Monday Morning Traffic Snarls on Skye

The human population on Skye is somewhere around 10,000.  The sheep population is considerably more.  They are pretty much free range; people have fences but they are to keep the sheep out not in. Sheep rush for no one - or car.  You just have to wait for them to clear off the road.  This shepherd and his sheep dog pretty much had this lot heading in the right direction while the van behind him and we ahead of him waited our turn.

Quiraing, Isle of Skye

Today's post is an iPhone panoramic image made at Quiraing on the Trotternish peninsula on the Isle of Skye.  If you'd care to check the location on Google Earth it's at N 57°37'41.519999999999"    W 6°17'25.44".  To get there on takes a single track road leading from the seaside town of Staffin.  At the end of the road there's a parking area and from there you can take one of two footpaths that go north or south - either way will provide spectacular views over the Sound of Raasay and the Western Ross region of Scotland.  I opted for the northern trail, it's a bit of a white knuckle walk and no place for anyone who is a bit put off by heights.  Any reasonably fit person can do these walks with no special knowledge or equipment.  The trail is on the left and the destination is the pointed peak in the upper left.  It will not be apparent in this forum but there are people on the high ridges in the upper right of the photo; those are the folks who opted for the southern path.

Doune Castle

Around about 1974 a group of very silly English people arrived in Scotland to shoot a movie.  This castle - Doune Castle - was featured in multiple scenes in the movie.  The path to the lower left was used to move a giant Trojan rabbit toward the castle.  The centre courtyard was made to look enclosed for a wedding scene.  The upper rooms were used for other scenes in this epic movie - Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery

Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow was constructed using funds from the 1888 international exhibition and opened in 1901 as the Palace of Fine Arts in Kelvingrove Park..  Built of Locharbriggs red sandstone, the building houses a large collection of paintings, objects of natural history and Scottish artifacts and is the most visited gallery in the UK outside of London.

Scottish National Parliament

The Scottish National Parliament lies to the east of Edinburgh Castle along the Royal Mile near Holyrood Palace.  Designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles (who died before the building was completed in 2004), the building was  fraught with controversary from the outset.  The selection of a site, the choosing of an architect and the cost created all sorts of public angst as did the design itself - it's not your normal parliamentary building at all. The building was completed 3 years late and considerably over budget - almost 10 fold by some accounts.  The objective of creating a profoundly Scottish building that the nation could be proud of has been achieved however.  The building seems to be very much 'of the land' and entirely appropriate on every level - it just feels like a Scottish building in all ways.  Some of the detailing is a little dodgy in places - as is usually the case with buildings that incorporate organic forms in an extreme way.

On the day we visited parliament was working and we had the chance to sit in the debating chamber as the members did their thing.  The sun was shining in through the clerestories and the Scottish oak and fir floor, walls, desks and roof structure were glowing.  The subject of debate was the usual tedious stuff but there was nothing boring about the building.  

The Face of Modern Scotland

The juxtaposition of the piper and the fellow promoting the Kurdish restaurant along the Royal Mile in Edinburgh struck me as we walked by.  The fellow with the restaurant sign has ear buds on, I'm pretty sure he's not listening to bagpipe tunes...

Chariots of Fire

The famous beach scene in the academy award winning movie 'Chariots of Fire' was filmed on this beach at St. Andrews, Scotland.

Monday Morning Whisky

Monday morning in Scotland, time for a little single malt.  This is Glengoyne 12 year old.  Glengoyne is rare in that unlike most distilleries they use warm air to dry the malted barley rather than peat fire.  The result is quite superb.  In fact, maybe one of the best late morning single malts I've had.

Recent Projects

I like the simplicity of this composition - even more so in black and white.  The foliage on the right softens things up rather nicely I think.

Canon 1Dx with Canon L series 24-70 f2.8 lens.

Swilcan Bridge

You don't often get photos of me on this blog, but today is an exception.  That's me on the famous Swilcan Bridge on the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland.  This little bridge is 700 years old and has been trodden upon by some of the most famous golfers in the world.  Jack Nicklaus paused for a farewell wave from the bridge during his last competitive round at St. Andrews and in 2010 Tom Watson bent down and kissed it as he finished his final round at The Open Championship.

Recent Projects

The roof area of this new housing development features a roof terrace and fire place - and view of the downtown office towers.

Recent Projects

This new housing development in downtown Edmonton received it's first tenants in January of this year.

Landscape Abstracts

This new addition to my landscape abstract collection was taken just east of Bonnyville, Alberta.

IKB One More Time

A few days ago I posted some photos featuring a shade of blue reminisent of International Klein Blue - IKB for short.  Here's one more photo in the IKB spirit.

Street Art

I wouldn't be happy if somebody tagged my building like this - derelict or otherwise.  But it does make for a cool photo opp.

Urban Grunge

Not too many customers needing to park at the former home of A & B Rentals these days.

Is it Art or ??

I see these little iconic images around and I never know what they mean.  Cool, but a mystery.

Funky Back Alleys

So where was this photo taken?  Chicago?  New York?  Guess again....downtown Edmonton as viewed through the evening rain from a downtown restaurant.

International Klein Blue II

Here's another example of a photo with the overtones of International Klein Blue.  IKB was developed by Yves Klein whilst working with the French pharmaceutical company Rhone Poulenc.

International Klein Blue

International Klein Blue is a shade of blue developed by French artist Yves Klein.  Known in Art circles as IKB.  It's rather close to the colours of this photo.  But not too close as Mssr Klein patented the colour in 1961.

Edmonton's Smallest House

I came across this house while out on a shoot recently - I think it could be the smallest house in town.  But it does have a veranda.  With seating for one.

Can You Take a Decent Architectural Photo With an iPhone?

I took this photo with the iPhone pano function.  It's weird and wonderful at the same time; the building elevation is flat and the camera added a sort of fish-eye effect which is undesirable from a commercial point of view but it's kind of cool.

Zane and Zero Part 3

Here's the shot we went out to get in the first place - Zane and Zero hanging with their peeps. Could you possibly find a better looking family anywhere?

Meet Zane and Zero

Here's another photo of Zane and Zero; hanging out at the K-9 oasis.

Meet Zane and Zero

Zane - the larger of these two dogs - is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and a Search and Rescue dog.  Zero, on the left, is Zane's new kid brother; a Belgian Shepherd Malinois.  He's just 3 months old but he too will one day be a search dog.

Recent Projects

Here's another photo of the grand stair that started us off on this short series.  Canon 1Dx camera with Canon 17mm TSE lens.  This vertical composite panoramic shot was made from two photos stitched together in Photoshop.

Recent Projects

Project teams can use these smaller meeting rooms for short or long periods of time as required to review aspects of their assignment.  The building features a raised floor for utility distribution as evidenced by the circular supply air grills in the floor.

Recent Projects

The new building connects to the old via a series of overhead connecting bridges at this new refinery administration building.

Recent Projects

Most companies building new offices know the value of providing upgraded amenity areas for their staff. This building features several of these employee lunch areas.

Recent Projects

Most new office buildings feature some sort of grand stair; this building is no exception.

Recent Projects

The purpose of this photo is to show how small meeting rooms are integrated into the general office layout of this engineering office.

Recent Projects

Two days ago I posted an image of the interiors of this Edmonton engineering office - here's another.