February 2012
2 posts
5 tags
“Because I believe that humans are computers, I conjectured that computers, like...”
– Philip Emeagwali
6 tags
To Mac or not to Mac, that is the question...
I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop that is on it’s last legs. The rechargeable battery gave up the ghost a few years ago and I’m now on my 3rd external power supply. When I got this 6 (?) years ago 80 GB seemed like TONS of space. I got that sorted this year thanks to my Dad’s most generous Christmas gift of a 1 TB external hard drive. But the old beast is just running...
October 2011
6 posts
“I would have loved to have met some former spies, but they don’t readily...”
– Jeremy Northam
9 tags
Day 14, April 22 - Moscow
(day 13 was another train day, read previous posts and you get the idea)
We arrived at the very early start of 06:07. It’s still dark cold and wet. We haven’t booked a transfer for today and there is some confusion about who is doing what. I’m tired and cranky from lack of sleep and just want to get to the hotel and take my chances about getting an early check in so I can drop off my bag and...
half a pint of guiness with the boys from the office followed by 2 glasses of red wine and 3 gingersnap cookies = coming home a redhead. Coincidence? Pictures tomorrow…
Just a thought, since moving to London in May it means I’m no longer living in Scotland. Maybe I should change the name of the blog? Of course I’d need to actually post now and then for anyone to care I suppose…
1 tag
April 2011
3 posts
2 tags
“The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings...”
– Jackson Pollock
5 tags
6 tags
Day 12, April 20 - Perm
Perm (or sometimes Permm) – things psychologically turned around for me in this stop. Having crossed the Ural Mountains, which took us out of Siberia and into the European part of the country. I’ve never been much for landscape photography so finding myself in a more urban setting really got my creative juices flowing.
From the train station we caught our transfer to our hotel, Mikos. We had...
November 2010
12 posts
2 tags
“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The...”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
4 tags
7 tags
Day 11, April 19 - on the train... again
As we head further west our trains seem to be improving in quality. But we still can’t seem to escape the green colour scheme.
We had a fabulous car attendant this leg of the journey. She didn’t speak a lick of English but she had a real Motherly way about her and she seemed to enjoy looking after us girls.
She caught me attempting to take some abstract shots of the trains...
3 tags
“Gaiety is among the most outstanding features of the Soviet Union”
– Joseph Stalin
2 tags
10 tags
Day 10, April 18 - Omsk
Who decided arriving anywhere in the middle of Siberia at 06:07 was a good idea?
I’m not a morning person at the best of times but the fear of missing ones stop so early in the morning can ruin what little chance I had of getting a good nights sleep.
Arriving in what seems to be the middle of nowhere (with a jarring minty green paint job that is the station) being bombarded by very eager...
3 tags
“To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most...”
– Oscar Wilde
6 tags
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Day 9, April 17 enroute to Omsk... boredom sets in
I’d like to tell you that everything was wine, roses, romance, adventure and excitement. But being on a train for a stretch of 2 nights and a day was anything but (granted this is just my opinion).
There are 4 of us in a narrow carriage. I’m on the top bunk which hangs down low enough that I can sit up without hitting my head on the roof but the bed itself is narrow which makes for...
“By experience we find out a short way by a long wandering.”
– Roger Ascham
7 tags
Day 8, April 16 – Irkutsk
We say goodbye to Listvyanka and Lake Baikal after breakfast and catch our transfer back to Irkutsk where we will once again continue our journey across Siberia. Our train doesn’t depart until 4:30ish so we’ve got the whole day to explore the city.
Our guide has provided us with a simple map and points out a few places of interest for us before dropping us off in Kirov Square. We are close to...
September 2010
2 posts
Hello and trying to find your edinburgh fringe...
Hi. I ran into you and 2 guys the other day on the Royal Mile and you took a picture of me. I’m directing a production of wait until dark, recommended All Tomorrow’s Parties, and looked up EST at your suggestion.
Your friend suggested I email him so my marketing person could add our flickr stuff to the unofficial fringe feed, and then I promptly lost his card. Could you tell me who...
clipp2 asked: When do we get to Moscow and St. Petersburg? I've been waiting "with worm on tongue" as Mork would put it.
June 2010
3 posts
5 tags
“I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.”
– Bill Watterson
8 tags
10 tags
Day 7 – April 15, day exploring Listvianka
I’d forgotten what real cold feels like but it all came back to me soon enough. Listvianka would be our brush with winter in Siberia. The snow covered mountains, a completely frozen Lake Baikal, crystal clear blue sky and ice crystals in the air. The temperature itself wasn’t in the extremes, probably something like -17 C. But when the wind would kick up it was the -32 wind chills that...
May 2010
3 posts
1 tag
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things”
– Henry Miller
5 tags
7 tags
Day 6 continued, April 14 - Listvyanka
Our train arrived in the city of Irkutsk where we were met on the platform by a guide that would transfer us to the village of Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal. Much to our relief he was standing there with a sign that had one of our parties name on it and when we gathered around we discovered he spoke excellent English (phew!). In fact one of the first things he said was “does one...
April 2010
12 posts
1 tag
“Most travel is best of all in the anticipation or the remembering; the reality...”
– Regina Nadelson
4 tags
9 tags
Days 4,5 & 6, April 12 - 14, On the Train
The last time I was on a sleeper train was back in 1975 I think. Our family moved from Thunder Bay, Ontario to Westbank, British Columbia. At the time my Grandfather was still employed by Canadian Pacific Railway so was able to get my Mother and I the cheap family discount and we took the train as far as Salmon Arm, British Columbia while my Dad drove the family car across the country in the...
1 tag
“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in...”
– Freya Stark
5 tags
Day 3, April 11 - Vladivostok
Our train doesn’t depart until 21:52 so we’ve got the whole day to explore. Check out is at noon, but we can extend that to 14:00 for no extra charge plus they have a left luggage room so we are fine to leave our bags for the day.
The plan is to find the train station, a grocery store then the rest of the day is left to wander the city. It’s Sunday so not sure what all is going to be open. M...
“There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.”
– Orson Welles
4 tags
April 10, Day 2 – arrival in Vladivostok
Well the airport isn’t anything special. We get off the plane and are put on a bus to take us to the terminal. We walk in and are greeted by a wall of people. It seems they won’t open the door to the baggage room until everyone is in from off the bus (fire hazard anyone?). The baggage room is tiny with only 2 carousels. What I notice is that as people pick up their bags they are not allowed...
2 tags
“Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness”
– Ray Bradbury
9 tags
11 tags
3 flights, 2 airlines, and a whole bunch of time...
April 9, Time Zone GMT, Airline 1 - KLM
It starts with a 6AM flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam. I’ve never taken the city bus out to the airport before, and taking one at 04:00 is interesting to say the least. The regular airporter bus links up with the N22 ( night bus) off hours. It’s a cheap ride at £3.00 compared to a £25 taxi ride, and the entertainment (inebriated wanna be passengers...
March 2010
1 post
I know I know...
I’ve been busy, distracted, unpacking, trying to keep dust kitties under control witout a hoover. I moved to a new flat the week before Christmas, then had a revolving door of guests until January. Then I had a weeks holidays were I did blissfull nothingness (and some unpacking). Then returned to work and promptly got sick. I mean really sick.
Seems I still don’t have this...
December 2009
3 posts
5 tags
“I have this condition…”
– Leonard Shelby, character from the movie Memento
6 tags
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The body as a canvas
I was asked by a friend about a week ago if I would be interested in doing a portrait shoot for him. Over the last year he’s had a full back tattoo in progress and it has now been completed and fully healed.
The request made me chuckle a little seeing as I’d just finished the Calendar shoot for the Glasgow Mens Handball Team in October (calendars are now available by the way, just...
November 2009
25 posts
3 tags
“Naked?
It’s not naked, it’s nude.
What’s the difference?...”
– - from the 2003 movie Calendar Girls
2 tags
The song seemed appropriate
4 tags
The boys of Glasgow
I will admit I’d said it as a bit of a joke, but my offer was taken seriously and this past Sunday saw it realized.
Let me back up a bit.
There was a conversation going back and forth with a friend in Glasgow and there was mention of a sports team calendar shoot. I had no idea if he was serious but I’d made some comment along the lines of ‘if you need a photographer,...