Shades of Grey In Torridon
Photography is all about being in the right place at the right time to get the light, and you’ll often hear photographers talk about ‘chasing the light’. But sometimes the weather just doesn’t play ball; you can be handed a grey, flat day when the sun stays firmly hidden. On days like that, it is all too tempting to burrow back down under the duvet, think ’stuff it’ and not go out.
As mentioned in a previous blog, I recently joined the Royal Photographic Society. It has a very active northern group that organises occasional outings. I went along to my first such outing a few weeks ago, but someone had forgotten to order some nice light for us! There were a few mumbles and grumbles in the car when I was collected about what a grey day it was, and it didn’t improve as we headed westwards. To be honest, I wasn’t bothered at all. I’ve spent some time over the last year with a couple of photographers who advocate that there is no such thing as bad light, there is just light, and was quite looking forward to the challenge of seeing what I could produce in so-called unfavourable conditions. If nothing else, it was a day out and a chance to check out locations.
There were a few more mutterings about the greyness when we met up with the rest of the group at Kinlochewe and the general consensus was to start with coffee. As my friends well know, I can, and do, drink gallons of tea so I was quite happy to go along with that plan. Those of you who know the area may remember the Whistle Stop Cafe, which closed down last year. It has emerged from the ashes as The Gorse Bush and the lovely new owners opened up an hour early, put on the woodburner and produced large pots of tea and the biggest bacon butties imaginable for us.
Morale suitably restored, we headed down the road to Loch Maree where there are numerous Scots pine trees scattered along the loch bank, either in small stands or singly. Scots pine is the only truly native pine in the UK. Mature trees can grow up to a height of 35m and can live up to 700 years - if only they could talk, they would have some tales to tell! I love how they come in all shapes and sizes as though they have been sculpted by the elements. It’s easy to see why it was voted Scotland’s national tree. Apparently they are susceptible to butt rot - if you know where its butt is, do tell!
On arrival, it was agreed that we would have a couple of hours at this location and a time was set to be back at the cars. I started at the tree that stands sentinel in front of the mighty Slioch (above), a craggy fortress of a mountain that towers over Loch Maree. But I’ve photographed it before, as has just about everyone that has travelled that particular road. So wandering over the brow of the hill, there was another solitary tree that had a wonderful umbrella-style canopy that could be positioned over the mountains on the far side of the loch. It was quite breezy so there was a bit of movement in the clouds - perfect for some long exposure. Further down was a great expanse of bog and the clouds in the sky were really dramatic. And there were more trees…..but there were also my fellow photographers wandering about and wandering into my shots so I thought I would take a look at the River Grudie. A fabulous little river with some lovely mini falls and lots of scope for compositions. I had just got set up when I checked the time and discovered I was supposed to be back at the car! How two hours had disappeared so quickly, I have no idea. I do lose all concept of time once I start taking photos, which is fine when I’m on my own but not so good when I’m supposed to be keeping to a schedule. I fired off a quick shot and headed back to the cars where I got a verbal ear bashing for being the last one back….until I pointed out our driver hadn’t returned. He turned up just at the point when we thought we should maybe go and see if he had got himself stuck in a bog.
Coffee was on the agenda again and we returned to The Gorse Bush for coffee and cake before heading in the opposite direction to Loch Clair. It’s a location I visited on Easter Sunday last year for a sunrise shoot and what a difference a year makes. Last year, we had lovely pink light on the hills and this year grey murk. Both visits were freezing though! It was still pretty breezy so I played around doing more long exposures with different compositions. I had decided very early into the day that long exposure and black and white was the way I was going to shoot. With the wind picking up and the temperature dropping, I was quite relieved that it was decided after a while that there wasn’t much point in staying out any longer and we headed home.
Despite the supposedly uninspiring conditions, I really enjoyed the day and came away with a handful of images that I’m happy with. And I’ll definitely be returning to the locations to spend a bit more time exploring.
For those who aren’t familiar with the area, Kinlochewe is west of Inverness - see the map below.
