So this was a friends trip to a small seaside park in Scotland. I think it was about early June'ish, a few weeks before we were to leave high-school.
These are probably the photos I treasure the most, just because I actually tried to nail out the aesthetic I had been working on for a while.
Actually this whole trip probably means a lot to me in general. Felt like a nice way to finally finish my teenage years.
Some important context; this was actually my friend's family's summer holiday that we had been invited to, where they grabbed a caravan for a couple days, and went for expeditions around the area.
Sunset with Pink Overtones
My magnum opus, the first picture I took on this trip as well, yet I have no fucking idea how this was captured.
It was the first night of us camping, and I had just decided to make this a "photography" holiday.
The funny thing about this is that the sky didn't even look nice, it was mainly grey with a couple of overtones, and we'd just been hit with torrential rain for the last 3 hours trying to put up tents.
I don't know how much it bucketed it down but it was awful.
We ended up making friends with two old Christians during the flash flood who gave us tea and coffee, and just stayed inside their tent and chatted.
I think I was the first to make friends, and then one by one my friends trickled in, wanting to get away from the pissing cold.
I'll be honest, that little bit of kindness really touched me in a way, I don't know.
Just strangers helping strangers.
I kinda wish I could see them again.
Abandoned Grave
So this was the second day out, and our friend wanted to show us the places around Portban she explored with her sisters when she was younger.
First up on that list was the weird, old abandoned church thing she used to go with her sisters.
It was about a couple hundred meters out from where we were set up, a good 15 minute walk across the beaches and grassy dunes.
I remember a lot of sheep droppings, we had to basically hop from one space to another, and then through a broken wire fence.
When we got there, it looked like this 12th century mausoleum. The roof had been destroyed from hundreds of years of weathering, and one of us managed to jump from a grassy stone into the grave.
I don't know how he contorted himself to the top of the building, I think I have a video of it somewhere on my hard drive, but it was just a stupid and funny moment.
The Rock Climbers
The second destination on my friend's list was a place she used to go as a kid with her sisters, about a two-mile trek across rocks and hills;
a beach filled with seals that she hadn't went to in a long while.
I think this was about a mile into our journey, and I was jumping rock to rock like a mountain goat for some reason.
I'm not too sure why, everyone else just walked like normal people, but I couldn't stop it was genuinely just so fucking fun.
Think of it like this: to the left of me was the sea, calm in the sense of not posing any danger, and to the right, grassy hills and exposed rock as far as the eye can see.
This is a picture of two of my friends navigating down one of the rock ledges towards the beach.
Bit of an obvious candid, but a nice one at that.
Sheep's Home
Getting closer towards the Seal Beach, about a couple hundred meters out we came across this... I got no idea basically there was a billion sheep here.
As it turns out, I think this was the source of the sheep droppings we had been narrowly avoiding for the last 2 hours.
Also I think I remember one of my friend's sisters being absolutely terrified for some reason, it was hilarious.
There's not really much to say about this picture, I love sheep with a passion, but you do NOT approach sheep with their lambs nearby because they hurt like a motherfucker.
There's a couple other pictures from this journey, but I won't put them up as I'd need to blur faces and I don't want to chance any weirdo doxxing my friends.
Seal Beach
I admit, I wasn't expecting that many seals, and I don't think this picture does it justice. There were a LOT of seals. A LOT OF THEM.
We sat on the rocks you see at the bottom for about an hour, chatting and watching the seals.
It was such a while back so I can't remember much detail, but I swear I remember a pack of Fruity Pops, me running over to a tide indicator because it looked cool, and an hour walk back across a built up road.
Turns out the beach was really close to some big, bunker with a massive doors, probably Scottish Power related.
That was the majority of our afternoon, a nice trek to and from the middle of nowhere.
And I will never forget the shower when we got back: hot water over your back, nice and fresh, can't beat it.
I think we were planning to get into the water for a swim, but it started spitting so we called it off, and instead got ready for the main event.
Campfire
See, my friend was from a religious family: very Christian, and very involved in the church, which meant she was too before she became an atheist.
I actually saw her a couple weeks ago for coffee, and catching up, she told me the time she was part of a Christian puppet show for the youth church.
I have no idea what that means, and frankly I am fucking scared to ask, so some things will remain a mystery to this collection.
Simply put, on top of making S'mores and talking round the campfire, her mother also got us to do the "Christian Penguin Dance".
To this day, no idea why it was a thing but by god we were pissing ourselves laughing about it by the time we were done.
I also distinctly remember the two younger kids in our group were trying to steal some firewood from a neighbouring DofE group, which they successfully got a couple of twigs and maybe one log?
We already had wood it was compleltely unnecessary, they just wanted to bully a couple of random people out of wood which I fully supported.
Green Alcove
This is an odd one, considering the whole time we were walking it did NOT look as good as this.
This photo is an actual, genuine miracle.
This was the last day we were out, I think we had all packed up the tents and were doing one final walk to some cool ancient rock carvings a couple roads from the holiday park.
We were all exhausted by that point, half-relieved, half-dissapointed at the end of our time away.
So the 6 of us were walking and I think it was about two-thirds of the way there when I spotted it.
In the thicket of all those trees was this... paradise.
Now, Scotland has this beautiful feature about it, where it can go from looking deathly miserable to beautiful in a matter of seconds; I always assumed it was a myth, but for once I think I actually experienced it.
A couple minutes later we finally got to the stones, which I'll be honest they were just stones I can't kid myself they were boring as hell.
Calm Waves
This was taken about an hour after the campfire.
After the campfire was put out, and the others were asleep, I went out to the beach for a while.
I took a couple swings of what I think was Cherry Sourz and...
I just sat by the beach listening to this song for a while.
That year had been particularly hard for me, for reasons I've put here before, but deleted out of anonymity. (My IRL friends may discover this and if you do haiiii :3!)
I think in that moment I somewhat made my final peace with it.
Just watching the waves go back and forth, over and over again.
The coastal wind breathing through your jacket.
It does something to you.
Something divine.
It's not calming or relaxing, but a weird ambivelent third option.
