I'm procrastinating doing my corrections, so it's time for photos!
I went to Holy Island this past weekend on a day trip for postgrads. It's a semi-detached island off the coast of Northumbria, where St. Cuthbert hid from Vikings, and the English defended themselves from the Scots, and is presently home to extremely cute cottages, a surprisingly small castle on a very big hill, and also a meadery. Also, some great views.
Unfortunately, the afternoon did not begin auspiciously, weather-wise:
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| The shoreline... |
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| ...leading up to the castle |
I struggled mightily trying to relearn how to make the camera do things.
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| Raindrops on grass. ART WAS ATTEMPTED. |
I completely bollixed up the interior shots, but it was surprisingly unimpressive--the castle had been renovated into a summer home at the end of the nineteenth century, leading to it becoming a rather cosy place, all told. The only shot that came out at all was the kitchen:
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| Cosy! |
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| The hill is largely responsible for the castle looking as imposing as it does. |
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| I attempt nature photography. |
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| A slightly nicer shot of the exterior? Bit too dark, had weird problems with colour. OVERCAST LIGHTING! *shakes fist* |
But then, miraculously, while I had lunch in a pub, the skies cleared, and the rest of the afternoon became glorious, just in time to check out the priory and graveyard. Huzzah for picturesque ruins!
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| The island in the background is the castle. It looks far more impressive from that distance. |
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| Graveyard shot. |
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| More high contrast shenanigans. It was so bright all of a sudden! |
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| Further attempted nature photography. Totally a high concept commentary on life and death, with that little bird and the headstone. I totally did that on purpose.Totally. |
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| The path leading away from the priory, towards the beach. |
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| The beach! I really like this shot, actually. That kid's red jacket was fortuitous. |
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| Since the island is only cut off during high tide, when the tide is low you can walk out and everything is covered in seaweed and mussels. I felt bad about walking on them. Also, there's a tiny crab hiding in this photo, under a rock. It refused to be photogenic. |
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| A view of the priory and church from the beach. |
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| There are giant obelisks on the English coast to serve as guides for ships, presumably, but they mostly just look cool and alien from the island. |
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| Someone attempting to fish. |
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| More obelisks! |
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| And again. |
Clearly, I only sort of remembered how to do photography by the end. But all in all, it was a very enjoyable day out.
