“free”
“looking for the meaning of life? here is a small selection:”
a shot my sister took in the massive dust storm that covered us the other day…
I can still taste the desert in the back of my throat; on the radio they said a wind storm was coming in when I was going to bed, so I thought it might be a good opportunity to air the house out overnight for free and opened a few windows up…
whoa o_O
I watched “The Mist” last night. I hope you’re all okay 
Wow I really like that dust storm pic 
Your pics are incredible too trepain! You wouldn’t happen to have more photos of bees that are that detailed? My camera isn’t very good for shooting small things like that (and there aren’t any bees around here anymore) and I’d really like quite a few more for a project I’m doing.
Photographed an ad LCD screen in a Berlin subway today.
Some photos I took while on vacation in Toronto, in August 2009.
http://virb.com/illformed/photos/album/424286
This is perhaps cheating a little bit, since I don’t live there, but I thought I would share anyway.
- several more shots in the Virb photo album
Was out and about again over the past two months. First taking a bus up to Glenmore, which is in the Cairngorm National Park, I headed up through an incredibly narrow valley, which contains the famous Green Loch. Photographing the loch is tricky, as it’s covered on three sides by forest and on the fourth by a towering and ridiculously steep mountain. I’m convinced the only way to get a picture of the entire thing is to be at the top of that hill (the green colour disappears up close, so shooting from the shore is useless).
Moving further uphill, you can then turn around and get an awesome view of the valley you just passed through and the hills beyond. The second and third shots were taken on a different and far gloomier day than the first.
Further along still, you come to Ryvoan bothy, which is larger and sturdier than the previous wooden shack and even features a fireplace. But strangely, no beds. This is a converging point for many different trails around the region and you’ll usually meet a few people there. I had to wait until my third trip out to get the interior shot alone.
I then took a hike up Meall a’ Bhuachaille, which I’d never done before. It’s incredibly steep to climb on this side, but the top provides a 360 degree panorama of the landscape for miles around. Unfortunately it was very hazy that day, so visibility was limited. At the top though, was a battered old crofters shelter and a view of Loch Morlich reflecting the sun far below.
After a knee-rattling descent I came to where the Nature Reserve folks had been clearing out filthy foreign conifer invaders, so that native species will prosper. Continuing down, there was a mercifully brief sprint through some spooky woods and out into the familiar view of the Cairngorms again.
Different day, different direction, I was off to Loch Pityoulish by bike. The shortest and most scenic route is through a forest and by some farmland. There were a bunch of young Heelan Coos loitering in one area, but they were idiots who scarpered in fear at the terrifying sight of me on my bike (one amusingly slipped in the mud and banged into a fencepost, noob). There was however one old chap who was barely fenced in and was just chillin with his Generic Coo friend.
More deer! These guys did not give a shit about me at all, something pathetic cowering coos could learn from. I think this one wants a hug. Then arriving at Loch Pityoulish, there was an excellent red toadstool near the gate just begging to be photographed. I took over 20 pictures of the loch, the one below was the first and, as it turns out, the best.
I’ve set up the egotistically named www.duncanhemingway.com for my photography, which has full galleries/slideshows of past stuff. Anyway, on to the current batch…
I’d been waiting for some snow and a clear day in order to head back up Meall a’ Bhuachaille, which I’d climbed in October, so I could get some less hazy shots. Yesterday that happened and I reckoned if I pushed it, I could hike directly up from the Glenmore bus-stop in an hour and be in time for sunset. Glenmore itself is just a hamlet of a few houses and a camping ground next to Loch Morlich.
Moving up behind the Reindeer keep, I passed through the spooky woods again on my way further up the mountain. Once out and moving up, I kept turning around and picking off shots, noticing that the sun’s descent was barely being kept in check by my own climbing.
The last section is pretty steep and the going was made worse by my need to be on time and the fact that the snow had obscured the path completely. I soon spied the old crofter’s shelter at the summit and lurched upwards to see that the sun had not yet set, but the horizon was lined with thin clouds.
I got what I came for and soon felt the real chill of winter coming in from lack of the sun’s heat. It was now important to quickly head back down the way I came before the light faded completely.
Too late! The spooky woods obliterated all light, leaving me stumbling around in pitch blackness. Even my camera’s flash made barely a dent. After eventually making it out, I spied this strange blue Christmas tree near the bus-stop.
Taken just now about 15 mins apart, since we’ve got a fair few inches of snow. The colours haven’t been touched here, these are from using the night-mode on my camera.
Very cool! Amazing how different things look in such a short span of time.
Climbin yer mountains in leather jacket and jeans. 
Ouch that looks freezing! You are a brave man!
Hogmanay fireworks over a local hotel:
Huh, Scotland or what? Awesome pics anyway!
EDIT: D’oh, just saw your previous post where it’s evident it’s Scotland. Still awesome pics though. 
Me (right) and my brother on top of the world.
Lisa Lau ^^
