Category: Scotland

Urban cormorant

While taking Lola out for a walk along the River Kelvin in the West End of Glasgow, I spotted two cormorants sitting on a derelict railway pillar in the middle of the river. Even though it was a very damp, dark and overcast afternoon, I took my camera out of the bag to make an attempt at taking some shots of these magnificent large water birds.

It was so dull that I had to crank the ISO up to 3200 to get the exposure, while still only achieving a very slow 1/80 at f5.6 handheld using my 70-200mm lens with 2x extender. Above all, it was not easy getting a clear view of either of the two cormorants due to the straggly trees obscuring my view and thorny branches swinging in my face, but I eventually managed to get a few good shots of both birds.

While taking some shots of one of the cormorants, I noticed a movement on the far bank and was surprised to see an urban fox out on the hunt in the middle of the afternoon. Unfortunately, the fox disappeared very quickly out of view after I had managed two shots with the cormorant in focus and the fox out of focus in the undergrowth. The best one of the two (above) probably qualifies for a ‘spot the fox’ competition.

The apparent stalking of the fox and vulnerability of the cormorant in the above shot is in fact an illusion. The two birds were quite safe, sitting high and dry (ok, not quite so dry) on a 10 foot high pillar in the middle of the river, with the fox merely passing on the far away river bank, as the last image illustrates.

Once again, today has proved: never leave home without a camera, irrespective of what the weather is like.

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.

Portrait of a whippet

I have had my Canon speedlite for several years now, but have only used it sparingly as I tend to find the results too harsh when using the flash, even with a Stofen diffuser. This is more a reflection of my lack of knowledge on how to use the flash than anything else.

So when I heard another photographer saying that he always lit his models through bounce flash (when not being able to use studio lights) to create more natural lighting, I thought it is time to found out a bit more and experiment. After a bit of Googling and reading I came across the excellent web site by Neil van Niekerk, who provides a wealth of information on techniques for using on-camera and off-camera flash. A must read for anyone wanting to delve beyond the most basic use of flash.

What specifically caught my eye was the simplicity of it all, and Neil’s ingenuity to use ‘the black foamie thing’ for bounce flash. So the following day I went into town to hunt down some black foam. It wasn’t easy, but I was in luck, as the second art store I went in had Funky Foam in the kids section for £1.79 for an A4 sheet. With a couple of elastic hairbands, I had just bought my cheapest photographic accessory ever.

Time to experiment! I had a choice of two models at home, but found only Lola willing. I tried bounce flash off the wall to the sides, of the wall behind me and off the ceiling, and I must admit, it works an absolute treat.

Here are a few portraits of the super model, both in colour and black & white, hopefully showing that the bounce flash results in a more natural lighting and in giving nice shadow and detail, as opposed to bleaching everything out.

The elusive wren

And you thought that swallows were hard to shoot? Well you can think again…

I have been on a quest to shoot swallows in flight this summer, and my, they are much harder to shoot than fast and agile whippets. After the swallows disappeared to warmer climates, I was looking for a next challenge until my eye caught a little wren hopping along the tree catching insects.

And a challenge I got. I found the little wren even more difficult than a whippet at full speed or a swallow in flight. I just couldn’t get a decent shot of this tiny, elusive bird that hides in the undergrowth, is extremely shy, and moves too fast from hiding place to hiding place. With a fast subject like a swallow, you can practice technique, but if you only ever see the wren for a second or two, now that’s hard to get.

The opportunity came after the first autumn storm when we had thrown broken branches into a large pile beside our cottage. The pile of lichen covered wood, chopped from the broken branches, proved to be a heaven for a pair of elusive wrens with the insects in abundance. With a lot of patience, I managed to get these images that I am quite chuffed with.

These images again show the quality that my 70-200mm lens and 2x converter delivers wide open and at a high ISO (400mm, 1/200, f5.6, ISO 800).

A wander to the Broomielaw

A lunchtime wander exploring the Broomielaw with some of my work colleagues.

Swallows in flight

And you thought whippets at speed are hard to shoot? Well you can think again…

I had thought that, after many years of practising my skills of action photography capturing super fast lurchers and super agile whippets, I would be able to capture any animal on camera recently competently. So it came as a bit of a surprise that my first attempted to shoot the swallows in flight at the first summer at our cottage failed miserably, resulting in some blurry swallows shots, but mostly, empty frames.

So I went on a quest to master shooting swallows in flight. With a swallows nest under our eves, at least one nest in our neighbour’s shed and many more in the surrounding areas, we had swallows in abundance. The power lines out the back were a favourite place for the swallows and their young to congregate, and at the hight of summer, I would always loose count at 80 or 90.

Key to the quest was watching the swallows, determining their favourite perches and flying routes, before getting the camera out to try to capture them. But then the wind changed, and I was back to square one.

Here are some good and bad shots from this summer. The best ones are the six in the left two columns. Unfortunately the swallows headed for Africa by the time I nearly started to get the hang of it. Ach well, they’ll be back next year for sure.

A wander around Govan Church

A lunchtime wander exploring Govan Church and graveyard with some of my work colleagues.

A wander around The Lighthouse

A lunchtime wander exploring the walkway on The Lighthouse in Glasgow with some of my work colleagues.

A wander to the Barrowlands

A lunchtime wander exploring the Gallowgate and the Barrowlands with some of my work colleagues.

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.

Gold finches in the snow

It started with a small thistle seed feeder in the garden and a pair of very shy gold finches, occasionally visiting the feeder. Then there were seven regularly and now there are twelve daily stuffing their faces. They frequent the two thistle seed feeders and the three sunflower heart feeders we now have in our garden. Surprisingly, they seem to prefer the sun flower hearts over the thistle seeds. Maybe I should write to Colins to get them to update their bird guide.

Beside our kitchen window is a tree with two sunflower heart feeders. The tree provides shelter to the visiting gold finches, chaffinches, blue tits, coal tits, great tits and green finches. At certain times of the day, the tree is heaving with birds while at other times there is no bird to be seen. These shots were taken from our kitchen window on a snowy Sunday morning.

The main image is now my most successful image on flickr: Gold Finch in Flight. OK, not in terms of number of views as one of the Notre Dame School fire images tops this league by far, but certainly in terms of comments and awards.