View from Calton Hill in Edinburgh, with the Dugald Stewart Monument in the foreground, and Edinburgh Castle, the Balmoral Hotel (and clock tower), and the Scott monument in the background. The Dugald Stewart Monument is a memorial to the Scottish philosopher and mathematician, who is best known for popularising the Scottish Enlightenment. The Scottish […]
Whilst searching the web over the weekend, I discovered the work of Anthony Kurtz. His speciality is environmental portraits, that is, portraits of people taken in their work environment, or just in the places where they live etc. The photographs seem to all have a dark, forboding, moody, gritty feel about them. My […]
Google’s Nik Collection plug-ins are now totally free to download (see link at bottom of page), and will work as a standalone suite of editing tools (albeit, you need to edit one photo at a time). This is great news for anyone who edits their own photographs, especially for those of you like me, who […]
Last week, whilst down in Kirkcaldy doing a wee bit of shopping, I stopped off and took these two photographs of Kirkcaldy Harbour. This once thriving port is now home to one or two fishing boats, and a few pleasure boats. The inner harbour is still used by small merchant vessels collecting flour for export […]
This is a selection of black & white images I took last year of Abbotshall Church in Kirkcaldy, Fife. The images have been edited using two open source pieces of photo editing software, Gimp and Raw Therapee, both of which I recommend to anyone who either can’t afford, or would rather not, pay out the […]
Fred the fush, He had a wush, He wushed that he Wis in the sea, Swimmin wi his mate An haein a yatter, And no on a plate Swimmin in batter! English Version Fred the fish, He had a wish, He wished that he Was in the sea, Swimming with his mate And having […]
As part of this weeks Daily Post Photographic Challenge – Circle – I’m posting two photos of the Tyndall-Bruce Monument on Blackhill, in the Lomond Hills. This interesting structure was built to commemorate the life of Onesiphorus Tyndall-Bruce, who married Margaret Stewart Hamilton Bruce (the then Hereditary Keeper of Falkland Palace), in 1828. Having accrued quite substantial […]
As a very late entry for Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge : Metal & Wood, I’m posting 3 photos taken from the now derelict and fire damaged Leslie House, near Glenrothes. This magnificent building used to be the home of the Dukes of Rothes from 1670, and in it’s prime was said to rival Holyrood Palace […]
After a number of days of heavy rain and general dreich weather, I couldn’t resist posting these three photos taken back in September, during the last days of our summer, as part of this weeks ‘Eye Spy‘ Weekly Photo Challenge. Eye Spy BLUE SKIES!!!!!! 🙂
As part of “Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge : Buildings & Trees“, I’m posting 8 photographs taken this summer from around southern Fife. Belvedere Hotel – West Wemyss This wonderful old building was built in 1927, and used by the Miners’ Welfare Institute until 1952. It then remained derelict until 1986, when it was converted to […]
Yesterday was St Andrew’s Day, St Andrew is being the patron saint of Scotland. It is celebrated on the 30th November each year and has been made a Bank Holiday by the Scottish Government, since 2006. Unfortunately banks, businesses and schools have not been forced to shut for the day – which means that many […]
My final post for the theme ‘Trios’ (as part of the Weekly Photographic Challenge – Trio), consists of a series of photographs of inanimate objects from in, and around, Fife. The first photo is of three boats on the Firth of Forth.
In response to “Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge – Diagonal Lines“, I’ve enclosed seven photos taken from in, and around Fife. I’ve also posted three extra photos, for Thanksgiving, showing things I am grateful for, about living in Fife. The first of the photos for Cee’s Challenge is of Cramond Harbour, on the outskirts […]
Continuing my theme of ‘Trios’ from Fife, as part of the Weekly Photographic Challenge – Trio, here is four photos of animals & insects in threesomes. The first two photos are of cows (or coos in Scottish!) on a misty summer morning in a field above Glenrothes.
As part of this weeks Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge : Orange & Green, I’ve posted eight more photos taken from Balbirnie Park, near Glenrothes. The photographs were all taken just after dawn, at the beginning of this month, on a day which started quite misty (well foggy very first thing – see last photo), […]
In response to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge : Open Topic. I’m posting three photographs of the yachts in the mouth of the River Almond, taken at Cramond Harbour, on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Today I’m posting a selection of cloudscapes taken over Fife over the last few months. Most were taken looking southwards towards the Firth of Forth, two were taken actually over the Firth (one of which is a rainbow, not a cloudscape).
Following the Scottish ‘Victory‘ over the English in the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, William Wallace was a Scottish hero, and very much sort after by the King of England, Edward I. In 1303, Wallace was meant to have visited St Margaret’s Shrine in Dunfermline, (see Jo’s blog, The Hazel Tree, for an excellent […]
In response to “Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge – Horizontal Line and Horizons“, I’ve enclosed six photos taken over the last few months in and around Fife. The first photo is of an incoming tide on the Firth of Forth, at Blackness Castle in West Lothian.
This is a selection of black & white photographs taken in and around Fife, in response to this weeks Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge.
In response to the Weekly Photographic Challenge this week, the biggest ‘Treat‘ I can have, is to be outdoors, armed with my camera, on a pleasant and warm sunny day. Here are four photographs I took at the very beginning of October, whilst out on a walk from Kirkcaldy to West Wemyss. The first photo was […]
I headed out yesterday with the intention of catching some more of the fabulous Autumn colours in the foliage that we are getting this year. The weather was still a wee bit sunny, the rest of the week is set to be dreich 😦 But alas, I ended up at Holl Reservoir in the Lomond […]
The Lomond Hills are my ultimate ‘Happy Place‘ in Fife, partly because they are the closest thing to mountains, and partly because the open moorland reminds me so much of West Cornwall.
Last night whilst down at Kirkcaldy beach, I decided to try my hand at some evening/night time photography. The results were fairly pleasing, but I kept things nice and simple by using the ‘monochromatic‘ setting on the camera. The first photograph is taken from the promenade above Kirkcaldy beach, looking almost due south towards Edinburgh. […]
One of the places I really enjoy walking is a smallish circular walk from the Balbirnie Park, nr Glenrothes, through to Markinch, up to Star and Kirkforthar, and back to the back entrance of Balbirnie Park. This would definitely be classed as a ‘Happy Place‘ for me. A few weeks ago, I had decided to do […]
As part of this week’s, Daily Post’s, Weekly Photographic Challenge, Boundaries, here’s another two photos. Both photographs were taken at Blackness Castle on the southern edge of the Firth of Forth at the beginning of September this year. The first image shows the boundaries between the land, the beach, the estuary and the sky.
Another photo from the back of Kinghorn taken late last summer. The view looks out over a field of wheat, with the Firth of Forth in the distance.
I took this photo last summer, just before they put in a cinder path from the East Lomond car park back down towards Glenrothes.
As part of this weeks WordPress Photographic Challenge for the theme “Boundaries“, for many people in the UK, Hadrian’s Wall is one of the most famous boundaries. It marks the divide between the ‘civilised’ English, and the ‘barbaric’ Scots. Okay, that is somewhat exaggerated, but you get the gist of it. Hadrian’s Wall was started […]
Hill of Tarvit mansion was originally built in 1696 by John Wemyss of Unthank possibly using Sir William Bruce as the architect, and was known as Wemyss House. In 1906, Frederick Sharp, a wealthy businessman from Dundee, bought the house and employed Sir Robert Lorrimer, an architect and designer, to completely rebuild and modernise the […]
Boundaries can come in many different forms, walls, hedges, fences, country boundaries, sports field boundaries, the list goes on and on. The two photos below show the boundaries between a clear crisp view of the landscape above Glenrothes, and the early morning mist/fog that had formed in the valley.
For this weeks Weekly Photographic Challenge, the theme is “Boundaries“. Some boundaries are quite obvious, such as these two very old boundary stone walls on the Lomond Hills in Fife.
A wee bit late, but here’s a couple more sets of photos for the Weekly Photographic Challenge – Change The first two photos are from a walk I made yesterday, from Ravenscraig Castle (Kirkcaldy) to West Wemyss and back (more photos to come in another post). When I got to Dysart Harbour, the tide was […]
Last summer I was down at Seafield Castle beach, just to the south of Kirkcaldy, doing a bit of ‘geologising’, ie looking at the various beds of rock to work out the sedimentary sequences. When I started, it was a beautiful summers day, but little known to me, as I was busy peering at sandstones, […]
I took this photograph on the same day as the photo from yesterday’s post. It was taken on the back road from Kinghorn to Auchertool, just to the west of Kirkcaldy. These two sycamores are on opposite sides of the road near the brow of the hill and remind me of an old loving married […]
I took this black and white photograph during late summer, last year, just to the North of Kinghorn. The way the wheat was blowing in the breeze in the foreground and the rolling hills in the background really appealed to me, they reminded me of the sea.
This is one of those photos where you get lucky. I just happened to come across these logs whilst the dusk mists were forming in some woods near Ladybank.
This was a photo I took back in early July, just after getting back from taking the photos from the post “Early Summer Insects and Flowers of Balgonie Bleachfield Project”. About 5 mins later, I was watching the torrential rain from the pleasant confines of the car!
The Coo and the Tower Blythe’s Tower or Folly, seen here in the background of this photo, which I took early one morning a couple of weeks ago, was built in 1812 by a wealthy linen merchant. He wanted to be able to view cargo ships as they entered the Forth, so he could procure the […]
Kirkforthar, Nr Glenrothes
Another photograph from my walk last Tuesday. Originally I’d intended just a shortish walk up to the top of Falkland Hill and back, having just had a bowl of cereal to eat early that morning. But it was such a wonderful day, I decided to do a brisk walk across to West Lomond Hill too. […]
Black & white photograph I took last Tuesday, on a walk from Glenrothes to East & West Lomond Hills. This small clump of trees is in a field of wheat, on the edge of the Formonthills to the north of Glenrothes.
Limekilns is a small village on the northern edge of the Firth of Forth, just to the west of Rosyth and the Forth Rail and Road Bridges. It’s name nowadays is confusing, because there is very little remaining evidence of lime kilns in the village, whereas neighbouring Charlestown to the west, has the largest lime […]
For many non-Scots, two famous icons representing Scotland would be thought of as Edinburgh Castle and whiskey, or tartan kilts and the thistle. But to a TRUE Scot, Barr’s Irn Bru is the most iconic of Scottish symbols!
This is a short walk (approx 3.75km or 2 miles) from Woodside (Glenrothes) to Coaltown of Balgonie, Fife. Starting from Woodside Way in Glenrothes (the blue star on the map above), head eastwards along the tree lined footpath which starts at the bus stop. There is a hanging sign marking it, the ‘Lady’s Walk’. Lady’s walk […]
Fife Photos & Art 