Snap women statues

Following on from my snap collection last week of women statues in Edinburgh I found another three that are accessible - although I had to research online to discover the stories behind them.

On the left - this is on the highstreet of the town where I go linedancing.  The woman is Jackie Crookston who in 1797 was shot by soldiers in a riot in the town following a protest against military conscription.  I can't find anything about why she out of the 12 was used for the statue or why this historic incident was chosen for a statue

In the middle is a statue to commemorate 'Edinburgh's opposition to apartheid in South Africa' - but there is no explanation of what that opposition was nor who this woman is

On the right is a statue that is outside a local library to commemorate the work of Helen Crummy who in the 1960s established local music and art programmes for local children after the school would not provide music lessons for her son.  The resulting community arts festival is still going strong and is copied worldwide.

I'll keep my eye out for more statues of women.

A heads up - I won't be around to see all your lovely snaps until next month.

Snap regal statues

Recently I overheard a walking tour guide say 'Edinburgh has more statues of named animals than of named women'.  I was intrigued so checked on line and indeed while there are 3 named animals - 2 dogs and a bear (all male) the only named women are two Queens.  Having collected and shared lots of animal statues for snap sets I thought this was a good challenge to get out and about to find the statues and look for other representations of women.

After much walking and looking I realised that female figures do feature on several fountains and other decorative pieces - I managed to find one where they are wearing clothes - but not as single figure statues.  Even the two statues of Queens are rather hard to find and identify

Queen Mary (of Scots) is one of several figures on the side of the National Portrait Gallery - up at first floor level so I'd never noticed her until I went looking

Queen Victoria is on top of the National Gallery - again not a statue you tend to notice when walking past - I could only manage a silhouette.

Now my interest is roused so after some internet research I've found mention of a few more statues of women that I'll share next week.

Are there statues on women where you are?  Queen Victoria?  Anyone else?

Snap more animals

I have a third collection of animal statues from around town this week

The giraffes are made out of bits of junk metal by a sculptor who is a friend of friends (I've used them before on my blog)

The heraldic unicorn is on top of a tower in a park - I guess it was a gateway to something at some point in the past

The scottish decorated cow is outside a pub in the centre of town - I had to wait a bit to get a shot with no posing tourists

The dog satue was a gift from San Diego - a twin city to Edinburgh - to mark the fact that both cities have a story of an adopted stray dog - Grey Friar's Bobby in Edinburgh and this vagabond dog in San Diego - called Bum

enjoying all the weekly snap collections

Snap the Royal Mile

Another Edinburgh scene for you this week - taking in the Old Town and Salisbury Crags.

The Royal Mile is the main street of the Old Town and goes from the castle far right of photo and far right small photo

down the hill to Holyrood Palace (monarch's Edinburgh residence) which is off the end of the photo far left behind the bush.

Just next to the Palace is the new Scottish Parliament building - featured int he small photo on the left - I did walk further along the road for a good angle on the building

The middle small image shows people walking on the Crags - I always like seeing the little dots silhouetted against the sky

In the foreground is a good example of the mix of very old and moder architecture found all over Edinburgh

Snap the lights

One of the parks in the middle of town has an intriguing array of stickman figures made out of light tubes.  I'd only seen it in daylight so made a trip into town after dark to see the magic that illumination would bring to the display.

The lights turn on and off to animate the figures - so it looks like one person is running around the circle, or climbing the tower etc.  Hard to photograph well but fun to watch

Loving the range of subjects you are sharing in your snaps

Snap the skyline

I love the varied architecture of Edinburgh and the many wonderful skylines available because of the hilly terrain.  This is a view I used to see every day when I was in my 3rd year of University - on my walk to campus - although the glass buildings on the right were not even a dream in an architect's mind back then.

I'll definitely be repeating this from other spots around town.

Looking forward to all you lovely snap sets - everyone is welcome to take part once in a while or weekly - the idea is to share a visual set of 2 to 4 images on any theme you want

SNAP IN GRANITE

I have another set of animal sculptures today - although not the set I had in mind when I set off from home, camera in hand.

I started with the lion which is in a park in the centre of town.  Then I walked along to the other end of the main street to capture a colourful bull outside a bar.  On the way I spotted the baby elephant which I'm sure was not there a few months ago.

Then I remembered that I had another photo of an animal carved from a large granite boulder so I went into my archive to complete this set - the fish is out on the other side of town.

The bull I will keep for yet another set of animal sculptures in Edinburgh.

Looking forward to see what visual sets have been catching your eye this week

polished pair

Two of the statues in the middle of Edinburgh are showing signs of people rubbing them - its seems to be an increasing habit in many cities.  Once an area has been rubbed a few times it changes colour and invites others to rub it and so it continues. The council has blacked over one several times but the rubbing persists.

I wasn't at all surprised that people were stroking the nose of Greyfriar's Bobby - the statue is a common stop on walking tours and the story is told in guidebooks.  The statue is of a dog which remained by the grave of his owner for years after he died and so he is known as a symbol of faithfulness. Plus the statue is sweet and the nose easy to reach.

But I was surprised at the other statue that has been receiving strokes - the toe of David Hume.  I don't think most of the people stroking his toe have any idea who he was - they just stroke it because it has been stroked.  The plinth only says 'Hume' - no first name and no indication of who he was.  I always point out the statue when I'm walking past with visitors and only my former colleagues know who he is.  David Hume was an eminent philosopher who worked in Edinburgh.  He has been described as the most important philosopher who wrote in English.

Recently I mentioned the 2 stroked statues to a former colleague when I met him for dinner in the middle of town - a professor of Political Philosophy from my old university.  He was delighted with the story and he went to take a photo of Hume's stroked toes and said that Hume would appreciate the contrast because one of his 'revolutionary' theories was that we should not assume that all decisions are based on logic and need to also think about the impact of emotion and context.

Given that these 2 photos will no be used in introduction to political theory lectures in Auckland, I thought I should feature them as a pair here too.

Looking forward to all kinds of pairs - whatever the decision making behind them was

5 in 5 reflections

During one of my visits to the open space at the front on the canal boat, I captured plenty of reflection photos in five minutes for Sandie’s lovely 5 in 5 monthly meme and here are my 5 favourites. 

Despite the rain the canal surface was creating lovely reflections,

with just a bit of ripple for added texture

and an some unexpected excitement when some rowers had to turn around quickly to get out of the way – this one looked as if the length of the boat was the same as the width of the canal (the skipper told us that the water is about 1 metre deep – so I guess they could have got out and lifted the boat if necessary)

and my favourite tranquil water scene – who would have guessed this was in the middle of the city?

and I promise that is it for posts from our canal cruise – next week we switch to rugby 7s!

Pair of views

When I walk along the beach the sky in one direction is dominated by Arthur's Seat and when I'm up there I can look down to the beach where I walk - you can see the same church spire either side of the gutter between the two photos.  It was rather hazy last week when I took these photos.

The photo on the left is taken standing in the photo on the right on the sand between the furthest right power pylon and the line of white above it.

Pairs week 5 absorb the sun

I was in the city centre around 4.30 and noticed a lovely glowing sky to the west so walked up to a good vantage point to capture the outline of the castle and Church spires against the sunset.  Then I remembered some other pairs from previous weeks which had captured the reflected sun behind too so I turned to discover that the sandstone escarpment was glowing wonderfully in the rays of the setting sun.

Thank you all for joining in and providing great inspiration.

fringe fun

August in Edinburgh means creativity and fun as the city is flooded with performers and audience for the Fringe festival. Enjoying the fringe is so much a part of summer for me that I used it for my scavenger hunt item ‘me with something seasonal’

The purple structure in the background is a massive tent that is used for the underbelly venues.

I’ve seen 20 shows so far ranging from very serious theatre to roll in the aisle comedy via some fabulous dance and several treatments of Shakespeare (Seussication of Midsummer Nights dream was the best).

One of the other aspects of the Fringe that I love is the buzzing creativity of the block on the Royal Mile that is used as a gathering place where performers hunt an audience in any way they can – doing taters on the stages, leafleting, stunts, pleading, sales pitch etc.  Street performers also entertain in this space (yes I found a juggler for the scavenger hunt) alongside balloon sculptors and those people who pretend to be statues of various kinds.

This year I’ve noticed a new form of busking – they perform in the hope of being paid so I think of it as busking.

people dressed up in various crowd stopping ways, waiting to pose (including with people)

I’m impressed with the imagination and construction skills of these people

and think it must be a tiring way to earn money.  I always put a coin in their box when I take a photo as I appreciate the work they have done to create something that I want to photograph.

The other act that was attracting a lot of attention at the weekend was this wonderful puppet – i saw several children mesmerised and playing with it as they would a real puppy

now if I could just bottle some of the creative buzz for later in the year!

Zoom in on the giraffes

I go past these sculptures every time I go into town on the bus and the other day I suddenly saw them and thought 'why have I never used them for a post?'

as you can see, they are life size and made from items of scrap metal.

Making me think about what other lovely sights I see so often that I no longer notice as worthy of photographing.

lovely to see so many of you still joining me in a weekly zoom in and out.

Zoom in on a tram

Melbournites and denizens of other tram- endowed cities may be puzzled by my excitement at seeing a tram in the city.

But Edinburgh's trams are new - passenger service starts in a few months and the trams are testing the lines.  The journey to this point has been long and controversial.  When I returned to Edinburgh in 2010 there were major roadworks in town and bus detours as they laid the tracks (and then relaid some after discovering they had done it badly 1st time).  So having all the roads working and seeing trams is a great sign of progress.  And I am excited to see a tram and look forward to riding on one later this year.

Looking forward to seeing other zoom in zoom out images this week - telling stories and showing the beautiful and marking the season and celebrating everyday life - all welcome.

5 in 5 in the 1830s

I was in the city centre on Wednesday wondering where to focus for my 5 in 5 (following Sandie’s framework of taking lots of photos in 5 minutes and then sharing the best 5).  Then a lightbulb clicked on and I realised that this was a perfect way to explore some of the interesting nooks and crannies of the city over the coming months.  5 minutes to really look at a small area seems a great plan.

So I went into an old churchyard that I walk past regularly and started clicking.   From the dates on the gravestones I was clearly in use in the 1830s and earlier.

I love how the green lichen accentuates the carved details on the stones

I was also interested in some of the contrast between old and modern like this new red door above the lovely stair

and the modern ornate gates

and most of all I was intrigued that this building is for lease.

I hope someone has some interesting and imaginative plans to use it.  I really hope it becomes something that engages with people and allows us into the building.  It would make a fun starting point for themed walks or a nice cosy workroom.

While thinking about 5 in 5 I had another lightbulb moment – I suddenly remembered the 12 on the 12th meme that was so popular a few years ago – funny how some memes fall away.  anyway I thought I’d do a 12 photo capture of my day on the 12th of this month.

Thanks to Sandie for hosting 5 in 5 – and making me brain spark this month.

fields of light

one of the parks in town has been covered in interesting white balls on stalks

Interesting to view through a camera lens.

But once it grows dark they transform

the colours change gradually giving endless wonderful colour patterns.

A nice project from the council to make use of the long dark evening at this time of year (it gets dark between around 5pm at the moment). I’ll definitely be visiting again as they are in place until end of April.