It’s strange to walk around your place of work at night, but, when it’s a beautiful as Hogwarts… I mean, the University of Glasgow, it’s worth it. There were a few people leaving that gave me a few odd looks, but there are enough tourists that visit for me to get away with it!
It’s turning out to be a bit of an abstract week! This was taken at the Glennifer Braes and has ended up looking fairly alien for a frozen puddle next to a car park. Regardless of the location, I’m quite pleased with the outcome, because it was really quite cold up there!
Right, this should be me back to regular posting! I got out this weekend just before the snow started and finished up just after. I headed up to Glennifer Braes, mainly for the views from the Car Park in the Sky, but ended up checking out this nice local waterfall afterwards – it actually turned out to be a lot more fruitful than the first stop!
As is traditional on so many photography blogs, I have decided to review my photography in 2015, narrowing it down to my favourite 10 images. Breaking tradition, I am actually going to do this at the start of 2016, as opposed to at the end of the previous year – I would like to say this is a choice I made, but the honest truth of the matter is that the festive period was a little busier than I had anticipated and I ran out of time.
You may or may not have also noticed that my posting has been a little bit less frequent of late. For those not aware, 2015 saw me begin a PhD (in Nonlinear Dynamical Structures, for those who are intrigued) and it has taken me a little while to get used to the increased workload I now have! My new year’s relation (also a tad late) is to return to daily posts and to find a decent balance between work, life and photography.
In terms of my plans for 2016, it’s actually looking rather exciting! My flagship trip is to finally travel to South East Asia, taking in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam over three and a half glorious weeks in June. Highlights will include Halong Bay, Chiang Mai, Phnom Penh and, of course, the obligatory sunrise trip to Angkor Wat – safe to say I’m fairly excited about all this! I’ll also be heading to Antigua for a week to soak up some of the luxury the island has to offer, as well as making sure we adventure out to discover some of the island’s history, wildlife and scenery. I’ve got a few weekend trips also in the pipeline, potentially a quick skiing trip in the French Alps, a spring weekend in Barcelona, and possibly a couple of others if funds/time allows – I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I’d love to know if you have any advice about any of these places, or you’d just like to share where you’re going; it’s always a lot more fun to share the excitement!
Anyway, that’s enough about this year, here, in no particular order, are my ten favourite images from last year!
1. Campsie Layers
As part of my Masters, I had to complete a project that considered the use of the Campsie Fells as a location for a hypothetical wind farm. I won’t bore you with the details of the project itself, but the reconnaissance trip took me to a beautiful part of Scotland that I probably wouldn’t have considered visiting, otherwise. It was a tad hazy when I caught the sunset on this trip, but I actually think that adds to the overall feel of the shot.
2. Milarocchy Bay II
This is certainly my most peaceful image from the last twelve months. Milarocchy Bay is a beautiful little part of Loch Lomond’s shore, particularly at this time of day; I lay on one of these rocks for a good hour waiting for the sun to go down and I’m not sure I’ve ever felt as calm! Admittedly, you may have to park outside the gate as that closes in the evening, but it’s definitely worth a minor bit of rule breaking!
3. Campsie Sunset
I took a second trip to the Campsie Fells at sunset to try and capture the glow a little better and I think I managed a bit better the second time around. It required me running up the hill (perhaps a little unnecessary/tiring, in hindsight) to reach a decent viewpoint, but I think it was worth it. I think I’ll be making my way back up to the Fells at some point this year and try and catch a few more shots up there.
4. Underpass II
It dawned on me that it can be a little time consuming to exclusively head to the countryside every time I want to take photographs, so I decided I wanted a more urban project to keep me going; hence, I started the short-lived Underpass project. The idea was that, whenever I am driving around Glasgow and I pass under one of the many motorways and bypasses that criss-cross the city, I often find myself enjoying the geometry of the area (cue calls of “photo nerd” and “photo loser” from my girlfriend). I decided I would make the most of this and try and create a series of photos to demonstrate the urban beauty. I actually found myself with more time than I thought I would, so didn’t continue the series for very long, but I think this is something I will return to this year.
5. Down the Danube
2015 also saw me happily return to Eastern Europe, spending five days in Budapest. I had heard very good thing about the city, but didn’t actually appreciate the extent of its beauty until I was there! This photo was taken on one of my favourite evenings – taking sunset shots at the top of Gellert Hill, before walking down and stuffing my face with more incredible Hungarian cuisine.
6. Mist
I almost drove past this shot, as I headed to Loch Lomond to try my hand at astrophotography for the first time, but I’m glad I didn’t, as the mist was really beautiful and the star shots didn’t come out very well at all! I had to skirt around some menacing looking cows to get this viewpoint, but it was the only mist I managed to catch this Autumn, so it was worth getting a little muddy.
7. Back to the Streets
It had been a while since I had tried any light trail photography this autumn/winter, so I was very pleased to get out and have another go at it. I know that it has become a bit of a cliche these days, but I still think it’s a great looking technique. My favourite part of this shot, however, was actually how the moving cars illuminated the under side of the bridge.
8. Modern
Sticking to the theme of cliches, the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern has probably been photographed thousands of times, but that didn’t stop me from giving it a go myself! To be totally honest with you, the sky was very flat along the Thames, so it was a relief to be able to take a photo with some contrast in it!
9. Blue Monkey
In terms of travel, the absolute highlight of my year had to be my week-long safari in Tanzania, not only because it had been dream of mine to go on safari since I was a child, but also because I got to meet my girlfriend out there after six weeks apart, with her doing a medical placement out there and me working on my Masters dissertation! This was possibly my favourite shot of the trip, perhaps because it represents how amazingly close we were able to get to the animals!
10. Really, who needs the sunshine?
Ah Scotland, if only you had the weather, I have no doubt you would be one of the world’s leading travel destinations! Admittedly, I took this walk in winter, hence the snow capped mountains and grey sky, but I actually think that added to the menace of the scene. At the time, I compared this shot to a scene from Skyfall and I think I stand by that!
So that’s the end of my list and the end of 2015! Thank you for staying with me up to this point, I hope I’ll have plenty of amazing shots and trips to share with you this year and look forward to hearing all about yours too!
When the weather is this atrocious, it seems wrong to post anything other than a monochrome image! This one’s from London, just down the road from Covent Garden; I was hoping this guy wouldn’t notice me snapping away as he walked past, but I awkwardly made eye contact with him a few seconds later and he looked like he was on to me.
It’s been a while, but I’m officially back to posting! I’ve been a bit busy with work/graduation/minor illnesses, but everything is back on track now – I actually took this shot by the Clyde a couple of weeks ago, so it’s nice to finally share it with you properly. I had headed down there to take some riverside photos, but caught a glimpse of this scene on my way out and couldn’t help but stop and take a quick shot.
Once again, Glasgow’s horrendous weather (which I had to stand in for an hour due to a fire alarm…) has led me to dream of being on the road again. As well as looking towards next year’s trips, I’ve been reminiscing about Tanzania. Getting to see wildlife like this every day was a dream come true and I hope that I’ll one day get to experience it again!
Back to London for today’s post, with a (somewhat clichéd) shot of the turbine hall at the Tate Modern. As someone who grew up near London, it can be easy to become jaded with places like this, so sometimes it’s nice to take time to appreciate them. It’s a spectacular space, but I’ll always long for the time there were slides in there!
I wasn’t totally sure whether I was going to be able to get a good shot of Ashton Lane, in Glasgow’s buzzing West End, but I’m quite pleased with how this has come out! It was a quieter night than when I have been for dinner and drinks on previous occasions, but there was still a bit of movement about. If you ever find yourself in that part of Glasgow, I would strongly advise that you visit here, not just for the bars and restaurants, but also for the atmosphere that the jam-packed lane delivers.
There are a few contrasts between today’s shot and yesterday’s, not just the actual differences in the levels of contrast I used when editing the photos! Today’s shot is monotone instead of colour, wildlife instead of cityscape, Africa instead of Europe… And I could tell you the name of yesterday’s subject (the Mitchell Library), whereas I really can’t remember what type of bird this is! If anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated.
There
Alex Elliott Photography 