The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

I had a week of vacation in February 2015 so I decided to take a couple of days and drive the two hours north to the mythical village of Findhorn, on the Moray coast.  I say mythical because during the high times of the 1960's hippie days (daze?), stories from and about 'Findhorn' (actually the Findhorn Foundation, one of the first intentional communities . . . essentially a commune) played large in the mythopoetics of the counter culture.  Tales of giant vegetables, communing with extra terrestrials, and telepathy were often associated with 'Findhorn.'  But Findhorn is also a quaint village and one-time major sea port.  I stayed in the 287 year old Crown and Anchor Inn.  Lovely.

 

I was very lucky with the weather . . . well, the light , anyway.  The temperature was around 36f (3c) in the daytime and 32f (0c) at night.  Good fro February.  Findhorn village was a treat to photograph.

 

Years of salty wind has weathered the town.

 

I scouted the town for lighting conditions before I brought my camera out (Fuji X-T1 with 56mm f1.2 lens).

 

The colors and textures of the aging surfaces were beautiful.  I enjoyed this door with the home-made vent holes.

 

I took a walk out on the 300 year old quay to get a look at Findhorn.

 

Time, weather, sea water, and an invisible hand . . . .

 

I have no idea how old these quay stanchions are . . . hundreds of years?

 

Too much color and texture.

 

The village of Findhorn has a lot of Old World charm.

 

Lovely old stone buildings with slate roofs.

 

I enjoyed walking around in the quiet streets and lanes, looking for color and pattern.

 

The house next to the Crown & Anchor Inn was lovely.

 

Although it was late Winter, everything was trimmed in Findhorn Village and waiting for Spring.

 

In these far northern latitudes it seems like every hour is the golden hour for photography.

 

You could make a fine arts book on these small Scottish coastal village houses.  Such a warm and lovely feeling.

 

The austere rough stone masonry has a beauty all its own.  I like it . . . it is so organic.

 

Nice color at this artist's house.

 

The main avenue in Findhorn makes a loop . . . and comes back around to this church.

 

Along the end, and behind the town of Findhorn is the North Sea.

 

I wasn't the only person out along the sea coast . . . but this man was a bird watcher . . . he had strong binoculars only.

 

I went to the beach several times, once along this foot path.

 

The sun came and went all day long.  The beach access though the dunes.

 

Very handy.

 

The inviting North Sea.

 

The wind was so strong it blew the sand from around any pilings around. . .

 

FINDHORN FOUNDATION - the place hippie dreams are made of.Although Findhorn village was sweet and quaint, I had come to pay my respects, and to personally see for myself, the famous Findhorn community, or commune as we hippies thought of it in the late 1960s, now known as the  Findhorn Foundation.

 

I thought it funny how few expectations I had about Findhorn  before coming here.  I only knew of the stories of a community in Scotland that had people who could communicate with the nature spirits . . . who rewarded them with giant vegetables that grew out of unfertile, rocky soil.

 

This could be anywhere in Jackson or Josephine counties in Oregon . . . hippie architectural chic.

 

Findhorn community was a trailer park (caravan park in the UK) before it was an intentional community and ecovillage.  There are still some wonderful old trailer homes dotted around the property.  This one has the requisite gnome and Beatles homage display. I'm glad there are trailer homes here . .  if one is a renunciant, living a spiritual life, it doesn't really matter what you live in . . . and better to recycle than to cut trees or use other energy sources to construct a house . . .

 

On the other hand, there were clusters of these rather Scandinavian eco-condos around the property as well.  This is a part of the Findhorn Ecovillage, I think.  I didn't get a map at the visitors center.

 

It was a beautiful morning . . . the earliest signs of impending Spring were everywhere.

 

There were plenty of unconventional structures everywhere . . . .

 

It was nice to see that there is another spiritual traveller on this planet who will return again because of attachments to fast and cool cars.  Yes, this is a 1953 MG-TD.  Findhorn is NOT a monastery.

 

There are many interesting things to look at around Findhorn.  The old sits beside the new and the funky beside the modern.

 

The '60s counter culture aesthetic abound.

 

The Findhorn Foundation runs a program of spiritual and therapeutic workshops throughout the year.  I am assuming these come from a sensitivity training workshop, but I am at a loss as to how the therapist/facilitator uses them.  Very photographically interesting, however.

 

This is the current Findhorn Foundation program as of April 1, 2015.

 

I hoped these were where they were as a result of a Graffiti and The Self workshop.

 

Workshop activity or resident youth protestation, or both?

 

I'm glad I had my camera with me . . .

 

I am in the habit as seeing human artifacts as just that: the work of an individual person on a particular day and time.  I have this feel about almost everything I see and touch that is of human origin.

 

The sales office trailer home for the new, yet to be started, condominium project - £78,000.oo for a one bedroom flat.

 

Time and weather.

 

A good place for  old friends to meet and shoot the spiritual breeze . . . some time ago.  How about fixing this one up . . .

 

I decided to see if I could find my way from the Ecovillage through the dunes and on to the North Sea.  There must be a path.

 

Indeed, there was a beautiful path though an extraordinary wood.

 

The woods are managed, not wild.

 

A quiet wood.

 

If you erect a wind power generating tower near a hippie commune you have to expect the graffiti is going to be cosmic.

 

The wooded path led me through the dunes.

 

The Scots are great about providing well marked trails through nature . . . nature walks everywhere.

 

Down to the beach . . . again.

 

The dunes were sandy, but the beach was a stretch of small pebbles for five miles all the way to Burghead.

 

A stones' throw from the spiritual community were these WWII bunkers that had been eroded into the sea . . . I guess there might be a silver lining to this sea level rise . . . .

 

WWII bunker . . .

 

BurgheadI spent a good part of each day exploring the other seaside villages in the area.  This is Burghead . . . a village built on a small peninsula.  The town is surrounded on three sides by the North Sea.

 

Fishermen's houses in Burghead . . . a very windswept and austere town.

 

Burghead harbour looking west from up on the promontory park at the end of the town.

 

The views from the Burghead Visitors Center looking east were scrumptious.  I could barely stand up or hold the camera steady in the 80-90kph wind!.

 

The Burghead Visitors Center marks the end of the peninsula . . . along with a monument marking the site of an ancient Pictish fort dating back thousands of years.  In fact, Burghead is believed to be the city Castra Alata in Ptolemy's early geography of the British Isles.

 

Not much is left of the Pictish fort as a result of the harbour construction in the 19th century.  The ocean views here were fantastic. The wind was incredible!

 

These homes were situated out on the unsheltered tip of the Burghead peninsula. 

 

Every house in Burghead has this view of Findhorn Bay.

 

I drove through the little sea port town of Hopeman on my way to Lossiemouth.  I loved the place names in Moray.

 

Although most of the coast is rocky, there are are also beautiful beaches around Hopeman.

 

The sea and beaches here were beautiful, but there were many low flying jet planes near Findhorn and Lossiemouth, both of which have major British Airforce bases nearby.

 

The road into Lossiemouth passed yet another golf course.  Yes, Scotland is the home of golf and you see golf courses everywhere you go.  I tried to go to that lighthouse you can see in the background but failed to find the access road!  I was disappointed.

 

Lossiemouth has been a settlement or town for over 1000 years.  It also has a fine, photogenic harbour.

 

The city fathers of Lossiemouth did a fine of developing the old warehouses along the quay into shops and restaurants.

 

Lossiemouth harbour is protected by mammoth sea walls.  The North Sea is a wild sea.

 

A wonderful old launch and it's reflection at rest in Lossiemouth Harbour.

 

A surreal Lossiemouth breakwater holding back the pulses of the North Sea.

 

Many beautiful scenes to see . . .

 

I stopped in at a picturesque 19th century hotel for a delicious double latte.

 

There was a nice beach just outside of Lossiemouth.

 

Lossiemouth beach access.

 

I hated to leave Lossiemouth and vowed to return one day to explore it more thoroughly.  But I had a few stops marked on the map to see before it got dark . . .and I didn't want to be out on the small roads on my way back to Aberdeen in the dark.

 

My next stop was the rural Birnie Kirk, founded in 1040, but burned and sacked many times. The structure you see here is still the original 12th century construction.

 

The old folk had no trouble accepting the fact that we would be bones one day . . . and our dearly departed would be bones too.  I've seen these skull and bones grave stones throughout Scotland.

 

Although it was a beautiful (but cold) day when I was there, the moss and lichen on these grave stones indicate a wetter climate.

 

Birnie Kirkegaard (that's 'churchyard' in Danish) was a beautiful place to contemplate my mortality.

 

Ironically, although it was mid-winter, the first signs of an approaching Spring I had seen this year were these snow drops blooming on the graves at Birnie Kirke.

 

I really enjoyed hustling my little boy-racer Juke NISMO around the twisty country lanes of Moray.  It is the perfect car for this purpose . . . it even has torque-vectored AWD for when the road gets slick.  Fun, fun, fun.

 

A perfect mid-February winter's day in Moray, Scotland.

 

The Amazing Spynie PalaceSometimes you get lucky.  While driving home to Aberdeen on a small shire road I spotted a sign that directed me up a drive to Spynie Palace.  I arrived at this gate house and parked.

 

I had no idea what to expect as I walked up the tree lined gravel road.  It was a perfect day.

 

I began to make out the shape of something though the trees . . . .

 

At last  . . .  I got a good glimpse of the palace tower.  Wow.

 

There it is.  Wow!  Spynie Palace, also known as Spynie Castle, was the fortified seat of the Bishops of Moray for about 500 years. The founding of the palace dates back to the late 12th Century.

 

Talk about serendipity! Spynie  Palace has a fabulous history . . . "Ruxby, an agent provocateur of Elizabeth I of England, who had tried to lead Mary, Queen of Scots, into a plot with English Roman Catholics, was imprisoned in Spynie Castle in 1566 for eighteen months.

 

The palace is surrounded by spectacular Scottish countryside.

 

The clear light, deep shadow, and color of sky and castle were perfectly coordinated for these wonderful photographs. 

 

I enjoyed walking around the tower thinking about what would make an interesting angle for a photograph.  I didn't have to think too much . . . . I'm glad I had my new polarizing filter with me to try out.

 

There was a visitors' center . . . closed except for the toilets (thank goodness!).

 

This was the only decorative element on the otherwise austere tower structure.

 

Spynie Palace was built in many phases over it's 900 year history.  The chapel (left) and other structures were under restoration by Historic Scotland, which I am a member.

 

Chapel and quarters.

 

Partially restored chapel and former main gate.

 

The Moray countryside in winter on a clear, cold day.

 

I took hundreds of great photos here . . . but, alas, I can only share a few of them here.  It was a magic afternoon in Scotland.

 

I'll be back in the summer to be able to go inside the tower.

 

I made a wrong turn, as if pulled by an inviable force, into a little village and suddenly stopped beside a dilapidated corrugated shed . . . my obsession!

 

I made it home before dark, and this big rain cloud . . . . Another memorable couple of days in Scotland.

We took a late November 2014 day trip to see the quaint seaside villages of Gardenstown and Pennan.

 

The quaint village of Pennan, Scotland hugs the North Sea.  It's hard to believe that such beautiful places exist!

 

Only one fishing boat left in the Pennan harbour.

 

A dark and stormy morning in Pennan.

 

Tucked in behind the village was a remarkable cottage.  Amazing!  I want to live here!  There was a small inn in Pennan (closed) that we vowed to stay in come Spring.

 

We drove along the narrow country lanes of north Aberdeenshire.

 

We followed the road signs to down a steep hill to Gardenstown.

 

I loved these Gardenstown fishermens' sheds.

 

Gardenstown is still a fishing community, but most of its income now comes from tourism and movie production (the TV series The Barons was filmed here).

 

All of Gardenstown's streets ran down to the sea.

 

A picture perfect seaside village.

 

We walked out to the edge of Gardenstown to take in the view looking East - before returning to the town for a drink.

 

The pub company was good at the 18th century Garden Arms Hotel.

 

We drove further west along the north coast to McDuff, where we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner.  It was a wonderful day on the stormy Scottish coast.

The first week-end of the school year my friend and physics teacher drove down to Knockhill Racing Circuit (in my Juke NIZMO!) two hours south.

 

It started out a nice day, but soon the clouds appeared and a downpour came crashing down.  It didn't dampen the racing however.

 

This race was the penultimate race in the British Touring Car Series.  Very cool cars . .

 

The rain really came down for about 15 minutes.

 

In mid July 2014 we loaded up the car and headed out for a two week road trip up to the Orkney Islands and returning along the top of Scotland and the northwest coast.  AMAZING BEAUTY!

The northernmost parts of Scotland were our objective.  From Aberdeen to Inverness and then on up to the ferry crossing at John O'Groats to the Orkney Islands, then back along the top of mainland Scotland and on down the North West coast to Ullapool before returning to Inverness and then home.

 

There are no large, divided highways in the North of Scotland.  As a result, the route luckily passes through many small villages.

 

I picked up my wonderful wife in McDuff, after her golf tournament.  We headed to Inverness for the first night.  The River Ness passes through Inverness.

 

Inverness is a city of church spires, old bridges, and castles.

 

Inverness Castle.

 

A scene along a sunny summer Inverness street.  Very pleasant.

 

If you know me, then you know I love the blues music.  This busker, the one-man Bang On Boogie Band, was fabulous.  He played several of my requests, and I rewarded him handsomely.

 

Of course, I couldn't pass up taking photos of old windows and doors . . . as is my custom.

 

We terried in the berg of John O'Groats before going out to the ferry terminal.  Here we have the Maritime Museum.

 

We enjoy poking around the craft shops in small Scottish towns.  This one was a cooperative . . . and we bought a few nice things here.

 

I milled around a crabbers' dock snapping away.  That's the ferry terminal and dock in the distance.

 

A heavy mist engulfed us as we neared the ferry terminal at John O'Groats, the furthest point North of the mainland UK.

 

We waited in line for the ferry boarding.  In the summer high tourist season, you have to book in advance for the Orkney Island ferry - we did months before.

 

I walked around the ferry staging area looking for nautical photos as we waited.

 

Looking back along the coast to John O'Groats.

 

At last our ferry to the Orkney Islands arrived.

 

We drove as far north as you can go and then boarded a ferry to the Orkney Islands.

 

The view on the ferry crossing was mystical.

 

Small islands in the Orkney chain appeared in the murky gloom . . . and disappeared.

 

Our first view of Orkney Island late in the late afternoon.  We drove across several smaller islands (South Ranaldsay and Burray Islands) before having a major drama finding the owner of our self-catering apartment in Kirkwall . . . to get the keys.  It took hours, but the silver lining was discovering a nice Chinese restaurant right across the street.  There is a Chinese restaurant in every single town in Scotland, no matter how small or remote!  The owner's daughter finally showed with the keys . . . but not until we had a nice Chinese meal.  We went to sleep early.

 

The next morning we followed the GPS to the little town (pop. 2,100) of Stromness for a walk and some lunch.

 

We spend most of the rest of the day snooping around in the narrow streets of this 16th century fishing village.

 

Stromness was extremely photogenic.

 

Stromness is not a tourist town . . . it is a living, active fishing community.

 

We had five perfect days of weather on beautiful Orkney . . . a rare occurrence we were told.

 

The many bays and inlets of Orkney Island offered stunning views.

 

Many wrecks litter the Orkney coast.

 

Stunning views everywhere.  Not only inlets of the North Sea, but freshwater lakes everywhere.

 

Orkney is the site of some of the most significant archeological sites in the world.  This is the 5000 year old Ring of Brodgar.

 

Prehistoric archeological monuments and sites abound on Orkney.  This is the Ring of Brodgar.

 

The Standing Stones of Stennes.

 

Powerful.

 

Remnants of pre-history litter Orkney.

 

On the Bay of Skaill, sit of the most complete neolithic human habitation ever found.

 

Skara Brae, a complete neolithic village left just as it was during a storm 6000 years when it was abandoned.  The cookery and utensils were still in place, as was the stone slab furniture . . . like a Flintstones house . . . but the real thing.

 

A beautiful manor house, Skaill House, near Skara Brae.

 

Orkney is crisscrossed by ancient stone walls which show the effects of wind and damp weather.

 

We woke early each day and drove the small country lanes. 

 

I was infatuated with the light and textures of this abandoned Orkney farmstead.

 

Old Orkney Homestead on a murky day.

 

Yummie color and textures on this Orkney abandoned farmstead.

 

One wall of the homestead was still damp from the morning's windblown dew.  I can't seem to get enough of these old walls.

 

Wonderful summer wild flowers beautified the Orkney countryside.

 

I stopped often to shoot these magnificently aged and weathered Orkney doors and windows.

 

There was always something interesting and beautiful to see on Orkney Island.

 

We loved our five days on Orkney, but we returned by ferry to the mainland of Scotland.  The tiny roads across the top of Scotland offered fantastic views.

 

Not far from the John O Groats ferry was the Castle of May.  We saw a castle sign on the road and just turned in the drive and discovered it!

 

The Castle of May had beautiful formal gardens. 

 

I could have stayed all day here photographing flowers . . . but we had to make our B&B.

 

Beautiful castle along the north coast of Scotland.

 

The beaches, mountains, and pastoral scenery were breathtaking.

 

One beautiful bay after another greeted us on our road journey.

 

We stayed in small village hotels . . . like this one in the little town of Tongue, Scotland.

 

We stayed the night at the Ben Loyal Hotel in Tongue, Scotland.

 

Our hotel room in Tongue was clean, cheap, and over the bar.

 

This part of Scotland has some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen . . . and I have seen a lot of this world.

 

Many rivers to cross.

 

The sea views came and went.

 

A fantastic road to drive.

 

The trip was made more interesting by historical and geographical information signs.  Thanks Scotland.

 

This is the Coldbeckie Shore referred to in the above sign.  The road was one continuous amazing view.

 

One does not usually associate Scotland with great beaches, but we saw some that would rival the best in the world.

 

The road would sweep inland past these beautiful lakes (lochs) and then turn back to the sea.

 

Just as I snapped the previous photo, a motor home with French license plates pulled up close to the guard rail and this guy popped out and snapped a couple of photos and sped off.  Gotta love the efficiency of the French tourist!

 

Ruins of old houses and castles litter the countryside.

 

Families were out playing on the beach . . . during a very short summer in this part of the world.  It rains almost constantly from October to May in this part of Scotland.

 

Fun scene.

 

The further west we drove across the top of Scotland, the wetter and more lush the scenery became.

 

The glens here were moist and green . . . vestiges of ice age glacial valleys.

 

The northwest coast of Scotland is famous for being wet, dank, and dark.  It was . . . as we neared Ullapool town along the Ullapool Loch it started to rain.

It was mid afternoon when we reached the town of Ullapool (founded in 1788 as a fishing community) . . .  gateway to the Outer Hebrides ferry services.

 

A darkened sky covered Ullapool Harbour.

 

The storm eventually lifted and the Ullapool quay, with its fishing fleet in port,  could be seen.

 

The quaint town of Ullapool lined one side of the quay.  We walked around and poked our noses into a few shops.

 

We bought a model fishing boat here to display in our front window back in Aberdeen (like everybody else does!).

 

I loved the moody, and ever-changing, light along the Ullapool quay.

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!