CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Edinburgh is a very interesting city and with it being just a short 25-minute train journey from our home in Dunbar we do spend a lot of time exploring Scotland's capital.   On of my favourite spots is the Old Calton Burying Ground at the foot of Calton Hill.  Many of Scotland's leading citizens of the 18th and 19th centuries are buried here and the brooding sandstone and granite structures make for great photographic subject. I was in Edinburgh yesterday evening and had 30 minutes to spare while waiting at Waverley Train Station, so I walked to the cemetery, which is just 5-minutes from the station.  The weather was typically Scottish - overcast and slight drizzle which later turned to rain.  However the diffused light was almost perfect for the type of mono images I wanted to capture. The graves and mausoleums are in some state of disrepair and the 'well worn look of decay' was exactly the feeling I wanted to portray in the set of images I capture...

At the eastern end of Princes Street in Edinburgh and just off Leith Walk is the Old Calton Cemetery.  The cemetery opened in 1718 for the burial of tradesmen and merchants and was extended in 1767.  However in 1818 it was divided by the building of Waterloo Place and the larger part, which is the place I visited, includes a number of memorials to leading members of Edinburgh society. The obelisk by Thomas Hamilton remembers the political martyrs of 1793, who were 'transported' for sedition. The classical monument to philosopher David Hume (1711-76), seen in the top left of the images above, was built in 1777 by Robert Adam (1728-92). Other residents include painter David Allan (1744-96), Robert Burn (1752 - 1815), who had built the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill, publisher Archibald Constable (1774 - 1827) and sculptor Sir John Steell (1804-91). CLICK HERE for more information on the Old Calton Cemetery Image taken on Fujifilm Finepix X100S and ...