I had been promising myself a return to Scotland, the opportunity arose when my neighbour decided to hold a very large party last weekend.
Having read David Pattersons book on Glen Etive and Glen Coe and admiring his photographs from on high, I have never deviated from my favourite path over Rannoch Moor to Glen Coe. I decided it was an opportunity to explore. Driving over Rannoch Moor we stopped for this scene. The moon hiding behind a cloud with I believe, Venus alongside. All of these are from the D3, mostly with the 24-120 f/4 VR.
We arrived at 2am at the far end of Glen Etive, a 12 mile cul-de-sac, the mountains swirling in low cloud. The morning wasn't much better so we decided to retreat back along the glen, to see what we could find.
We came across this decayed shed with the cheery foxgloves nearby, begging for a change of lens to the 105 f/2.5, wide open.
As we meandered back up Glen Etive we spotted these waterfalls, not high but quite amazing as they carved channels out of solid quartz granite.
There was one view which I tried to capture but the sun which was peeking through the clouds, wouldn't oblige, I put my camera away then as we were about to drive off the clouds opened a little allowing me to capture at least something... It was the waterfall that I really wanted to light up, together with the skyline, it was worth the wait.
Am slightly confused but I think this was in Glen Ogle, which we chose as an alternative route, a lot quieter than the A82 which took us over Rannoch Moor.
I had no idea of the existence of these waterfalls, having driven past them within a few miles many times. One feature which I had seen in Glen Brittle on the Island of Skye were swirl pots where pebbles and larger stones swirl in fast moving storm water and grind deep and large holes in the rock. Quite amazing.
This was spectacular but I struggled with the processing, it has ended up looking like a rather overcooked HDR, it isn't HDR but I do think it is a bit over cooked.
Nearby I found this little cluster of foxgloves, again 105mm f/2.5, wide open.
Apart from looking for new photo opportunities and to escape a party, I had arranged to meet with David, we had a very pleasant evening and we shared a lovely meal. After leaving David's we went looking for a campsite, Christopher, my son was keen to sleep in the tent that night.
We found a campsite, eventually. In the morning I amused myself watching the swallows catching the midges which had tormented us while we erected the tent. I managed to catch one semi passable shot of a swallow and it's reflection in the water.
Tired of the motorway, on our way home we called by Ulswater in the English Lakes, for a BBQ, afterwards Christopher decided to cool off a bit, and have a splash!
One last thing... As it was such a nice evening I decided I wanted a sunset, maybe even some star trails... I chased down to the Jubilee Tower above Lancaster which has a wonderful view across the North West, we made it with minutes to spare as the sun was right on the horizon. In fact the sunset wasn't that good with no clouds. So we stayed until the sky was almost dark enough to get some star trails. Lancaster city and Morecambe are in the bottom left corner, the Furness peninsular across the bay.
This was about 30 minutes after midnight. D3 with 16mm Fisheye f/2.8.
If you got this far, thanks for looking!
