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Auld Alloway Kirkyard
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This is a picture of the old churchyard of Old Alloway Kirk, the ruins of this church being the setting of the witches' dance in the poem Tam o' Shanter written by Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns.
Even when Robert Burns was a child, this church was a ruin and he probably played with other children in it and played hide-and-seek between the old gravestones. Perhaps it was memories of doing this that conjured up in his mind ideas of witches and warlocks which feature in that famous poem.
It is indeed ironic that his father, William Burns, was later buried in that very churchyard, his grave looking remarkably modern in comparison to the very ancient stones surrounding it. William Burns died in 1784 and his son, Robert, was only to survive him by 12 years, dying an untimely death as a result of childhood rheumatic fever in 1796 at the age of 37.
It is interesting to look at the carvings on many of the very old gravestones: some have carvings of hour-glasses on them - those in which the hour-glass is vertical suggesting that the person died at a ripe old age, whereas those with the glass lying horizontally suffered an untimely death.
Shot in RAW and edited and converted to TIFF in Canon DPP then resized, sharpened, framed and converted to JPEG in PSE6.
All comments/critiques/advice welcome! |
graffer, Glint, saxo042 has marked this note useful
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Hello John,
In this fine contre-jour shot, I am impressed by the way that you have brought out, with great detail, the inscription on the headstone.
The image is sharp and clear throughout, and I very much like the warm colours on some of the stones.
Excellent!
Regards,
Peter.
- Glint
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 673 W: 6 N: 390]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(1959) - [2008-04-01 6:32]
- [2] [+]
hello John,
You have captured a nice light, colours and textures. The sharpness is excellent but being the heathen that I am I momentarily read "SACKED" rather than "SACRED" at the top of the tombstone. (Just reading Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion so that may explain failure to register religiosity).
Robert Burns' trip the take the irony waters of Brow Well near Ruthwell did not prevent his untimely demise and Dawkin's would wonder why the undoubted prayers for his health were left unheeded.
Bev
Hello John,
you have prepared a tough time for me - reading Burns is not easy, last time I tried or I had to try to read them was at the university. Though, for the same reason, the shot and your note are very interesting for me.
Best regards
Romana
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 225 W: 118 N: 503]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-g-g.gif){kind=small}