Let there be light

Fife holiday 2026 #20

Whilst wandering the streets of St Andrews, I was delighted to come across a shop that still had its original Victorian cast iron and glass pavement lights, intended to allow a certain amount of light into the basement below. There used to be some in Saltaire but I think they have all been removed. The glass and iron deteriorates over time (those shown have been repaired with wood in places). I do like them. They usually look dusty and dull in situ but a bit of processing trickery lifts the colours. 

 

Ahoy there!

Fife holiday 2026 #19

It seems that on the East Neuk of Fife coast, the trendiest thing to place in your window is a model sailing boat. There were lots of them. I decided they would make a nice subject for a small photo project. There were also a few on date stones or above doors, so I included one of those. 

Fife doors

Fife holiday 2026 #17

I enjoy creating mini projects as well as narrative photos when I'm on holiday. For some reason I'm always drawn to doors - perhaps because they're both familiar and strangely comforting, whilst also being portals to the unknown. There's generally a wide variety to be spotted, some more cared for than others. So here are six Fife doors! 🤣🤣

Top left, in Crail, had a sign saying 'Bellringer Cottage'. signifying what the original owner's role was. Their house looked directly out to sea towards the Isle of May. If a ship was in distress or shipwrecked, they would ring a bell loudly so the whole village would come and help. These small fishing villages were tight knit communities and their lives depended on it.

Top middle, also in Crail, had a date stone of 1632. It's a listed building but I can't find out much more about it. 

Top right, Downie's Terrace in Crail, built in 1878 by a local farmer specifically to accommodate Victorian summer visitors. 

Bottom left, also in Crail, has a carved relief of a sailing boat above the doorway and some fine stained glass in the door. 

Bottom middle, a cottage called The Sporran in Crail. A sporran, of course, is the traditional leather and fur pouch worn in front of a kilt (since a kilt has no pockets). 

Bottom right, an ornate stone doorway somewhere in Anstruther, with a date stone of 1718. 

Lastly, below, a rather lovely wood carving above a door, said to be St Adrian. St Adrian of May, whose legacy is deeply tied to Crail and the East Neuk of Fife, was reputedly killed by invading Vikings in AD 875. His namesake chapel ruins are located on the Isle of May, while coastal caves linked to him sit just outside Crail along the Fife Coastal Path.

Line side

Another collage of five 'lines', as part of the little project I've been challenging myself to try. It's good occasionally to free yourself up and just play with ideas. I quite like the colour palette here, as well as the lines. 

Learning my lines

I subscribe to a few newsletters by photographers, and about photography. One of them recently suggested a project to take five photos of 'lines', which seemed a bit of a different challenge. So I set off around Saltaire looking for 'lines'. Here's one set of five that I found. 

It's fun to try different things, outside one's usual 'box'. 

Mono squares

Here are a few more 'squares' from my previous visit to Bolton Abbey, this time in monochrome. Mono sometimes feels like an odd choice in woodland and nature but it brings out the different tones and emphasises shape and texture. It's fun to play with this sometimes. 

Yellow peril

Another in the Colour series, yellow this time. Although it's a cheery colour, I find I don't have much of it. For clothes, it's not a shade that particularly suits my colouring, and around the house it seems reserved for fairly utilitarian items - rubber gloves, dusters and the like. We did once paint our back door yellow, years ago, prompting my mother to warn that we'd be plagued with flies. I never really managed scientifically to prove or disprove that one! Anyway, it's the colour of spring and we've all been longing for spring, so this will help us on the way. 

Rose window

The rooms above the hallway at East Riddlesden Hall have rose windows, one on either side of the house. They are simple, plain glass pieces set in a stone trellis, and each window is different. I decided I'd have a play with them, overlaying one above the other and making them more colourful. I ended up with a few different versions.

 

Rhapsody in blue

And still it rains... and still I'm amusing myself finding 'colour' pictures inside. It's honestly not hard for me to find blue things! It has always been my favourite colour for clothes and I love blue glass. When I moved here, I felt drawn also to decorate with a lot of blue. It's peaceful and, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't feel like a 'cold' colour to me.  

Years ago as a young woman, I visited some friends and was charmed by their mismatched blue and white china plates and dishes, vowing I'd have the same one day. Then life happened...  I was gifted china when I got married and I was never bold enough to start my own collection. One day, many years later, the thought came to me that if I really wanted a blue and white china collection, maybe I should start acquiring some! So I did, picking up random pieces that attracted me in vintage shops and other stores. When I moved house recently and downsized, I kept the blue and white and donated most of my other patterns and colours. You've no idea how happy it makes me to open my cupboard and use all the pretty dishes and plates. I also discovered The Japanese Shop that sometimes has a pop-up store at RHS Harlow Carr. They stock some delightful, delicate, blue and white porcelain, so I've added a few lovely little bowls. 

Original orange

So. Much. Rain! I have been making myself go out for very soggy walks, but it doesn't lead to any inspiration for photography. No photos to play with equals no fun for me, so I resorted to looking for subject matter inside. I found myself drawn to the colour orange. (I can't imagine why! 😂 😂 Heck, someone's taking up too much space in my head rent-free these days!) Despite its current connotations, it's quite a cheery colour, good for brightening up these dark winter days. I look forward very much to a time when it's no longer associated with all that is at the same time both evil and comedic. 

River - again

I met a friend at Bolton Abbey just before Christmas. It was yet another very dismal, damp day, though mercifully not actually raining. We spent most of our time drinking coffee and chatting, though we did have a short walk along the riverbank. A view downstream here is always quite attractive. We went as far as the ford where a lane crosses a small stream that runs down to the river. It wasn't really a day for photography but I enjoyed the peaty colours of the water running over the stones. Some tiny children were splashing in the shallow water, with delighted squeals; it looked fun. I might have joined them if I'd had my wellies on! 

Flaky

Perhaps it's a bit 'flaky' but I can occasionally be found taking multiple photos of an old door or metal panel, when I come across one on my walks. The peeling paint and rusty marks strike me as really quite exciting and interesting. These patterns are far too strong to be useable as a texture on another picture, I feel, yet the colours and shapes still attracted me. 

Framed

Playing with multi-layers... another image from my little project capturing the iconic details of Saltaire. I'm not sure exactly where it's leading as an endeavour but it is fun. Many of Saltaire's houses have windows with rounded arches, and a few have blocked up windows. I had the idea to frame the church's domed tower in a window arch. 

Underwater?

Walking past Salts Mill to the main entrance, I noticed the windows have been lined with some kind of clear film, perhaps to insulate them or to block UV light from spoiling the artworks inside. I can't say I've noticed it on the inside but from outside you can see that it has not adhered uniformly and there are lots of streaks and bubbles. I became fascinated by them and took lots of photos. They gave me the impression of an underwater scene, with weeds and fronds drifting.

Back home, I've been playing with them to create collages. It's a very absorbing pastime, rather addictive! 

The essence of Saltaire

Having lived here for over 25 years, I feel I know Saltaire pretty intimately. There are aspects of it that just scream 'Saltaire' to me and I think I'd recognise them wherever they cropped up. One such 'icon' is the iron railings along Victoria Road and Albert Terrace, which have arched mouldings. Another is the arched windows, both in the houses and in Salts Mill. A third is the original, ornate lamp-posts, once gas powered and now electric (though the Council in its wisdom is adding more modern LED streetlamps, not necessarily an aesthetic improvement!). The whole of the village and the Mill, although built over a span of about fifteen years in the mid-1800s, was designed by the same architects, Lockwood and Mawson. There is an overall cohesiveness to it, which is one of the reasons it is so celebrated and protected as a World Heritage Site. 

I have started a small project to try and capture some of these aspects in a creative way. Here's an example. 

Random finds

These were some random finds I espied on my recent walk. Various antiquities in gardens, a rather well-endowed lady in a tree and a weird woodland monster! 

 

A bit of a nature walk

More from my recent 'mono square' walk, this time a grid of nature based images... dead leaves caught in a fence; a patch of fern and ivy on a wall; early snowdrops; and some dead leaves still clinging to their tree, that phenomenon known as marcescence.

One of my daughter's favourite books when she was a child was 'Stanley Bagshaw and the 22 Ton Whale' by Bob Wilson.  It's about a young Yorkshire lad who had an adventure with a whale in the canal when he was out on a walk. It's all in rhythmic rhyme and has to be read aloud, in a strong Yorkshire accent, which was one of the reasons, I'm sure, that my daughter delighted in it. (I can do a creditable Yorkshire accent, even though I wasn't born and bred here!) Anyway, when young Stanley gets back home for his tea, his mother asks where he's been. 'Oh, I've just been for a bit of a nature walk, Mum' is his reply. I often say that to myself when I come back from a walk with my camera. Just a bit of a nature walk. 

Flowing water

A grid of images of flowing water, taken on my recent walk. 

As I said earlier, I find that applying an artificial limitation on my photography - in this case taking only square, mono images - can sometimes help me to be a little more creative. I can set my camera up so that the backscreen and viewfinder show the image I'm taking as a mono square, so that helps me to frame my composition. The camera captures both a mono square jpg photo and also the normal colour RAW file, so that I can have both on my computer to do what I like with. 

I didn't have my tripod so these were hand-held at a slow shutter speed but they just about work, I think. 

Acer explosion

Another from Thorp Perrow. The acers were a stunning colour, seemingly a darker red than sometimes I've seen them. One or two of them were against a background that was uncluttered enough to try a 'Pep Ventosa' effect (basically several photos taken from different viewpoints, layered and blended to create one composite). Some people can create these in camera using blended multi exposures but my camera won't do that so I do mine in Photoshop. It produces a very similar effect, either way. 

Alphabet

This was another exercise from the 'Mindful Photography' workshop: to find letters of the alphabet in non textual form. It was easier said than done but I think I managed quite well. It was a good project to focus on (pun intended!) on a very wet day as it could be undertaken largely inside.