My picture gallery contains; photographs of the West End of Glasgow, photographs of Glasgow, and photographs of Scotland.

Click each pictures to get a larger image.

You can take any image from my diary for your own use as long as you follow these simple terms and conditions

23rd January 2001

Last Sunday we went for a walk around the Greenock Cut - following the path suggested by Ian Mitchell in his latest outdoors article. We picked the right day; although it was bitingly cold it was very bright; the hills and the many lochs we passed fairly glowed with the winter light.

I took the picture above after we had turned for home and the sun had started to sink low in the sky.

Earlier we had passed this small building - very white and geometric against the plain blue sky - it had an abstract quality that appealed.

I continue on my quest to take a good picture of the Kibble Palace - my favourite West End building. If I'd had a pair of shears (and I had been given permission to do a bit of pruning) I would have chopped off some of those low hanging branches before taking this picture. That would have improved the photo a little bit - you don't think I'm getting a bit obsessed do you?

While in the Botanic Gardens I couldn't not take some photographs of the latest displays in the Main Range of glasshouses ( yes that's how I wanted to write that sentence). Above and below are two of the best from the spool. As usual I have not got a clue what the flowers are called.

15th January 2001

A few more photographs from our recent 'snowy' period.

Above is Lilybank House - a Georgian villa built for Robert Allen -sometime in the late 1830's, later extended by Alexander Thomson in the 1860's.

" The grounds of Lilybank, which extended westward almost to Byres Road, were planted with ornamental trees and boasted a large walled garden and greenhouses."

Lilybank House later became the home of Laurel Bank Girls School (the first school to be established by Scottish women graduates). In the mid 1890's it was altered further by architects Honeyman and Keppie to be converted to Queen Margaret Hall - a residence for the students of Queen Margaret College. Currently it is owned by Glasgow University.

( The above information and the quote are from the book 'Along Great Western Road - An Illustrated History of Glasgow's West End' by Gordon R. Urquhart.)

Here is a picture of St George's Mansions -taken from the walkway that winds its way over the traffic of St George's Cross.

I have seem a lot of nice old pictures of this building and I'm sure I've read about it a good few times in the past but I can't put my hands on anything at the moment to say who built it or when it was built.

Update: Thanks to Dorothy Easson for the following information about the Mansions.

"They were built 1900-1901. Architects were Frank Burnet and Boston. Designed to complement Charing Cross Mansions."

Christmas morning in Kelvingrove Park.

A better picture (than the one I took last month) of The Police box at the corner of Great Western Road and Queen Margaret Drive.

Another attractive West End door to add to the collection.

And finally something a bit abstract; the frost covered branches of a particularly curly branched tree.

1st January 2001

There can be no doubt what today's Photo diary is going to be all about; snow, snow, snow and more snow. On Christmas morning - If you can remember that far back - the streets of the West End had a light covering of snow; so I'm thinking - I'd better go out and capture some of this 'winter wonderland' on camera before it all melts away. Eh, well maybe I should have glanced at the weather forecast before rushing out - I woke up the next day and the snow was a foot thick - and it hasn't disappeared since. If it's snow pictures you want mate you're in the right town (as they say).

These two pictures are from the pre-snowstorm phase - when a hard frost and a sprinkling of snow can do wonders for your railings. The photograph on the left, as you have probably worked out, is the entrance gate to the Botanic Gardens - and the railings on the right are just to the right of the Western Bar on Great Western Road.

The classic kids playing in the snow picture - I had to click this one. For some reason it looks more like a painting than a photograph to me - could be because the main subjects are not sharply in focus.

And the classic black and white snowy countryside look - again taken in the Botanic Gardens looking back from the Kirklee end. The reason I have turned this into a black and white photograph ( using the wonders of computer technology) is because it came back from the printers with a strange colour cast on it ( along with many of the other photos I took on Christmas Day). I liked the 'composition' so the only way to save it was to make it black and white. I took quite a few photographs in Kelvingrove Park the same day but many of them where also spoiled by being a funny colour. I thought about taking them back to the chemist and complaining but never got around to it.

I have always liked these sculpted trees in the Botanic Gardens and they looked particularly glamourous with their topping of snow and the warm evening light coming in from the north(?). I didn't quite capture on film what I thought I was seeing through the lens - but if you look hard enough you can see a little bit of the magic that I was sure I could see (does that make sense?).

Some berries sheltering under a blanket of snow.

I have a selection of my photographs for sale in the Gallery Shop.

Back in the house and I took a picture of these flowers - a contrast to the mono tones of the snow covered streets.

Comments

Now that I am retired, I find that I have a great deal of time on my hands, so I "surf" the web a lot. Today I came across your site and found it very interesting.
I don't know if you ever found out what the Police Boxes were used for.
I used to work for the Post Office Eng. Dept (telephone engineer), and one of my jobs was the maintainance of these boxes. These were used in the days before there was any radio contact with the Police on the beat, attached each box was a lamp that used to flash (usually up on top of a lampost) when the police station were trying to contact the local Bobby, they also had a small door on the front that allowed the public to call the police station, you can just imagine the abusive calls that were made by small (and sometimes not so small) boys.
Thank youfor the lovely photographs that you have made available
Yours Alex
--Alex Allison ( kilb49 at blueyonder dot co dot uk ) from Scotland on 24.6.2002; 21:37:40 Uhr

Living here in the West end for 6 months. Love the site. Jim your photographs are wonderful. They will,of course be a dagger in my heart when I have to leave this dear place, but like a lovesick girl, I will visit them again and again to feel my pain at missing the West End and Scotland. Thank you for taking them and putting them online. Sincerely, Susan
--Susan Nye ( Puritan39 at aol dot com ) from USA on 9.3.2001; 23:47:26 Uhr