The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

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.

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.

As is our custom during the cold and grey days in northeastern Scotland, if it is sunny on a Saturday or Sunday, we abandon our household chores and head outdoors.  This day we remembered seeing a bicycle renting shop in the Royal town of Ballater from when took our Thai visitors to the Highlands. There was a marvelous walking and biking trail, known as the Deeside Way, leading out of town which followed an old railroad grade.  Perfect . . . no big hills!

The Deeside Way leading out of Ballater looked promising.  There were other bikers and a number of ramblers.

The trail crossed several burns (the Scottish term for creek).

The sky was blue and the light was clear and strong.  The vegetation was a mix of winter hibernation and early budding.

Occasionally the trees that lined the path would open up to a view of the bucolic Scottish Highlands countryside. 

Farmers had been out preparing their fields.

Early Spring planting.  There was still snow on the higher mountains . . . it was a crisp day . . . perfect for biking.

In a few places along the Deeside Way the trees were beginning to bud and blossom.

We rested under this shadowed tree on the green hill.

An old chapel ruin provided some photographic interest.

I assume the area farmers still bury their dead in this cemetery.

We went as far as this grove, about three miles.  We felt a very strong Nature Spirit here.

The way back, on the same trail remained interesting and beautiful.

Such an inviting trail . . .

We left with great memories of the great day . . . and sore butts from the bike ride.  We vowed to buy saddle pads before our next mountain bike adventure.  [Note:  we did buy a pair of gel saddle pads!]

ScotlandIt's always great to get visitors.  In April we had good friends, three couples, visit us from Thailand.  I had a week off, so it was a great opportunity to further explore Scotland . . . and London.

The weather couldn't have been any better: bright, clear, crisp, with fast moving clouds.

It was fun to take our friends to some of our favorite beauty spots.

Of course a distillery tour was on the tour.

It was a scrumptious day for a road trip along the Highlands Malt Whiskey Trail.

We paid took the full tour (with sampling!) of the Royal Lochnagar Distillery . . . that strictly forbade photography.

The old whiskey still itself was a wonder of craftsmanship, detail, color and texture.

The stills were works of art.

The whiskey barrel vault . . . and royal patronage emblem.  This stuff is valuable.

I can confirm the whiskey advertisements . . . whiskey is still made the old fashioned way.

Because of the alcohol vapors present, all electrical switches have to be sealed.  This light switch must have been installed when the distillery was first electrified.

Water, Sparge, Sparge, and Hot Wart.  Of course.

Old brass Victorian-era distillery devices were still in use.  It also supplied a nice opportunity for a novel self-portrait.

Our visitors are whiskey lovers, but didn't like this particular single malt.  We left the beautiful surrounds of the distillery to head further up into the Scottish Highlands.

The Highlands early spring roads are magnificent.

Our next stop was Balmoral Castle, the summer residence of The Queen of England.

The moss and lichens on this stone banister gives you some idea of how wet the highlands can be in the winter.  Lovely textures!

Yes, there really are castles like this in the world . .  that are lived in by real queens.

Balmoral Castle is actually the private property of the Royal Family, unlike all the other Royal residencies which are the property of the State.

Balmoral Castle lies astride the trout and salmon laden upper reaches of the River Dee.

We could have stayed all day taking selfies n front of Balmoral Castle . . . the archetypical royal castle.

The best liquor we had that day was the hooch our van driver Karl shared.

LONDON - The Harry Potter Studio Tour

Yes, we went here.

I confess, I am not a fan of this kind of fantasy literature and/or the cinematic spin-offs they generate.  It's just not my cup of tea.

We flew to London and went directly to the WB Harry Potter Studios . . . I went screaming and kicking, not being a fan of this sort of thing.

But . . . I have to admit that the tour turned out much, much better than I could have hoped.

It turned out to be an actual tour of the actual sets used in the actual movies in the actual studio where it was actually filmed.  My dread was dissolved.

I've only ever seen one of these Harry Potter movies, the first one, and I assumed most of the scenes were computer generated CGI art . . . it wasn't!!!

The detail of the set construction was truly impressive.  They went to a lot of work (and expense!) to create this imaginary world.

The production went to a lot of trouble . . . . including working from detailed architectural drawings, to . . .

. . . to constructing scale models of sets.  The workmanship is excellent.  This is a big production  . . .  unlike my own forays into Hollywood productions.

A fantasy of a fantasy of a fantasy: a post-modern copy of a copy of a copy of an apothecary shop that never was.

The autonomatronic creatures were impressive, as was the workshop where they were made.

Character prosthetics.  I want one for Holloween.

Again, the attention to detail in the costumes was way beyond what I expected.

I posted this one on Facebook as "Inside the Obama fake voter labs" . . . to much Democratic acclaim and vitriol from the ever-present trolls.

The model of the school was 50 feet tall and perfect in detail.

Amazing, just amazing.

The Harry Potter Flying Broom Machine . . . seems like these would be popular at Chucky Cheese at $5.oo a ride.  The background is a green screen (chroma key) used in CGI imagery.

My new computer desktop image.  After an impressive three hours in the studio, all exits funneled us to the vast and expensive GIFT SHOP FROM HELL.  The child-whining there was epic.  And shrill.  And tearful. An 'official' Harry Potter Magic Wand (a stick) was a money-gouging 55 pounds (US$75.oo).  Ouch.  This image is of how hard parents feel it is to get out of the aforementioned Gift Shop From Hell.  Off to London without so much as a key chain fob, such is the strength of my will.

LONDON

An hour drive into central London landed us in beautiful Knightsbridge.  It was a nostalgic journey for me: I lived in London for several years in the late 80s.  As you can see, London is much further south than Aberdeen, and was in full new-growth Springtime.

Ah, London Pubs!

This photo is perhaps more indicative of London's neighborhoods than Big Ben.  London is very multicultural.

London may be the finest tourist city in the world.

Trafalgar Square . . . tourist central.

A must-have-tourist-experience in London.

These acrobatic Swedish tourists put on quite a show for a Japanese tour group.

London is a very open-minded city.

London is such a visually rich city . .  there are literally too many things to photograph . . . that you want to photograph.  I was on sensory overload the whole time.  I wouldn't mind living in London again.

Having good clean fun in London.  It is good to have older sisters.

Yes, we frequented hi-brow cafes and sampled delicious cakes and edible whatnots. I brought my medication.

Where the rich and famous hang out in Knightsbridge.

People say that the food is bad in London.  Not So!!!  We had excellent Korean, Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Lebanese, and Indian food throughout the whole trip.  The aftermath of a great Korean meal near Trafalgar.

I think the real reason our Thai friends wonted to visit London was to take a pilgrimage to Harrods . . . The Temple of Shopping!!!!

 And when I say Harrods is a Temple of Shopping, I MEAN Temple of Shopping. This is the escalator in Harrods Department Store. 

We caught London at the very beginning of the Spring blossoms.  Nice.

London is both an ancient and a modern city . . . but it feels like it is in a human scale . . .

London from the steps of the gallery, Tate Britain.

OK, not entirely on a human scale.  Prince Charles let this thing get by his architectural scrutineering.

I remember lots of parks in London for my daughter to play in when we lived there . . . it's still a pretty good city for children.

I HAD to take this post card shot of Big Ben and the London Eye.

In the  government building section of London there are protests here and there.  I guess this fellow didn't want to wait in the que for a permit . . .

Ah, Knightsbridge squares.

One day we took a drive out into the London suburb of Wimbledon.

No, we did not go to Wimbledon to see the grass tennis courts.

We went to Wimbledon to visit, and to pay respect to, the Thai Wat Buddhapadipa.  We could scarcely believe our eyes!  A perfect Thai Wat "beamed down" to suburban London.  Fantastic!

A Wonderful Thai Temple.  We spent a good long time inside the Wat.  It felt good to be back in a Buddhist space.  I have missed it since moving from Thailand.

The Thai Buddhist spirit was strong in this place.

The interior was a astonishingly beautiful.  I wanted to stay forever . . . a feeling I always have in Buddhist temples.

Yep, you gotta watch out for that pesky Mara . . .  thanks for the reminder, Lord Buddha.

As luck (good and bad) would have it, they were setting up for a Songkran Festival event on the temple grounds.  Unfortunately it didn't fit our schedule.

We were back in London/Knightsbridge by nightfall.  London is fascinating at night. Near our hotel.

Lots of people out and about.

We went everywhere on the Tube. Bayswater Station.

The nearest London Tube stop to our hotel was Glouchester Station.  We took the London Underground a lot.  After a couple of days exploring and shopping London, it was time for another road trip.  The eight of us boarded a van (with a Thai driver!) for a trip to . . .

BRIGHTON BEACH AND THE SOUTH COAST OF ENGLANDIn the van on the way we thought we were going to the White Cliffs of Dover, but they were too far away . . . we settled for equally impressive cliffs nearer to Brighton in East Sussex.  The coastal countryside was gorgeous.

We parked the van and walked abut two miles along an estuary to the sea and cliffs of the Cuckmere Valley.

The gate into the Chyngton Farm trail we took to the cliffs.

The cliffs on a misty day.

It was well worth the long walk to the sea cliffs.  We took about a million photos of each other and then walked back . . . on to Brighton.  We were hungry . . . for fish and chips.

The drive into the old seaside vacation town of Brighton.

It was cold and windy when we reached the Brighton Beach Pier.

A lovely stoney beach and Victorian pier. 

Even though they assured us the Ferris wheel capsules were heated, we did not take them up on their high priced offer of great views.

Mission Accomplished!  Fish and Chips in Brighton . . . and not too bad either.

The Brighton Pier was not as seedy or tawdry as I had hoped.  It was nice . . . and family.

We all had a great time in Scotland, London, and Brighton.  We were sad to see our friends go when we boarded the plane back to our Aberdeen home.

INVERURIE

Another nice sunny winter Saturday in Scotland.  What to do? Let's go for a drive. We had never taken the 16 miles of road from Aberdeen to Inverurie, so today seemed like a good day to do it.  Inverurie is a 15th century market town that really took off when a canal was dug in the River Don from Aberdeen in 1806.  It has become a comuter town for Aberdunians.

Inverurie has a charming triangular central square dominated by this WW I Memorial to the soldiers from the town who died in the wars of 1914-1918  and 1938-1945.  Lest we forget.

We poked around some shops on the square . . . The Dairy was nice, but the cafe had already sold out the days' meal-of-the-day.  Dang.

It is late enough in the winter for gardeners to start to contemplate taking the risk to-plant-or-not-to-plant.

We walked up the main shopping parade in town and found a nice restaurant and had a fine lunch (I had the Balmoral Chicken - roast chicken stuffed with haggis slathered in peppercorn sauce, Prince Charles' favorite!).

After lunch we walked back to the car, but stopped in a sporting goods and a luggage shop first.

Small, frumpy, Inverurie bar.  We didn't go in.

The road leaving town toward Aberdeen.  Small, clean, charming.

They have a gospel church there too.  I love the winter sky in Scotland.

We said good-bye to Inverurie and were glad we visited.  We want to come back and take some time on the River Walk.

MONTROSE (Angusshire)

 Another nice Saturday, another Saturday Drive, a 20 mile drive . . . this time south down the Coastal Route to an adjoining shire and the port town of Montrose, a somewhat down-at-the-heals village set in the most extraordinary geographic setting between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers, just in front of a wildlife preserve and estuary. Nice church too.

Church doors have a kind of power . . .

Downtown Montrose shopping district.

A very interesting mix of architecture, unlike Aberdeen.  This looks more Dutch than Scottish.  It was a busy shopping day in Montrose.

Local Hero, Joseph Hume.  He "was commissioned as a surgeon to an Army regiment, and was able to take up work as interpreter and commissary-general due to his knowledge of Indian languages."  Cool!  He learned Hindi, just like me! He was also a poet and radical parliamentarian. Nice to see a statue of such an interesting guy in a small town city square.

What?  A Bakery!  Let's have a look.  Some nice local specialities.  We bought an Apple Tart to eat later [far right - it was only ok].

We also bought a loaf of the Oat Bread [top shelf]: it had a crust as hard as concrete and weighed nearly 30 kilos [an exaggeration].  It was, however, extremely delicious.

The TRUE TEST of modern small town economic development is it's capacity to provide a drinkable double latte.  We found this 15th century vaulted cafe off the main square and administered the aforementioned test.  It passed.  A passable latte . . . although a little weak.

The cafe also had the usual display of what could have been 'home made' chutneys, syrups, compotes, jams, and jellys.  We already have these in excess cluttering our refrigerator.  Nothing new here, keep moving.

Yes, Montrose has a Chinese restaurant just like every single town in Scotland!  My wife had just returned from Hong Kong so was not in the mood to complicate her memories of the gastronomy there.

Another commemorative and honorary statue . . . I didn't catch this fellow's name . . . .

Some dilapidation here and there . . . disappointing.  Time to head out of town, find the port, and on to the estuary.

It was a wonderful day with fantastic winter light.

A view back across Montrose Basin to the old town. "At one time Montrose was Scotland's second largest exporter of salmon; and mussel cultivation gave it the largest mussel beds in the country during the 19th and early 20th centuries."  There is a live webcam of Montrose from across the estuary if you want to see what it looks right now.

Low tide on Montrose Basin . . . . a beached boat.

We pulled into the Montrose Basin Wildlife Reserve to ask what to see in the area.  The map provided the answers . . . go to The Bridge of Dun.

The view from the Reserve's Visitor Center Observation Deck was nice . . . and lined with bird-watchers chatting among themselves.  I heard one say, "Isn't that a ring tail twitter finch, just there?"

The Bridge of Dun is a Category A Listed Building . . . without a Wikipedia page!  I did find this, "Three-arch stone bridge, completed 1787 by Alexander Stevens."[citation] The bridge is said to have been the only way to cross the South Esk River, so the Leard built this elaborate toll bridge to enhance his fame.  My battery died within seconds of taking this photo, so other than iPhone shots, I have nothing to post of St Vie village and beach, where we went next.  We had a great day out.