01 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Wrought iron entrance gates hung on dressed stone
This is the second collection of photographs made whilst on Edinburgh walks. Locations in this set include the Dean Cemetery, the New Town, the Royal Scottish Academy, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the Waters of Leith walk, the Royal Botanic Garden and Scotbridge. Sometimes the walks link specific places such as art galleries, museums and bookshops or are purely speculative and exploratory. Californian photographer G Dan Mitchell describes himself as a visual opportunist which might also define my activities.
02 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Architectural memorial with portrait relief
Robert Reid was born in Edinburgh in 1774 and was buried here in the Dean Cemetery in 1856. Associated with Robert Adam he made significant contributions to City architecture and the development of the New Town. He was the last appointee as Master of Work for the Crown of Scotland. The Bank of Scotland building on The Mound, with Richard Crichton, is a very visible example of his work. The form and rich weathered colour of this massive architectural monument and the first wording of its inscription appealed.
03 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Monument with sculpted bronze portrait
David Scott RSA was born in Edinburgh in 1809 and died there in 1849. His often large paintings centred on historical subjects. Buried in Dean Cemetery, his monument was designed by his brother William Bell Scott. The latter was a painter, poet and teacher involved with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In Wallington Hall (National Trust) he completed eight murals chronicling the history of Northumberland, the last reflecting his interest in the Industrial Revolution as subject matter.
04 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Detail from an Exhibition banner outside the RSA
This fabric banner was hung outside the Royal Scottish Academy on Princes Street to advertise its 2018 Summer Exhibition. 
05 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | A red lettered sign seen through a whitewashed shop window
After taking the previous photography I crossed the street and spotted this image through the whitewashed glass of a shop under repair and redecoration. 
06 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Painterly whitewash blocking a basement window
On a 2019 visit I passed the stairway to a basement on Dundas Street carrying this more painterly composition in whitewash. 
07 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Decayed painted confectioners’ sign
The faded colour on the severe geometry of the masonry with its offset, decaying, and almost abstract fragmented lettering appealed.
08 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Layered painted shop fascia lettering
Weathering over time often creates a transparency through layers of paint that allows us to read a succession of names and descriptions. This photograph is from Stockbridge. 
09 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Carved door lintel lettering dated 1590
I passed this whilst walking through one of the narrow and stepped closes on the High Street.
10 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Exposed concrete and steel building retaining wall
This photograph is related to IMAGE 07 in the EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS gallery that shows a Market Street building in decay. Here, demolition has revealed the concrete and steel retaining wall against which it was built. The next image illustrates Market Street and its city skyline beyond. 
11 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Image and words on a building site hoarding
This architect’s impression of a new Market Street building next to the City Arts Centre (left - once the 1899 home of the ‘Scotsman’ newspaper)) is based on a photograph taken from the adjacent North Bridge across Waverley Station. On my last visit the building was nearing completion and scaffolding was being removed. Next time I’ll be interested to see it fully integrated into the streetscape. 
12 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Annual layers of fallen leaves gathered behind iron railings
I always enjoy exploring the footpaths on the Waters of Leith walk. My most frequently trodden route is from the Royal Botanic Garden westwards through Stockbridge to the two Museums of Modern Art on the Bedford Road. At this point the river runs between steep and high banks crowned by rather grand terraced houses. Every autumn this fence garners leaves in yet another annual layer with each one decaying and refining itself further over time. 
13 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | A detail from the fluting on a Doric column
It sometimes feels that I’ve been visiting this Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art building for ever but remind myself that from 1960 it was housed in the Inverleith House in the Royal Botanic Garden. This is a fragment from one of the six Doric columns supporting the pediment on the entrance portico. It was designed by William Burn in 1825 as John Watson’s School to benefit fatherless children and adopted its new role in 1984. In colour, it records a long accumulation of city grime and hints at the flowing grain in the natural stone beneath.
14 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Leaf design detail on a stainless steel gate
This photograph frames a section of the polished steel gates at the eastern entrance to the Royal Botanic Garden. It’s a superb place to visit at any time and from its highest ground offers fine views south across the city. Extensive modern glasshouses augment the superb Victorian architecture of Robert Matheson’s Temperate Palm House completed in 1858. Extensive renovations designed by Simpson & Brown were undertaken in 2002. It’s really worth visiting just for itself.
15 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Detail from students’ racked bicycles
This is a subject I’ve idly considered over the years but rarely tackled. This was my most recent attempt made whilst walking through the University area south of the Castle. The horizontal formality of the three polished supports contrasts with the various angles of the bicycle frames and the arcs of their wheels. Black and white unified the composition. 
16 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Steps, railings, shadows, masonry and a planted urn
This is a detail from the entrance way to one of the terraced houses in the New Town. This remains a magnificent example of unified town planning. A design competition in 1766 began the process and building of the first phase was completed circa 1820. In the 1960s proposed changes led to some demolition on Princes Street and some visually appalling replacement structures More recent activity in St Andrews Square shows great insensitivity on the part of officialdom, architects and their commissioners. 
17 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Building detail in rusticated stone
The fine stonework in the New Town offers great visual variety and pleasure as one walks its streets. This is one small example of rustication incorporated into the lower façade of one of its terraced houses. Entrances offer visual riches in the design of steps, railings, doorways and the fanlights above the often substantial doors. 
18 EDINBURGH FRAGMENTS 2 | Brick infill to a window opening beyond winter trees
This is a detail from buildings backing on to the Waters of Leith at Stockbridge. Inevitably for me the subtle variations in colour and texture, formal geometry and diagonals appealed. Here, the reality of angled branches and twigs is reversed in the shadows cast by an unseen neighbour.
