Finding photographs in Assynt
My annual pilgrimage to Assynt in north west Scotland is once again complete.
If you don't know the area, it is a delightful place for landscape photography, full of mountains, beaches, waterfalls, and dramatic weather. You really can't go wrong - it's gorgeous.
For one reason or another, this year was different for me. I think it's largely due to the pressure of work, which meant I never actually got to have a full day to concentrate on photography despite being "on holiday".
Trips were punctuated by conference calls, emails, and all the other paraphernalia that I go to Assynt to escape. Such is life in a start-up in the always-on world we live in. With 4G coverage surprisingly good, I just couldn't switch off.
As a result, plus due to some "inclement" weather, I ended up with a crop of images that I'm not overly happy with. Or put more accurately, I think I could have done better. This is probably a good thing, as it keeps the fire burning and makes me want to return. And unfortunately I spent a joyful hour yesterday watching an On Landscape video (paid content, but at £4/month it's worth it) of Joe Cornish's fortnight he spent in the same area and, safe to say, he turned in some stunning photographs. Inspiration right there. I want to go back, now. I took the long way up, and popped over towards Mallaig where I had planned to photograph the "Harry Potter" railway crossing at the Glenfinnian viaduct. But, everyone takes pictures there, so I carried on closer to Mallaig through some tumultuous storms, where I found a much lesser but perfectly spectacular and unnamed viaduct lit by gorgeous post-storm sunset light. Much scrabbling up the hill resulted in the above image which is obviously devoid of a train but none the worse for that in my opinion. A good start.
Not the Harry Potter bridge
Last year I had intended to go up the precipitous Applecross Road to the Bealach na Ba viewpoint, but it was closed due to heavy snow. This year it was open, but very snowy and icy, and I wanted to be up there before dawn. Thankfully I saw a gritting lorry on its way down as I was about to go up, and it turned out to be fairly uneventful thanks to four-wheel-drive and winter tyres. I parked in about a foot of snow at the top and hiked up the path to the top of the hill where the big radio mast is.
I was rewarded by a lovely sunrise, but great difficulty finding a good composition. I settled on the shot above which is a 2-image vertical panorama. Very tricky getting some "foreground interest" - I was after some lines in the snow pointing the correct way, but it just wasn't cooperating. Still, gorgeous being up there alone in such amazing conditions.
Top of Bealach Na Ba
On the way back I took a detour to a small frozen lochan a few hundred feet below in the hope for something interesting, but was rather disappointed, and the way back was very heavy going through deep snow up to the car.
Onto Ullapool, and my base for the week. I met up with my friend Gordon and we headed for our rented cottage by the sea. Inbetween conference calls, we headed up to Clashnessie where there is a surprisingly large waterfall. It's really quite magnificent, and not really well known or signposted. It's about a 1km walk from the road so nothing overly arduous. After the usual selection of "flowing water" shots, I started looking for the less obvious. It was a rather confusing scene, with a lot of spray so quite tricky to get anything most of the time. However after clambering around the sides of the waterfall, I was quite intrigued by the flowing lines of this bush, and how it contrasted with the softness of the water and the harshness of the rock face. Once I've seen something like this, trying to work out a good composition is the vital next step. This was really difficult, as the slope was very steep, there was a massive drop to my right, and wet grass and moss everywhere. I decided to make the waterfall a supporting feature, and the lines of the branches the star of the show. I really do like this picture though. I'm not sure exactly why, but I find it very pleasing and rather different to the average waterfall shot. That sticky-out branch on the top left both annoys me and makes me very happy.
An alternative waterfall shot
Stoer lighthouse is always an excellent spot. It's stuck out on a promontory but still really quite easy to get to as you just drive up to it. Don't leave your car at the top next to the lighthouse though as it will be in all your pictures!
The setting is dramatic, with cliffs and the raging Atlantic below. It's always been windy when I've been there. This time, we took a walk northwards and found a selection of nice compositions, and I've picked one out above. OK, it's a bit instagrammy, but it was gorgeous as the wind blew the clouds away and exposed the setting sun. We spent a fair bit of time exploring the cliffs to the south and north of the lighthouse, and the south side is very interesting indeed, with excellent angular rock formations which look great, but are a pain to try and compose into a coherent photograph.
Stoer Lighthouse
A couple of years ago I climbed up The Fiddler (Sgurr An Fhidhleir) for sunset to marvel at the amazing view from the top. Unfortunately at sunset most of the valley below is in shadow, so I vowed to repeat the ascent at dawn, when the sun would be beaming along the length of the valley in dramatic fashion according to the Photographer's Ephemeris. Much checking of the weather gave us a morning with partial cloud, and medium breeze to keep things moving up there, so a likely excellent dawn.
At no point did the weather forecast mention prolonged snow, thick low level cloud, hail, high winds.
It's a fair walk, 5 mile round trip and steep to start with, As it got lighter and we turned the head torches off, we looked behind us and saw a huge storm coming in. It hit us and we didn't see blue sky again. The view from the top was totally obscured - in fact we couldn't see more than 50 yards in any direction which is important as it's a sheer drop off the other side. With good kit including map, compass, GPS, spare layers, survival stuff, stove, Pot Noodles, I was OK with the situation, but the wind was relentless and there was no shelter from it so we scarpered back down to the safety of the car. It was a real shame - a substantial effort put in to get there for dawn, with nothing to show for it.
Terrible conditions
I also returned to a location I tried previously - the Ledmore River just beyond Elphin. If you get in the right spot, you can see the lovely meanders of the river as it heads into Cam Loch, with mountains in the distance. More dramatic weather meant waiting around a bit for snow showers to clear, with ever changing light quality. The river changed from white to grey to blue as you can see above as the sky changed.
One particular problem of this composition was getting high enough, and trying to get a single line of the river in the frame. This is made more complex because there's a road running diagonally just below the frame. And there's the telegraph pole bottom left. Cutting off the telegraph pole means cutting off the left of the river (even more than I have). So I decided to make a feature of the pole and use it to balance the little tributary that comes in from the bottom of the right hand side. I don't mind slightly cutting the river bend on the left as it shows the white snow reflection anyway so it still retains coherence, as the alternative is to have some of the road in shot. In any event it was excellent fun scampering around in the snowy heather trying to piece it all together.
Ledmore River
Sometimes the most interesting photographs creep up on you unexpectedly. This was the case with the one below - a location I'd been to before, but this time I saw it differently. Ironically I was really pressed for time as I had to be back at the house for another interminable conference call, yet as walked back along the river I saw this lovely pool of water just downstream from some feisty rapids. My first thought was about how many trout were in there (I like a spot of fly fishing). Then I saw the foam from the rapids swirling in the current and thought there was something there worth investigating.
It's a 30-second exposure with a 10-stop neutral density filter on. I had to have a few attempts at it to try and get a swirl in the right place. I'd like to be both higher up (as there's a lovely circular pattern on the far side of the river), and lower down to get more of the mountains in. At the end of the day I settled for something inbetween. I really like the little delicate patterns the bubbles make when seen like this, and the s-bend heading into the distance works nicely too. It could do with some more interesting background, but there's a subtlety to the snow-dusted hills that is very pleasant.
A trouty burn
Another location I really wanted to explore is Mellon Udrigle beach on the way to Gairloch. I hadn't been there before but it looked excellent on the map. I really like Achnahaird beach, but it lacks any interest in the distance whereas Mellon Udrigle has some cool pointy mountains on the horizon. But this is one of the places where I really struggled to get a good image. Clear skies on one day, and thick cloud on the second day there weren't ideal conditions at all. But I was really entranced by the fine lines along the side of this little stream and the excellent background, with the complimentary gold and blue colours as the sun set.
Mellon Udrigle beach
Further along from Mellon Udrigle are some excellent rounded boulders, again with a dramatic background. On a falling tide (you need to time it right), they are gradually revealed. With a chaotic scene it was again tricky to create an attractive composition. I really should carry a ladder like Charlie Waite, as I need a little more separation between the mid-ground bounder in the shot above. Plus there was an anchored fishing boat on the horizon that the clone tool took care of.
The light wasn't great, but the shades are subtle and the smooth textures work nicely. I think I should have spent more time there experimenting. I'm not massively overjoyed with this shot, but given the conditions I am pleased to come away with something decent.
Mellon Udrigle boulder field
Lastly, just for fun, a walk in Lael Forest during a damp and drizzly day yielded a cool picture of a cut pine tree lying horizontally in the undergrowth. It's not often that you get to see a tree from this angle and it makes for an arresting and dynamic image.
Upturned tree trunk
Overall then, it was a productive week but this time it really left me wanting more, feeling like I could do better, and that I didn't make the most of the conditions and location. But the most important thing was just being out there, in the crisp, clean, beautiful air and watching amazing weather come slamming through the gorgeous scenery. I love the north west of Scotland, especially in the winter. If you haven't been there, you should go, and plan on staying at least 2 weeks.Here's a slideshow of a few more photographs for you to enjoy. All taken with a Leica CL and Leica T camera.