The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

I decided not to spend the whole wee-end in my office . . . especially when the weather was still good.  We headed out east on North Deeside Road . . .

Our destination was Banchory, about 30 miles west of Aberdeen.  When we arrived we took a small road toward the river because we had heard that the salmon were jumping.  But, when we arrived at the River Feugh, we could not resist going in for tea and scones at The Falls of Feugh Restaurant.  Yummy.

Such a yummy place indeed.

The river Feugh was a fast and rocky stream.

We stood on a bridge and some old local people told us that today there was only one large and one small salmon trying to make it up and over the rapids.  We saw the large one make a great leap . . . but fail.

Our next destination was a farm store that had been recommended to us in the area.  We took to a country lane dotted with wonderful cottages here and there.

Several people had been talking to us about the charms of the rural farm stores.  Finzean Estate Farm Store was nondescript on the outside.

But on the inside it was a food photographer's dream!

The low, flat light was perfect for capturing the subtle shades and shifts of light.

Yes, I have to say it, a veritable cornucopia!

I was taking so many photos of the vegetables that I actually drew an interested crowd of onlookers!

We bought parsnips, hot peppers, and garlic.

I love to photograph vegetables.  What's wrong with me?

Just give me a cabbage and some good light . . . .

. . . and I'll even shoot in black in white, in spite of the color!

They had more for sale than food . . .

. . . lots of honest, simple items.

We left the farm store and went on down the country lanes of Aberdeenshire.  I love how people name their homes.

We drove deeper into rural Aberdeenshire and were rewarded with a blanket of yellow ferns along the road.

Blue grey light on the white beech bark above a carpet of yellow.

It was a perfect day to be in the forest of Abedeenshire, Scotland.

I have never seen this yellowing fern array in my life.  Very beautiful!

We have equipped ourselves with the perfect road trip vehicle: the VW Taureg AWD 2.0 Diesel . . . 50+ MPG!

We meandered around on the small Aberdeenshire country roads until we came to the Potarch Hotel.  We went in had had a wonderful lunch.

After lunch we walked fifty meters to the stone bridge over the upper River Dee.  It was a perfect end-of-summer day.

A perfect day for some fly fishing on the River Dee.

Aberdeenshire on the brink of Autumn.

We followed a nearby sign pointing to a "Forest Walk."  We thought we were going to be walking in the wilderness, but instead the path followed the road, albeit a wooded road.

There were some very sweet cottages along the way.

I love these old walls being reclaimed by Nature.  There is know way to know how old these walls are . . . perhaps from Medieval times.

One of the great things about forest walks in Europe is coming across a vestige of some older era . . . slowly dissolving back into the earth.

Although it was the fifth day of Autumn, there were still a few summer blooms hanging on.

The proverbial late bloomer!

Summer's end: time to disperse seeds.

There were some fine large mushrooms pushing their way up though the overgrown forest floor too.

These black mushrooms looked positively DANGEROUS! I was scared to get too close.

A forest is a living thing: it takes life from parts of itself when they die.

We saw these red "berries' everywhere, but knew, somehow, that you could not eat them.  How do we know this?

Evidence of a job well done.

We left the beautiful Aberdeenshire forest rivulets, flowers, and treed behind . . . .

. . . and bid farewell to our little friend the inch worm (he better hurry: winter is coming!), and drove to Banchory.

We arrived in Banchory in late afternoon under greying skies.

It was a Saturday and lots of people seemed to have driven out from Aberdeen for the small town charm.

We did a little shopping ourselves in this butchery that seems little changed from its 1921 origins.  We bought the perfect mint sauce for lamb.

One last look around town to discover this marvelous flower shop before driving home.  We only put 30 miles on the odometer.  There is so much to see that is near to Aberdeen.  We are really loving exploring the city and the region. Fortunately we are having one of the driest and warmest summers anyone around her can remember.  We plan on taking advantage of every minute of it.

We had a 3-day week-end and new cars . .  . what to do?  ROAD TRIP!  We headed up north for a week-end of trail walking, golf, and photography.  At Macduff, we discovered the Duff House forest grounds.  Very beautiful.

It was a grey day with cool air . . . perfect for a walk in the woodlands.

A week earlier there had been several nights of near-zero temperatures.  A few leaves had started to turn . . .

These ferns reminded me so much of my walks last summer in Washington State.

There is always so much of beauty to see on a forest walk.

After spending the last 17 years in tropical Thailand, the differences within this forest here held a strong fascination.

Wonderful old trees evoke old feelings.

The twist of this tree trunk tells the story of its taller neighbors come and gone.

We walked for over an hour in the coolness of this forest.

Shades of a coming Autumn.

A long, and warm-for-Scotland, summer has left the forest brimming with life.

These mushroom fungi seemed very brainy . . . too brainy!  Perhaps there has been an exchange of genetic material going on in this ecosystem!

We left the forest walk through this aged gate.

We found Duff Estate.

Mr. Duff made a lot of money when housing prices were lower than they are now. We wanted to go on the interior tour, but we got here too late.

The gift shop operator told us that Duff Estate "changed the way large estates were built in Great Britain after it's completion."

Although not of the estate-changing opulence of the Duff Estate, we were happy with The Knowes Hotel.  The room was clean and comfortable . . . . with . . .

. . . an excellent view of the North Sea and the Macduff harbour light.  I decided to grab my camera gear and headed out into the fading light.

Macduff and Banff are port towns.

Not much in Macduff has been modernized.  There are still old hovel homes left from an older time.

Although the stone houses seem cold, there are touches and flourishes of artistry set against the austere facades.

I turned left on Institution Street, and then on down the steep hill to the harbour, all the while wondering how the street got its name.

Macduff had a fine man-made harbour lined with Victorian era store fronts.

A girl was trying to fish for her supper in the Macduff sink . . . without luck.

A fine harbour light on a fine last day of summer in Macduff, Scotland.

I walked up the harbour road toward Banff, hoping I could get a photo of the old stone bridge.

On the way out of town I saw this image . . . telling the history of the internal landscapes of those residing below.

In the fading light the contrasts between light and shadow grew.

Perfect late light.

I  took many photos along the road and was infatuated with the church dome against the sky . . .

  . . . when I realized I was missing this old derelict building . .  my favorite subject: dilapidation!

Amazing dilapidation.

I kept walking along the road to Banff and took this photo of a friendly dancing bus mechanic.  He came over and said . . . "I hope my boss never sees this photo!"  So here is his photo . . . not the one of him dancing!

I got to than embankment in time to take this photo of Banff . . . unfortunately the old stone bridge was too far away to walk in the fading light.

I sat for a while on the a bank of the River Deveron estuary and watched the sun set.

It was a beautiful evening.

I climbed some steep steps and took a high road back to the hotel.  Along the way I shot this view of Macduff, Scotland in the last of the light.

 I reentered the town center from a side street.

Although Macduff is made of dark stone masonry, it is a habitable town.  People add color which, standing off the dark stone, make a beautiful effect.

Along "Main Street" Macduff.

Macduff streets are steep as they rise up from the catchment.

 I rounded the corner and went up Market Street to the hotel.  There were many pleasant architectural arrangements to enjoy along the way in the last of the light.

My last photo of the day was taken on the steps of the hotel.

The next morning broke clear and cold. This view of Banff was taken from my hotel window.

Macduff, Banff, Scottish coast.

It was time to leave Macduff.

The Knowes Hotel sits on high ground, but just above the hotel stood a Castle turret monument in remembrance of local war dead.

We spent the rest of the morning playing the very, very difficult, but very, very beautiful Royal Tarlair Golf Course.  The views were breathtaking!

Another one of the wonderful things that came with the recent move to Abedeen, Scotland has been the acquiring of a new car.  My 21st car.

And not just any new car . . . I ordered a special edition AWD Juke NISMO.

Yep, a Nissan Motorsport-tuned AWD Juke with 200hp, a brilliant interior, and outstanding high performance driving characteristics.  I LOVE this car!

A tradition at the International School Aberdeen is to take all new faculty, and anybody else who wants to go, on a bus trip up into the highlands of Scotland for a cultural treat.

The "Highland Games" are held all around Scotland during the summer months, but the grand-daddy of them allis the Braemar Gathering. There have been Gatherings of one sort or another at Braemar since the days of King Malcolm Canmore, nine hundred years ago.  Because of its proximity to the Queen's summer residence nearby, she always attends this particular sporting event.  The setting was beautiful, high in the Scottish highlands.

The highland games are just that; a series of competitions run like a three-ring circus.  Traditional games, like tug-o-war, and ancient Scottish games, like caper tossing, vie with more common athletic events like sprint and long distance running, and high and long jumping.

The tug-o-war teams were not just a bunch of buddies, but were from The Royal Air Force, The Royal Navy, Oxford University, and such, there to defend the pride and honor of their organization under the gaze of the Queen and Prince Charles.

This is high stakes tug-o-war . . . . the winning teams receive medals from the Queen herself! The losing teams are sent home.

The sporting events are conducted with a background of bagpipe bands playing from around Scotland performing each in their turn.

The high jump event was announced as the national championship.

The tug-o-war took many rounds to culminate . . .

. . . in the final pulling. 

I enjoyed the tug-o-war . . . it is a very intense event . . . .

. . . with individual and group drama.

Security was provided by guys in skirts with sticks.

The Big Event was the caper toss.

The object is to throw the 19 foot, 6 inch "telephone pole" - the caper . . .

. . . so that the caper lands on it's head and then falls over, away from you.  This was the winning toss.

We took a break from the fever pitch action in the arena to walk into the charming village of Braemar.

Braemar was buzzing with activity . . . mostly with bagpipe bands practicing and warming up for their big moment in the arena and in front of Her Royal Highness.  The sign says "Aberdeen 59" miles.

Many cute and quaint stone houses and cottages lined the main thoroughfare . . . .

Wonderful summer scenes everywhere, but Braemar is just as well known as a winter ski resort.

The town filled up with Highlanders from far and wide, and . . . .

. . . one intrepid and eccentric Scottish busker playing his heart out for many hours.

But mostly the town was full of the mournful sound of dueling bagpipes warming up.

Pipers would find a private space and commence to let wail.

Braemar is the kind of country village where people name their houses . . .

. . . have a sense of humor . . .

. . . and the River Dee, now but a mountain stream, runs through the middle of town.

In site of the "noise" of bagpipers warming up all around him, this poor Highlander was too pooped to pipe.

After a delicious lunch of venison burgers and wedge potatoes, we headed back to the exhibition grounds . . . the mountain weather was beginning to threaten . . . but never rained.

We showed our tickets to these Scottish Lovelies and went back in.

We arrived back none too soon!  The security of the arena took a decidedly serious turn.

All the spectators looked to the Royal Pavilion when the Queen and Prince of England arrived.

The Royals arrived and departed to the fanfare of a marching one hundred-strong bagpipe band.  Fantastic.

Although I had an obstructed view, I also had a long 200mm lens.  There she sat, Stuart tartan on her lap, The Queen, reviewing the marching bagpipers.  Sublime, regal, historic.

The Royalty hung around an hour watching the finals in each event and eventually passing out the medals to the winners . . . . before departing amid an incredible throng of bagpipers and drummers.

You just do not see this many bagpipes in one place every day.  No, you don't.

Herself.

We, along with many thousands of others, soaked in the Scottish Highlands views on our way back to the bus.

Tired and weary, we said good-bye to Braemar.

After ten days of searching all over Aberdeen for a place to live (that's another story!), we found this wonderful 1880s grey granite ground floor flat in a great part of town that had just been restored and modernized.

One grey day in early September our personal shipment from Bangkok arrived at our new home in Aberdeen.

Our good and hard-working union porters quickly unloaded their truck . . . .

. . . making many trips back and forth.

When they finished carrying in all our boxes, the house was full!

The packers spent the next hour unpacking all the little things the Thai packers had so carefully wrapped in bubblewrap and paper.  The good news was these guys took away all the waste and empty boxes for recycling.

They were a happy crew who enjoyed commenting on our Thai art.

We have been enjoying decorating pur new home with the wonderful things we shipped to remind us of Thailand.  The spirits in these statues also had some adjusting to do.

I think they like their new home.

Although our new home was rented furnished, we needed to make a few strategic purchases to make everything perfect.

Our new home was just completely restored and refinished to it's original 1880s condition, but with a new kitchen and bathroom.

The original corniced ceilings are like new.

The house gets great light.  Being this far North, it is important.

New carpeting too.  There is a sweet, old-fashioned, old European feel to our new home.

Before our shipment arrived, we drove our rental car around the beautiful Aberdeenshire summer countryside.

Yoo, of course, travelled all summer with her golf clubs, so we wasted little time discovering the many great golf courses in this part of Scotland.  This, and the following photos, are at Deeside Golf Club, just outside of Aberdeen.

Deeside Golf Club.

When in Scotland . . . see the castles!  On a rainy afternoon we went castle hunting with the advice of some local Scottish ladies.  This is Crathes Castle . . . . a National Trust listed site.  The interior was incredibly restored to the original 15th century accuracy.  Nice . . . unfortunately I was not allowed to take photos inside.

Crathes Castle has magnificent grounds . . . and the view from the tower was stunning on this rainy day.

A reflective moment high in the castle.