Winter in the Highlands
Photographing in winter can often be a miss rather than a hit. The weather here in Scotland can tend to be mild, damp and grey for days upon end.
I’m quite frustrated at the moment because for the last month, we’ve had clear skies, beautiful sunsets and cold snaps abound. But now I have some free time to head off into the hills, the weather has turned very mild and grey. Not the kind of weather you want for landscape photography. So I’m house bound today.
So it was nice to head round to a friends house to get this image scanned in. It’s a Large Format transparency and I don’t have the means to scan it myself. We had a good chat about the state of photography and I thought I’d show you this image. It is a picture of the Buchalle Etive Beag, a mountain in the Glencoe region of the highlands. It was taken a few years back.
I’m a real sucker for this kind of light. Winter can provide some of the most beautiful light of the year. Those pink tones and blues are seldom repeated throughout the year. I just thought this image would make up for me not being able to head off into the hills. Until the weather improves, this will be my yard stick for what I would like to accomplish in the following weeks ahead.
I’ll be up in Applecross on Thursday to meet Mark from BBC Scotland’s Great Outdoor Show. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the dawn will bring something special. Until then…..
I know what you mean about the blues and pinks in the sky. It’s almost purple at sunset this time of year.. I was wondering why this was the other night, I made the assumption that it’s something to do with the ice in the upper atmosphere and the reflection of the snow into the sky…but it’s only a guess. I can see why you want to get out in this environment, the shots lovely. I just wonder if you threw a rock in to the ice to get some foreground interest. Good luck with your next shoot (o:
Comment by jason theaker — 16 December, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Hi Jason,
To answer your question : my aim isn’t that good, so I didn’t throw a rock into the water to create this effect. It’s just the ice thawing at the center of the circle of ice that caused it :-)
I’d like to know why we get these ‘purple’ colours during winter too….. some of it is caused by the earth’s shadow, but otherwise, I’m unclear as to why there is such an abundance of pinks.
Comment by Bruce Percy — 16 December, 2008 @ 1:09 pm
Hi Bruce
The pinks are normal at sunrise /sunset (or at least that is my experience having done my fare share) , I think it’s the introduction of the blues that are doing the colour mixing (o:
So you were on thin ice when you took this shot eh!!! Still looks like somebody (or some small animal) fell in )o:
Anyway lovely shot, my kind of place (o:
Comment by jason theaker — 16 December, 2008 @ 11:09 pm