Black and White on a Grey Day

Even on a grey day, it's hard for Orkney to be gloomy. We had a Beaufort 9, gusting 10 storm a couple of nights ago. That means the wind was blasting at around 100km/h straight down the bay in front of the house. Waves bashed against the waterfront, heaving spray up to nearly the height of the house and the wind then whipped it over the cars and against the windows. It was a beautiful and exciting (and a bit frightening to watch) to watch. No photos, however – there was no way I was going outside, with or without a camera!

So now, in the after-storm calm, it's grey skies and grey seas. This made me think it was time to experiment and take some black-and-white photos. So off I set, armed with the silk gloves that Paul gave me, as the now much gentler wind nonetheless sucks the heat out of one's fingers.

I decided to drive round Herston way, where the Loutits lived for many generations. That's less than 4 miles from our home in St Margaret's Hope.

That's Herston village, across the water. I liked the white cloud capping the hills of Hoy, the island on the other side of Scapa Flow from us.

Herston's church is now a home. It still looks very sweet:

After these two photos, I drove home the long way so as to go past Sandwick as I was wondering about photographing a lone and untended standing stone (menhir) that sits in the middle of a field there. That, however, will have to be for another day as these rather nice little ruins, all covered with lichen, caught my eye.