Friday, August 3, 2012

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.

2 comments:

eric hosford said...

Lovely photos as always meg! very cool and subtle diptych. also, great cropping on the untitled one

Elyse said...

Thanks! Somehow managed to make that one an in camera crop as is my style. That's the full frame.