A drive through Stornoway

A drive from Goat Island to the Tong Road end. Through Stornoway, Laxdale and part of Newmarket.

Filmed on HTC Desire.

Cloudy With a Chance of Stew

Cloudy with a chance of soya stew. Using sunglass lens as a filter over the HTC Desire’s lens. And the FxCamera application.

Passing Place

Sometimes we just need to pull over.

TiltShiftMaker

I got distracted by some of the cracking images at "Examples Of Tilt-Shift Photography", and re-discovered tiltshiftmaker.com 

 

I uploaded a photo from earlier in the week and started to modify the distortions. I’ll need to get some shots to specifically modify them for Tilt-Shift.

It’s good for the garden

Another FxCamera snap from "ymst"'s Android app and my HTC Desire. Text added in post'.

Sun Rise

Being able to sleep with the skylight open meant that I was awoken by the glowing yellow ball of fire in the sky this morning. A quick check on Google Sky Map identified it as "The Sun". I dusted off dSLR and clattered out of the house, negotiating doorways while tripod bag was working loose from my shoulder.

Callanish (batch 2)

Following on from earlier, here are some more photos from my visit to the Callanish Standing Stones on New Year’s Eve 2009. The weather lightened up and so I decided to risk the roads. My parents had a HOST guest staying, Zhe, from China, so we did the ‘circular’.

Yup, the 4,000 year old stones are still a useful shelter.

More to follow when I next get some time to myself.

Softly, softly

I’m still around, just up to my eyes with other things – work, wargames, and women. Okay, so two out of three ain’t bad.

Here’s a dodgy photo from my Christmas break at my parents. The Callanish standing stones in the snow on the Isle of Lewis. When I get some time, I’ll do a catch-up post of my un-exciting life.

Stornoway Homecoming 2009

Massed pipe bands in Stornoway today. They were really good, and were having fun.

There was a parade and stalls and the rescue helicopter did amazing feats of control and slides and a fair and dancing and a craft fair and the international market and there was lots and lots and lots of people at it and even the police car had streamers on it.

Birlinn

One of the books I got in the excellent Ullapool Book Shop yesterday was the "Kingdom of the Isles:Scotland’s Western Seaboard, 1100–1336" by R. Andrew McDonald. I noticed that, once more, it was a book from the publishers, Birlinn. Rather appropriately, it features a birlinn on the cover, as seen on the right of the carving.

Sholto of Scheltrum Miniatures has been modelling some birlinn, and some of us at the club are talking about a "Lord of the Isles” campaign. It should be fun, and give us clansmen a bit of personal background to research.

Right Turn for Lyngdal

Using http://www.shipais.com/currentmap.php?map=Minch to see where other ships out on the Minch are going. Weather channels are open and commented on too.

Civil War in Pairc

A bitter dispute ensued, until the mission house furniture and the missionary’s cow were burnt and twelve hens belonging to a Lemreway resident who had sided with the missionary were decapitated. Later a bull in the village died in mysterious circumstances...

Read the full story here

Need a location map? Click here.

The Iolaire Disaster

There was a very good programme on tonight about the Iolaire Disaster of New Year’s Day 1919. A horrific sinking of a boat packed with sailors coming home after the end of the Great War. 205 men, fathers, sons and brothers were killed. 80 survived.

It was a touching piece, and there is a website to investigate across bbc.co.uk/alba/tbh/iolaire/

To give some idea of the losses – between 1914 and 1918, the village of Leurbost lost 18 men (according to the memorial inscription listed by the North Lochs Historical Society). In addition to that, 11 were lost when the Iolaire hit the rocks at the entrance to Stornoway harbour. One poor soul’s body was found within sight of his house in Sandwick.

The programme discussed the impact that it had on those widows and families left behind. One girl had her Gaelic name changed to remove her father from it.

I go past it most times that I travel home. The sun sometimes marks the spot. (Maplink)

Have a look at the website. It doesn’t matter if you don’t speak Gaelic. They have video clips of the Iolaire sailing, interviews with the families and some historical ones of the survivors. Have a look at the faces of the departed, and you’ll see the same faces on many streets in Scotland, or Canada, or Australia or the myriad places we have diasporad to.

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Footnote: The full, subtitled, programme isn’t being shown on the iPlayer, and the original showing on BBC Alba is now unavailable.

Marag dubh with view

Marag dubh with view, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

A flat crossing. The east coastline is coated in a layer of cloud. A mac user is entertaining his kids by playing recent doctor who episodes. Just a shame he doesn't have a projector unit. But my brain is doing the job of video feed to supplement the audio overspill. Outside the clouds are clearing as the heat from the sun comes into play. I may go for a walk on deck. After i finish coffee.

Drawn to a close

Drawn to a close, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

"why are they drawing in the sky". Back from the fireworks display in stornoway, with a stop-off at cameron's chippy. Big changes for 2009. I've no idea what they will be, but i'm determined to have a laugh, spend no time on people determined to drag me down and i'm going to spend more time finding answers in books rather than skimming the net in the hope i might find the same solution. Web2.0 is dead. It promised much but ends as a giant chatroom. Cloud computing needs an expansion of the network capacity. Will we exit the recession with a globe-spanning high-capacity mobile network? Will we be drawn to the cloud? The future belongs to us. Maybe i'll see you there.

FMAO Stornoway

FMAO Stornoway, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

About 4'c outside, so alpkit filo and mountain hardwear gloves in evidence. As is the big polis landcruiser that pulls up parallel to the aktomobile. I ignore them. I have no stolen trees on view. The special branch drive off. Later i see same vehicle across harbour with its blue lights going. Poor sods. A difficult job.

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North Beach, Stornoway. Photographed from the Castle Grounds. For those unfamiliar with the place, this is the beach to the north of the town, and from the grounds of the castle. (maplink) f/4.5, 1.3", 27mm

South Beach, including the Town Hall. With the eternal stream of car headlamps creating the white-snake spectral glow through the town. The stillness of the night cut by the harping of car horns and revving of engines. A car pulls up sharpish behind me and a gaggle of girls giggle, unseen by me, and the young lad driving drives off around town once, twice, more. (maplink) f/16, 15", 18mm

Stornoway's South Beach and ferry terminal as seen from Goat Island. (maplink) f/16, 10", 27mm

From the same location, but using the 55-200mm lens. Lews Castle, imposing itself over Stornoway, even across two stretches of water. f/5.6, 6", 200mm

So Long and Thanks for all the ...

Woolworths closes its doors in Stornoway.

To say that it was the 'heart' of the town is an understatement. Always busy. Always things to buy. No more.

Natural Born Lens Flare

Well, the sun cast long shadows for most of the day. It wasn't warm enough to clear the dew from the car. The long finger reaching to the sky is the war memorial on the outskirts of Stornoway. Maplink

I tend to tilt the camera downwards so that the light doesn't blind the sensors. I used the Canon Ixus 950 for this one. Cropped and resized.

The sun might come out tomorrow

The sun might come out tomorrow, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

Well, the first sun that i've seen rise in over a week. I feel guilty at not slaughtering a sheep in celebration, or at least going somewhere with the big camera. Frankly, i can't be @rsed when i feel forced into doing something when i'm really not in the mood. I could walk round the castle grounds snapping away like a tow-rist, but, i mean, it isn't interesting like the Yukon. Anyway, i'm Mum's taxi today, so i'll use that as am excuse.

IR wishing for weather change

Manipulation using Virtual Photographer, following workflow from IRbuzz. Same photo as before. It is raining outside. It is overcast outside. I am inside. My niece is doing her best to impersonate a herd of elephants, trumpeting "unka dunkan" before setting off too or from the watering hole (kitchen).