This afternoon my husband and I went for a walk along the Ness Islands – little low islands of trees and winding paths sitting slap bang in the middle of the River Ness, linked together by a series of small ironwork footbridges stretching across from bank to bank. Another dull grey day weather-wise, but we had a lovely enjoyable walk anyway 🙂
Tag: river
Footbridge Fun with Filters
Still having fun playing about with online filter effects – two Victorian ironwork footbridges crossing the River Ness in Inverness, Scotland 🙂
Along the River Ness
Todays’ outdoor exercise took me along the river for a change, instead of along the canal, so I thought I’d share some images with you on this lovely Sunday afternoon 🙂
River Ness, Inverness, Scotland
April A-Z: R is for River
The River Ness runs right through the City of Inverness, the name itself coming from the Scottish Gaelic Inbhir Nis, basically meaning ‘Mouth of the River Ness’. The river flows about 10km (6 miles) from Dochgarroch Weir at the northern end of Loch Ness down to the Beauly Firth, so it’s a relatively short distance but nevertheless carries quite a lot of water out to sea.
And now I have to write a whole post about the river, I find I have absolutely no idea what else to say about it! Still, I’ve managed to find some images I haven’t posted before, so all is not lost… 🙂
For this year’s A-Z I’m going to take you on a photographic tour of My Inverness, Past and Present. I grew up in the local area, I went to school here and brought up my three children here, but I moved away to London for 18 years before returning home for good at the end of last summer.
P.S. My initial plan for my A-Z posts has necessarily been curtailed somewhat due to the current coronavirus pandemic, but we’ll get through the alphabet one way or another, however creative my use of subjects may have to be – so thank you for visiting Inverness with me, and I hope you enjoy our trip!
Wandering and Pondering
Whenever I have difficult things in life to contemplate, I always like to go for a walk, preferably in nature. Wandering and pondering is how I like to think of it, my little calming ritual I carry with me everywhere.
The rhythmic beat of walking soothes me, the solidity of the earth beneath my feet grounds me, the fresh air revives me and the seasonal continuity of trees and flowers and water and sky and the way everything blends together to create the vastness of our beautiful landscape helps keep me sane in an increasingly mad world.
And I like to take my camera with me when I walk, so usually when I see something particularly beautiful-to-me that captures my attention I like to stop and photograph it. Maybe a different perspective, or the movement of water, or the way the light catches something is all it takes…
And so I usually return from my walk refreshed in body and mind, ready to face whatever difficulties lie ahead, until the next time… 🙂
Daffodils on the Riverbank
Daffodils on the riverbank for today’s Flower of the Day 🙂
Moving Water
It’s fun to play about with slower exposures and moving water, although sometimes I find it’s hard to achieve the actual creative effect I visualise in my mind’s eye before pressing the shutter. But last month’s storms with such heavy rainfall left a swollen river ripe for capturing, and these are some of my favourite more artistic shots from the worst of it. It was snowing a bit, so the sky was relatively dark, and the water was flowing so fast it was possible to hand hold the camera and still succeed with minimal camera shake 🙂
Seagulls Paddling
Not technically the kind of leading lines Cee was probably looking for, but this line of seagulls paddling in the shallows of the swollen river creates a little punctuated border between grassy bank and flowing water 🙂
Watercolours
No not watercolour paintings, but the true colours of actual fast-moving river water captured in long exposure shots flowing under a bridge. Hand-held, because I didn’t have my mini tripod with me, but I’m happy enough with the way they turned out 🙂
Ness Bank
Sometimes I take a random pic (one of many) while out and about where I find the whole thing particularly aesthetically appealing. I’ve no idea why this image appeals to me so much – but then beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. I think it’s the way the trees and the bridge and the river just come together that works so well for me. I’ve processed it in black and white too, and for me the monochrome version looks just as good! 🙂
