The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

We were just back form our vacation in Poland and my wife had a golf tournament in Angus, Scotland at the Brechin Golf Course. GREAT!  I let her off at the course and headed the few miles down the road to the fascinating village of Brechin.  It was a windy and overcast day, typical of the "summer" we have had in Scotland this year.  I love the color of the fields when they begin to turn from greet to yellow.

You see the most interesting monuments out in the countryside of Scotland.  At first glance I thought this could be one of the ubiquitous WWI monuments or a Queen Victoria marker.  I'm not really sure what it was, it had an Angus Utilities marker on it, but also this memorial to the Police Commissioners.

The village of Brechin had a lot of Old World 12th century charm. 

The main attraction in the village is the Brechin Cathedral and Round Tower.  The Round Tower dates from the year 1000 and the Cathedral from the 13th century.

A grey and cloudy day is not  bad time to take photographs in the Cathedral graveyard.

There were some very photogenic lichen and moss encrusted old stones here.

These weathered and worn grave stones convey the passing of time better than a pristine and dated stone.

Wonderful surface . . . telling the story of nature and man's place in it.

What can I say . . . I love these old grave stones as visual objects of beauty above and beyond their symbolic or 'religeous' identities.

I took many photos of these grave stones in the cloudy gloom when I arrived, only to re-shoot them when a patch of bright sunlight passed over the great cathedral.

Sweet angle.

Wonderful stone work.

Sweet light.

With the wind blowing and a few errant rain drops falling, I decided to visit the Cathedral interior.

I walked around the exterior of the great cathedral and saw many wonderful things.

13th century stonework.

13th century door handles?  Perhaps.

A side door into the Brechin Cathedral.

A empty medieval stone sarcophagus alongside the cathedral.

The  door to the Brechin Tower was about 7 feet off the ground . . . to make it difficult to storm.  They had some good ideas in 998.

The cathedral had some wonderful architectural features.  I have a big interest in the aesthetics of these old doors.

The sun came out, at last.  What a magnificent Medieval cathedral.  Time to see what the interior is like.

The cathedral main entrance.

The interior was sumptuous.

Beautiful interior detailing and architecture.

Brechin Cathedral is known of its fine original Medieval stained glass windows, some of the finest in the UK.

A steady stream of pilgrims/tourists came and went.  It was absolutely silent in this space.

The cathedral is an active church and the out buildings act as administrative offices for the northeast of Scotland.

The proportions and dimensions of this cathedral are impressive.  The longer I stayed inside the more I appreciated it.

Wonderful stained glass framed by the pipe organ.

I decided to change lenses from my 18-55mm to a much wider 10-24mm to see if I couldn't get more of the interior in . . . the effect was amazing, as you can see from this shot at 10mm.

The wide angle lens takes in so much more . . .

Even though it was quite dark in the cathedral (and it was cloudy outside), I was able to brace the camera against one of the pews to steady this shot up into the rafters.

The pews in magic light.

I had a good time figuring out my camera settings in this challenging light.

I spent nearly an hour inside the Brechin Cathedral framing photos and sitting quietly in Buddhist meditation.

I waited around outside the cathedral for quite a while with the wide angle lens on for a passing splash of sunlight to get this photo.

After a wonderful hour spent in and a  round the amazing Brechin Cathedral and tower, I decided to go freewheeling around the old village.

Like so many villages I've visited in Scotland, Brechin was beautifully maintained and clean for the most part.

Such a quaint down town!

It is a little odd to find a vet supply house in such a small town . . . and in such a small building!

Walking from the old town center towards the countryside, I saw a row of abandoned buildings.  This is not a bad thing . . . if you like old restored buildings you have to keep the old unrestored buildings around!  These places will live again.

One can only guess what has taken place in the Brechin Arena . . .

I love the ambiance of these old towns in rural Scotland.  On one side of the street are dilapidated buildings, and on the other . . .

. . . colorful row houses.

Brechin is built atop a hill and has many steep hills.

Built of pinkish stone, Brechin exudes a sense of its own history.  Also note the huge security camera . . . the UK has more security cameras per capita than any country in the world . . . .

Staying the same while always changing . . . The Swan  . . . Tandoori . . .

I walked back up the hill and through the town and noticed that there was definitely a poor part of town and a rich part of town.  Interestingly, this house engraved both the dates of its construction (1781) . . . and the date it was extended (1911).

Lovely old town. The ornate building in the background has had several lives: community center, high school, and now the Mechanics Hall.

I walked as far as the Brechin Castle gate.  I hoped to walk up the drive to see the castle, but there were private property signs posted. I ran into an old retired man on the street late who told me  I should have ignored the sign.  He admired my camera and we chatted about photography for a while.

The Brechin Castle gate house was fabulous!

The castle gate house had a lovely . . . er . . . gate.

There are always many 'still life' studies to be found in these old towns.

Mid summer greenery.

Summer vacation . . . time for some forest walks.  This is a map of the area around the Bin Forest, outside of Huntly, Scotland.  The blue double loop trail is the Queen Tree Walk . . . about 5 miles altogether.

The Aberdeenshire countryside around Huntly (seen at right) is beautiful at any time of year.

The Queen Tree Walk is well maintained and easy to walk.

This is a managed forest . . . planted and cut many times throughout history.

The walk presented many photographic challenges . . . I lost many photos to difficult lighting.

There was a lot to see . .  including some exposed geology . . .

. . . and ferns, lots of ferns.

And a few flowers.  I do not know if these are wild or the remnant of some forgotten farmstead.

The scenery was serene and quiet, except for an occasional rush of wind trough the high branches.

We enjoyed the walk immensely.

The trail was very well marked . . . we didn't get lost.

I saw this bouquet stuffed in the crotch of a tree out in the forest.  I don't know why, but it was such a strong image.

I had fun trying to think through what a good forest still life portrait might look like.

Except for a few steep sections, the trail was mostly flat.  We enjoyed ourselves and only had a few drops of rain fall. [All of these photos were taken with the Fuji X-E1 camera and 27mm f2.8 lens.]

I ordered the 1.6 Fuji extension tube for my X-Ti and it came yesterday  Using the excellent Fuji 56 f1.2 lens I went out in the yard late in the day.  Hand-held, low light macro photography is not easy and necessitates a very shallow depth of field approach.

I'm happy I ordered that extension tube.  Macro photography can be very rewarding.

It was just too nice out to stay inside.  The light was magnificent, the bumble bees were workingb the rhodies in my back yard.

Pink flower light and shadow.

Small worlds of beauty.

Perfect light for flower photography.  I had grabbed the small Fuji X-E1 and pancake (27mm) lens when I went out the door.

So much of the natural world was bursting out in bright colors.

Sine I had spent the entire day inside ironing clothes! There was still a little last minute sunshine left in the day.  Fortunately, there is an award winning park right round the corner, Johnston Gardens, with the trees showing a wisp of new budding leaves.

The light came into the park at a steep angle.

This the light that photographers love: magic light, golden light, golden hour light.

Many bushes and trees were in new bloom or colorful bud.  Mmmmm.

It didn't matter which way I shot the park, it was just as beautiful.

The sharp golden light illuminated the tangle of limbs and branches of the flowering bushes near the blue Japanese bridge.

There were ducks feeding on the pond as the sun slowly set.

Flowering plants were in all stages of budation and flowing.

Hard woody buds.

My camera started flashing a red battery image.  In my haste I left the house without checking the battery. I had to move fast now.

I started shooting flowers just to record their beauty.

I decided to come back the next day to savor the color and beauty . . . .

. . . but Scotland would not cooperate!  A sleet and snow storm arrived the following day!

I have three weeks off for Christmas/New Years holiday every year.  Neither of us had ever been to South America, so why not this year.  There are many issues and complications for my wife to get visas in many South American countries, but Argentina was most amenable . . . and number one on my list of places to see was Tierra del Fuego and the high dessert passes of the Andes mountain range . . . Argentina had both!  So we set off from Aberdeen International Airport one cold December morning bound for Buenos Aires, via Frankfurt, Germany! 23 hours later we landed in Argentina!

Our trip plan was to spend equal amounts of time exploring the city of Buenos Aires, experiencing adventures in nature around the Patagonian town of Ushuaia, and the wine producing area around Mendoza, which also served as a gateway to the high Andes.

We arrived late in Buenos Aires and made our way to our boutique hotel in the Palermo district.  It was wonderfully warm in the evening, as Argentina was in their summer months.

The next day was a Sunday, so we took the underground to the famous Sunday Street market.  I loved the street art in Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires is a very colorful city.  Now I know why the police wear the bright orange vests - urban camouflage!

There were many street performers out, like this puppeteer.

The street market was in a part of town that had many antique and knick-knack shops.

This [embossing?] machine was just waiting for a collector.

We spent the next three days exploring the vast city by foot . . . and shopping. I discovered this sculpture 'grave yard' for old statuary . . . and perhaps some new ones.  Very photogenic.  I took many, many photos in Buenos Aires and will, in the near future post the rest of the good ones here.  BE PATIENT!

Ushuaia - The End of The World!

From the lovely warmth of Buenos Aires, we arrived back in the cold again in Ushuaia - fin del mundo.

The views of the southern Andes were breathtaking.

Ushuaia harbour, where cruise ships stop for supplies, and specialized ships depart for Antarctica.  The city of Ushuaia is the furthest south of any city on earth.

The sunsets from our hotel room in Ushuaia were magnificent.

We had several meals of Patagonian King Crab.  Extraordinarily yummy!

It was mid-summer in Ushuaia and the flowers were all in bloom.

The poppies were especially beautiful.

Unfortunately, all the small over night cruise ships to the local glaciers were booked even before we decided to go to Patagonia (we tried to book in September), however, good guide books suggested hiring a taxi for the day in front of the ship passenger terminal, which we did one day.  We went out to the Tierra del Fuego National Park which is adjacent to Ushuaia.  We saw a lot there, and I will post more photos soon.  This is a beaver dam.

One of our days in Ushuaia was wet, so we took a half-day bus tour north up into the southern Andes.  Marvelous views all the way.  We stopped often at all the points of interest.  We were glad we took the tour . . . we saw so much beauty.

We had an excellent and informative bus tour guide.

The bus tour went as far north as Fagnano Lake.

It was hard to believe that this was a lake!  Lake Fagnano is fed by high Andean glaciers which give it the distinctive green color.

We drove back to Ushuaia through the high pass of the south Andes.

The following day we took another tour, this time to a science center that finds and preserves whale bones for display in museums around the world . . . whales that have dies a natural death.  The tour also would take us to see PENGUINS!

It was summer in Patagonia and the place was alive with flowers.  Our penguin expedition  left from an old homestead.

It was a grey and damp day when we headed off to see the penguins.

We took an inflatable boat out to an island  . . . .

The island was full of hundreds of penguins . . . of different varieties.

Our eco guides taught us how to act and react to penguins (move slowly and do not reach out to them or give them anything).

There were penguins everywhere!

Penguins are not shy.  I guess they thought we were just really tall penguins.

There were many pairs of penguins.

Because penguins are not shy, I could go right up to them and take close-up photographs.  Fantastic!

A mother penguin protecting her little gosling.

We returned to Ushuaia after a quick stop at this vintage Patagonian out house.

Patagonia was wonderful, but we said good-bye . . . and flew off to Mendoza in the far airid northwest of Argentina.

MENDOZA

Our time in Mendoza was split in three (3) parts, with a return to the city each evening. 1) The desert road and winding dirt road up the mountains on Argentina Highway 52; 2) The Uco Valley wine growing region an hour out of the city (and a surprise!); and 3) The drive up Argentina Highway 7 to the Chilean boarder through the magnificent high Andes arid pass.

Central Mendoza was a tree-lined and charming old provincial town.

The city is built around Independence Park, where people congregate in the evenings.

As Highway 52 left the city of Mendoza, the houses became older and made of adobe.

A cactus in the sky.

As is often the case in a desert environment, there are different zones created by differences in elevation, moisture, and soil . . each with its own unique flora and fauna:  I passed through a zone of cacti.

Driving through the high desert scrub brush towards the Andes on Highway 52 . . . one of my favorite things to do is drive on small desert roads with the horizon far off at the end of a ribbon . .  and the windows all open with the radio loud.  I hadn't done that in a long tome.  Too long.

Such a lovely place!

A white Catholic altar . . . in the middle of nowhere . . . made it somewhere.

The weather alternated between cloudy with a light sprinkle and bright sunshine.

As I neared the base of the Andean foothills, I came upon a zone inhabited by Alpacas, a relative of the Llama.

The group of Alpacas stopped to check me out.  They are ridiculous with cuteness!

This is what I had come to see . . .

. .  the secret valleys up along the twisting gravel mountain road.  Astonishing!  This is my favorite topology and geography. 

And by 'Twisty Road' I mean very twisty road!

Just me, my rent-a-car, and a winding mountain track.  I loved driving up into the hills on this road.

I ran out of time before I ran out of wonder - I didn't want to drive back in the dark.  The view from the top was vast.

I had to chuckle at this sign . . . . talk about understatement!

I saw one other Alpaca high up on the mountain side.

I got out of the car and took a short walk to a promontory overlooking the big plain, the Pampas, of Argentina.  There were beautiful plants in bloom . . . and hungry wasps.

I took in one last grand view and drove back down the mountain to Mendoza. The next day, New Years Day, we would go to the Uco Valley vineyards.

We got up early, even though we had celebrated New Years Eve at a fun party with a bunch of vacationing Brazilians at the Hilton the night before.  The Uco Valley also had beautiful old adobe vineyard structures.

I love the character, like a face, of old doors and windows,  I was in photographers' heaven with these examples.

Old doors . . . what is the enticement for me?

It was a beautiful day for a drive around the vineyards of Uco Valley.  If you have ever had Argentine wine it probibly came from this valley.

We found a gourmet restaurant out in the vineyards and had a fabulous lunch.  The owner made some nice art with his empty wine bottles.

This old wall, something out of the 19th century, gave me the feeling of an era gone by.

We saw many of these roadside shrines along the hilly road back to Mendoza from the Uco Vally.  They were either 'Lets hope the Virgin Mary can assure good brakes' shrines, or were shrines to someone who lost their life on the highway nearby.  I stopped at a couple of them.  The next day my wonderful wife booked a surprise!!!

The surprise was a day spent at a mountain hot springs spa!  Win Win!

A natural hot spring has fed the spa for over a hundred years.

A little cold glacial water from the river is added to each pool so that they become progressively less hot the further down you go.  You start at the bottom and work your way up until you arrive at the pool that is cooking you.  I got cooked . . . turned lobster red and had to be told to get out and get in the cooling shed!  We spent a wonderfully relaxing day at the spa.  The price included a "buffet lunch" . . . which turned out to be a feast of every kind of food know to mankind . . . from Japanese to Indian, to health food, to Argentine delicacies, all of it delicious.  We stuffed ourselves!

 More to come!