In the tiny hamlet of Drybridge close to the Moray town of Buckie is this remarkable structure, Craigmin Bridge, which I believe used to be on the railway line that serviced this relatively little known region of Scotland. The bridge has an amazing arrangement of multiple tiered stone arches and it is all in place to cross this tiny stream and well off the beaten track. I cannot help thinking that it has more than a passing resemblance to a rather spooky house in another quiet backwater hamlet, Amityville, those all to familiar eye shaped arches make the bridge seem more than a little bit creepy.
What a wonderful old structure and scene you have conveyed. The composition and colors work well.
Your narrative tells that you felt the spooky nature of the eyes. So you have a choice of renderings: 1. To convey the charming scene, or 2. To convey your feelings about the scene. Seems you chose 1 over 2, but play with this some more and find way to convey the forboding feeling. I made a stab at it, but your feelings and artistry are what count here. I cropped a bit of top and burned the remaining sky to avoid attracting the eye to that outer edge. Then burned most that wasn’t eyes. But play with this until it says CREEPY to you.
All that said, it is a splendid scenic portrayal.
What an interesting location! This has incredible potential @Ian_Cameron and if its accessible to you, it may be helpful to come back under varying conditions to see what you see/feel. For example, I can imagine this in fog being pretty amazing and help to simplify some of the scenery through the portals that have texture/high frequency elements complicating the overall scene to my eye. My only other comment/recommendation would be a crop from the top to exclude the sky. You may be able to pull that off and still have adequate presence of the bridge/portals. Lastly, is there any way to move to the R. and include more of the obscured smallest portal? Again, this looks like a target rich opportunity here.
Thanks guys. It is a realistic distance for a revisit. The full extent of the arches becomes more apparent in Autumn when the density of foliage reduces and turns russet red from fallen beech leaves. That will be my target visit. I also have more moody versions taken from the other side of the bridge. They are on my website. Weird and wonderful place though.
Well I though the small stone bridge you showed earlier was pretty neat, but this one tops them all (literally). In line with the creepiness factor of the eyes the bottom arch looks like the mouth of a moaning ghost. what A cool location, i look forward to seeing what you come up with this autumn on a return visit.
In addition to darkening the sky, I might suggest burning down the sand and rocks in the LRC, it will help focus more attention on the bridge.
I know this has little to do with the image but I find the architecture fascinating. I’m wondering why they built the arches above the main one. Perhaps it was to diminish the load on the main one.
