The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

We took a late November 2014 day trip to see the quaint seaside villages of Gardenstown and Pennan.

The quaint village of Pennan, Scotland hugs the North Sea.  It's hard to believe that such beautiful places exist!

Only one fishing boat left in the Pennan harbour.

A dark and stormy morning in Pennan.

Tucked in behind the village was a remarkable cottage.  Amazing!  I want to live here!  There was a small inn in Pennan (closed) that we vowed to stay in come Spring.

We drove along the narrow country lanes of north Aberdeenshire.

We followed the road signs to down a steep hill to Gardenstown.

I loved these Gardenstown fishermens' sheds.

Gardenstown is still a fishing community, but most of its income now comes from tourism and movie production (the TV series The Barons was filmed here).

All of Gardenstown's streets ran down to the sea.

A picture perfect seaside village.

We walked out to the edge of Gardenstown to take in the view looking East - before returning to the town for a drink.

The pub company was good at the 18th century Garden Arms Hotel.

We drove further west along the north coast to McDuff, where we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner.  It was a wonderful day on the stormy Scottish coast.

For an October Monday night concert in Glasgow, I had to panic out of my office and make a mad three hour drive to Glasgow to get to the arena in time for the concert.  I decided not to take my camera in and just enjoy the music.  I'm glad I did.  James Taylor puts on a wonderful, warmhearted concert of outstanding music.  He is just as good, if not better, than he has ever been.  His band is great and his cast of sidemen and women were worth the price of admission in their own right.  This is the iPhone photo from the night.

We made a quick trip to Glasgow to take in a James Taylor Concert.

The cocert was on a Monday night, so I had to take a 'Personal Day' off from work . . .  which meant we could take in a little shopping in Glasgow before we took the three hour drive back home to Aberdeen.

The old downtown shopping area has been nicely redeveloped into walking streets and these marvelous Victorian gallerias.

This galleria had some incredible woodwork . . .

. . . and a wonderful greenhouse roof. 

There were some fine photo opportunities in these galleries.  I LOVE this ____________ playing.

We took some 'B-Roads' home to check out a couple of castles we hadn't seen yet. Unfortunately we got here too late (only 15 minutes of opening time remained) to pay the 30 pounds entry fee.

They wouldn't even let us walk in the castle gardens!  I stole this shot over their garden wall.  So there!

On Sunday, October 26, 2014, I walked out the door and across the street into an autumnal Johnston Gardens.

Johnston Gardens is beautiful.  I have seen it in Summer and Autumn now.

It was a cold day . . . but a few summer flowers still clung to their branches.

The pond was full of jousting and frolicking ducks.

A blazing red tree in Johnston Gardens.

A leaf covered path leads out from Johnston Gardens that follows the North Burn of Rubislaw.

The burn runs behind, and below rows of suburban granite stone houses.

The burn would now and then be clogged with leaves and sticks.

With the leaves off the trees, the moss was in full growth mode.

Walker Dam on the burn.

Autumn's red berries.  My plan for the day was to take a long walk to the big park two miles away . . . but I became distracted by the amazing tree bark textures around me . . . and instead spent the better part of an hour studying bark and taking photographs.

My brother and his wife came for a four day visit to see us in Scotland in late October.  That meant a road trip, of course.  No visit north up the A96 would be complete without a stop at the Baxters simulated old village and store on the River Spey.  Unfortunately the Christmas Shop wasn't open yet.

A road trip in Scotland necessitates several stops at various castles.  Aberdeenshire has more castles (see list here) than any shire in the entire UK.  This is a back gate to Fyvie Castle, with claimed 13th century origins.

Magnificent Fyvie Castle.  Unfortunately were there before opening hours . . . be we combed the castle grounds and posed for numerous photos.

Finding castles often leads to discovering wonderful rural roads.

Scottish rural roads often lead to quaint villages.  It was fantastic day for landscape photography.

We stopped to poke around an old rural church cemetery . . . looking for our family name on grave stones.  We didn't find any here.

Our next stop was at the incredible ruins of Elgin Cathedral, which dates from 1224.

Elgin Cathedral must have been a magnificent structure in its day.

Wonderful scenes and vistas through the ruins.

A part of one vestibule was still standing . . . .

A long exposure shot of the medieval wooden ceiling of the vestibule at Elgin Castle.  Fantastic

What's left of a statue of an old Pope or Bishop at Elgin Castle ruins.

We stayed at the Melrose Villa B&B in Inverness.  It was nice.

The beautiful River Ness flows through Inverness.

We took an evening walk along the River Ness and enjoyed the evening light on Inverness Castle.

We crossed the River Ness on this iron Victorian pedestrian bridge.

No matter who comes to visit, they all want to take their pilgrimage to Loch Ness for a little monster spotting.

It's also good to stop off at Urquhart Castle, on the banks of Loch Ness.

We took a different, and longer route home through a gorgeous river valley.

We stopped periodically to enjoy the sights . . . and sounds of a wild Scottish salmon stream.

Old sturdy rural churches marked our way.  Struy Church.

Beautiful nature in Scotland.

After the road turned to gravel, we came upon a 'holy fountain' dedicated to a saint.  My sister-in-law gathered some of the water.

Saints used to wanter the forests and trails of the Scottish Highlands and river valleys.

It was a good, but short road trip . . . and it was good to see my brother and his wife again.

I have lived in Aberdeen long enough now for my new car to need it's one year servicing.  I noticed on my GPS that my garage wasn't all that far from the North Sea.  After dropping my car off (and being told it would take 3 hours), I took off to see if I could find the sea.

It didn't take too long to find the North Sea coast on this beautiful October day.

The route to the Coastal Path was not hard to find.

The path was well-maintained . . . and provided gorgeous vistas of the North Sea.

I was not disappointed by the view.  Here birds nested on the cliffs.

Bird nests on the cliffs below.

I found a comfortable bench that overlooked a grand view:

I sat on my bench listening to the sound of the surf pounding on the rocks . . .

. . . and imagining these caves had some sot of interesting history, perhaps involving pirates, or princesses.

Only a few miles south from Aberdeen city.

The weather, and the light, changes very rapidly along the North Sea.  I got up off my bench and made my way along the cliff side path to look for a way back to the Nissan garage.

Yummie seascapes.

I will come back here many times, I know.

I found the path away from the cliffs, and the Aberdeen Coastal Path sign.  The Scots are great about providing nature lovers with paths and benches . . . and protecting the wild, unspoiled places.

The light became good again, and I was enthrall with the details of the Scottish farmland.

The touch of time, weather, purpose, and humanity.

Old stone walls marked the fields, and provided places for the birds and berries.

Berries still clung to their vines in mid-October. 

Although it was late afternoon, a few late season flowers came out from the shadows still coated in dew.

But most of the flowering plants had already arrived at the seeding stages of their life cycles, like these thistles.

Some undergrowth plants wait for the leaves of other plants to disappear in order to begin their own growth periods.

Back up some walled streets in the berg of Cove Bay . . . .

I crossed under the railroad mainline . . . in perfect light.

My return to civilization was greeted by this not very friendly dog.  Bow-wow.