The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

In mid-February 2015 I was back down in England for this year's UCAS Conference . . . in the 'New Town' of Telford.  There is absolutely nothing to see in Telford other than the International Conference Center outside of town.  So . . . we took the train back in to Birmingham on a nice Saturday before the conference.

I like Birmingham downtown.  It is a very good example of urban renewal.  Victoria Square is very charming.

There is a very nice collection of public art here and there throughout the walking street areas.

Even the commercial buildings from a long past era looked well scrubbed and pretty in the late morning light.

Victoria Square in the morning . . . beautiful light.

We took the reliable trains from Telford to Birmingham, and later to Shrewsbury.

Winter Train no.12.  I had my small Fuji and the pancake lens with me and took this secret shot of a woman sitting across from me.  This photo would make the perfect cover to a blues cd . . . any blues cd!

After my last session at the conference we raced to the train station to get West to Wales and the old town of Shrewsbury.  The late afternoon countryside was sumptuous.

The English countryside in Winter . . . from the train heading West.

We arrived at the old Shrewsbury Station with an hour of light left.

Shrewsbury old town was just around from the train station.  Shrewsbury dates from prehistoric times.

Such a beautiful old town.  We found the castle and looked a round before going through this gate to the old town center.

Shrewsbury Castle was shrouded by the bare branches and limbs of Winter.

I love the look of the old oxblood Tudor buildings.

Signs of the age, and the aging, of Shrewsbury could be found everywhere.

The sun went goes down very early this far North at this time of year . . . around 4:30pm.

We snooped around some shops on the high street.  Ye Olde Sweet Shoppe had a couple of fun young people getting ready to close.  They said they liked living in Shrewsbury.

We found a nice place to eat - French with a special of the day that included a bottle of wine . . . I think we drank to much.  When we stumbled out into the Medieval streets of Shrewsbury it was already dark.

The streets were quiet . . . and empty.

Such a pretty shop widow to be opening onto such an empty street.

You see very little of this beam and plaster construction in Scotland.

We walked back to the beautiful old station to catch our train back to Telford.

We enjoyed our4 hours in Shrewsbury and vowed to return to see more of it.

MORE POSTINGS FROM TELFORD . . . TO COME!

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.

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.

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.

There had been some very cold nights lately and I noticed on the Internet that there had also been some snow up in the hills around Aberdeen.  It was Saturday, so why not drive out and take a look.  I had no particular plan, just my trusty GPS to get me home.

It turned out to be a fabulous day: big, fast clouds racing across the sky . . . bright splashes of sunlight racing across the landscape, and a mix of light to give me a challenge with the big camera.

Patches of blue, patches of white, patches of brown and black.  Brown patches?

Right, the patches of brown were sheep!

Scotland road B9119 winds up through Aberdeenshire toward the highlands and the royal residence of the Queen, Balmoral.  As it climbs, the snow gets deeper, and as the road falls, the snow vanishes.

I made several detours when an interesting sign caught my attention. This road was suppose to lead to a tannery.  It  didn't, but it didn't matter.

The perfect countryside winter scene.  A patch of bright sunlight flashing cross the snow, near and far.

Stark white and stark black contrast . . . so wonderful to look at.

As I drove back out to the B9119, I stopped in the middle of the road in amazement.  Somehow I had not seen this castle on my way up the road the first time!

These are the ruins of Corse Castle (c. 1581).

There are so many castles in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire that you cannot but help running into one on any country road you might try.

There are over 300 castles in Aberdeen and the surrounding Aberdeenshire! [citation]  Corse Castle sits on a high bank overlooking Corse Burn.

The castle was, and is, owned by the Forbes family, whose son, Patrick, born in this castle, was named Archbishop of Aberdeen in 1618.

The inscription on the door lintel heralds the builder William Forbes ("WF") and the date of the founding of the current castle - 1581 (the previous house was sacked and plundered by robbers!).

Corse Castle must have been a fine castle in its day.  I drove on toward the village of Tarland.

It was a cold (34f or 1c), windy day with ever-changing light and shadow.

The road to Tarland and sky, and snow, and clouds combined in many conspiracies of evocative wonder.

I stood here for a good long while next to a sign pointing toward the 4000 year old Tomnaverie Stone Circle . . . . why I didn't follow That road, I will never know.  It's been there a while, it'll be there next month too.

Queen Victoria used this route to her private summer residence at Balmoral Castle.  This view site was constructed for her as a rest stop.  The sign is new.

On I drove toward Tarland . . . dropping in elevation as I went.

Tarland, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, population 540 (in 2004).

I walked up "Main Street" (actually Melgum Road) in Tarland and saw what one always sees in small towns throughout the UK: a World War I memorial.

The small village of Tarland (and it must have been smaller then) lost 24 young men in The Great War of 1914-1918.

I was hungry, so I went into the Commercial Hotel to see what was on the menu.

Like almost every restaurant in Scotland, the soup-of-the-day was potato-leak . . . my favorite.

When I came out of the Commercial Hotel 30 minutes later, Tarland was lit in a blaze of clear sunlight!  Fantastic.

Double Happiness INDEED!  Every, and I do mean EVERY, Scottish town and village, no matter how small, has a Chinese take-away.  Tarland was no exception.  Having just moved to Scotland from Asia, I find this fascinating.  Who are these people who spent their savings to come to this village in Scotland's back roads?

At the end of the main street were the ruins of an old church and graveyard.

The Francis Donaldson Boig Fountain in Tarland set in 1913.  It must have been a good one, because it still works.

The old Tarland Chapel and 'kirkegaard.'

Among the grave stones was this monument to Peter Milne, a local boy who made a name for himself in playing fiddle in Aberdeen (and beyond!) at the turn of the last century.  Peter Milne is NOT buried in Tarland, his ancestral home, but in Aberdeen.  This is just a monument to his accomplishments, including some much loved folk songs, including John McNeill's Reel (better known as Big John McNeill) and Gillan's Reel (often called Gillian's Reel).  I will see if I can find these songs on-line and pay old Peter Milne some respect these 108 years after his death.

I asked the waitress in the hotel if there was a short-cut to a main road so I could get back to Aberdeen faster.  This was the road she recommended.  Thanks.  It was getting late and, since it was quite cold, I was worried the wet road would freeze soon.

It was a wonderful drive home through the rolling countryside of Aberdeenshire.  As it began to grow dark, a fantastic sunset began to develop, as it often does here.

I pulled over next to a flooded field to enjoy the reflections . . . and just watched . . . .

. . . . and snapped away . . . I was awestruck.

I made it home well after dark . . . with this picture still in my mind.