Well being; aisle number 5, next to the eggs…
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Category Archives: photography
Late autumn, Argyll…
We took a turn about today- to the woods and the beach, with a few craft fairs visited in village halls on the way.
I took my camera of course.
The blessing of darkness…
(Our house lit by a bit of slave ‘flash painting’ work on a long exposure.)
Last week we had a lovely couple staying as guests in our annex from London. This was their first time in Scotland, and they were blown away by the beauty, and even more so by the peace and quiet.
One of the things they mentioned too was darkness. The kind of darkness that you only get at some distance from light pollution that bounces off clouds and leaches into every corner. Their reaction to a walk up our drive at night was a combination of fear and wonder.
All of which led me to think about the juxtaposition of light against dark, goodness against badness, truth against falsehood, etc. All those old polarities; one of which we ascribe to God, the other we blame on the flesh or the devil.
One of which can not exist without the other.
So, light can only be understood in the knowledge of darkness. As Jesus put it;
…the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.Matt 4:16
I started to think about how all of these things might exist in the mind of God.
And the Darkness became purple again.
Guy Fawkes…
We gathered to celebrate the failed terrorist plot to blow up the houses of Parliament today.
(Or from a different perspective…)
They gathered today to burn another Catholic freedom fighter in effigy.
The photo above freaked me a little- it looked like a man being burnt on a cross- which would be slightly appropriate I suppose.
So I chose to engage with the bonfire and fireworks (both of which I love) as a means to remember a time when Protestant and Catholic were set against one another, and truth tribalism was let loose on the land like a pack of raging wolves.
No light is ever wasted…
It should not work this photo- taken as it is into the low winter sun. But I love the contrast between the hazy bleached out brightness, through to the leaves lit like light bulbs and down to the silver stream in the depths of the gorge.
Each particle of light precious.
Slow shutter speed…
We are just back from a lovely day out- a welcome break from all the work on the house. We took a walk along the River Clyde from New Lanark– a truly beautiful place- rushing water, falling ochre leaves and the whiff of quiet industrial philanthropy from the old buildings.
Just the place to slow down the shutter speed and let the camera smile…
The closing of the day…
Wind…
The wind blows where it pleases
Sometimes barely breathing
-hardly moving the tender grass
Sometimes raging
-bowing the trees like penitents
But no-one knows where it blows from
Or the place it now is heading
So it is with you, child of the Living God
So give yourself to the wild winds of the Spirit
Ride them like a Storm Petrel
Inches from a dancing sea
Held in the curl of creation
Full of the joy of it all
From John 3 7-9
I said I would post no more photos of rainbows…
… I lied.
Photos never really do them justice though- this one arched from one horizon to the other, and then doubled up as an added bonus.
Despite myself, here is the view from our front door;
The night is very long…
This is Emily’s arty shot of me- looking appropriately messed up.
I have had a week of being ill- a rattling cough that keeps me awake all night- not helped by the fact that I am half way through fitting a bathroom so am living in dust.
I am just at the end of three nights with hardly any sleep. In fact last night, I went outside to watch the dawn around 6AM after a long night of wakefulness.
But there are compensations;
this fragile tent 