Perspective

What are we looking at here?

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I'll give you a few moments to contemplate it...

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It's inside the Keep of Dunottar Castle, south of Aberdeen. We are looking up from the basement past what would have been the ground floor and the first floor, including a Great Hall in there somewhere. The castle is in a spectacular location which has been fortified since back beyond the start of historical memory. The Keep was built in the 1390s and fell into disrepair in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There are many colourful stories of battles and sieges. For more on this, see this post.

I am likely to be slow to respond to any comments because I am off on another journey tomorrow, to Southwest Canyonlands and New Orleans....

There are certainly lots of nooks and crannies here, Murray. Also more than 600 years of history. Modern buildings are usually doomed once their roofs fail, but the old substantial masonry constructions, especially castles, seem to endure the centuries as long as their foundations remain intact. Your fine photo certainly cuts to the chase in this regard.

What a fantastic place Murray.

It took me some seconds to have a complete perception of the area. It looks like there is a window on your back or at least a lot of natural coming from there. Is it so ?

Why is that wall curved at the right ?

Thank you for posting !

murrayfoot.com.au is not working. Just murrayfoot.com

The point of view, looking upwards, is hard to grasp when there are no clear separations or remnants of the original floors. I have become disorientated just staring up. It must be impressive in person.

I'd have thought they'd want to restore the place by now as it would attract a lot of tourists.

Asher

This kind of reminds me of M.C. Escher's work.
It's pleasantly confusing at first because on the surface the image doesn't seem to hold any true orientation. Nice one...
I wonder how much longer this confusion can be upheld by showing it in B&W? Just a thought...

Murray, really cool shot and I enjoyed reading the rest about the castle in your blog.
Don

Thank you for all the comments!

I've just finished an intense tour of South West Canyonlands with no time to post and now in New Orleans but no more time tonight. I'll reply when I can, fairly soon.

OK, back with time to post. South West Canyonlands was a mad scramble full of delicious landscapes from before sunrise to after sunset with barely time to download and usually 6 hours sleep at night. New Orleans we were staying close to the music and up late at night so no time to post then. I am now in New Orleans Airport with an hour before the plane takes off...

Thank you Tom. This is of course the Keep. Canonballs may not have been too formidable in the 1390s but they still would have had huge ballistas. I don't remember how thick the walls were but I would think at least two metres. Still, it is remarkable that it stands without floor or supporting beams.

Thank you very much Antonio. I don't know why there is a huge arch at the right. That would have been the ground floor level. Perhaps there was earlier another building with an arched roof joining there and that building was later demolished and the wall filled in. There is no www. murrayfoote .com.au - did I say that somewhere? - just www.murrayfoote.com .

Asher, they'd only restore the place if they could do it in fully authentic fashion. Probably no-one knows exactly what was there (I except it would have been like that of hundreds of years) and there would also be the small matter of the cost (not least pehaps of many huge oak beams).

Thanks very much Paul. I do expect to make a black and white conversion of this one but haven't got to it yet.

Thanks very much, Don.

Here is another mysterious image - this time from Antelope Canyon at Monuments National Park in Arizona: