Header

Faoin

Pinnacle
Old Man of Storr
by Pete Rowbottom

I've photographed this subject a number of times now as it is without one of the most classic landscapes in the World, however I'd never shot it from this location before...

This day weather wise was extremel poor, we had tried to shoot if from across the loch but it really did nothing for me as the water was moving and the light was really quite poor, I only got my camera out once and even then looking at the files at home I was grabbing at nothing as the scene was very flat... We had been toying with the idea of climbing up there but the low lying mist and cloud made this virtually pointless as we would be lucky to see anything, nevermind get any shots...

We thought we would head up to the Quirang to have a walk around and see if we could get any light coming through the heavy cloud somewhere, this turned out to be another non start as it was actually too windy to even open the car door upon getting up there, rocking the car side to side even with some 'hefty' Gentlemen inside :-)!!

We gave up on that idea and decided to head back to Sligachan to shoot the falls as it was a lot more inland and less lightly to be affected by the winds.. On the way back we noticed that the mist was really low and decided to see if we could chance get anything from this different angle, given that we hadn't got anything all day it was a no brainer.

The wind was very very strong here still, hard to stand up let alone take pictures... the scene was constantly changing as the mist was being rapidly blown around, The only place I could shoot was with the car boot raised and tucked in behind it and with the big lens on, and just waited for a moment where the 'old man' was prominent but the background mostly taken away by the conditions. This was the result..

Normally looking at it from this angle it isn't dramatic as the colours all blend into one and the shape of the rocks are just lost against the similar backround elements.

A few of us had discussed this before about making bad weather work for you instead of against you, up until this point on this day my train of thought seemed to be a bit of a 'damp squib' as we were all empty handed, but just that little bit of endeavour and luck paid dividends in the end.

Portfolio of images on my personal website here

Old Man of Storr Panorama
Old Man of Storr

A pano from the same view point as my earlier shots of the old Man of Storr. The mist was swirling between the cliffs of the Storr and the Old Man,...

flickr.com
Incoming weather
Old Man of Storr

The approach to the Old Man Of Storr on the Isle Of Skye on a wet day.

flickr.com
Misty Storr
Old Man of Storr

2 more from Skye this Autumn. A screech to a halt job as there was a rainbow over the Old Man of Storr. The rainbow disappeared quickly, but the...

flickr.com
Stormy Old Man of Storr
Old Man of Storr

Two shots of the Old Man of Storr playing Peek-a-boo in the mist. This viewpoint only worked with the cloud behind the Old Man bouncing the pinacle...

flickr.com

Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Faoin!
Most notably Lenis Las and Pete Rowbottom.