The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

In late June some of my best good buddies from my old school in Bangkok paid my wife and I a visit in Aberdeen, Scotland.  First we drove down to the hometown of one of them (Liverpool, England) and rendezvoused for a Beatles week-end and combined road trip back north.

Liverpool is famous for many things, but mostly it is known as the home of The Beatles.  Yes, I have to admit it, we took the Magical Mystery Tour bus ride to the famous sights of Beattle lore.  Number 12 here is George Harrison's childhood home.  His family were rather poor.  The bus tour was excellent.  The guide provided great commentary throughout.  Highly recommended.

No Beatles pilgrimage to Liverpool would be complete without a visit to The Cavern Club . . .  the music venue where The Beatles really got their first break as the house band.  It is very touristy now, and the location is under some dispute, but I was impressed.  I bought a mug and t-shirt around the corner (cheaper!).

My Liverpool friend (cranium foreground) is a HUGE Liverpool Football Club fan, as am I . . . so we took an Anfield tour as a part of our double pilgrimage (Beatles and LFC).  He had never been in the team rooms before, and so was moved to near tears at the experience.  Liverpool players touch this door sill as they enter the playing field, er, pitch . . . I think.

Anfield drips with history.

There was much to see in Liverpool.  I loved this stenciled graffiti.

Having a friend in Liverpool is a plus: he knew of the outdoor African Music Festival.  We spent a wonderful day with the festival-goers sitting on the park lawn and dancing about.  This group was from The Congo (DRC), where I spent 10 years of my life.  I pushed myself to the front of the crowd and yelled, "Mbote, O'zali Malamu?" I got a big thumbs up from the singer.  Made my day.

I loved the name of this tattoo shop in Liverpool.

We stayed in a hotel near the Mercy River and the canal boat basin.  The hotel was developed from abandoned 18th century warehouses.

A highlight of the Liverpool visit was the Liverpool Cathedral.

The Liverpool Cathedral is a magnificent structure, of course . . . but on this day the light was magical!!

The stained glass windows on the sunny side pf the cathedral caste a light show of color upon the interior.

Amazing light . . .from above.

We managed to fit in a cut-throat game of Crown Green Bowls or two before leaving Liverpool and the long drive back to Aberdeen.

We provided the usual tour of castles and gardens . . . and rural charm (seen in great detail in may entries to this photo blog).  I never tire of giving tours of our beautiful Aberdeenshire.  Here, on top of Dunnottar Castle in all its summer glory.

A view from one of Dunnottar Castle's windows over the North Sea.

At Crathes Castle I couldn't help taking many flower photos of the extensive gardens.

Castle residents throughout the UK loved to bring plant species from all over the world into their gardens and green houses.

The variety of flowers in the castle gardens is overwhelming!

A castle greenhouse tropical plant.

I do not know what these are called . . . but I want a yard full of them.  Amazing!  We were sorry to see our friends leave, but I know we will reconnect one day, somewhere on this big old planet of ours.

We had beautiful weather here in the northwest of Scotland last summer (2014).

Of course, having 'beautiful weather here' includes an occasional splash-and-dash thunder storm across the fields of Aberdeenshire.

Summer flowers were bountiful . .  so were the bees.

We enjoy having visitors.  In late June my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson visited.  Visits are a good time to visit castles here in the shire . . . and the beautiful formal gardens which surround them.

Grandson enjoying a fountain.

We take all of our visitors to Crathes Castle, a bout 10 miles from home.  The gardens there are extensive and well taken care of.

I could spend days in these formal castle gardens.  Fortunately, I did, as we had many visitors last summer.

I spent a good deal of time taking bee photos . . . they are always moving around from flower to flower, so it takes patience to get a photo like this.

Wonderful flowers at Carathes Castle.  But we moved on.

A castle garden offers much to look at . . . and photograph.

I need a new macro lens . . . .

I'm going to get a "Flowers of Scotland" book, that's for sure.

In mid-summer, some of the flowers had already dried into seeding buds.

The garden designer was some kind of genius: the right leaves and plants near the splashing fountains.  Marvelous.

Flies play their part in pollination as well.

Tiny bugs too are all a part of the garden ecosystem.

I don't know what these are called, but I want 100s of them all around my house.  They are fascinating.

I spent some time watching this furry little bee wend his way in and out of all the budding flowers on this stem.

Castle gardens are worth a visit if you are ever in the UK or Scotland.

The metallic quality and color of this dried flower was mesmerizing.

We take all of our visitors to Stonehaven harbour . .  it's beautiful and close to Dunnotar Castle.

Hey!  The Circus Is In Town!  Many circuses visit the small towns all over Scotland in the summer.  We got stuck behind a circus truck all through a mountain pass in far northern Scotland later in the summer.

We take everybody who  visits us to Dunnottar Castle, perhaps one of the most amazing castle ruins in the world.  Magnificent views too.

Wow!

Keep on truckin'.

My Grandson's World.

We stopped at a Farm Store that has a 4X4 training course . . . and this old APC.

The Marine Hotel in Stonehaven has an excellent selection of real ales.

When visitors come you spend a lot of time sitting around the house talking. . . and taking photos of your grandson . . . and the house plants.

I planted zucchini squash in large pots in the front yard of our pervious house . .  they thrived in the long days . . . but as soon as I moved them to the new house . . . some kind of bug ate the maturing zuchs!  NOOOOO!

It was a beautiful May Saturday in Aberdeen . . . a good day for a walk along the River Dee with my camera.  Along my route I passed the Allenvale Cemetery.  'Great,' I thought, 'a chance to shoot some black and white photos in the moody old cemetery.

It was an interesting old grave yard and the ground was carpeted with blossom petals.  A nice subject for B&W.

Wonderful compositions to be had here . . .

Nice contrast and deep shadow.  Pretty.  But what was I thinking?  The colors were incredible . . .

PINK!

Wonderful Pink Blossoms!

The further I walked into the cemetery, the more beautiful it became.

A carpet of pink and green.

I was stunned into silence amid the pink spaces of death.  And I was not alone.  There were five other quiet, openjawed photographers moving like cats among the headstones.

Yummie light.

Gorgeous.

Stunning color.

The Celtic crosses were wondrous.

The morning clouds burned off and the light became sharper.  It is a strange experience to stumble upon a grave marker with your family name on it.  I have relatives named Agnes and William . . . I wonder if these were distant relatives . . . my father's side of the family were Scots.

I left Allenvale Cemetery and walked across the road to the River Dee Walk.

Walking paths and bike trails run for nearly 100 miles from the coast of the North Sea all the way up into the Highlands along the banks of the River Dee.  Aberdeenshire is an outdoorsmen's paradise.

A stone building, used as a snack shack during summer months, had a fine green steel shutter.

I walked a few miles along the River Dee Walk to the Bridge of Dee (1527) and turned into the city back home.

The view on the way home was wet, cold, and amber.

Early Saturday morning . . . the journey begins at the Aberdeen Station.

Booked and bought months in advance. I was very excited about the coming week-end not only because of the Robert Cray concert we were going to see, but because it would be my first train trip from Aberdeen.

The train  follows the coast of the North Sea all the way to Edinburgh.  Beautiful views.

The rapeseed fields were in full yellow flower.

We made a quick turn onto and across the Tay Train Bridge.

A quaint part of Dundee is across the wide River Tay estuary.

There was always something of interest along our route.  Here we cross the Firth of Forth on the famous Forth Bridge, for many years the longest steel span bridge in the world and a marvel of Victorian engineering.  Below are the remains of WWI and WWII military emplacements.  New and old oil and gas platforms in the distance for, and from, the North Sea.

We booked our hotel within walking distance of the beautiful Edinburgh Station.

The walk from the train station to our hotel was, well, interesting.

The walk to our hotel was up a very steep cobbled street.  We stayed above this bistro, but never ate there.

Our hotel was clean, colorful, and quaint.

The original elevator was still operational.  I couldn't resist this selfie.

We dropped our overnight bags in the room and took off for a walk to the Edinburgh Castle through the early Spring streets.

Old Edinburgh near The Royal Mile is a wonderful place.

Among the wonders along the Royal Mile.

There were plenty of buskers and street performers, like this clever woman.  She seemed a bit hollow though.

All roads lead to the Edinburgh Castle.

We walked the Royal Mile to the Edinburgh Castle through the medieval cobbled streets.

We walked up the steep streets to the castle.

We entered the Edinburgh Castle through this gate.

Castle walls.

The castle guards seemed very, very young.

A young and serious castle guard.

The views of Edinburgh from the castle ramparts were spectacular.

Edinburgh is a beautiful and fun old city.

There are many views of the Firth of Forth in the distance.

We like to walk around the small streets and lanes of Edinburgh.

The castle is very organized for tourists.  There were many hundreds of tourists from around the world on the day we were there.

The Great Hall is surely the highlight of the castle visit.

There is a fine collection of coats of armor and weaponry from the across the history of Scotland and the UK.

Royal Hilts.

A nice display of Royal flintlock pistols.

Night's armor.

We spent many wonderful hours at the castle, but we needed to eat an early dinner and get on to the main event of the week-end . . . the Robert Cray concert that evening.

We had an early dinner at the Gardner's Cottage, a very cool organic restaurant where you eat communally.  The food was excellent . . . we flagged a taxi afterward for the trip across town.

We knew we found the right place when we spotted Robert Cray's tour bus parked in front of The Queen's Hall.

The Queen's Hall is actually an old Victorian era church, converted into a music venue.  The acoustics were excellent.

We sat in these colorful wooden pews for the concert. Wonderful.

The average age of the audience must have been 65 . . . so I fit right in.  Old guys like The Blues . . . and Robert Cray is among the very best bluesmen.

I was not disappointed: Robert Cray put on a great concert.  He is as good as he has ever been.  His band was tight, and his singing and guitar work were fantastic.

I had never seen Robert Cray live before.  It was a memorable show, to be sure.  He played old favorites and some off his new album (which I have ssince purchased - it's great!). As my daughter said, "That's one more item off your bucket list."

We wandered around Edinburgh on Sunday morning shopping and trying out a new seafood resturent (pretty good).  I heard music across a park and followed it to this city biker gathering.  Nice folks and very good music.

Nice Scottish Harleys . . . and properly dressed bikers!

We boarded the train in the late afternoon for the beautiful trip up the northeast coast of Scotland to our home in Aberdeen.

We arrived back at Aberdeen Station just before dark.

30 minutes from our house is the Bridge of Feugh Cafe.  We like going there on a week-end day to have tea and scones.  We also like to bring all of our visitors here too.  On this beautiful early May day the flowers were out in their full glory around the old stone cottage.

Early May at the Bridge of Feugh Cafe.

The Scots in these parts love to garden.  I have seen so many flowers here I have never seen before . . . like these climbing vines with their pink and yellow blooms.

Yellow clusters of light.

I love the red stems . . .

A row of exquisite irises to thrill.

Beautiful ground cover everywhere.  The tea and scones were delicious too.

After tea and scones we headed ut along the one-lane country lanes of Aberdeenshire to see what we could see.

It was so beautiful out that I nearly forgot to take any photographs!  This elephantine tree trunk drew my attention before we went back to our Aberdeen home.