St. Kilda
From the main isle Hirta, that makes up the group of islands known as St. Kilda, this images was made looking out towards Boreray, Stac Lee & Stac an Armin.
I visited St. Kilda in May of this year.
Due to the low cloud that would hug the island for days, and the nesting Skua’s, we couldn’t actually get anywhere much. The wind and low visibility made for an impossible trip to the other side of the island (it’s also amazingly very steep). But I think it was the birds that scared me the most. They attack you by diving right towards your field of vision with claws out in front. It’s a very menacing pose and a good defence mechanism for keeping predators away from their nests.
Myself and my friend managed to get to this spot however, which isn’t far away from the small Historic Scotland camp site (yes, there’s a camp site there – shhhhh, I didn’t tell you!). There’s a very obvious dip that I found. It’s not until today that I’ve noticed it’s almost an exact compositional version of Joe Cornish’ image (page 72) of his beautiful book ‘Scotland’s Coast’. I think this is interesting because I’m wondering if the reason I made this was a response to a subconsious memory of his image, or because it’s one of the very few opportunities in this area of Hirta to make good compositions? I know for certain that I did not set up to copy – I much prefer to go to a location and find my own interpretation, but sometimes there isn’t much of a choice, and certain landscapes dictate ‘tripod-hole-syndrome’. So apologies Joe for making a similar shot – it was not my intention :-)
I’ve wanted to come here for a very long time. It is a fascinating place and my friend Chris had been reading up about the entire history before we got there!
Happy holiday memories (I still have dreams of my scalp sailing away in the claws of a very large bird).
This is a real dreamy one.
I like the grey rock face, looks as if someone painted it white.
Comment by Ali — 24 August, 2012 @ 9:35 am
Thanks Ali.
Been terrifically busy, but have sorted out flights with Sonja for Capadocia in January. Looking forward to meeting you again. Hope all is well with you. Say hi to Turkey for me :-)
Comment by Bruce Percy — 24 August, 2012 @ 9:52 am
Bruce, the image reminds me of those paintings of the second half of the 19th century, the Ossian poetry and such. It is remarkably evocative and doesn’t look like a visual “cliche” because of its vertical nature. The eyes of the viewer go up and down through the rock in the foreground, and only then move to the background. It’s got some terrific atmosphere in my opinion :)
Ps: if you haven’t already been to Cappadocia, you’ll find a photographic heaven there Bruce. I’ve been there myself and the Fairy Chimneys and all the area around Goreme are simply excellent landmarks for experiments. The whole place looks like a mix of ancient middle east and lunar surface. I’m sure you’ll love it.
Comment by RaIn — 24 August, 2012 @ 3:45 pm
Wow, hadn’t heard of Cappadocia but it looks absolutely amazing! How do I get there?! :)
Comment by Duncan Fawkes — 24 August, 2012 @ 7:58 pm
Hi Duncan,
This is one of the most beautiful things about my journey over the past few years of running workshops: I get to meet a lot of terrific people, from far and wide.
Ali is from Istambul. He came to Harris with me in May, and we chatted about Capadocia. I’ve always wanted to go….. so one thing led to another and I’m going there this January.
I feel that my life these days is one door of opportunity after another. My Lofoten trips to Norway happened in a similar way.
I can’t stress how inspiring it can be to be around others who share the same passions as yourself. I get folks telling me I’ve inspired them, but they too, inspire me back – often by sharing and inviting me to come and visit where they stay.
It’s a great life.
Capadocia is in the heart of Turkey. It’s not far away at all and easily manageable in a week’s vacation.
I’m all excited about this trip, because I feel the landscape suits my own aesthetic of what I’m looking for – simplified shapes and and tones. I believe that we need to reach certain points in our own photographic development before we are ready to shoot certain landscapes. Bolivia was like that for me – it was the first time I’d shot a minimalist landscape and I think I learned a lot about composition from that experience. But it seems to have been the catalyst for the ‘simplified’ direction I’ve been going since.
Woops, I’ve just rambled on a bit, but yes, Capadocia feels like it has that potential to help me grow my style and continue developing. I’m already visualising and dreaming….. :-)
Comment by Bruce Percy — 24 August, 2012 @ 8:04 pm