The Blog has moved

Instead of a WordPress blog, I’ve bought a full licence for the latest IP Board by Invision and moved the blog there. Here is the link to the new board.

Highlands of Scotland Photography Forums

Guests can view the posts for free, but in order to get involved and enjoy posting, there is a small yearly membership subscription of £10. This, in my opinion, is far more preferable to ruining the board with tons of horrid google ads.

Part of my reasons for moving to an IP Board is that folks can get directly involved in online workshops. For example, in the tutorials, members can ask questions directly and get help with any questions they have. Besides, it’s more fun.

See you over there!

The Sea bed or the Scottish Highlands?

You would be forgiven for thinking this is an underwater photograph taken in some exotic coral sea; yet it’s Scottish moorland. How much wonder we tread under our feet every day without realising the beauty with which we are surrounded. What a God we have.

Flowers and plants – click here

Four new seal piccies

It was raining, blowing a gale, the sky was miserable, the light was awful, and it was tempting to just go home and forget about it. That’s not me though, and off we went along the coast to visit the grey seals in their remote rocky cove. Only 4 piccies were keepers, but among them is now my all time favourite seal pup photograph.

Four new grey seal pup photograhs – click here (top of page)

I learned a valuable lesson regarding respect today. Until now, I’ve taken the time to get to know the seal pups and befriend them before taking photographs. Today I barged right in, took a few piccies of a pup, and he swam over and bit me. Thankfully, he only tore my jacket and didn’t get a hold of my skin. You can’t just stick a camera in someone’s face and take pictures, it shows total lack of respect, and you can’t complain if they turn on you, even animals. After he bit me, I put the camera down, sat with the pup for a while, made friends, and then took a few photos when he was comfortable with it. I think that’s why this photo below is now my favourite seal pup image. This is the young dude who bit me.

Strath Brora, Suisgill, and Upper Suisgill brochs

The uploading of these three brochs to the site means I’m up to date. I have a clean desk. I have no photos to process. Tomorrow I’ll be out piling more work on myself as Tina and I enjoy our last visit to the seals this year. For more insights into these brochs, please visit my brochs blog and scottishbrochs.com

Brochs main page – click here

Strath Brora panorama – click here

Learable broch, Strath of Kildonan

That’s another broch up! For more on brochs, visit my brochs blog and subscribe to the email notifications to keep up to date.

Learable broch panorama – click here

Learable broch photographs – click here

Killin broch

Killin broch, Loch Brora, is up today as well. Another 4 to go before tomorrow. Again, if you’re interested in following my adventures around Scotland exploring our brochs, please visit my brochs blog and website.

Killin broch panorama – click here

Killin broch photographs – click here

Dalchork broch

That’s another broch up, Dalchork near Lairg this time. I should be up to date with everything photography related by tomorrow afternoon. How cool is that? Yay, for having a clear desk! If you’re interested in following my broch adventures, please visit my brochs blog and subscribe for email notifications. I’ll be posting what I’m learning about brochs over there.

Scottish Brochs blog – click here

Dalchork broch – click here

Tirryside broch

The Tirryside broch, near Lairg, is perched on the banks of a good sized stream feeding into Loch Shin, and commands excellent views across to Ben Klibreck.

Tirryside broch

Panoramic higher resolution photograph of Tirryside broch

The seals again

Another bonding day out with the seals yesterday. Some of the pups are almost ready to leave. Wow, doesn’t time fly. Another 2 weeks and they’ll all be gone. Only 7 new photographs from yesterday, as the light was awful. Pop up camera fill flash is definitely convenient and useful.

Here are a selection from the 7 new photos, including one of me making friends with a pup. The new born is just hours old.

Gold panning on the Suisgill

Licences to pan for gold on the Suisgill burn in the Highlands of Scotland are now available to anyone who rents the Balvallioch Cottage through the Suisgill website. The Gold Club recently took advantage of this, and I took the opportunity to take some photographs from this memorable and historic outing. You will find the new photographs on pages 7 and 8 of the gold panning section at the Highlands of Scotland photography site.

Here is some genuine Suisgill gold in a pan!

New grey seal photos uploaded

There are a few new grey seal pictures uploaded now, as well as a new streamlined look to the site layout. Hope you enjoy them. There will be more!

Highland seals

Grey seal pup at the rookery

Here’s another grey seal pup photograph from our photoshoot yesterday. I think this is my personal favourite seal pup photograph to date. We’re going back there next weekend to spend a little more time with them before they head off to sea.

Grey seals

We’ve been waiting all year for the grey seal moms to return to the rookery so we could go visit them and meet this year’s pups. Well, today was the day, and what a day it turned out to be. I’m not sure, but I think a few of the adults remembered us from last year as they quickly settled down and got on with life without our being there being a disturbance. Quite a few new images to upload to the site this week. I’m going to bin a few not so good ones and replace them with photographs such as this little fella, who came over to see who I was and who let me pat his head.

West Shinness broch

West Shinness broch is another ruined mound of overgrown rubble. But what a site for a broch! On the banks of Loch Shin, it commands some gorgeous views across Sutherland to Ben More Assynt in the west and Lairg in the east. I’m also including another larger resolution photograph here for your viewing pleasure.

West Shinness broch and Loch Shin panorama – click here

West Shinness broch photographs – click here

Lairg

Lairg has been added to the site! Next year, quite a few more Highland villages will be joining Lairg too.

Lairg

Next year I’m also going to open a fine art section, and offer limited edition prints of a handful of photographs, like this panorama of Loch Shin taken just last week. I’ve upped the resolution just a little, to give you more of an idea of what a print would look like. I won’t be doing the printing or mounting myself, I’ll be getting them done professionally, just so’s you know.

Loch Shin panorama

Sallachy broch

On the banks of Loch Shin, Sallachy broch commands beautiful views, and is in suprisingly good repair. The light wasn’t as good as I thought it was at the time – it’s hard sometimes to judge light – so there was quite a bit of post processing involved to bring the highlights out. My 30 second rule became a 10 minute rule for this one! But it was fun, and a great day out :) I think I may get into auto bracketing and HDR and test the technique on brochs.

Sallachy broch

Ferry Wood broch

Not much left of this one; it’s no more than an overgrown mound of rubble. The site is looked after though, and there is an information plaque erected beside the ruins.

Ferry Wood broch

Canon EOS 1D X

Today Canon announced its next generation EOS 1 Series camera – the 1D X. This camera replaces both the sports oriented 1D series, and the studio focused 1Ds range. This new generation of DSLR has in camera multi exposure technology. It’s big news in the DSLR world. Should be out early next year. Time to start saving.

Full EOS 1D X spec from Canon

Highland Sheep

We had beautiful weather over the weekend, perfect for broch shooting, of which we managed five (yes, five), but that didn’t stop us nosing around while we were out and about. I thought this photograph of Highland sheep pretty much summarises our perfect weekend. Needless to say, I love my new 24-105mm L IS and can’t see me ever being without it.

Up to date

I’ve finally caught up with myself. That’s my PC cleared of the backlog of photos, and I’m totally up to date. Wow, what a great feeling. From now on I stay on top of my workflow, and keep it fresh and current. What a tremendous end to the week. Tomorrow, I’ll be out looking for new brochs! Here is a selection from today’s uploads. The bumblebee is Tina’s :)

Highlands of Scotland Photography