Category: Landscape

Views of Sigiriya

The Lion’s Rock, or Sigirya in the local tongue, is a dominant volcanic rock rising some 1,000 feet above the central planes of Sri Lanka and is distinctively visible from all directions.

Sigiriya has had a very long and turbulent history, from being inhabited in pre-historic times to becoming a Buddhist monastery in the 5th Century B.C., before being captured by King Kashyapa’s to build his splendid palace in the 5th Century A.D., and finally returning to be a Buddhist monastery after the king’s death until the 14th Century A.D. But more about the archeology, history and legacy of the Lion’s Rock in various upcoming posts.

We were lucky to witness this fantastic sunset from the terrace of the superb Kandalama hotel shortly after our arrival while sipping on a fresh mango juice. The Kandalama hotel was a fabulous experience in itself, but I will leave that also for a future post.

The next morning our guide drove us to Sigirya via the senic route, giving us the opportunity to view the fabulous rock across Kandalama Wewa. Due to the dry period, the water level in the reservoir was so low that the dead trees provided an eerie foreground to the prominent rock.

This final panorama of Sirgiriya is taken from the extensive gardens surrounding the rock on our walk in to a long but very rewarding climb to the top.

The Whangie

The Whangie (‘whang’ being slang for ‘thick slice’) is a massive gash in the rock face below Auchineden Hill. There are various scientific explanations given as to how this geological wonder was formed including glacial plucking and an earthquake. However, a much more interesting and colourful explanation is the myth that the Whangie was formed by the Devil flicking his tail in anticipation of pleasure as he flew over Stockie Muir on his way to attend a Witches’ Sabbath.

The combination of this geological wonder and the myth of it’s origin is the inspiration behind my new photographic project: capturing geological features in the Scottish landscape attributed to and associated with the devil or the occult.

Taking this image posed a real challenge, capturing the wide angle as well as the dark shadows of the rock face and the bright highlights of the cloudy sky. I briefly toyed with the idea of using multiple natural density graduates, but the shape of the sky in the composition made that virtually impossible. So I decided on taking the below nine images consisting of three sets of three bracketed images (-3, 0 and +3 stops) taken with my 24mm tilt and shift lens (shifted left, middle, right).

View to Loch Lomond across Stockie Muir

With the sun shining, Lola and I decided to head out of town for a long walk in the country. The plan was to head for Loch Ardinning for our usual wander along the loch and across the muir. However, the traffic on Maryhill Road was very heavy, meaning a long queue at the roadworks on the road to Milngavie. So we changed our minds and headed up through Bearsden towards Drymen for a wander from the Queen’s View to The Whangie.

What a good decision it turned out to be. Not for avoiding the potential delays as there were roadworks in Bearsden as well, but simply for the stunning views towards Loch Lomond and the mountains beyond. It’s been way too long since we have done this walk, and I had more or less forgotten how splendid the views can be.

INSERT INTERACTIVE PANO

This interactive panorama should give you an appreciation of the views we had across Stockie Muir towards Loch Lomond and beyond. It is best seen in full screen, enabling you to explore the vista and intimate aspects through scrolling round and zooming in/out.

Pink rain over Arran

After a hard days work at our cottage, making good progress with creating a second bedroom from the junk store upstairs, it was time for a rest. While admiring the view with a well deserved glass of wine, the dark grey rain clouds over Arran started to turn pink. So I decided to grab my camera and sprint up the little hill at the back of the cottage.

Thankfully, I was just in time to capture a couple of ‘close up’ images of the pink rain and blue and pink clouds over Holy Island with my lens zoomed out at 200mm, followed by a series of six images with my lens zoomed in at 70mm resulting in the ultra wide panorama below, before the sun disappeared below Kintyre and the rain clouds changed back to their boring grey.

A Late Afternoon Sun over Arran

Spring is most definitely on it’s way!

It’s been an absolute gorgeous day in Cowal with a lovely sunshine, although there was still a bit of a chilly wind. A great day for pottering about the garden and pretending to be a lumber jack. The best thing was to be able to sit outside with a cup of coffee in the sun.

The views from our cottage are always superb, especially when the sun sets with its warm glow over the forest and a pink glow over the mountains on Arran beyond. Although a great colourful sunset, I prefer the black and white version above.

It promises to be a very cold night with a clear, star studded sky and a touch of ground frost. And who knows, maybe a chance to see the Aurora Borealis after a week of red alerts and cloud covered skies.

Moved by the sunset

This afternoon was the third time this week that Lola and I headed into Mugdock Wood for a wander and hopefully some photography of the devastation of fallen trees. Even after a week of cleanup, it still amazes me how much damage the last gales have caused in the city and the country side. I have never seen so much devastation and so many trees (and chimneys!) blown over.

On all three wanders, after an otherwise dry day, the rain started as soon as we left the car and headed along the tracks into the woods. Today, we retraced our steps from our previous wander, walking down the hill to the Allander Water and following the Wet Highland Way for half a mile or so.

The intention was to retake some shots (with the tripod this time) of a piece of bright red and orange bark that had fallen into a mossy hole in a broken tree. While Lola was running with a collie through the undergrowth I mounted the camera on the tripod and set about shooting the striking piece of bark.

Unfortunately, we started off too late and the light was gone, so with the combination of very long shutter times and dogs thumping past the tripod standing on very soft undergrowth, the results were a tad disappointing.

The rain started to get worse so we headed back and up the hill, where we got another photo opportunity, as the sky started to turn purple and red with the setting sun. Along our trek up the hill, I took quite a few shots of the silhouette of the birch trees against the colourful sky, both with a ‘steady’ camera and intentional camera movements.

Must go back soon, hoping that the striking piece of bark is still there and that third time is lucky.

Windswept Ranch Moor

I met up with Tim Parkin for some photography on Rannoch Moor, arriving at the lay-by after an hour and a half’s journey in the dark from Glasgow just seconds after Tim had parked his camper van. We started off in Tim’s camper van with a freshly brewed cup of coffee and a blether before heading out onto the windswept moor in the early morning light.

Unfortunately, the conditions were far from ideal, as there was a very strong wind blowing across the moor. Not only was the wind chill factor unwelcome, the wind was so strong that nothing, apart from the bigger rocks, was still enough to photograph. After a bit of wandering and shooting a couple of shots, we agreed that we were literally being blown off the moors and to seek a more sheltered location behind the mountains and in the forest at Glencoe Loch.

While out on the moor beside Lochan na Stainge, I only took two photographs, but managed to get one that I am actually very pleased with, especially given the conditions: a panorama of the view to the Black Mount across Lochan na Stainge.

Before heading to Glencoe Loch to seek shelter from the wind amongst the trees for some more photography, Tim showed me an area of devastation on Rannoch Moor. The forest had been cut down years ago, leaving a wonderful derelict area. The mixture of tree stumps, rotten wood, grasses, mosses and lichen is asking for a return in the near future for some intimate landscape photography.

A wander onto Muirhouse Muir

After several weeks of more or less continuous rain, the weather appeared to change during the morning to a dry day with a low winter sun. So I decided to head up to Loch Ardinning after lunch to seek some photographic opportunities and for Lola to be able to run and mooch on the moors.

On arrival, it looked like we got there too late. The last bit of mist was lifting off the loch and a light rain started when we parked the car. With the rain and more dark clouds looming, I choose not to take my precious Sanderson.

The winter sun was already very low, and the loch was already in the shade, so we pressed on and headed out to Muirhouse Muir onto higher ground. The autumn colours of the trees and bracken in the late sun light was absolutely stunning. While Lola got the scent of rabbits and was busy mooching, I managed to get a few of shots of the autumn colours, further enhanced by the rainbow, before the sun went down too far and the bracken ended up in the shade.

Further up the moors we got some spectacular views towards the Kilsyth Hills, with the faint rainbow and mist in the glen providing spectacular views. The sun was setting very fast, so we headed back to Loch Ardinning for some sunsets across the loch. The contrast between the bright sky and the shade moor and loch was phenomenal, so I ended up taking some of the shots below using both a 4 stop and a 2 stop natural density graduated filter.

Once the sun was gone and the sky turned grey, Lola and I headed back to the car. We must plan better and leave earlier the next time, as the short outing was just a little bit too rushed, and golden opportunities were missed. Then again, how can you plan for an afternoon out in the sun when the weather forecast predicts snow fall.

Mist over Loch Ascog

We got the keys to our cottage and headed up with a rented van loaded to the hilt. As the last part of the track, actually more a field, was completely saturated with water and soggy, we decided to leave the van at the bridge. While ferrying the content of the van to the cottage with the help of a wheel barrow during the afternoon, mist started to form across the Loch.

I can kick myself for waiting too long before getting the camera out, as I missed the low sun light filtering through the mist across the loch. When I eventully ended up carrying my camera while walking back and forward, I still got some wonderful shots of the dense mist after the sun disappeared behind rigde, and a later when the mist had partly cleared again with the red sky reflecting in the still water of the loch.

With such a wonderful view on our first day in our cottage, we are very much ooking forward to our time here with (hopefully) loads of fantastic photographic opportunities.

Snake wood

While wandering the shore of Lachlan Bay, we came across this wonderfully shaped piece of wood with interesting details and colourful reflections in Loch Fyne under a clear blue sky.

Beech intimates

What else to do than to head for the beach on August Bank Holiday. But not just any beach, probably one of the best beaches in Scotland! As we were staying at the Kames Hotel for the weekend to check out the cottage again we had made on offer on, we decided to check out the area and head for the beach at Kilbride Bay.

We parked at the layby on the road close to Kilbride Church and walked the track to the beach. The walk itself was worth already worth it, with wondeful views over fields, marshes and fields littered with abondened crofts, and butterflies fluttering in abundance. An absolute wonderul area, but on clearing the dunes and reaching the beach, our jaws literally dropped. A absolutely stunning, pure fine white sand beach in a magnificent bay with a view direcly to Arran opened up in front of us.

It was surprisingly busy, with lots of people on the beach who had walked down from the layby or came ashore with dingies from their sailing boats. So to busy for some panormas, but lots of opportunities for intimate landscapes and Lola enjoying the waves and splashing us.

All going well, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to visit this beach all your round. Can’t wait.

Ghosts on the water

Unexpected but very welcome sunshine made a dreig Saturday afternoon wander along the River Kelvin more than just a dog walk. While Lola was running ragged with her furry friends, I lingered along the banks of the river trying to capture ghosts.

A combination of the smooth water with the sunlight filtering through the trees created a mix of colourful reflections and ghostly patches where the sunshine hit the brown, hazy water. With hindsight I wish I had spend a bit more time exploiting this unusual opportunity.