Housing Shemes, Carloway

Gead Gorm and Uraghag 

Concept/theme	Interpretation	Discourse
Group of clustered houses -	small community	Rurality
fence posts -	live stock in the area	Public/ private
open landscape -	rural area	Rurality
stretching clouds -	over cast day	Climate
Bright green grass -	fertile land	Farming - productive
Tarmac road -	cars in use	Modernity

So after seeing the amazing shots the local photographers were getting of the Aurora I decided to have a bash at my own. There were many black, dark, empty shots initially but then (i'm guessing there were many more folk out there with black pictures as well) one of the photographers on his Facebook page posted an instructions list for setting your camera correctly to pick up the amazing activity of the lights in the sky. 

After much struggling and giving up I finally managed to locate the instructed settings and attempted to produce my own 'stunning' Aurora shots.

The first problem I discovered whilst trying to get a fantastic picture was that I couldn't actually see what I was capturing. I was having to snap rather blindly which lead to some rather interesting (or poor/annoying) compositions.

The second problem I encountered was that I lack the ability to hold my hands still for the amount of time required to capture these images. Lacking a tripod I had to just hold my breath for about a minute at a time it felt and just hope that I would get something that looked good. In this image you can see the star trails and the rather lightning blur of a street lamp as well as the muffled outlines of the fence posts. BUT there is an incredibly bright green area of sky above the houses that I am exceptionally proud of!!

This one, I didn't manage to keep very still at all but the green is still clearly there!!!!

This time I attempted to see if i could replicate the professionals shot of his house under the aurora. As you can see I failed! I did though manage to capture some nice stars and the faint glow of the lights down on the horizon. 

This image has the potential to be amazing. I have managed to get a much larger spectrum of the lights flowing across the horizon. Unfortunately whilst trying to avoid the rather annoying streetlamp that was ruining the whole scene I only managed to include a rather ugly corner of my house in the picture. And then there is the blurriness again. If we ignore the negatives though it is a very nice green line!!

Aurora over Lewis house

I know I know slightly distracted from the project but this is so amazing it has to be shared!

The Aurora on Tuesday night (8th Oct) over the photographers house.

Kareen's house after storm in Lewis

Pictures donated by Kareen for speculation (and amusement) 

 Storm hit house, Carloway, Isle of Lewis

Concept/theme	Interpretation	Discourse
Landscape	Rough terrain, hills	Rurality
Oil tank	Central heating	Modernity
Bleak sky	Dreary day	Climate
Chimneys	Fuel fires installed	Modernity perhaps??
Large house	Family home	Sociality
3 dustbins	Rubbish/recycling	Modernity/postmodernity
Stains on walls	Weathered	Climate/age
Shed	Storage	Possesions
Fallen chimney and missing tiles	Breezy!! location	climate

 Storm hit house, Carloway, Isle of Lewis 

 Storm hit house, Carloway, Isle of Lewis