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..

Friday, 4 April 2014

Forres Mercat Cross

Finally! Another instalment of Photographic Friday...

Photography by the HouseCat

The mercat cross in Forres is a Victorian Gothic Revival piece built on the site of the original mercat cross. A mercat cross was built to designate a market town or village, and larger and fancier towns had larger and fancier crosses. Forres must have been a lot less quite and sleepy in the 19thC, for it has a lot of lovely Victorian architecture and a rather fancy mercat cross. Back in 2011, the cross was restored.

Photography by the HouseCat

As per usual, I saw something pretty and historical and clambered around it trying my best to photograph it. There are plenty of photographs of it in full - that's the standard tourist shot of it - so I decided to try some more interesting angles and capture some details. I'd have loved it if the sky was something other than uninteresting, misty grey that day, as I think some dramatic clouds would have really improved these shots. Any feedback on the photography from a technical aspect would be much appreciated. 

Photography by the HouseCat

I'm hoping to go back to Forres at some point as there is plenty of interesting architecture there, including an empty and derelict church and the Tollbooth. As I was in Forres for other purposes that day, I only had limited time to take photographs, and so my next trip will be completely for architectural photography purposes. 

Photography by the HouseCat
I will be on more travels in the near future, so stay tuned for more architectural photography, and other things. I sadly don't know much about the mercat cross in Forres, so there's not much historical information in this post - sorry! 

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5 comments:

  1. Unknown7 April 2014 at 07:48

    Brilliant shots.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7 April 2014 at 08:23

    Nice shots of a difficult subject the bland sky doesn't detract from the image a moodier sky may have distracted the eye

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    Replies
    1. The HouseCat7 April 2014 at 15:25

      I didn't want anything too detailed, just something with enough texture to it to make it a bit more interesting and atmospheric.

      Delete
  3. Steven C. Davis7 July 2014 at 14:10

    When I saw the title, I was expecting meercats, but they're striking images. Well taken :)

    ReplyDelete

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