Lawers Village

I don't know when this place was last home to local occupants but suspect it was a long time ago. The village of Lawers is not on most folks maps and unless you know where it is you are very unlikely to discover it for yourself. The buildings are no more than piles of stones with tell tale evidence of windows and doorways, some extremely ornate for the age and area. The scattering of the ruins tells you there were never roads here, just a few meandering paths and a gated bridge. I gather that there have been thoughts in the past to restore the area as I am sure it would make a wonderful heritage site but here it lies, abandoned and overgrown, maybe this is how its meant to be, despite the decay and neglect there is a peace hanging over the area that seems to tell you it is happy just as it is. Does it hide a terrible past than caused its desertion, who knows ?

Glasgow Sunset

Its been one of those weeks, sunday morning all looked clear for a quiet one but what happened ?? work, stuff, more work and even more stuff and here we are its Saturday again..must take the batteries out of that big clock.

Still, its been a good one, monday eve did a Regular photo shoot for the old BBC in Glasgow, internal comms and press shots for a radio Scotland music series recording session - Davie Scott and co of the Pearlfishers was the artist, a great evenings entertainment. Sat outside after watching the sunset over the science centre, was one of those typical Scottish drab days with a stunning finish....



I once had a catch phrase...'I don't do wedding photography..' well am of this afternoon to do my third this week - something is going wrong ! But Last Saturdays was great, Tues was a small civil ceremony of a friend, and todays is on a paddle steamer on Loch Katrine so thats ok...isn't it !

It all seemed a good idea at the time...

..hey, lets take some piccies of you driving your Cat (thats boys slang for Cateram 7 - as per Lotus 7, Very very cool Go Cart with engine, No 2 in The Prisoner etc etc )

Great, we have a friend in her 10 day old wee convertable Mini up for lunch (nice motor indeed), that'll be great for taking the shots from.

So, off we go, cruising through the hills on an open road, wind in hair, midges getting stuck on the teeth, me hanging out the back of mini...it was all going so well....but !!

Before I continue a few names, the driver of the Cat is Fred (name changed to protect the guilty/innocent ?) passenger is our very own... well..a respected individual from Purplecoombe - name withheld to protect the innocent, and the Mini Driver was Julie, name changed again to protect the guilty/innocent?



So, 5 miles down the road we pull into a pub car park much the entertainment of the local patrons, spin round and get set to head back to Purple Towers for a few more shots and a celebration drink..but..and its a BIG BUT......WHAM - both cars collide (details withheld to protect both guilty and innocent) - Cat now has bent front end and 10 day old Mini has new BMW restyled side panels....OUCH. Even more entertainment for said local patrons - the landlady was dangerously close to cracking a smile, or was that my imagination ?

So we limp home and the celebration drink becomes one of commiseration but everyone parted on amicable terms with a 'well, these things happen' attitude - as indeed they do.

Seeing the wood within the trees

Inspired by Purplecoo'er Cait I wanted to share my own woodlands in our own little corner of the Scottish Highlands. Although I grew up in a new town in Sussex we were never far from the countryside and spent many a happy time cycling down through Turners Hill and when feeling very fit the Bluebell Railway, an old preserved steam line running through some of Sussex's best countryside and to this day the smell of a coal fire brings back happy memories. Anyway, getting back to todays topic the woodlands in Sussex were to us youngsters magical places, full of great places to explore and although didn't realise at the time, connect with nature. As kids we then ventured to explore North Wales, a very different land with its mountains, sheep, dry stone walls, more sheep, much coarser vegetation, even more sheep, old stone ruins..and did I mention the sheep ?

So, we have now come to rest in Highland Perthshire, a very similar land to Wales with its Celtic history, rugged landscape...and ..yup... lots of sheep (maybe they are following me ?)

What is left of the old Caledonian Forests are stunning with their Scots pine and larch but sadly many were turned into Habitat furniture in the 70's and replaed with Norwegian varieties of Spruce for Ikea Furnature today. We live in the midst of one such managed forest which from a distance look uniform and somewhat uninviting but that depends on how you view the forest from within. This is how I see the wood amongst the trees..

Breakfast time..

It gets rather busy at the wee fast food bird table joint in the mornings, and what appear to be cute fluffy (ok, feathery) creatures are if you watch them for a while all rather aggressive little monsters, buzzing and chasing each other away from the best perch and feed, just like unruly kids in the school canteen, there is indefinably a pecking order (literally). And the mess they create, well, at least our kids would if nagged enough clear up after themselves, these guys have no consideration at all. Still, thats a minor gripe considering the pleasure from having them as guests. And a few are getting rather brave this year, still feeding whilst we are sitting a few feet away and even venturing onto Gills arm for more treats.



Good job we don't have a cat !

..got your number !!

Its great when a plan comes together, but even better when it doesn't but you get something better.

This is actually half of a pic I took of 3 band members standing on a bridge in Glasgow at night, they were all looking rather serious and cool as you do, but what made the pic was my fill in flash picking up the passing car, so we dive into photoshop, take out the guys and bridge etc etc (sorry guys, no offense) and bingo, a pic just as planned...ok....yea right !!

Who cares, planned or accident, its the result that counts..

Its been a while...


I had a plan to publish a picture of the day, thats every day but social domestic and business stuff has taken front of house.
This is an old pic taken inside an abandoned Crofters cottage in the highlands, apart from part of the roof having fallen in its all intact inside, even a few bits of furniture left behind, and a really fantastic old cooker/fire, its great that its not been ransacked (yet!) but that seems to be the way things are in this part of the world.
Reminds me of a talk I went to and the photographers book I have on Montanna, its called Ghosts in the Wilderness and its about all these fantastic old 60's Timber houses that were just left by their occupants back in the 70's, they left furniture, telephones, calenders on the wall and sometimes their cars and appart from dust and decay they are still preserved due to the dry climate.