Before my walk this week on a planned day out in Edinburgh, I asked my uncle what might be the best thing to go see and he answered “Just go and see the place itself – it is all on different levels and that is one of it’s main attractions as a city“.
Water of Leith
At the entrance to the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art – Modern 1, we were met by this figure emerging from the pavement! This work is by Anthony Gormley and although one of the main exhibitions in gallery at the time was by Bridget Riley, as with Modern 2, there were other interesting things to be seen as well, including the building and its grounds.
Both Modern 1 and Modern 2 have mural projects in their stairwells – in Modern 1 it is a Douglas Gordan piece which lists all the people he could remember ever having met. The list stretches from the ground floor to the roof and looking over the banister gave me quite a woozy feeling.
We were lucky with the weather on our visit to Edinburgh and the light played a part in the art of this building just as it did in Modern 2.
Anthony Gormley sculpture
My walk this week takes place in Scotland. While on holiday there in the south west, we took a day trip to Edinburgh and returned via The Helix Park at Falkirk to see The Kelpies for ourselves, but more on them later in the week.
It is about 35 years since I was last in Edinburgh despite having been born there. It was a 2.5 hour drive to get there and we didn’t want to spoil things by trying to do too much. So we decided on two venues close together and a short walk in the city centre. The venues were both the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art – Modern One and Modern Two.
Modern 2 – the main exhibition was of drawing by Joseph Beuys, a very interesting show but it was essential to read all the accompanying notes in order to have any understanding of the work itself and how it related to his performance art. The museum itself is what my photos below focus on and it, too, was a fascinating place though with low light levels and a warm day, it felt rather stuffy and claustrophobic.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 2 – Stairwell Project by Richard Wright
A final example of sepia sunlight for my walk this week through woodlands at Stainton in the north east of England. The pale sepia effect on this image seemed to enhance the sense of Summer. I hope you enjoy listening to the soundscape for the walk below while viewing selected images from my posts this week. All photos and field recording was done on my iPhone 6s.
Woodland Walk Sounscape
During my woodland walk this week it was easy to forget that anyone else existed while in amongst the trees – except for the background sound of human activity. The traffic of a suburban area on the edge of farmland was not really significant – more-so was the rising and falling volume of the tractor at work in the fields, recorded on my iPhone 6s. This, however, could not detract from the enjoyment of the woodland environment on a peaceful end-of-summer day just prior to our holiday in Scotland.
Stainton Woods – Traffic and Tractor
Whether established or more recently planted to extend the woodland further, the arrangement of trees in Stainton Woodland where I enjoyed my walk this week, can only be described as formal. Reminiscent of the French penchant for arboreal pattern, there would be a closer match to their taste if the trees themselves were of a different species.
For whatever reason the obvious pattern of the trees seen from different angles prompted me to experiment with desaturation, monochrome and sepia effects when reviewing the images.
I am sorry I cannot tell you the names of these trees but I am given the impression that they are not going to grow to a huge scale. However, if I visit again in another ten or twenty years, perhaps I will be proved wrong.
The second area of woodland I enjoyed on my walk this week is just a few yards across the road from the first in Stainton, Middlesbrough, but it is quite different. Walking into the interior it becomes clear (though not from these three photos) that the woodland was planned and the arrangement of trees is distinct.
This was the first time I walked in these woods for a number of years – the last time being not long after many of the trees had been planted, so it was good to see how the woodland environment had developed. Naturally there is little or no grass growing in the interior of the wood and this is reflected in the texture of the sound of my footsteps in the sound clip below.
Stainton Woods
Leaving one woodland and entering the next on my walk this week, I noted something of the variety of trees and their Autumnal growth. From red hawthorn berries to acorns, apples and brambles (blackberries). The brambles appeared early this year but it wasn’t too late to enjoy some of those I found on my walk in the woods at Stainton in north east England – the best were beautifully sweet and juicy!
