“The writing’s on the wall” — An Aberdeen wall covered in street art and other things.
This is another photograph from our day in Aberdeen, Scotland. We basically spent the majority of the day walking — going down toward the dock area from our lodgings and then wandering. In an old section of central Aberdeen we found ourselves in an area with a lot of street art — posters, paintings, graffiti, and more. One surprise was that it all seemed oddly organized and neat. View this photo large, and try to make sense of the collection of bits and pieces.
“Cemetery Gate” — Cemetery, gate and stairs, Kirk of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen.
Often when I make a photograph I remember a lot of specific details about the subject, how it looked, and why I chose to photograph it. But I’m not always good about recalling specific locations. (In many cases the “what” seems more important to me than the “where.”) I’m pretty certain that this is an entrance to the cemetery around the Kirk of St. Nicholas in Aberdeen, Scotland. But while I recall the general layout of the place and the subjects I saw, I’m not precisely sure about the location beyond that general description.
“Kirk of St. Nicholas” — Black doors and entry arch, Kirk of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen.
There is a bit of a story about our May visit to Aberdeen, after our northwest Scotland loop and before we flew to Ireland. Patty had been to Aberdeen decades ago for a music festival, when she was on an international orchestra tour, and I think she has always wanted to revisit this place. In addition, it seemed like a good place to enjoy a couple of slow days before embarking on the rest of our six-week trip through Scotland, Ireland, and England. So we had no big plans, and on this day we simply headed off on a “random walk.”
“Poetry 86” — A weathered Aberdeen wall with graffiti, pipes, and street art.
It may seem odd that someone cast as a “landscape photograph” is also intrigued by rough-edged urban scenes. To some these subjects may seem as radically different from natural landscapes as can be imagined, but I see connections. In fact, I like to think of photographs like this one from Aberdeen, Scotland as “urban landscapes.”
