As we drove back from Score Bay on the Isle of Skye darkness had started to envelope most of the island and only traces of light were left in the balmy summer sky from the sun which had dropped over the horizon about 10 minutes earlier.
As we drew nearer to Flodigarry I could see the sky exploding with colour in the rear view mirrors, so I pulled over into a small parking area and took this shot looking West towards Score Bay with some of the hills on Skye providing an amazing silhouette in front of the colourful sky.
Hardly even touched in post-processing, the image was only cropped into a panoramic style and the silhouette darkened a little for more dramatic effect.
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Panoramic Isle of Skye Sunset
Old House, Isle of Barra
After arriving on the Isle of Barra and taking a quick look at the beach which doubles as the Islands Airport we turned the car around and began to drive South, via the East side of the Island.
This old abandoned house grabbed my attention straight away, obviously I like shooting old run down and decaying places but set against the amazing colours of the Barra landscape it made the old house jump out of the photo even more.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Bird Footprints in Tolstadh Sand, Isle of Lewis
I had been shooting pictures of the beach and out across the sea at Tolstadh beach on the Isle of Lewis when all of a sudden a brave little seagull decided to walk right towards me and continue right on past only a few inches from my toes.
He left these awesome footprints in the sand in his wake.
Mireille on Mangurstadh Beach, Isle of Lewis
When we got down to the sandy beach at Mangurstadh there were little to no footprints to be found anywhere, so Mireille duly asked for a nice picture to be taken of her with the untouched sands behind.
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Flodigarry, Isle of Skye
One of my favourite landscape shots from the Isle of Skye during our few weeks on the islands of Scotland.
This image is taken in the Flodigarry area of Skye and in the background you can see the rear of the famous Quiraing.
Reflections of Dropping Light, Isle of Lewis
As we drove back from Stornoway on the East Coast of the Isle of Lewis using a small single track road the water of the small lakes was perfectly still, glass-like in appearance.
We initially thought about stopping the car and getting the tripods out to shoot the scene perfectly, but with the glass-like water comes millions of midgies which were all after our blood.
We had to think fast - how to capture the scene with minimum exposure to the midgies...so we then drove at around 5mph along the road which runs at the edge of the lake, shooting out of the window as we drove along.
Well worth the extra hassle to get images like the above.
Monday, 14 September 2009
Highland Cow, Isle of Lewis
This guy was so photogenic and unlike many of the other highland cows I've tried to shoot in the past he seemed to actually pose for the shots.
When I would point the camera in his direction he'd stop eating the grass etc, lift his head up into the position you see it in above - the only thing missing was a big cheesy smile!
Sunset at Calanish Standing Stones, Isle of Lewis
I've been using some of the various beach and sunset pictures taken during our summer holiday as desktop images both at home and at work, but this is one of my favourites.
Taken with the silhouette of the Standing Stones at Calanish on the Isle of Lewis it has the sun below the level of the clouds but also just about to head over the horizon too, giving some cool little flares to the photograph which all emminate from the bright evening sun itself.
Mireille on rocks at Port Ness, Isle of Lewis
When you've colours such as those found in the water at Port Ness there's no ifs or buts about getting your picture taken beside them, so here's a shot of Mireille standing out on the rocks with the awesome colours of the Atlantic Ocean behind her.
Gallan Head Communication Tower, Isle of Lewis
We wanted to check out the cliffs around the Mangurstadh Beach and Gallan Head area on the Isle of Lewis, but didn't expect the area to be so barren.
There was one single track road which led to the Communication Tower and Building at Gallan Head, for which you had to pass through a couple of gates etc, Mireille even asked at the last gate if we were allowed to go through it or if it was private property
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Mol Foirs Geodha, Isle of Lewis
Having already visited the beach at Mhangurstadh earlier in the day we never expected to find any other beach to top it (at least during this day).
The final location on our list for the day was what I had named "St Kilda View - Isle of Lewis", the thinking was that if the sky was clear out in the direction of St Kilda we could maybe catch a glimpse of it from the coastline at Mealasta....
...now what we found at this location was so much more than a simple viewpoint from where to look out in the direction of St Kilda - we stumbled upon THE beach of Lewis in our opinion, namely Mol Foirs Goedha which I believe means Gods Head Beach when translated from Gaelic.
The place was stunning, sure we had seen relatively clear water already at some of the other locations we visited, but here the whole experience was on a completely different level - we easily blew 2-3hrs just soaking the whole place in before heading back to our hotel for the night.
Bench at Tolstadh Beach, Isle of Lewis
From this bench which sits overlooking Tolstadh Beach on the Isle of Lewis you get a perfect vantage point from which to watch the day pass by, kids playing in the sand etc, while relaxing and not having to worry about getting sand out of your shoes before you return to the car again.
Kitesurfing at Bagh Siar, Isle of Vatersay
A couple of surfers were in the water of Bagh Siar when we first arrived on the beach but were gone within 10 minutes or so. We were left on the beach ourselves for a while until a couple of people came down with kitesurfing kit.
A second border collie (not the one we had been throwing stones for it to fetch) had spontaneously appeared on the beach and instead of seeking attention from us it decided it would be much more fun chasing the kitesurfing up and down the beach whilst barking it's head off - really funny to watch.
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Purple "Daisy-like" Flower at Dunvegan Castle Gardens, Isle of Skye
Purple "Daisy-like" Flower at Dunvegan Castle Gardens, Isle of Skye, originally uploaded by www.bazpics.com.
While wandering around the gardens of Dunvegan Castle I spotted this interesting flower which was almost shouting at me from metres away to come over and shoot it.
The colour of it (sort of purpley-blue) was awesome and with the centre being yellow and the green behind it helped it to really stand out in the shot.
Dunvegan Castle, Isle of Skye
We had planned to try and get to Dunvegan Castle when we were up on the Isle of Skye in May of this year but by the time we arrived there was only 30 minutes until it closed for the day, so while back on the Island in August we made a point of visiting it during normal opening hours.
I must admit the castle itself was pretty dissappointing and it would leave you wondering what exactly you paid the entrance fee for, but the gardens are a different ballgame with all sorts of exotica growing amongst every colour of the rainbow.
Bagh Bhatarsaigh, Isle of Vatersay
This is the view from the sandy beach at Bagh Bhatarsaigh on the Isle of Vatersay.
The white sandy beach, the blue and green colours showing through the perfectly clear water in the bay, and our little Border Collie friend.
Friday, 11 September 2009
24hrs Nurburgring Pitlane Light Trails
Taken at the famous 24hr race which was held at the Nurburgring in Germany, this is a 20 second exposure taken looking down the pitlane as the night rolled in.
Border Collie on Bagh Bhatarsaigh Beach, Isle of Vatersay
This Border Collie approached us while we were strolling along the sands at Bagh Bhatarsaigh on the Isle of Vatersay (one of the islands which make up the Western Isles off the North West coast of Scotland), we looked around and couldn't see any owner in sight so we can only assume that they were out in a fishing boat or that he came from one of the houses beyond the beach.
He kept bringing stones over to us and dropping them in the sand, myself and Mireille joked at first that he maybe wanted us to throw them for him to fetch instead of using a stick - so for fun I picked one of the stones up and threw it - off he went like a bat out of hell after the stone, picked it up and brought it back.
The next couple of hours on both main beaches of Vatersay involved playing fetch with our new friend.
He kept bringing stones over to us and dropping them in the sand, myself and Mireille joked at first that he maybe wanted us to throw them for him to fetch instead of using a stick - so for fun I picked one of the stones up and threw it - off he went like a bat out of hell after the stone, picked it up and brought it back.
The next couple of hours on both main beaches of Vatersay involved playing fetch with our new friend.
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Renault Clio 197 Sport Shoot
An image taken over a period of 3 days where Renault UK had handed me the keys to a brand new Renault Clio 197 Sport to shoot a magazine feature for Fast & Modified magazine based in Scotland.
A small selection of these images were later used by Renault in Northern Ireland as part of a newspaper test drive article which was also written by myself.
Total images shot over these 3 days was approximately 600, so this is only a selection of them.
A small selection of these images were later used by Renault in Northern Ireland as part of a newspaper test drive article which was also written by myself.
Total images shot over these 3 days was approximately 600, so this is only a selection of them.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Norse Mill Blackhouse, Isle of Lewis
After passing several "blackhouse" exhibitions and museums by the time we reached the Norse Mill on the Isle of Lewis we were half expecting to find a little booth charging a zillion bucks to get through a little gate into the old mill houses.
When we arrived at the small car park that the path to the 2 old Norse Millhouses runs from we were glad to see no booth, and no other people around either, which gave us plenty of space and time to shoot the location at our own pace.
Eventually a few other people (Dutch, who I currently don't like as they helped to eject Scotland from the World Cup qualifiers last night at Hampden park back in my homeland), but by then we had seen and shot everything we wanted to anyway.
When we arrived at the small car park that the path to the 2 old Norse Millhouses runs from we were glad to see no booth, and no other people around either, which gave us plenty of space and time to shoot the location at our own pace.
Eventually a few other people (Dutch, who I currently don't like as they helped to eject Scotland from the World Cup qualifiers last night at Hampden park back in my homeland), but by then we had seen and shot everything we wanted to anyway.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
House with a view, Isle of Vatersay - [Explored]
I wonder how many times I will be able to post up pictures of this "partial" house on the Isle of Vatersay before someone spills the beans on what the story behind it is, as I don't seem to be able to dig up the info myself.
Monday, 7 September 2009
Calanish Standing Stones, Isle of Lewis
The standing stones at Calanish were a very impressive sight in the daylight, even moreso when the sun was shining and gave off great blues and greens to help the stones stand out even moreso.
Fergie's Modified VW Golf Mk IV
Most people who are into taking shots of cars in the Londonderry/Derry area of Northern Ireland will know this location well, and you can see why it's used to much as it helps to make the car POP right out of the picture.
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Bench at Halaman Bay, Isle of Barra
Where better to plant your bum and enjoy the seascape at Halaman Bay on the Isle of Barra (one of the Southern Islands in Scotlands Outer Hebrides).
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