Winter

Many places in the northern hemisphere have been experiencing some pretty severe and unusual winter weather this year. Changing climate. The world seems to be wasting too much time on squabbling about laying blame for such and not enough on finding ways to effectively adapt to the changes that are happening now and surely will be in the future. Temperature fluctuations aside, it has never made sense to me why we accept the defiling of our land, air, and water with substances that degrade their quality in large degrees.

And what, you may very well ask, does any of this have to do with the photo? Just thought you'd like to see some winter in a positive light, so to speak. February, my dog, out my front door.

Laphroaig stills

I must confess that my initial attraction to Scotland was the result of being interested in single malt whisky. I've made quite a few trips there since 2001, and visited quite a few distilleries. Although all Scotch is made with the same ingredients of malted barley, water, and yeast, "cooked" in copper and aged in oak, it never ceases to amaze me how different the end product from each distillery can be.

Scotland, of course, is much more than whisky, and the place has stolen my heart with her beauty and interest. This photograph is from the distillery of one of my favourite whiskies, Laphroaig, on my favourite island of Islay. The stillman is tending to the spirit safe, where the first sight of the new make spirit coming from the stills can be had...the beginning of a long process of making single malt whisky which can take anywhere from three years up to 40, 50, even 60 years (the latter being very rarified stuff!).

Port Charlotte

I highly recommend the Port Charlotte Youth Hostel should you ever visit Islay, one of the Inner Hebridean islands of western Scotland. The windows of the lounge and kitchen look directly out onto Loch Indaal. This photograph is from the beach just below the hostel during my stay last September. I was lucky enough to catch the rising sun one morning while stumbling to the bathroom and cursing a small bladder (oh, sorry, too much information?).

The plan with this blog is to share a few photographs with people. Forgive me if a few thoughts and opinions sneak in. The images come from Scotland, some from Canada. Maybe I'll revisit a few from the archives. I've been photographing for quite a few years, so the well is deep. I hope to augment the photos in this blog with those on my page at 500px on a regular basis. However, as realities go, it will more than likely be irregular.

Should you appreciate my sense of aesthetic, I hope you'll visit again.