Evening Light at the "Dog Kennel", a photo from South Lanarkshire, Scotland

Photographer's Note

Taken on a sunny May evening six years ago, this building forms the centrepiece of the present Chatelherault Country Park near Hamilton in central Scotland. The park is open to the public for recreation, the building houses a small museum and it is also often used as a venue for weddings. There are also some very pleasant routes from here along the banks of the rivers Avon and Clyde where I quite often walk with with friends.

The name is derived from the French town of Chвtellerault, the title "Duc de Chвtellerault" having been held by the Duke of Hamilton.

This building (now often simply referred to as "Chatelherault") was the former hunting lodge of the now demolished Hamilton Palace. The lodge was designed by William Adam and completed in 1734. It comprises two pavilions linked by a gateway. The north facade was visible from the palace and forms the front of the building, though this picture of the rear of the building and its formal parterre garden was taken from the south. The buildings provided kennels, stables and accommodation for hunting parties returning from the woodlands to the south.

Interestingly, William Adam often jokingly referred to his creation as "The Dog Kennel"!

ISO 400, 1/320 sec at f/10, focal length 24mm.

Here are the co-ordinates of the location: 55.761854, -4.015461

And here is a larger version of this photograph:
https://i1.trekearth.com/photos/48186/img_16705a.jpg

I have previously posted on TE a photo, taken on the same day, of the front of this building which you can see here:
https://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=8&p=1464563

COSTANTINO, Fis2, pajaran, holmertz, jhm, Royaldevon, jimmyjimmy, jimmyjimmy has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Tue (92360) 2020-06-22 15:17

Hello John,
The evening light is amazing and created such wonderful long shadows and rich colours, especially the green tones of the grass and the hedges. Excellent exposure of the shaded facade of the beautiful building as well.
Lars

lousat (139266) 2020-06-22 15:50

Hi John,the place is lovely and the choice of the moment makes the difference,with the long shadows on the gardens and the perfect exposure to take the facade in the shadow in an excellent way,beautiful hunting lodge still well preserved. Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

Silvio1953 (221593) 2020-06-22 21:20

Ciao caro John, great view of fantastic building, fine details, excellent clarity, splendid light and wonderful colors, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

jemaflor (147128) 2020-06-22 22:50

Hi John,
Well framed this facade and charming presentation with this pleasant warm sunlight, photogenic rendering, tfs.

COSTANTINO (116490) 2020-06-22 23:06

Hello dear friend
a classical postcard in which
sunlight plays perfectly
an amazing evening light
regards
Costantino

emka (158156) 2020-06-22 23:52

Hello dear John, beautiful place and it looks wonderful in this early evening light. Lovely perspective, interesting compositions from Buxus sempervirens. it looks quite different in your old picture. I like these circular openings on both sides. Very nice .
It was very dry in Poland, they prayed in the Parliament for rains, and they exaggerated - now it rains every day and there are many small floods :).
Have a nice day

MAlgo

ifege (48085) 2020-06-23 0:06

Hi John
The time of day controlled your options for this photo but the back lighting of the building has worked. Excellent light management.
cheers
Ian

Fis2 (170747) 2020-06-23 0:39

Witaj John!
A very nice building, I love it.
Excellent framing, light and colors.
Very impressive picture!
Good morning.
Krzysztof

jean113 (27853) 2020-06-23 1:05

Hello John, the level of the sun has created a beautiful effect on your scene; the dark and brighter green of the parterre gardens emphasising the shapes of the cut hedges.
The two round windows really drew my eyes to their perfect shape immediately, what a lovely architectural feature.
All the details and shape of the building are still very clear even though it is backlit.
A lovely picture.
Very interesting and informative notes.
Kind regards, and keep safe,
Jean.

holmertz (102700) 2020-06-23 1:10

Hello John,
My first thought seeing this photo was that you should have brought a drone. The neatly trimmed hedges obviously form elegant patterns, but they would probably have looked even more attractive from above. They still provide a very nice foreground, and the warm light falls beautifully on the lawn, but the building is more attractive in the older photo, where the faзade caught a better light. I had forgotten that photo but I was reminded of it when I saw the blue little elf dancing on the lawn.
Kind regards,
Gert

rychem (72187) 2020-06-23 7:00

The building itself is unusual and very attractive, the light in your photo is simply fantastic, low and warm and creating long shadows, a splendid photo
regards Ryszard

jhm (211736) 2020-06-23 10:27

Hello John,

You show us a lovely picture with gold colours through the long shadows.
Two nice parts to see, the garden and lovely frontage.
You chose a perfect angle with depth and perspective.
Lovely sharp and clear photographed.
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

Royaldevon (85932) 2020-06-23 11:11

Hello John,

You have posted another couple of photographs from the 'Dog Kennel' at a time when the sun was getting lower in the sky and was reducing your options.
I think the light was kinder in the other shots, particularly on the building, but this has something special, the long shadows, which are creating works of art of the different elements of the parterre.
The upper surfaces of the box curves are positively glowing, whilst the long shadows create connections between different areas.

This was a massive building for a hunting lodge, maybe reflecting the importance placed on hunting when the house was built.

As always, the composition is well thought out and implemented.

My warm regards,
Bev :-)

Ilonka1974 (10289) 2020-06-25 14:39

Hi John,
Beautiful place,
Excellent presentation.
Lovely composition.
Well done.
Best regards
Janusz

mkamionka (74407) 2020-06-27 23:14

Hi John,
beautiful house and garden. Most importantly photographed in challenging but wonderful light.Having the facade in the shade didn't make it easy but the lovely lit foreground and good level of detail of architecture makes it a success.
Very suitable central symmetry which helped to emphasize the elegance of the place.
I have actually tickets to another house and gardens purchased for today but it is a stormy weather so I will give up.

I preferred jpg mainly because I take a lot of family photos alongside non-family photos and with quite high number it is a pain not only for space on the card/disk but also for subsequent processing.

Beautiful work,

M

jimmyjimmy (6164) 2020-06-28 7:51

Hello John

Ahhh the long shadow. Wonderful capture with the rich colors and subject. A keeper for sure. I like it. Beautiful

Jimmy