Inverawe Impressions (8/10)

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Where we walked.

The old fellow was the first dog with whom I’d found an understanding. I remember it well – sitting in the back garden in the middle of one’s labours, he came around, sat beside me and basically said “look, it’s TLC behind the flappers, OK?”, and that was the moment of breakthrough. When he departed, I took the photo of Ben Cruachan beyond the trees in his honour; every time I’ve passed that spot since, I remember the ol’ dog – with much fondness.

Inverawe Impressions (2/10)

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Part 2 of an ongoing series of posts about the Inverawe estate in Argyll.

This time, we concentrate on mankind’s intrusion into nature. For the most part, the laird leaves the woodlands alone, untouched; however, the Forestry Commission clear-felled the slopes of Ben Cruachan, initially leaving the mountainside bare but there are now young trees beginning to grow in the barren patches. The unfortunate consequence has been damage to some of the water-courses, resulting in culverts that used to flow with beautiful clear peaty water now stagnant and clogged-up with algae.

Inverawe Impressions (1/10)

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This is the first in quite a long series of of blog posts.

Several years ago now, I spent a couple of years making one black and white image a day, every day, for nearly 2 years, concentrating a lot on the shapes and forms of trees in the Inverawe, Argyll, avoiding the contrasty light normally appreciated in landscape photography.

This new series takes the same fascination with filling space with shapes that caught my eye, but permits for colour. All images were taken in the course of a couple of hours on a return visit walking around the estate; for the most part they were shot at f/8 with HDR bracketing +/-1 EV, processed in RawTherapee, Darktable and digiKam.

That Tree: Millarrochy Oak

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“Make Photo Here” – another total photographic cliché, but I figured it had to be done. The Milarrochy Oak on the shores of Loch Lomond.

What the photos don’t show you is that the tree is barely three yards from the edge of the carpark and, with a pleasant sunset behind it, there were four other photographers lined-up along the strip of beach.

It has the advantage of just being in the Highlands: the caravan-site at Milarrochy Bay is definitely north of the Highland Boundary Fault, on psammite and semi-pelite; while the oak tree itself is in a local igneous intrusion surrounded by sandstone conglomerate.

 

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Obligatory Zig-Zag

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I remember when I first saw a contact of mine on Flickr produce a photo of this scene, quite a few years ago now – and it’s become quite the cliché since.

So, take your pick: wide-angle 16:9 or 5:4 aspect ratio similar to large-format? Black and white or colour (not so often used in longer exposures)?

Me, I liked the light – cool shades of dusk on one side of the concrete break-water, remains of a sunny afternoon on the other.

Up Kinnoull Hill: classic landscape

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It has to be done – the view from Kinnoull Hill, past the folly looking along the River Tay wending its way through the Carse of Gowrie.

I made this photo partly because some scenes have to be done, and partly to test a new Carl Zeiss 50mm Tessar f/2.8 lens acquired for surprisingly-cheap on eBay. The wide-angle field of view comes from this being a panorama of 11 frames stitched together; at over 56 megapixels, there’s enough detail to easily resolve roof-tiles in the houses at the foot of the hill, or road-signs across the A90.