Stirling

Had big plans for this week, with a week off work and 2 or 3 trips planned, starting off with a visit to Loch Lomond and Millarochy Bay and also to climb up Conic Hill for the views across the loch. Unfortunately I seem to have came down with some form of nasty virus and have spent the whole week from the moment I got home until now, in my bed! Thats now 2 visits north and now twice came back with something other than what I bargained for, hope I've not become allergic to the Highlands!

The waterfall at the Loup of Fintry in deepest darkest Stirlingshire

Falls of Falloch is a waterfall near the village Crianlarich in the county of Stirling in Scotland.

Loch Lomond, Scotland

Milarrochy Bay can be found on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond just north of the village of Balmaha in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. There are lovely views to be had of Loch Lomond from the shoreline and this lone tree must be the most photographed tree in the area. No matter what, it is a splendid Bay to visit at any time of year.

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Explore #2 26/06/20

Another discovered archive shot that hadn't been touched before last week, this was taken almost 2 years ago to the day so a great time to post it.

I'd slept in the car this night on the side of the Loch after shooting sunset the nigfht before, this was pre sunrise and the Exif tells me that I was up bright and early this day as it was shot at 0409 in Morning (or night depending on which way you want to look at it !)

Just as I got to the shoreline this morning an enourmous bank of mist rolled in off the mountains covering the Loch and far shoreline, as if by magic! coupled with completely still water so the boats didn't move made for some stunning shooting conditions.

It got even better when the Sun had come up which I think is why I never got around to processing this shot as I went straight for the golden light images, if anything now though I like this just as much.

I've called it 'silence' as it truly was one of the quietest places I'd ever been, you really could hear a pin drop, only the odd bird waking up to shatter the peace.

You can see the condensation on the boats if you zoom in :-)

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As one door closes another opens.. so they say, and it was certainly the case here, just as the sun had dropped...

Fantastic lighting conditions and timing on this day allowing for this shot of the moon just rising over the hills as the sun has set leaving the Loch in beautiful pastel colours with the water perfectly still allowing for great reflections, all I had to do was wait and hope the boats drifted a little more so they were seperated and weren't fouling the reflections in the horizon, and after a while thankfully they duly obliged.

For a day with hardly any cloud I really couldn't have asked for anything better.

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This scene caught my eye when I was heading to the Brack Linn Falls near Callander.

Craigmore above Aberfoyle

I've been wanting to come here for ages to Finnich Glen, so after shooting a (very dissapointing) sunrise at Ullswater while heading out to the West Coast I decided to divert to here.

The weather was (as is usual for me in these parts) pretty horrible, overcast, and raining on and off so I didn't know if I'd be able to get anything but at least I could recce the site out if not...

It's not an easy place to get to without specific instructions, and even then on this day it was like an absolute bog getting to the top of the glen before dropping down the most awkward set of 'steps' I have ever come across with the aid of a few ropes tied to some nearby trees.... once safely at the bottom in the gorge mouth though it is completely worth getting covered in the red mud that seemingly gets everywhere, absolute stunning place and like something from another world, a secret location tucked away from everything, truly amazing place.

The rain didn't seem to be getting through the tree cover above, or it had stopped so with decent light falling into the glen I was good to shoot, spent a good hour or so here and got quite a few images from the visit, this being the first I've uploaded, becuase the light is so low in the glen so dont need much filtration apart from a polariser as was the case here, the most important bit of kit needed for here is wellies or waders.... and a big bag to put them in back at the car as you will be carrying a few more pounds of mud than when you set off !

That said, totally worth it.

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The Falls of Dochart are situated on the River Dochart at Killin in Stirling, Scotland, near the western end of Loch Tay.

Scotland

Had big plans for this week, with a week off work and 2 or 3 trips planned, starting off with a visit to Loch Lomond and Millarochy Bay and also to climb up Conic Hill for the views across the loch. Unfortunately I seem to have came down with some form of nasty virus and have spent the whole week from the moment I got home until now, in my bed! I had planned on being in Glencoe today :-( Thats now 2 visits north and now twice came back with something other than what I bargained for, hope I've not become allergic to the Highlands!

The moment when you realise you've left the midge repellent at home in another bag... The Millarochy Bay Oak on the Eastern shore of Loch Lomond.

I'd posted a few from this glorious morning a while ago, but I came across this one as I'm using it for an online talk I'm doing next week, and decided to share it on here as it's been a good while since I posted the others..

Loch Rusky, Trossachs, on what turned out to be a real classic morning weather wise....

I did wonder at the time whether or not I would get away with it with keeping the light source in the frame as the sun had broken the horizon and the majority of the mid level mist had gone further along the Loch..

Adding some extra interest in the scene the lone fishermans boat had been left in a very thoughtful position for sunrise, and it's not often you beat a fisherman to a fishing spot in a morning, but this was around 5AM..

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Buchanan Castle sits on the outskirts of the village of Drymen, Stirlingshire, Scotland. It was built in the 1850s for the 4th Duke of Montrose as a family home, serving as such until 1925. The roof of the building was removed in 1954 and the condition of the Castle has since deteriorated. It was used as a hospital during the 2nd World War, and included patients such as Rudolf Hess, who was brought here after his flight to Scotland in 1941.

Again in no particular order, and certainly not from Iceland, The beautful (and not very often photographed) Loch Achray in the Trossachs, bathed in warm summer evening sunlight.

I'd been up at the rather gorgeous Loch Katrine and hadn't planned to shoot here but passing by seeing the perfectly still Loch and reflections I couldn't resist, to get to this spot took some doing though, through a big uneven clumpy field full of Highland Cows (and what they leave behind), then the boots and socks had to come off and get left behind as once over a fence you are directly into the loch... a bit of wading onto a little shingle shoreline covered in duck poo and you are there..

Thankfully the loch remained calm and the adventure was worth it, it was really relaxing shooting this scene just stood in bare feet in the warm shallow waters of the loch, without another soul around. Quite a priveledge to have a place like this all to yourself, I stayed a while after getting my shot just chilling out and taking it all in.

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After Loch Rusky I stopped off for a wander in some woods on the way to Callander.

Loch Lomond panorama from Conic Hill above Balmaha

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Explore #4

It seems to have taken me an age to get around to shooting at this location despite passing it several times going to various places. A very overcast day provided decent conditions for this sort of image and a chance to test out a 15 stop filter than I had yet to use.

I don't know who calculates the exposure times for the filters on the LEE system but I've never had one yet that is anything like the given times on the exposure sheets , this one is no different and I basically don't bother with the sheets and work solely off the histogram as it saves time in the long run despite adding minutes extra on top of the 'guide exposure', this one ending up being nearly 8 minutes long with the guide suggesting around 4 minutes from memory.

This is a really beautiful spot and definitely one I'll come back to again in different conditions, the snow on the tops was still visible and the tree totally bare giving a really stark feel to the image along with the long exposure. This tree must have had a good few batterings up here during Winter but as the title of the image indicates, it remains resolute and defiant. If you do visit the food in the nearby pub at Balmaha is fantastic after a cold morning stood on the shore here..

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Explore #2 08/07/18

After having shot sunset and moonrise here the night before it was only a 6 hour wait for sunrise, and the one thing I was hoping for was mist...

As I walked down to the loch it was pretty much everything I had wanted conditions wise, little patches of mist along the lake, at this point the sun had yet to come up over the hills and as I was shooting I could see more creeping in from the left, I turned around to see an absolutely enormous bank of mist rolling in off the hills onto the Loch, which completely enveloped the 2 little fishing boats.

Really pleased with the images from this place and for once couldn't have had any better conditions for what I wanted.

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It seems like ages since I uploaded any black and white images, and just looking it was actually back in November last year, so to break up the colour uploads I thought I'd share this one.

Taken back in February of this year this was a bitterly cold morning on the banks of Loch Lomond, with snow still on the mountains in the distance, not much of an issue if you are are just grabbing a passing shot, much more so though when your image exposure time runs into minutes, which with a heavily overcast day it was always going to as the ND filters were always going to be brought into play, jumping about near to the camera to keep warm wasn't an option for obvious reasons so I had to do it further along the shore, a few people were about walking their dogs, I don't know if they actually noticed the camera set up but needless to say I got a few strange looks..

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Port of Menteith Parish Church was built around 1876 on the site of a previous church, dating from 1771, it sits in a prominent position on the north east shore of the Lake of Menteith (the only Lake in Scotland). It is suggested through historical information that a church has been sited here on the lakeside since before the Reformation. Sitting adjacent to the church is home to the Lake of Menteith Fisheries where boats and angling equipment can be bought or rented, the Lake itself is the main venue for the National Fly fishing Championships in Scotland.

A view across the western end of Loch Katrine to Glengyle House, where Rob Roy MacGregor the Scottish outlaw is said to have been born in 1671 to Donald MacGregor and Mary Campbell. He was to grow up and become not only the Clan leader but also a daring hero, few men have been as celebrated in Scottish folk legend or literature as Rob Roy MacGregor.

The Brenachoile Boathouse sits just offshore in the shadow of the 2,386ft adjacent “Ben Venue” on the beautiful waters of “Loch Katrine” in the Trossachs area of Stirlingshire, Scotland.

Panorama of 2 shots