View From The Museum

Posted on June 13, 2026 by Joe

The roof terrace garden atop the National Museum of Scotland on Chamabers Street, is one of my favourite places to take in views across my city. The modern extension of the Museum, which sits right across the road from historic Greyfriars Kirk, has a roof terrace which, like the Museum itself, is free for anyone to access, visitor or native alike.

(looking south to Bristo Square, where you can see some modern University of Edinburgh buildings on the left, the Hogwarts-like Teviot student union in the centre, and the domed rotunda of McEwan Hall on the right – where I had my graduation ceremony, a lifetime ago…

It’s not all historic, old, handsome buildings – there are also rather uglier intrusions onto the nearby skyline, such as these 1970s Brutalist towers Edinburgh University dumped on the city, after demolishing parts of the old George Square. They look rather better in a B&W photo than they do in reality!

Looking west to the old Greyfriars Kirk.

The roof terrace, being right in the heart of the Old Town, also offers fine views to Edinburgh Castle, atop its huge, volcanic rock.

Above – looking over the rooftops to nearby George IV Bridge. Below, looking northwards, the “crown” spire of Saint Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile clearly visible on the skyline.

Normally you have to look up to admire the handsome dome of the Old College Building (which is adjacent to the original, Victorian-era part of the Museum, but from the roof terrace you get a different perspective.

Looking along the roof terrace garden of the National Museum of Scotland

A brief video panorma of the view from the roof terrace, starting off looking towards Edinburgh Castle, standing sentinel above the city as it has for centuries, then panning north and east, across the Old Town skyline, then zooming out into the Firth of Forth beyond, where huge ships are carrying enormous, yellow structures for new offshore windfarms out to sea from the Port of Leith.

Nocturnal Streets

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Joe

Nocturnal streets offer a different face to the daytime version – a busy, central area now quiet, almost no people, little traffic, all but deserted

All the same buildings are there, the traffic lights wink and change in their pattern, regardless of the lack of vehicles passing, but it is all just somewhat different, while still being the same place. I think that’s one of the reasons I like taking long exposure shots at night, it just reveals a version of the city your eye can’t see.

These were all improvised shots – I was coming home late from the cinema, and so no tripod with me. I had ten minutes to wait for a bus, so I set the timer and sat the camera on bollards, ledges and posts to steady it for a few shots while I waited, and this is what I got, all around Edinburgh Quay, the modern buildings around where the Union Canal now ends (although originally it continued on over the main road to an inland port nearby).

The Moon and Venus, Dancing in the Heavens

Posted on January 4, 2025 by Joe

Walking home from my first day of work of 2025, frigid but beautiful winter’s night, amazingly clear skies, even over the city. Above the Union Canal, which was rapidly icing up, a large, bright, crescent Moon, with an incredibly bright Venus shining right next to it.

As I was coming from work, I didn’t have my tripod with me, so I improvised, setting the timer on the camera, then resting it on the edge of the old, stone bridge over the canal to steady it for a longer exposure, and crossed my fingers. And while it isn’t as good as with the tripod, given it is a makeshift night shot, it’s not too bad:

And this was the view looking east – you can just see Jupiter in the sky above the buildings at the end of the canal in this one, just right of centre:

And a wee zoom in closer to the old Leamington Lift Bridge, and the cold waters starting to freeze over:

As ever, click on the links to see the full-sized versions on the Woolamaloo Flickr stream (now north of 28, 000 photos on there!)

A visit to York

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Joe

I recently took the train across the border to visit the beautiful city of York, in the North of England, a city which encompasses many historic eras – Roman, Viking, Medieval – but like my own Edinburgh is small enough to make it very walkable, a boon to exploring. I took a lot of photos (as usual), so this is just a first batch taken wandering around York on a gorgeous autumn day.

This is the King’s Manor, which started off in the 12th century as an abode for an abbot, but which was substantially remodelled in the 15th century. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 it became the headquarters of the Council of the North, with royal visitors including James the VI and I, and Charles I. Since the 1960s it has been a part of the University of York. My meanderings brought me back here in the evening, so I nabbed a night shot using Mr Bendylegs, the wee mini-tripod (not as great as the big tripod, but much easier to carry on a trip).

Unlike many historic cities, York has not only managed to retain a substantial amount of its medieval city walls (some built on Roman foundations), but a large part of them are still walkable – you access them by going up and down steep, stone steps in the old, fortified gates which punctuate the walls as you go around the heart of the city.

Same gatehouse, as dusk was falling, with the twin bell towers of the magnificent York Minister visible, catching the last of the day’s light:

And the gatehouse once more, this time after night had fallen on this ancient place:

A view along the River Ouse as it cuts through the city:

Strolling the narrow streets – as you can see, the old walls and gatehouses are just part of the fabric even of the modern city, people passing through them regularly.

People taking photos of the city:

York Minster rising above the narrow streets and old buildings of York’s historic heart:

Korean busker entertaining crowds in a small square in the historic heart of the old town

A statue of Minerva with a pile of books juts out from this old building near the Minster. Goddess of wisdom, she signifies the importance of a nearby publisher and bookseller from 1801:

A Trip to the V&A

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Joe

I finally got to visit the new V&A museum and gallery which opened on the riverfront of Dundee recently, which included an enjoyable train trip up from Edinburgh, which takes you across both the massive Forth Rail Bridge and the Tay Rail Bridge to cross both huge firths. The Tay Bridge, while not enjoying the iconic status of its southern cousin on the Forth, has an eerie side to it – as you cross, if you look out the south side of the structure you can clearly see the line of the remnants of piers, which once held up the first Tay Rail Bridge.

I snapped these two out of the train window, so they’re not the sharpest

That bridge was an engineering marvel of the age, the designer was knighted for his works, Queen Victoria even travelled over it returning on the Royal Train from a stay at Balmoral. However on December 28th, 1878, a huge, gale-force winter storm struck the Tay, and it transpired that it hadn’t really been designed to take that force hitting side-on to bridge and train. A passenger train was lost as the bridge collapsed, taking sections of bridge and the train with it, seventy five people plunging into the cold waters below, all lost. The replacement bridge runs right alongside the original’s route, but was, as you can imagine, built to be far sturdier, and remains in service to this day. The remnants of the first bridge’s piers now remain like tombstones, a ghostly reminder to all who cross the bridge of the one that was there before.

The V&A Dundee is a striking building, right on the riverfront, next to the famous polar exploration vessel Discovery and its own museum, and right across from the train station, so pretty perfect for visitors to the city.

It’s an impressive space inside, two main wings, with a lot of open space, windows often giving sudden glimpses of the bridge, the silvery Tay (the most powerful river in the British Isles) and the tall ship, Discovery.

There are permanent exhibits, many global, but also a good selection that reflects the culture, arts, crafts, industrial, scientific and engineering history of Scotland, with some there drawn from its host city Dundee’s own history, as well as travelling exhibitions (the current one is on tartans).

(above: the Oak Room designed by the great Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Miss Cranston’s tea rooms. Below: the Kinloss Psalter, a beautiful illuminated work though to date from between 1500 – 1530 CE)

Gateway to Infinity

Posted on April 30, 2023 by Joe

Enter the Gateway to Infinity! Okay, actually this is me standing directly under the Tay Road Bridge in Dundee, zooming the lens through the large piers supporting this very long structure, which I thought gave a very cool effect, especially in black and white:

The Night Tram

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Joe

Walking home from my book group recently, darkness had just fallen. I didn’t have my main tripod with me, but did have my wee Gorilla mini-tripod, with its bendy legs, and thought some scenes of people waiting for the evening trams in Saint Andrew Square would look good in monochrome, so I sat the mini-tripod on a handy post to raise it up, set the timer and crossed my fingers…

As I was zooming in more on the people waiting on the platform, I heard the rumbling of an approaching tram, so I left the camera on a long exposure, so you get that nice contrast between the stationary platform and people standing still, and the blurred motion of the tram passing them, which I quite liked:

A second tram arrived while I was still shooting, so I got a twin-tram snap for the last pic. Not the greatest, but not bad for semi-improvised night shots. As ever, for the larger versions, click on the pics to see them on the Woolamaloo Flickr stream.

I switched back to shooting in colour for this pic, just a couple of moments walk from the previous ones, looking towards the buildings on the south side of Saint Andrew Square, but also managed to get one of the cherry blossom trees into frame, the branches loaded with sakura, hanging over the railings of the now-closed gardens:

First snows of the winter

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Joe

We had our first snows of the winter a few days ago, fairly light as I left work, then became progressively heavier as I was walking, enough that the front of my coat was almost white by the time I got there. Snapped a couple of quick photos and videos on the walk.

The days following have seen little more snow, but bitterly cold conditions as the weather was blowing over from Scandinavia. Forecast is for more brutally cold weather and possibly more snow this weekend. Frankly I prefer the snow over the bloody iced-up pavements to walk on!

Above video and photos, Holy Corner, Bruntsfield, in the snow. Below: the Union Canal at Polwarth.

Night Life

Posted on December 4, 2022 by Joe

Now that is is dark before 4pm, I have more opportunities to take some shots of the city’s nocturnal face, something I always like exploring.

Haymarket tram stop at night (above), and looking towards the main junction of Haymarket (below).

Bank of Scotland building on the Mound, lit up in alternating red and green lights.

The annual festive market has returned – not my favourite place (vastly over-priced, too busy, and causes a huge amount of damage to Princes Street Gardens, which is often not fully repaired and open to citizens again until months after the market goes), but it is good for taking pics.

This town house, especially the basment flat, was well-lit up, snapped a couple of quick pics with the phone on the walk home, amazed they came out.

City of Night

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Joe

Being December, it is now dark here well before four in the afternoon; while most people bemoan the very few, short hours of daylight we get in our wee northern kingdom at this time of year, I rather like it and tend to use it to get some nocturnal shots of my city.

Project Coffee and Cafe Grande after dark, in the Bruntsfield area of the city. There’s something about the dark, winter night outside and bright, warm lights and people inside the cafes and diners and bars that just cries out for a good black and white photo. Slightly rough as these were all taken freehand on the way home from work, so no tripod with me.

Fountain Bar at night, Fountainbridge

Blue note: corner shop lit up brightly against the winter night, Fountainbridge.

“Ghost” strolling near the benches by the Union Canal. I love the way long exposures capture the surroundings clearly, but a moving person or object becomes blurred and translucent, like a ghostly, spectral figure, which sometimes quite suits the photo.

Homes With A View

Tenements overlooking Bruntsfield Links, one of the ancestral homes of the game of golf (there's still a putting green there right in front of the apartments). Always coveted one of these flats, but way out of my price range. The old Golf Tavern can be seen on the far right of the upper pic, and a closer view of it in the second pic.

Busy junction at Tollcross at night, and the King's Theatre, with a crowd waiting to go in for a show.

Cinematic Nocture: people waiting at the bus stop under the marquee over the entrance to the lovely, old Cameo Cinema. I miss marquees on most moden cinemas, to me they were always part of the magic, all lit up, the regularly changing signs telling you what films were screening, I like that the Cameo still has it.

Edinburgh Castle during a light show, seen above and behind the old Victorian tenement buildings around Bruntsfield Links and the Meadows, because you just get views like this in Edinburgh as you casually stroll across a park path after work...

Saint Cyprian’s in Autumn

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Joe

After days of heavy rains and dark, grey skies, for a few hours the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds, illuminating the autumn colours on the trees. Dad and I paused by Saint Cyprian’s in Lenzie – framed by the trees and their changing colours, with the autumnal light on the old stone of the 1873 church it was a rather beautiful scene.

The spire on Saint Cyprian’s boasts some handsome gargoyles at the top (if you are wondering about the difference, while gargoyles and grotesques are both sculpted forms of monsters, odd beasts or humans and have symbolic meaning, the grotesques are non-functional, purely decorative, while gargoyles contain water spouts for drainage, usually from the mouth).

A day by the Forth

Posted on September 27, 2020 by Joe

Since the new lockdown restrictions mean I am not allowed into the family home if I go through to see dad (but we can meet outside in a busy cafe or bar?? Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me…) we met partway and had a day out in South Queensferry, then I had a wee wander around Linlithgow on the way back to the train home. Naturally I was taking photos while I was there ambling through the town and along the mighty Firth of Forth, and of course, the bridges (especially the Rail Bridge, which I think is a wonderful landmark as well as a gem of Victorian engineering)

The Forth is, as you can see, not just a majestic piece of scenery on the Scottish coast, or home to much history, it’s still a working river, with gas and oil tankers in particular passing up and down it, or loading and unloading at these offshore terminals, helped by tug boats

The W o o l a m a l o o Gazette

Edinburgh, Scotland, literature, photographs, movies, beer, cats and satire

Tag Archives: architecture