The Light of Orkney

(untitled) - Kirkwall, 2012.

So, I spent two weeks in Scotland this April.  It was my first time in that neck of the woods and I tried to make the most of it by going on a sort of whirlwind tour of the country.  Started in Edinburgh, on to Aberdeen, took a ferry up to the Shetland Islands, down to Orkney, further down to the mainland at Scrabster, through Inverness and back down to Glasgow.  It was travel at quite a fast clip but well worth every second.

And I have to say, the highlight of the trip was the time I spent in the Shetland and Orkney islands.  Wonderful, brilliant and stunning places.  They command a very humble awe.  And the light in Orkney was positively stunning.  Sunset seemed to linger on forever with the most delicate grace.  A bombastic medley of brilliants oranges and reds it was not.  Rather it was a devastatingly subtle glow that made the otherwise stereotypically scottish weather ever so slightly warmer in color.  In fact it gave me a whole new appreciation of subtle color, something I've only ever experienced with a few of the pictures I got back from Japan.  Perhaps this is a new trend.  Or perhaps it just means I need to go back and play  in that light a little bit more.  And so, a (sort of) diptych:

In - Kirkwall, 2012.

Out - Kirkwall, 2012.