie, Uncle and Mum standing in the arches of the Castle's west curtain wall.

The jagged roof and worn exterior of the house.

After a quick look at the castle we went for a walk around the rest of Roslin Glen. Thought the way these two trees had become entwined was nice.

Ideally I would have preferred the cars weren't in this one but I liked the look of this building with the posts out front so I tried to make the composition work with them.

As we went deeper into the Glen I switched over to my Contax G2 with Provia 400X. It was my first time using slide film and in terms of exposures I think I did OK considering.

Roslin Glen Gunpowder Mill, opened between 1801 and 1803. I'm not going to go into the history of the place since I wasn't happy with the shots I took of it (see below) and I plan to go back and focus solely on photographing it, rather than taking a handful and continuing our walk as was the case on this day.

I must say that I think Provia 400X is my least favourite film I've used so far. It looks decent at times but in general I was really disappointed with how the images on this roll turned out. That's not to say it's entirely the film's fault, some were just poor and others poorly exposed and just down to my inexperience with slide film. Definitely not writing Provia off, as I may like it shot under different circumstances but I won't be sharing many images from this roll.

The texture of this tree was so strange. It almost looks cel shaded.

After visiting the Roslin Gunpowder Mill we started making our way back through the Glen towards Rosslyn Chapel. For the walk back I shot a roll of Acros 100 in my Contax G2.

We eventually made our way back to Rosslyn Chapel and went into the visitor centre for something to eat. The visitor centre is a beautifully designed building and before we went in I took this picture of it.

Impressive wooden beam ceiling inside the Rosslyn Chapel vistor centre.

Took a few minutes to get this one as I wanted both my Dad on the right and the woman on the left to be drinking whilst the guy behind the counter was standing where I wanted him. Luckily it worked out and in the process I got a nice picture of my Dad

These actually have monitors inside but I managed to capture them in a way that makes them look like some kind of abstract art piece.

After having something to eat at the visitor centre we paid our money and went out to have a look at the Chapel. First thing I noticed was the lovely wee cottage peeking over the wall. After a bit of research I found out it is called Collegehill House (formerly the Roslin Inn) and up to 6 people can stay there for 4 nights for £335.

Rosslyn Chapel is a 15th century Chapel located in the village of Roslin. I took quite a few photos of the impressive exterior but you weren't allowed to take photos inside, but I may or may not have broken that rule with some well timed coughs from my Mother and Auntie covering the sound of my camera's shutter. Unfortunately, none of them came out very well since I couldn't look through the viewfinder.

The Chapel has beautiful architecture all around it with intricate stonework and some unusual colours.

The more I look at the pictures I took of the Chapel the more I realise I didn't really get the wide shots I wanted, partly due to not having a enough space with the 80mm on my Mamiya 645. The ones I did get were rushed with my Contax G2. Think I'd like to go back and take my time since I only spent about 15 minutes outside before going inside. I'd recommend visiting for yourself to see the inside since it's very impressive. Also worth a visit if you read/watched The Da Vinci Code since it has links to the Holy Grail, The Knights Templar and is where part of the film was shot.

The Town On T-Max

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. 

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.