I have been struggling to find time to get out with the camera on a regular basis recently due to family commitments. However a opportunity came along where we would be able to have a 4 day trip off, so we decided to head for the Scottish Highlands in the hope of capturing some autumnal scenes around Glencoe.
Has we headed along the shores of Loch Lomond the autumnal colours could be seen all around us, so I decided to make a impromptu stop at the Falls of Falloch, I was hoping to find a reasonably high water level and a good selection of autumnal colours in the trees that surround the falls.
On arriving at the car park, I was surprised to find that it was full, luckily as we were turning round a car pulled out, so we dived into the space it had vacated.
This is only the second time that I have visited this location and was surprised to find that an amount of development work has been done in creating better access paths to the falls.
I surveyed the scene of the falls, which had a substantial volume of water flowing over them, I decided to head down to the waters edge with the aim of finding some foreground interest to use and include the falls has the main focus of the photo, I wanted to exclude as much of the sky has possible has this was predominantly one colour with little or no cloud cover.
We left the Falls to continue our journey up to Glencoe, and has we arrived at Rannoch Moor we were treated to an amazing light show in the south western sky’s, we were in sunshine, but there was heavy rain falling in the far distance to our left, but amazingly shafts of sunlight were penetrating through the heavy clouds to create a wonderful view, we simply had to find a place to stop and try and capture this view. For those that have travelled along the very bust A82, this is not always an easy thing to do, the traffic is often very heavy, and you do not have sufficient time to find and pull into the laybys or parking places. Luckily a parking place appeared not far in front of us, so I slowed and pulled into this. I quickly got the boot open, and fumbling through the luggage, footwear, and wet weather clothing that we had stored in here to get to my photography pack, I went to attach my longest lens, the 200mm to make sure that I would get the reach to capture the views that were still on display. I didn’t have time to ratch out the tripod, so all images captured were handheld.
After a mad 30 – 40 minutes here, we set off to the hotel to get checked in, relax and look forward to a evening meal. The hotel that we stayed in was the Ballachulish Hotel, details of the hotel can be found here. The staff and breakfast were excellent, but the evening meals are geared around a fish themed restaurant, my wife does not like fish, so sadly this reduced our options for the evening meal.
The first full day in the Highlands was planned around what the weather was like, and has this was rain, winds and overcast we decided to go for a drive around Lock Leven to see what was on offer photography wise, the conditions warranted moody and atmospheric photography which could be taken form not too far form the car. As we drove along the southern shore, there was not many photography compositions that took my interest, when we arrived at Kinlockleven at the end of the Loch, I took a 30-minute walk along the banks of the river looking for some interest in the river, sadly this did not materialise, so the first soaking of the day was for no reward. We ten turned to drive along the northern shore of the Loch and the compositions became many, set the camera up, wait for the right rain and light combination and take the shot, all were moody to capture the weather conditions and some decent images were in the bag.
From Loch Leven I drove up Glencoe with the aim of capturing any different images that stood out in these conditions, I stopped off at Loch Achtriochtan has a series of waterfalls that I have not noticed before were creating some interesting shapes has, they fell down the mountains. Again, at this location due to the heavy rain all shots were handheld, I particularly wanted to try and capture one of the waterfalls high up the mountain side as the wind was blowing the water back up the rocks, it was that strong.
This more or less ended the photography for the first day, we did have a drive about and enjoyed the superb views, but little was in the offering photography wise.
The second morning started on a massive high, an early rise and a look out of the window to clear skies and the makings of a great sunrise.
Breakfast was quickly got, and me setting off on my photography adventure on my own as the Mrs was content to settle in the Hotel, read some books and chill out.
Right out of the Hotel door and I saw a view which I wanted to capture, I collected my gear, donned the wellies, and clambered over the adjacent fence to get on the shoreline and began looking for a composition looking west over Loch Linnhe to the distant Mountains which would become light with the rising sun once it got over the mountains behind me. I spent probably 1 to 1.5 hours here also capturing several images of the back light autumnal coloured threes at the foot of the mountains adjacent to the hotel.
My first stop was to be at Loch Achtriochtan, with the hope that the clam cold conditions would produce a calm waters surface with the reflections of the imposing mountains being visible.
The car park was ¾ full of camper vans who had stayed there overnight, I parked the car and collected my equipment being as quiet has I could so has not to disturb any late sleepers. When I saw sight of the Loch, I was in seventh heaven, the scene was superb. Now to find a location which provided the best viewpoint and to get to work. To say that I was pleased with some of the images I got would be an understatement, a matter of being at the right place at the right time in the right conditions. Definitely one of these shots will be in my portfolio collection. As I was packing up it was only then that I noticed that there were maybe 4/7 photographers scattered about capturing the scene in front of us. Indeed, I have seen one of these photographers’ image on social media form this morning and it is stunning.
From here I headed to the top of Glencoe with the aim of getting images of the Buachaille Etive Mòr, with the River Etive creating a leading line, ideally with the reflection of the mountain on the water’s surface. I parked the car in the car park at the Kingshouse car park and proceeded to walk along the banks of the river looking for a pool that would hold a reflection of the mountain, sadly and probably due to the volume of water in the river this was not possible, so plan “B”, lets use the line of the river to create the interest, I quickly found a “S” curve which created this leading line and set about working the area around me.
From this location I headed to the Coupall falls, a place that I had visited once before but the water levels were very low, this time there was certainly plenty of water in the river.
I was in a predicament here, to get the best image of the falls I was looking south and excluding the Buachaille, which I wanted in the frame has it is such an imposing structure. I could include the mountains to the South, so I worked with the elements of the scene and found that I could include both sets of mountains and the falls, I ended up in a precarious position balanced on the edge of the falls, but I think the final image was worth it.
A glance at my watch and I was surprised to see it telling me it was 12.30pm, where had that morning gone. The plan was to pick up the Mrs at 12pm and go for a drive/walk so she could enjoy the afternoon. The phone call was quickly made, and apologies given for being late, a spritely drive to the Hotel collect the Mrs was needed.
We decided to head for Glencoe Lochan, the thinking of this was that we could enjoy a relatively easy walk and I could possibly get some images if the conditions were right.
When we got the Loch, we found that the Autumnal colours of the trees were impressive and to add to the scene the lake was flat creating a moderate reflection. Even though it was early afternoon the low-lying sun was not too harsh to spoil the colours. As we walked around the Lock, I stopped now and aging to snap some shots, some with the Pap of Glencoe (The Gaelic name of this mountain is Sgorr-na-Ciche, please don’t ask me how to pronounce this) rising above the trees to add extra interest to the scene.
From here we wanted to get something to eat so we headed back up Glencoe to the Kingshouse to enjoy a late afternoon/early evening meal washed down with a pint of bear. The Kingshouse Hotel is a modern building having been removed several tears ago and is a wonderful location for a hotel. Details of the hotel can be found here.
Has we left the Hotel the light had gone so we headed back to Ballachulish at the bottom of the Glen for a relaxing drink or three.
We have had a busy day today, thankfully the weather gods were kind to us, the images that I had captured were now in the can and would be reviewed on the computer once we got home.
The next morning was a more relaxed time, up, washed and changed, began the packing, we then enjoyed another excellent breakfast before we packed all our belongings into the car, and departed for the long journey home.
As the morning was clear, i.e., not raining and there were hints of mist about, I asked the boss if we could make a short diversion to Kilchurn castle to get some photos of it, she agreed but this choice would come back to bite us. (See later)
We arrived at Loch Awe to low lying sun and very slight traces of disappearing mists around the castle. I quickly donned the wellies and headed for the Lochs shore to snap some photos. Along the wat I had several pleasant conversations with people also visiting the location. Disappointing I missed the last remnants of the mist, but the lovely warm autumnal light was creating a pleasant cast on the castle.
As is always the case, I stayed longer than I should have which had put us late, we had arranged to visit family on the way home for a change to have a catch up. As we reached the shore of Loch Lomond we ground to a halt, then the opposite traffic stopped coming in the opposite direction. Fearing the worst, we began looking at other options on he to reach Glasgow from where we were. We were soon informed that there had been an RTA further along the road which had totally blocked the A82 in both directions. Our options were to retrace out route to enable us to get to Sterling and from there to Glasgow, but this would take many hours. We decided to sit and wait for the road closure to be cleared.
After another 2.5 hours we began to move and reaching the RTA which was maybe ¾ mile in front of us, I f I had not taken the detour to Kilchurn castle we would have not been caught up in the tail-back of the accident. Still, we got to visit the family and got home safe and well but 8 hours later than expected.
