Week #11 Bangour Village Hospital

The hospital was modelled on the Alt Scherbitz asylum of the 1870s, near Leipzig in Germany, and represents one of the first "colony" plan psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. The Bangour institution comprised individual villas which would house approximately 30 patients each. The village also incorporated its own railway station, a farm, bakery, workshops, recreation hall, school, shop, library, and latterly, a multi-denominational church.
The hospital was requisitioned by the government War Office during both wars when it became "Edinburgh War Hospital" and "The Scottish Emergency Medical Hospital", reverting back to a psychiatric hospital between and after the wars.
The number of patients rose to over 3000 in 1918 so, as well as temporary marquees, prefabricated huts were erected to cope with the demand for bed space, for both patients and staff. This led to the creation of Bangour General Hospital in the surrounding grounds, which was to become a world leader in many medical fields, in particular its esteemed burns and plastic surgery unit which was established in 1940. It also had a 1st class Maternity Unit serving the whole of the county.
In 1989, St John's Hospital opened in nearby Livingston, and services were transferred from Bangour General Hospital, which closed in the early 1990s. The Village Hospital also started to wind down after the opening of St Johns, with the last remaining ward closing in 2004.

Week #10 Kinghorn and South Queensferry

Click on image for large views.

This week I joined the Edinburgh Uni Photo Society on a photography day with Alonso Dias, a photographer from Spain. Alonso specialises in long exposure landscapes, and the point of the day was to learn some of those techniques. One thing I learned was that I need a ND grad filter-I do have a screw on ND filter, and I was able to increase my exposures a little using it. However for some of the day I did my own thing, like these photos of Kinghorn village.

I did try long exposures for the next group, which is why the water has that smooth flat silkiness.

Week #9 Edinburgh

So this week I walked around Edinburgh-the top of Leith Walk, Princes St, and St Andrew's Square
It was a twilight walk and the real object was to have a play with long exposures. One task was to capture movement in passers by, and the other was to create some light trails. Actually-there were very few people out and about, so the people shots were a little problematic!


And if you look at the photo above you can see I amnaged to get people blur-and light trails-in the same photo!!

Week #8 Glencorse

Glencorse is a privately owned estate just south of Edinburgh. The old Kirk has been restored and is now used for weddings. It is lovely as it has not been over restored and is now lit largely by candlelight.

The rest of the estate is so pretty-a lovely trout pond which was partly frozen, rolling farmland, and gorgeous horses.

52 Walks Week #7 Killin

On Saturday we went for an outing to Killin, near the Trossachs. As you can see, it's a very picturesque part of Scotland.
The hills were particularly lovely with that crown of snow on top.

Week #6

This week's walk was at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.
The weather was dreich-love that word-dreich-drizzly and miserable, so a walk around the glasshouses-especially the hot houses-seemed a good idea. And it was!

52 Walks Week #5

Oh my, what a stunning walk I had today. I took around 200 photos, so it was very difficult indeed to pick out a selection to tell the story of the walk. It was a very cold, crisp day, but the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We drove to the top of Talla Reservoir in the Scottish Borders. We had intended to drive further but the road higher up was still impassable due to ice.
This pictures in this first set are all taken around the reservoir.

Along the shore line I came across this little scene:

Those icicles were so prett, twinkling in the sunshine.

I then continued on to tweedsmuir village and the little parish church, which was open. So I was able to get some lovely shots inside and out:


Then further on to the Tweed River.

My favourite photos of the day are the sheep, the door knocker on the church, the icicles, and the wood shed. I adore that woodshed!!

52 Walks #Week 4

Here are the photos I took in the derelict factory at Ratho:


This is my favourite photo of the whole day:

I love the painterly quality.

52 Walks #Week 4

My walk this week was with the Edinburgh Flickr group. We started at Ratho Parich church...

along the canal...

to the Edinburgh International Climbing Centre.

Then back to Ratho where we explored a derelict factory.
I'll will upload the pictures from there separately as Picasa -or blogspot won't allow me to upload more at the moment.

52 walks Week #3

It was tight this week. I didn't get out on the weekend for my walk, and then I was ill during the week, and before I knew it, it was Thursday! So I went for a very quick walk around the Rutland Square area of Edinburgh today after work, and here is the result:

52 WALKS- Week 2

Today I walked along the Union Canal from Harrison Park to the Lochrin Basin. It was the second time I've done this walk during the big freeze. Today the footpath was less icy which made for easier walking, but the canal was well and truly frozen, with a covering of snow. So it was hard to distinguish the canal from the footpath. And people were enjoying walking on the canal (not me though, because the very idea freaks me out!) These photos were all taken at the Lochrin Basin end of the canal, and show the development that has taken place along the canal in recent years.
The Leamington Road lift bridge-which lifts to allow the canal boats through.


This view was taken from the Leamington lift bridge towards the city centre:


Canal boats moored in the canal:


A colourful canal boat:

On a cold and frosty morning...

It was so pretty this morning when I got up. There was a soft pink light in the sky, and the moon was still visible, so I grabbed my camera and went for a wee wander around the neighbourhood.
My street-We am fortunate that a bus comes down our street, so the raod gets cleared. The other streets in our neighbourhood are still thick with snow, and people are struggling to get their cars out.

The sliver birch trees in our garden:

And a scene at the church at the end of the street:

And a look down at Colinton village.

52 Walks-Week 1

Wishing eveyone a very happy 2010!

For 2010 I have started a new photo challenge.
It is to complete 52 walks-that's one a week- during 2010, and of course to photograph the walk.
I think this will be more manageable for me that the 365 challenge I tried to complete last year.
Feel free to join in. The FLICKr link is here.

So the first walk of the year was to Flotterstone. Flotterstone is a very popular walking and picnic spot just outside Edinburgh. From Flotterstone you can take various walks in the the Pentland Hills. Today I was up early and had finished my walk by the time people started arriving, so it was incredibly peaceful-just me and my camera wandering around. I took many photos-here are just 4 of them.

View across the fields:

A lovley white dove:

Upturned fishing boats, stuck in the snow. The reservoir was frozen, so those boats were going nowhere!

And a view across the water to the frozen part of the reservoir: