For some reason I can’t quite define, doors seem to be a popular photographic subject. Perhaps it is curiosity about what lies behind them — both the prospect of something being hidden and the notion of leaving one space and entering another. I often photograph them without quite knowing why, only intuiting that they appeal to me. Here I liked the contrast between the cold and angular nature of the stone structure and the the organic forms painted on the doorway.
Continue reading A Doorway
I look for a various things when photographing cities — people, architecture, color and texture, special light, subjects that characterize the area… and things that just seem a bit odd, out of place, and hard to explain. This photograph falls into the last category, though I also like the contrast between the pure white of the chair and the darkness and heaviness of the rest of the scene.
Continue reading Chair, Steps, and Door
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.
Continue reading Cemetery Gate
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.”
Continue reading Kirk of St. Nicholas