EPS Outing - Aberdour 1877

EPS Outing

Aberdour - 1877

The British Journal of Photography reported on the Outing to Aberdour on 9 August 1877:

[BJP: 17 August 1877; p.394]

Aberdour

"The village - itself a favourite watering place with a quaint old harbour - is flanked both on the east and west with such beautiful combinations of rock, wood and water as have long made it a favourite resort by artists both of the brush and camera."

Journey by Boat

"The boat, the 'Lord Aberdour' was timed to start at 9.30, by which time the members were based on board in the exuberant spirits usual on such occasions when the appearance of the day promises to be favourable to good work; but they were doomed shortly to be damped in more senses than one.

Although the atmosphere was bright and clear when they started, before they got out of the harbour they were enveloped in one of the dense fogs that occasionally come on, making it impossible to see from one end of the vessel to the other, and condensing in minute globules like hoar frost on the dresses and beards of the passengers.

Happily, however, ... when within sight of Aberdour it disappeared as suddenly as it came, revealing a brilliant sun in an almost cloudless sky, and with an atmosphere so still that not a leaf was stirred.

The road from the landing pier winds round the face of the Hawk-craig, and at every turn offers some new and charming 'bits' for the camera, but the party pushed on to the harbour

Lunch - Meeting - Photographs - Swim - Choir

Following lunch in Aberdour, an Ordinary Meeting was held, chaired by John Nicol (an EPS Member and regular contributor of the 'Notes from the North' series in the British Journal of Photography)

"The first halt was made at Dalgety church - a fine old ruin, built in the fourteenth century ... It stands in a beautiful bay close to the water's edge, and although requiring very wide-angle lenses affords several fine pictures.

Here the cameras were set up, and as long exposures were required, they were left to look after themselves while some of their owners enjoyed a refreshing swim in the Firth, and others, under the leadership of Mr Sinclair, extemporised a choir and gave full vent to such music as the surroundings always inspire."

The party continued westwards through Fife, visiting Donibristle House, then Fordel Castle with its ornamental garden, before returning on the last boat to Edinburgh.

Photographs Taken

"We may add that all the plates used were the collodio-bromide emulsion, and the exposures varied from five to forty minutes.