My personal blog as a 'grown-up' Goth and Romantic living in the Highlands of Scotland. I write about the places I go, the things I see and my thoughts on life as a Goth and the subculture, and things in the broader realm of the Gothic and darkly Romantic. Sometimes I write about music I like and sometimes I review things. This blog often includes architectural photography, graveyards and other images from the darker side of life.

Goth is not just about imitating each other, it is a creative movement and subculture that grew out of post-punk and is based on seeing beauty in the dark places of the world, the expression of that in Goth rock. It looks back to the various ways throughout history in which people have confronted and explored the macabre, the dark and the taboo, and as such I'm going to post about more than the just the standards of the subculture (Siouxsie, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, et al) and look at things by people who might not consider themselves anything to do with the subculture, but have eyes for the dark places. The Gothic should not be limited by what is already within it; inspiration comes from all places, the key is to look with open eyes, listen carefully and think with an open mind..

Thursday 6 November 2014

Remembering Summer In Autumn


Outside a gale is howling and leaden clouds scud across a pale, wan and grey sky. Everything is damp; there's not enough warmth between the rain showers for anything to dry. Autumn is here, rapidly turning into winter. Snow was reported on the mountains to the south, and it has been too hazy for me to see whether or not there is snow on the mountains to the north. Summer seems like it was a century ago. Currently I am wearing a scarf indoors and I am getting good use out of my trench-coat and wellies when outdoors, but right now, I'm not even thinking about being outdoors; I am indoors in the warm and more importantly to me, the dry. I love the colours of autumn- leaves of copper, gold, bronze and burgundy, skies of silver, steel and lead, an ocean like mercury - but I am not at all fond of the weather, as it seems to mostly be driven rain that comes when the wind sweeps off the ocean and across the foothills and drags the rain anywhere from diagonal to almost sideways. 

Relaxing in the garden after some summer rain.
Photograph by Raven of Chance Photography

As such, I cast my mind back to summer, when it was warmer (sometimes too warm!) and I could spend time outdoors without the wind relentlessly trying to drive water into the space between my coat and my neck (hence scarves, scarves all the time!) and I even sometimes went around bare legged. Back in July I showcased ::this:: make-up, and here is the outfit that went with it, summoned out of the depths of the external hard-drive and finally on my laptop and now my blog. 

I look grumpy when made to pose for photos!
Photograph by Raven of Chance Photography

This is probably my favourite dress - it is the 'Adare' dress by Hell Bunny, a black and white print of haunted houses, skulls, graves and ravens. Adare is a village in Ireland - near it stands one of the Desmond castles, and in it stands the Gothic Revival building of reportedly haunted Adare Manor, but the print has no castle, and the house featured looks nothing like Adare Manor, so I am not sure why it is named such. Some of the faces on the dress appear to be zombified version of Edgar Allan Poe. I love the feathers, as I am a fan of bird motifs in general. In this print they are white on black, but the dress comes in a red-on-black colour-way, and the feathers looked bloodied in that version.

Cropped by me(hence grainy)
Photo by Raven of Chance Photography

It might be raining outside, but summer can live on. Autumn will come and go then Winter, but after the Winter Solstice, the days will grow longer and summer will, eventually, return.

Many thanks to Raven, who always makes me look lovelier than I am!

8 comments:

  1. Your photographs look stunning. I have to admit, I miss the warm summer dry days. I thought things got cold in Newcastle. With you being in North Scotland I bet you understand the meaning of cold

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    1. Thankfully I don't live all the way up the mountains where it gets really cold, but it does get pretty chilly here. The coldest place I've been was the Irish sea on a ferry between Ireland and Wales, and the coldest place I've been on land was actually in Wales shortly thereafter where it got down to -11°C and the toilet froze over and my boots froze to the carpet! I was staying in a caravan so I felt it. Brrr!

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  2. Yes, these are very nice photos. As for the fall, I really enjoy it and I tend to feel more creative on gloomy autumn days. Of course, it's probably not as cold here as where you live, so I do venture outdoors from time to time. A gale-driven rain that gets under one's coat has little appeal to me. But yes, summer will return. It's generally the calmest time of the year.

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    1. On a day that is just windy, or cloudy, or chilly, then Autumn is lovely, it's just that it rains so often at the moment and I am no fan of getting soggy. I actually had my picture taken in the meadow yesterday, wearing some new Lolita clothes - those photos should be up soon. I don't mind outside, I just don't like rain. I LOVE going out in the snow! I'm looking forwards to that, too.

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  3. What a lovely outfit. The print on that dress is lush! I don't mind winter staying as long as it likes, I hate the heat! But those photos are rather nice

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    1. Thankfully summer doesn't get that warm here. It used to get well above 30°C quite a few times in summer when I lived in the South East of England, and that was FAR too hot for me; as long as it stays in the low 20s, (°C) then I don't mind summer. Once it starts getting above 25°C, then that's just too hot and I'll go stay in the shade! (Preferably with an iced drink, a fan, and maybe a parasol.)

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  4. Replies
    1. All the praise needs to go to Raven, who is a wonderful photographer!

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