A forgotten summer
Photographed far off the beaten track in the Highlands of Scotland, this old shed and abandoned bicycle could probably tell a long and happy story!
Photo copyright © Jo Woolf
by Jo Woolf
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Packy
Amazing how much beauty there is in these simpler old things.
Jo Woolf
Very true! So many long-lost stories there, too.
blosslyn
There must have been something important in that shed, its padlocked, but whatever it was, has left by the roof LOL…..Oh but you did check the cyclist wasn’t in there…..its amazing how one photo can get the mind going 🙂
Jo Woolf
Crikey, Lynne! I’m going to have to jump in the car and go and check! 😀
blosslyn
Any excuse 🙂
Carmen Mandel
The patterns and textures are delightful, as the story it holds. Love this postcard series 🙂
Jo Woolf
Thank you, Carmen! 🙂
Dancing Beastie
What a good photo. Incidentally, it and your commentary on it remind me of an ancient and slightly scurrilous joke which my late father-in-law used to enjoy. A minister somewhere in the West Highlands had lost his bicycle. That Sunday, he gave a lengthy sermon on the Ten Commandments, with particular emphasis on ‘Thou shalt not steal’. He was well into his stride when he suddenly appeared abstracted, ground to a halt and brought the service to an abrupt conclusion. Afterwards, a friend asked what had happened. ‘Well you see,’ replied the minister, ‘it was when I reached “Thou shalt not commit adultery” that I remembered where I had left my bicycle!’ 😀
Jo Woolf
Haha!! 😀 Love that! Goodness, and the shed – it’s all falling into place! 😀
Polite Scouser
Jo is this the shot that use to be done with an older bike, which had to be replaced with not so old a bike? I seem to remember an article in the papers to that effect.
Jo Woolf
Oh, my goodness!! You are absolutely right!! Apparently the bike disappeared recently (it’s in Glen Etive) having been there for 40 years, and it was replaced by a guy who runs a local photography workshop because it was such a popular subject! Haha, that shows I’m not quite the first to ‘discover’ it!! 🙂 But I’m glad they put it back! Thank you for this.
dave
I “liked” this days ago but I had to come back to it and say how much I am attracted to it. Such dusky, moody light. And yes, as you said there are stories there. I want to know who road that old bicycle for so many years, why there is such a hefty lock on a decrepit old ramshackle like that, why the bicycle is abandoned to the outside instead of sheltered inside. And how long ago did somebody lay the moss on the roof? Just beautiful.
Jo Woolf
Thank you, Dave! It was late afternoon and the light was quite diffused and hazy. All those questions struck me, too! The lock is the most recent part of the shed, definitely. From the comment above (Polite Scouser) I’ve learned that the first bike was removed fairly recently, and then a second one was put there to satisfy local photographers! So I’m definitely not the first to see the potential here (although it’s very much out of the way!)
dave
🙂 I wonder for how many of my own past compositions (that I thought were my own invention) I actually owe a debt of gratitude to another, forward thinking artist?
Jo Woolf
That is a good point! 🙂
gypsythyme
and what’s in that shed that requires a lock? Indeed, the stories would make for story telling around a roaring fire deep into the winter months
Jo Woolf
Haha, very true! 🙂