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Highlands Revisited

It has been nearly a year since Lynette and myself braved the wet Scottish weather to walk the West Highland Way. We vowed to never visit the West Highlands during the autumn months again… but you know what they say - Never say never!

So we have just returned from a family trip to the Isle of Skye and the Western Highlands, and for once the weather was on our side! As I was actually up in the highlands for a holiday, I had no intention of shooting loads of images. I did however religiously check the weather forecast and when the conditions were looking good, guess who was out of bed and up in the hills way before sunrise?

I have waited years to get a good shot of Rannoch Moor. My own requirements were quite high - I needed a good viewpoint, an interesting sky and fantastic light. Not a small order when you consider that it seems to rain whenever I visit the highlands!

But here it is. One of my favourite shots from a sunrise session last week. To be honest I was greeted by rain when I first arrived at Lochan an Stainge on Rannoch but I waited just in case. Then I started to see a break in the clouds and a sudden flash of light on the infamous Black Mount. What followed was a typical race against time to capture the image before the light disappeared. My 5D was already on the tripod with the filter holder in place on my 17-40mm Lens so it was simply a case of creating a composition which made the most of the light, placing a 3-stop hard grad in the holder, checking the focus, locking the mirror and then taking the shot.

The light lasted just 5 minutes before returning to the kind of weather I have grown to expect from the Scottish HIghlands!

The Wet Highland Way

Rainbow over Loch Lomond
I have just returned from nine days north of the border with my wife, Lynette, in bonnie Scotland. The plan was to capture some autumnal images whilst walking the West Highland Way - An official UK long distance walking track covering some 95 miles from Milngavie in Glasgow to Fort William in the Highlands. I had it all planned... early morning photography sessions photographing picturesque Scottish landscapes on crisp, sunny autumn days.

If only this had been the case!

Anybody living in the north-west of England or western Scotland will tell you that the weather last week was horrendous, in fact even dangerous. We were greeted at Milngavie by high winds which quickly became rain. After two days of this we had a brief interlude (just to lull me into a false sense of security) before the rain started again with even stronger, gale force winds. There was snow on the peaks surrounding us on the walk, incredibly picturesque - just a shame that the winds were strong enough to blow both Lynette and myself over! 95 miles carrying a camera and tripod for a handful of shots is incredibly frustrating.

Loch Lomond
I managed a few shots at Loch Lomond before the storms arrived and a couple more during the period of the calm before the next storm! The West Highland Way images can be viewed by clicking here.

There is an upside to everything though. At least the Midges were not causing us any problems!
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