Shanghai Waterfront
Shanghai, China
2015

I couldn’t find any tires on the waterfront to photograph here in Shanghai like I did with the first shot I posted from our Scotland trip last month, so I decided on something more indicative of China than that tire shot was of Scotland. This is the newer downtown district of Shanghai, taken across the Yangtze River. Nothing special about this shot, I was standing on a promenade with a few thousand other folks, mostly Chinese, who had their cameras pointed in the same direction.

While the Chinese were quite enamored with the scene across the river, many of them were also quite enamored with us fifteen or so American artists. (The fact that we were artists was unknown to them.) We had to pose for a number of photos with various groups of them. We wondered if they took the photos so they could go home and show off their new American “buddies” to all their friends.

But that interpretation of their motivation is probably too egocentric. More likely they were taking those photos for the same reason they take selfies with a buffalo or elk in the background when they tour Yellowstone National Park–just another unusual sighting on their vacation. I can just hear them telling their friends “Look, here’s me posing with some of those goofball American tourists in Shanghai. I like it almost as much as the one of me and the World’s largest ball of twine.”

Trademarks
Loch Buie, Scotland
2015

Sheep are probably the most ubiquitous feature of the Scottish landscape, appearing here adjacent to another common sight–an ancient stone circle. We saw quite a number of stone circles in western Scotland. They are certainly not on the scale of Stonehenge or anything close, but quietly impressive in their own right. They are not typically marked by signage or otherwise made a big deal of, likely because of their diminutive size and the lack of any significant historical  information about them.

Crab Cages
Tobermory, Scotland
2015

Splice
Tobermory, Scotland
2015

Oil and Water
Bozeman, Montana
2012

Gorgeous is not an adjective I use often–Fashion Queen assessments aside of course. 🙂 And I’m not sure that I’ve ever used it to describe one of my photographs as it’s not really what I strive for. But when I first saw this quick shot I took with my cell phone on my daily walk about three years ago, that’s exactly the word that came to mind. Given it affected me that way it’s strange I forgot about it until today when I stumbled across it while organizing my photo files.

Time and the Elements
Portsoy, Scotland
2015

The harbor in Portsoy had it’s origins in the 17th century. I doubt this particular ring and eye-bolt date from then, although they sure look old. But then I’m not sure how fast salt-water induced rust takes to work through nearly and inch of steel.

The Anti-Beacon
Isle of Mull, Scotland
2015

A castle on a windswept rock setting the mood for Halloween. Watch out for zombies and vampires tonight, and especially all those Donald Trump lookalikes.

The Beacon
Oban Bay, Scotland
2015

The Eilean Musdile lighthouse seen from the ferry between Oban and the Isle of Mull.

Letting Go
Bolton Bridge, England
2015

Sometimes its hard.

The Church at Lochbuie
Lochbuie, Scotland
2015