It seems like a while ago that I retuned to Scotland for a photography and walking trip. Well it was, in fact – about 5 months but I have now had a chance to review images. Yes, I have been busy with much else; partly taking up a role with an event photography company which keeps me pretty busy but also, as you will see in another blog, developing my greetings card business and reaching the final of the Henries. The Henries, you say. What are they? Well they are the foremost awards within the greetings card industry. Voted for by retailers. So it feels good to get to the final.
Any way Scotland. Another bounty of images, starting on the first night. I was travelling again with Ian - Smeds. He has taken a walk up the Devil’s Staircase on a separate trip with Darina and thought it had potential for an evening shoot. Which it did. Both at last light – above – and in the glooming of the darkness, below – where the Buachaille Etive Mor is bathed in lovely reflected light.
The following morning we walked up the hills opposite the Three Sisters at the lower end of the glen. I have always found it tricky to shoot the sisters and this occasion was no different – particularly with the featureless blue sky we were offered. Lovely for feeling the sun on your face, not so good for photography. I did get a lovely shot of rock though. And the compulsory image of backlit birch. I am often drawn to the colours and textures of Scotland. Whilst there may not be demand for a whole book on the subject, I have included a few in this blog.
We then moved slightly north to shoot Ben Nevis – another tricky-to-shoot large lump of rock. We gave in to the famous view from the beach near Corpach - home to the incredibly impressive nine lock Neptune’s staircase at the start of the Caledonian canal. Here there is a ship wreck to give foreground interest on Caol beach. Some of the best views involved getting wet to enable reflections in the calm waters.
The seaweed also needed a shot – both in the water and caked with salt, as did the detail of the decaying boat.
We were meeting friends in Torridon for a couple of days walking so had to get going the next day. We did stop at the infamous Eileen Donan Castle really to scope out views for future shoots. Middle of the day lighting meant this was never going to fully deliver but I did find some new angles.
Frankly it’s pretty exhausting on a trip like this when even downtime between dawn and dusk shoots is spent travelling and finding angles for future images. The rest of the trip yielded a few images – evenings in Torridon and another reccy in Glencoe during lunch on the way home. The image of the Buachaille with the river is definitely one to return to - probably in dawn light.
