Sunnyside Studio - photos from around Scotland and beyond

Places in Europe.

These galleries record some of our travels across Europe. We have occasionally taken a car across the Channel or the North Sea but normally we would go by train and if not by Eurostar, by ferry.

Places in Britain

I almost always have a camera with me so this collection of images reflects our random wanderings about Britain. There are one or two favourite places which receive more attention and blank areas we have not got round to visiting yet.

Seascapes

"I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, ...and a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking." (John Masefield)

Landscapes

My landscape photography can be described as of the William Wordsworth school. I can still remember the impact of reading for the first time that strangely neglected work “Composed upon Westminster Bridge with camera” and absorbing the crucial fundamentals of landscape photography.

Birds and Wildlife

There are probably more birds than any other wildlife here. Watching them through the window, during the extended lazy breakfasts granted by retirement, has awoken a new interest and provided a new subject to photograph.

Trains

“Why the fascination with trains?” I am sometimes asked …“Fascination” being the polite word used, rather than the more derogatory “obsession” or “this rather unhealthy interest” which is what is really being asked, and seems to demand some sort of apology.

Serendipity: reflections on an unplanned career.

Should you stumble across my blog and begin to wonder who on Earth could write such stuff, here are a few biographical details about the author, exp...

The Archive: where old ideas come to die.

My Diary The world of an obsessive gardener"I think the answer lies in the soil!" Arthur Fallowfield (Round the Horne 1962 ) Sunday, November 30, ...

My photography

When I was working in East Africa in 1967 I bought a Canon FX for about twenty pounds. Given that environment, it was not difficult for even a compl...

Scottish history

As everyone who studied history at my school will tell you, English History began in 1485 with the accession of Henry VII, and ended in 1745 at Cullo...

Our visit to Looe with foam (and a touch of paranoia.)

We had only been in the apartment for a few minutes when a figure came up the steps, tapped on the door and let himself in. He was wearing a stained and worn high visibility jacket, which we scarcely noticed because our eyes were drawn to his face. His eyes were slightly bloodshot and had what is sometimes described as “the thousand yard stare”, a phrase I had not really understood until then. It was clear that this was an exhausted man drawing on the very last reserves of his endurance and composure.

Tears and white knuckles in La Suisse Normande.

One of the advantages of being retired is that an unexpected opportunity to travel can be indulged without consequences. Halfway down a third or fourth bottle of wine last year, we had agreed, apparently, to accompany Former Colleagues, M and B on a trip to Normandy. When the subject came up again and firm proposals were being made this year, also at the third or fourth bottle mark, even a smooth verbal sidestep by Long Suffering Wife could not disguise the fact that we had no idea what they were on about.

Slab laying for the only modestly competent: an incomplete guide.

Wandering around the garden I often spot something that starts to annoy me. The garden contains many things that could be improved and normally my reaction is to shrug and mentally add the defect, whatever it is, to the long list of “things I ought to do one day”. Sometimes a job will be brought more vigorously to my attention when it happens to coincide with Long Suffering Wife’s complementary lists of “things he ought to do immediately”. Such was the case with the patio.