Thursday, April 11, 2013

Talisker Bay

I spent a good few hours exploring the area around Talisker Bay. The drive to Talisker is quite stunning, as glimpses of the Cuillins emerge along various viewpoints along the way, like this view below of the snow covered peaks:
 
If you've ever been to Skye you will know all about the narrow roads with passing places. The road to Talisker is particularly narrow with quite a few blind summits, so care needs to be taken driving!
 
This corrugated shearing shed had a hint of Australia about it, which harked back to my childhood:
 
As did this rusty iron wall:
 
Talisker bay itself is described as one of the prettiest beaches on Skye, and certainly there are pretty elements as you will see below. However, being on the west of Skye, an awfulof debris gets washed up on shore. I didn't bother photographing the ropes, and plastic bottles and crates that spoiled this spot. Instead I concentrated on the natural beauty of the place.
 
The beach is a mixture of sand, pebbles and larger rocks, all rounded and smoothed by the ocean:
 
The light sparkled on the wet sand:

The sand is interesting-a mixture of black and white sand, which forms interesting patterns, changing with wash of the waves:
 
The sea was a gorgeous turquoise:
 
The natural inclination is to photograph landscapes in landscape orientation (it's not called landscape for nothing!!) But sometimes, it's good to turn the camera into portrait orientation for a different viewpoint. What I like about this photo is the horizontal bands of sky, water, waves and rocks:
 
And here the waves are crashing against the rocks:
 
I do seem to have a thing about rust-this was a big rusty cylinder, maybe a tank of some kind which was on the beach. Love the colours and textures:
 
And finally, one of the black faced sheep which roam all over Skye:
 
CLICK on the images for a larger view.


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A week in Skye

I was hoping to blog daily about our trip to Skye, but  it turns out there are not enough hours in a day to do so. However, I'll just blog when I can!
So, let's start at the beginning. After a cold and snowy start in Edinburgh we set off and drove north into blue skies, sunshine and epic scenery.
 
Here are some photos of our journey up.
Click on the image for a larger view.
 
Our first stop for a cup of tea was at Loch Laggan. For those of you who enjoyed watching 'Monarch of the Glen', Glenbogle House (Ardverikie  House) is on the other side of this loch. The sand on the spit is so white and clean.
 
 
 We spent a good few hours in Glen Shiel. The surrounding hills were capped with snow. The sunshine and the still water made for great reflections. I love the composition of this photo-the way the eye starts on the rocks in the foreground, then is drawn along the diagonal lines traversing left to right up through the photo.
 
And in this photo I love that little twig-like tree that adds some foreground interest, and the bleached out colour of the rocks.
 
 What I love about photography is how it makes you see things in different ways. By photographing the rocks from above I've also captured the reflections of the sky. The sun was shining directly onto the water, and by moving my angle of view I was able to put the sun's reflection under the bottom rock, illuminating it a bit more than the other two rocks.

The driftwood on the loch shore was beautiful-this shot almost looks like the wild west I think, with it's bleached out colour-and I love the texture too.
 
 
 By the time we arrived at our cottage the sun was low in the sky and the clouds in the east were quite dramatic. The cottage looks out over the water and the mountains beyond-stunning!
 
 After tea we went for a local walk-I love how the setting sun bathes the landscape in a warm glow.