A shot from last summer, taken on Kirkcaldy prom.
Kirkcaldy Old Kirk & Kirk Wynd
There has been a church on the site of the Old Kirk since circa 1240.
This photo shows the tiny remaining medieval section of Kirkcaldy, just off of Kirkcaldy’s High Street.
It’s totally unrepresentative of what the town really looks like, but still it is central to the town’s history.
From Dysart Harbour To The Forth And The Sea
Another image from the lost blog entries.
I did a tidy up of this – rotation to straighten the horizon, sharpening and curves – and gave a framed A4 print as a Christmas gift.
It’s a nice image in this version – it’s really lovely with those simple adjustments
Pigeon on Setts
Le Tantrum
One of the original posts lost when the database was deleted in 2006.
This is a personal favourite of mine, just some little french lad having a tantrum by the Old College in Edinburgh.
Park Place
First of a new series.
My home town, Kirkcaldy, used to be renowned for it’s pottery in the past, and one remnant of that long extinct industry is the continuing existence in older parts of the town of ceramic street name signs.
My intention is, if possible, to take a complete record of these remaining street signs.
I’m particularly fascinated by the typeface used and would love to know more about it.
Poppy Seed Heads
First post of a new year.
I intend to put up as near to one picture a day as I can over the year, but I’m not going to be too upset with myself if I end up with only one a week at times.
This particular photo was taken in December 2007 using my bargain basement 2nd hand Pentax MZ-50 body using Fuji Superia Extra 400 ISO film. I love the extremely shallow depth of field, which indicates to me that I used the Pentax-A f1.7 50mm lens to take the shot. The bokeh is particularly lovely when with this lens when used wide open.
Rich Red, Pale Pink
My God It’s Full Of Stars 2
Orion in the night sky.
Long exposure (30 Secs) means you can see the rotation of the earth in the streaking of the stars. The bloom in the bottom of the picture was caused by a security light going on and briefly lighting up the trees.
Sculpture 2
The earlier entries on this blog were deleted by a malicious attack on the database server.
This is a photo of a relatively recent addition to the public art in George Square gardens in Edinburgh.
I was trying to get a sense of the reflections of the sculpture, without including myself, but I’m not sure it really worked all that well.
Transferring
Transferring
I have moved transmission to a WordPress back end, this page will redirect you there in 5 seconds.
The Man Who Was Thursday
The Man Who Was Thursday
G.K. Chesterton
Syme is a poet and an anti-anarchist policeman. He cleverly gets voted on to the Supreme Council of Anarchists as Thursday.
The rest of this story details his adventures as he attempts to derail the activities of the Council.
This is a blackly comic, surreal tale, with many layers of meaning.
I’d recommend it, but I don’t really know why. Anyway you can get a download of it via project gutenberg like I did and read it as an e-book.
Rating: B+
Thud!
Thud!
Terry Pratchett
The latest Discworld book. This is another focussing on Sam Vimes, and the City Watch.
The city is on edge, Dwarfs and Trolls are spoiling for a fight as Battle of Koom Valley day approaches. A high-ranking religious dwarf has been killed and Vimes has to find the person really responsible before the city falls apart. All the while making sure he makes it home for 6pm to read ‘Where is my Cow’ to young Sam Vimes jr.
Vimes is my favourite Discworld character after the outstanding ‘Night Watch’ and this book has done nothing to change that.
Not in the very top rank of Discworld books, this one is nonetheless very strong and has some interesting things to say. It’ll be interesting to see how the events that happen in this book play out in future books.
I’d recommend this to anyone. Pratchett is a genius.
Rating: A-
Anansi Boys
Anansi Boys
Neil Gaiman
Fat Charlie’s Dad is dead. Fine time to learn that he was a god. Oh and to find out that you’ve got a brother.
This is a brilliant mixture of horror and comedy, handled with Gaiman’s customary skill.
Odd thing about this one is that I think it may work better as an audiobook.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It’s such an unusual creature that I can see it appealing to a really wide audience.
Rating: A
The Hidden Family
The Hidden Family
Charles Stross
The second book in Stross’ new fantasy series. This one wraps up the story started in the first.
The heroine spends much of this story in a third parallel world, building up interests to protect herself from the various people out to kill her.
This is very entertaining, well written fantasy and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.
Rating: A
Oh, yeah and I read The World According To Clarkson by Jeremy Clarkson too. I’m not proud. Oh and it was crap.