Glaswegian twilight
Twilight in Glasgow, Scotland…
I always found Glasgow, Scotland to be beautiful. It’s not as popular as Edinburgh but I really like the city. Here’s a quick snap from one evening there just around twilight. I was in Royal Exchange Square and just loved the view and the light.
Blue hour at Drygate Brewery
Blue hour light falls on the Drygate Brewery in Glasgow, Scotland one evening...
I spent an evening wandering around in Glasgow, Scotland and stopped in here for a beer along the way. After that brief respite, I headed back out for more shootin'. As I was leaving, I happened to turn around to check out where I had just left, and knew I had to get a shot.
It was a quick grab, and it's a single exposure that I edited in Luminar. I just love shooting at blue hour, and especially if I can find some artificial light to play with, such as the lights on the building and in the sign. There's something about the man-made light that is sort of fighting with the oncoming darkness that makes me pull out the camera every time.
By the way, below is a video showing how I edited this in Luminar. I shared the video here a couple of weeks back, but thought it made sense to include it again since I am showing the photo now!
Looking out over Glasgow
A view out over the city of Glasgow, Scotland - via two photos taken from atop a building downtown.
I love a view over a city!
Since I don't have a drone (yet at least, I am still debating that one), I rarely get an "aerial" sort of view of a place. Like most other folks, I am on foot down on the ground and taking shots there. It's rare to find a decently high perch in a city with a nice, unobstructed view of things.
On one of my visits to Glasgow, I visited a place known as The Lighthouse, which is a center for design and architecture. It's right in the middle of downtown and at some point there I was able to find these views over the city. I actually cannot remember if this was an outside balcony, or a window, or what. I just know where it was taken - that's about it!
Glasgow nights
A rainy night in front of Central Station in Glasgow, Scotland...and a taxi pulls up. Click!
Rainy nights are sometimes just perfect for photography!
While having rain fall on you and your camera isn't always an ideal way to spend an evening, it can result in some interesting and beautiful photos. I had been wandering in Glasgow, Scotland one evening, dodging the rain here and there and taking photos along the way.
As the evening ended and I was making my way back to my hotel, I was passing Central Station, which is their lovely central train station downtown. I have shot in it many times and always enjoy it. I skipped the interior but definitely stopped and got a few shots of the exterior. When that taxi pulled up and stopped, I had to grab the shot.
Falkirk Wheel
Falkirk, Scotland is a small town not too far from Glasgow, and well worth a trip over for exploring. The Falkirk Wheel is a boat lift technically, but really it's an engineering marvel and a very interesting thing to go see and photograph. Check it out!
A very interesting stop in lovely Scotland!
I find so much cool stuff in Scotland - makes me want to keep going back! I really do love the country. Having been many times already, I hope that life affords me the opportunity to continue returning for many years. It's one of my favorite countries.
On my trip there earlier this year, I had a free weekend in Glasgow, and my good friend Mike Murphy came up from London so we could shoot around (and drink a couple of beers, ha!). So one day we took off for the nearby town of Falkirk (a short train ride from Glasgow) and met up with his old friend Steve there. The three of us then spent the better part of the day shooting around the area, including the first stop at The Kelpies, and then we made our way over here to see the Falkirk Wheel.
What a cool place.
It's basically a rotating boat lift which connects a couple of different canals. The boat gets in the lift at the bottom, it rotates and delivers the boat to the upper level (which is where these photos were taken), and they come down this canal toward you. It's pretty amazing to watch, and I can't imagine how much engineering and planning went into this thing. Very cool stuff.
We spent a while here, but honestly most of the photos look about the same, the only differences being that I moved around a little bit. So today I have these 3 photos for you, instead of a larger quantity, since I am trying to not be overly redundant. But hey, after 28 pics total in the previous two posts, I deserve a break, right? Right?
Thanks for stopping by today, and if you find yourself anywhere near Falkirk, Scotland - get over here, dangit, it's cool!
The beauty of Glasgow
Today on the blog I whisk you away to that lovely Scottish city, Glasgow. Some think it's "not all that", but I disagree. Here's a photo collection showing you some of the beauty in Glasgow!
Glasgow is a beautiful city, despite what you may have heard. I love it there!
glasgow city chambers during a lovely sunset
I love Glasgow, I really do. I have been there something like 5-6 times now, and always enjoy it. It doesn't get a lot of respect compared to other well known cities around the UK, but I love it there. Even within Scotland, I think most people tend to hear about Edinburgh - which is gorgeous - but fewer head to Glasgow for a visit.
I think they should.
doctor who?
i have no idea what this is all about, but it caught my eye for some reason!
While it has working-class roots and charm, it also has quite a bit of arts and culture as well. I've visited amazing museums there and enjoyed fabulous meals. The architecture is incredible in some spots, and the people are delightful. I hope to return.
I was there earlier this year, and things being what they are with me, I made time to get out with the camera and fire away. That's not really a surprise. But what surprised me, upon returning home and looking back on the photos I had collected, was that I shot the town a bit differently on that visit.
I didn't use the wide-angle lens, and I didn't shoot as much of the "big things" there as I have in the past. I just shot what I saw, whenever it caught my attention. And a lot of different things caught my attention.
choosing a car on the train
at the university
loved the colors here!
the kelvingrove, a fabulous museum!
So that is what is in today's post - just a collection of seemingly random and unrelated photos from across different part of this fine Scottish city. If given the chance, I highly recommend a visit. You won't regret it!
And for all the Americans reading this, I wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this week. I am taking the rest of the week off, so I will be back next week sharing more goodness from my travels. I spent last week in San Francisco, so more new stuff coming from there as soon as I can get it processed.
Thanks for stopping by today!
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an alley that leads to a great place for fish and chips!
so yeah, I stopped for a beer!
A stunning Glasgow sunset
Back in April I spent a few days in lovely Glasgow, Scotland and caught a pretty stellar sunset one evening. Here are 5 pics that show you just how beautiful it was!
Sometimes you just get great light, and that's over half the battle.
As photographers, we are constantly chasing the light, or at least hoping we get some that is worthwhile. And photography is (rather obviously) all about the light. So when you show up and it turns out like it did on this evening, well that's a pretty special thing.
I had spent this day wandering around many parts of Glasgow with my good friend Mike Murphy, and we had some rain and clouds at various points in the day. I'm never really opposed to that, since rain generally means clouds, and clouds mean you have a chance at some drama in the sky.
And if there is a little drama in the sky at sunset, and the sun breaks through, you get stuff like this, which was pretty awesome. So don't give up hope when there is some rain in the forecast. I've gotten lucky more often while shooting right after a storm, and you often find that you have a place to yourself anyways, since all the tourists head inside at the first drop.
This was back in April of this year, and I hope I can return to Glasgow some day. Having been there 5 times or so over the years, I've grown rather fond of the place. It's more of a working class city compared to Edinburgh, but that's part of what I love about it. But due to some changes at work, it's unlikely work will send me that way anytime soon (although I did go to Aberdeen, so no complaints about that). So we will have to see. Until that time comes, I will have to remind myself what it's like by looking at all my Glasgow pictures I've taken there over the years. Its not quite like being there, but it's fun to look back on past adventures anyways, right?
A hike to Dunnottar Castle
On my recent trip over to Europe for business, I found myself in Aberdeen Scotland and had a free day on my hands. What did I do? Went looking for a castle, that's what! And yes, I found one - it's a ruined medieval fortress on the coast - awesomeness!
Hiking to a castle in Scotland? Sounds great!
I freakin' love Scotland - I haven't seen anything yet about it that I don't like. The people and their awesome accent, the beer, the scenery, the architecture - it's all beautiful to me. So when I went to Aberdeen a few weeks ago for the first time, I knew I wanted to grab some shots of whatever I could find that piqued my interest.
So as I often do, I started with Google and quickly found out that this wonderful ruined castle, Dunnottar Castle, is just a short train ride away - I was done! I had only one free day there, and knew that I would spend it here instead of in the city. I'm glad I did!
So when that day arrived, I packed up my stuff and headed out. From Aberdeen, I took the train to a little town south of there known as Stonehaven, which was a short 20 minutes away. From the train station in Stonehaven, I walked into the town, which was another 15-20 minutes. Then, I found the path that leads to Dunnottar Castle and started out! It's very well marked and starting in the town, in my opinion, adds to the journey.
From Stonehaven the walk/hike is about 2 miles, one way. It starts by leading you on a boardwalk next to the harbor and you loop around until you start to climb up a ridge. Once up there, it's a fairly level hike on a well-maintained trail among fields on the coast. It's quite beautiful and well worth the effort of getting there!
And when you get close enough, you start to see this ruined medieval fortress just waiting for ya - so awesome!
I spent a while there, taking a lot of photographs and just walking around enjoying the scenery. I also paid the admission fee and went inside, where I took more photos (surprise!) and soaked up some amazing history. I have always loved castles, dating back to when I was a kid, and jump at any chance to see them when I travel. So in other words, this was a perfect destination for me.
Eventually the day wore on and I decided I had better head back, so I reversed course and took more photos on the walk back to Stonehaven. Eventually I landed there and stopped in a pub for a cold beer. You would do that too, right? After all that work??
If you ever find yourself near Aberdeen, Scotland - make a plan to see Dunnottar Castle. You will thank yourself many times over for doing so!
And yes, all 4 of these are 3 exposure HDR photos, taken on a tripod with my lovely and amazing new Sony A7II camera. I merged them to HDR in Photomatix and applied some of my favorite filters in Color Efex Pro (Pro Contrast, Brilliance/Warmth, Skylight, Graduated Neutral Density) and then made some final touch-up edits in Lightroom. Good fun!
St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow
There is a gorgeous little cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland known as St Andrew's - and it's well worth a visit. Here are a few pics from my last trip there that show how pretty this place really is!
I just love to go to church - well, at least with a camera!
I'm not against religion or anything, but I don't go to church. I feel like I get my inspiration from the world around me, and that is sufficient for me. But, you didn't come here to listen to me talk about that, did you? I didn't think so.
One thing I do love to do while traveling is to check out the various churches, chapels and cathedrals, and especially when I am in Europe. Some are huge and amazing, and some not so much. This one sort of fits in the middle.
This is St. Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland. I have shot it several times, and personally I find it very beautiful. I was in Glasgow shooting with my friend Mike Murphy, and this was the first place we shot after meeting up that day. Luckily when we arrived it was mid-day and thus it was pretty empty - which is of course ideal.
Most people, when looking for a church to visit in Glasgow, end up at St. Mungo's, which is also known as Glasgow Cathedral. It's much larger than this one, and in my opinion is the "grande dame" of local cathedrals (and yes, we went there too).
But I have to admit I have a soft spot for this place. There's just something about it that I like. Perhaps it's the smaller size, or the ornate architectural details that make it stand out to me. Whatever it is, I love to make a quick visit (that's another nice thing - you can shoot it fairly quickly) each time I am there. I always leave feeling good!
And if you are interested, you can find my list of the best places to shoot in Glasgow here.
A good day in Edinburgh, Scotland
Here's a quick visual tour of lovely Edinburgh, Scotland - a beautiful city in a beautiful country. I spent a day there a while back, and grabbed a lot of photos. Take a look and enjoy!
Here are some shots from Edinburgh, Scotland - quite a town!
I love Scotland. Each time I go, I appreciate it more and more. Mostly I have been to Glasgow and surrounding parts, but I once was able to zip off up to Edinburgh for a day. What a town!
That was a great day for me, as I had always wanted to visit. Sadly, I've only been that one time, but of course I made the most of it and grabbed as many shots as I could!
Today's post is a quick one - these are Edinburgh pics that I recently processed, even though the trip was a couple of years ago. Mostly these are from Edinburgh Castle, though a few are from some random spots around town. I'm still trying to get some of my backlog processed and shared. It's a constant struggle, although a fun one. I always have some surprises waiting for me in the old Lightroom library.
I've just returned from my big summer family vacation road trip (hence a shorter post today), and it was awesome. I am working on a trip summary that I hope to have ready soon-ish. I also did a lot of thinking on the trip, both about my photography style and what I share here, so I am also working on a write-up about that. So, more coming real soon!
Lots to share from that trip, so stay tuned for more photo goodness coming next week! Meanwhile, enjoy this visual tour of Edinburgh!
Glasgow graffiti
Do you enjoy good graffiti as much as I do? Well then you will like what I have for you today! I went out in search of interesting graffiti on my recent trip to Glasgow, and came back with some cool stuff - have a look!
There is some wonderful urban art in Glasgow!
On my recent trip over to Glasgow, Scotland, I made sure to hit all the sights that I always like to hit in any town: churches, museums, train stations - that sort of thing. But I also carved out a little time to look for graffiti. I do love shooting that stuff!
It turns out there are at least a couple of urban artists there who have created some fabulous works of art. The two names I could find (and credit some of these works to) are Rogue One and Smug. If you look closely at them, you can find their "signature" hidden in the art (Rogue One in the license plate of the cab; Smug on the necklace of the girl).
I also found a couple of other spots that had some graffiti on it, but haven't gotten to those pics yet, so you will see more of this cool stuff another time.
I searched online for interesting graffiti, and lucky for me it turns out that some of this was only a 5 minute walk from my hotel! So of course as soon as I figured that out, I ran out and started the hunt! That's the beauty of staying in the center of a city when you travel - all the good stuff is usually pretty close by.
Some of this isn't really "urban art" so much as it is a series of murals that decorate one of the buildings at the University of Strathclyde, which is right in the city center. But I went ahead and included them here, as it sort of fits the theme.
Just a quick post today. Lots of great stuff happening and will be sharing more of that soon. Thanks for stopping by today!
The Kelpies
Today's post is a showcase of 18 images from my recent visit to Falkirk, Scotland - specifically to a pair of sculptures known as The Kelpies. They are quite impressive! Take a look and enjoy the photos!
Some mighty large horse heads in Scotland!
I have seen pics of The Kelpies online over the last year, and have wanted to visit them and see them firsthand (and photograph them, of course!) ever since that first viewing. So on my recent trip to Glasgow - and having a free weekend to do just such a thing - I decided to go for it.
I was joined by my good friend Mike Murphy, who took the train up from London for the weekend and joined me in my shooting expeditions around the area. As I detailed in my last post, I took quite a few photos around Glasgow - about 2000 in total. So here's the first batch of them - and there are plenty more coming!
Per Wikipedia, The Kelpies are 30 meters high, which to us Americans is about 98 feet, or as we say in Texas, pretty damn big. They are part of a local parkland development effort, and sit at the intersection of a couple of historic Scottish canals.
A little more from Wikipedia: The Kelpies name reflected the mythological transforming beasts possessing the strength and endurance of 10 horses; a quality that is analogous with the transformational change and endurance of Scotland's inland waterways. The Kelpies represent the lineage of the heavy horse of Scottish industry and economy, pulling the wagons, ploughs, barges and coalships that shaped the geographical layout of the Falkirk area.
We stayed here for a good hour or so, dodging a little rain here and there and generally just enjoying this interesting sight. That's one thing about travel - you can come across the most interesting things when you get out and explore. That's what I love about it.
As you can see from the pics today (and truthfully, I have plenty more that I haven't had time to process yet, so perhaps I will share those another time), I walked all around The Kelpies and shot them from a lot of different angles. All of these shots were taken with my Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 Pro Lens, which gives me plenty of versatility to zoom out for a fairly wide shot or zoom in for a closer one. I love having one lens that is so flexible. And these were all taken handheld. I left my tripod at home on this trip (and no, that was not an accident). :-)
We hit the sight as our first stop that day (the second being the Falkirk Wheel, which I will detail in a future post), and I was very thankful for the cloudy, moody skies. That is always way better than direct sunlight. Sunny skies make for a nice picnic, but they stink for photography. I love the moodiness that stormy skies can give a photo. It's way more interesting to me.
Well that's it for today. Tune back in next week for another round of photos from my recent trips to Europe. There's a lot more coming your way!
A visit to Drymen, Scotland
Hanging out in a little Scottish village
I am mostly a city person, both by choice of where I live, and by virtue of where I normally travel. I just end up in cities, most of the time. So when I have the opportunity to get out of a city and stay in a little village, I take advantage of it - especially in Europe.
The village of Drymen is not far from Glasgow, Scotland (and close to the Glasgow Airport) and honestly, there is not much to do there. It's a cute little town, but it's sparse. I believe the population is under 1,000. How did I end up there, you ask?
Well, I was due to be at a customer event at Mar Hall the following day. Mar Hall is a luxury resort which is reasonably nearby. Since I had arrived a day early - and couldn't get into Mar Hall - I opted to explore the local area, which includes Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
I just got on Google and looked until I found a little hotel out that way, and when one came up and was in Drymen, well, my decision was made. I just booked it, and I'm glad I stayed there. It was quaint.
Mostly I used it as a base for exploring the nearby Loch Lomond and Loch Ard, but late one afternoon I grabbed a few shots within walking distance of the hotel. My personal favorite was the old church, and all the weather-beaten tombstones in the graveyard. I find that stuff interesting, though a little spooky at times.
Well, that's a quick tour of a quaint little Scottish village. Not much to it, really - but I found it very interesting, beautiful in its own way, and quite photogenic!
Inside Glasgow Cathedral
I love shooting in European churches. Have I said that before? ;-)
I feel like a broken record here on the blog sometimes. I feel like I am always saying something about sunrise, or churches, or street scenes - primarily in Europe. But the truth is I find that stuff interesting, and you shoot what you like, right? (Unless you are on assignment of course, but that's not what I do. I guess I would do it, but it doesn't ever come up. Speaking of which, if someone needs a photographer to shoot some cool churches in Europe, let me know!)
Anyways, I do love wandering into, around, underneath and sometimes on top of churches in Europe. They are just such compelling subjects. It's the architecture-lover in me coming through, I assume. I do love architecture, that's for sure.
So on one of my visits to sunny Glasgow last year (ok, it's not usually too sunny there, but it sounded good), I made sure to visit Glasgow Cathedral, which is quite fantastic. Incidentally, it also goes by the name St. Mungo's Cathedral - a name that I love - which always makes me think of a Harry Potter book. I think there was something by that name in one of those books, wasn't there?
The exterior is also pretty sweet, being a big cathedral and looking all cathedral-like, but when I was there I found a bunch of scaffolding around the outside, which is another way of saying that I didn't shoot the exterior. I guess it needed a good cleaning, or something. It is several hundred years old.
There also happens to be a local beer there in Glasgow called St. Mungo's and I must say it is rather delicious. I'm not sure if the church endorsed it, but it's pretty heavenly!
Greyfriars Bobby, Edinburgh
I only had half a day in Edinburgh, but I made the most of it!
Edinburgh, Scotland is a beautiful town. I wish I had more time there on my visit last year, but sadly I did not. That happens. I was in Glasgow on business and, having arrived on a Saturday, decided to take the train up to Edinburgh on Sunday. So after sleeping in that morning, I headed on up to Edinburgh.
Why didn't I get up early and spend more time there? Good question. Here's the answer: I cannot sleep on planes. I try and try, and never succeed. So on all my Europe trips, I am awake all night. Hence, I tend to leave a day early, knowing full well that I will crash hard the first night and sleep in a bit the following morning. Ok, enough about that.
So when I was Googling all things Edinburgh, I saw this pub mentioned several times, so I made sure to stop by and get some shots. No, not those kind of shots. I'm talking about photos here. ;-) Anyways, it's rather cool looking and though it started to rain on me as I stood there, I'm glad I got the shot. Maybe on a future visit to Scotland I can spend a little more time here and really get to know the city, because it's quite lovely!
Here's a "behind the keyboard" screenshot from Color Efex Pro, for the fun of it: