alastair jackson photography blog

A nice wee trip up to see the folks, and a wander up from Dunvegan to Clagain along a little walked stretch of coast resulted in a few new photos - and this video!

Skye Coast Video

A few days between Christmas and Hogmanay 2014, was just what I needed to get a few shots under my belt. Although I was primarily at home to see the folks, it provided me with an opportunity to get a shot of Dunvegan Castle (for a poster for the gift shop), and a couple of unexpected other landscape shots. I was hoping to capture the castle under moody skies, and I was a bit dissapointed with the blue which I was faced with. However, after disturbing the grey seals, I took a few practice shots, and with the sun getting low on the horizon, the rocks on the foreground turned a lovely golden colour. Bingo!
I also managed a trip along the shoreline at Hallin, Waternish, as part of my ongoing project to photograph the coastline of Durinish, and on a wild and windy day, I was lucky enough to be presented with the sun breaking through the clouds in shafts. Likewise, a trip to Neist proved fruitful, although I broke another tripod in the proces, my son and I clambered round the bottom of the cliffs on Waterstein Head to capture the point from a different angle. Awesome waves, and not a soul about! We could see the cars parked up at the Nest Point walk, but nobody had ventured this way, so it turned into a really good afternoon out

Well, as promised, myself and the two older kids went to Skye, ostensibly to visit their grandparents, and we also managed two ice-bucket challenges and a fantastic walk across the Trotternish Ridge.

Having checked the weather (sunshine and showers), we couldn't get parked in the Quirang car-park as it was so busy, and against my better judgement, I left it in a passing place - so touristy!

Luckily we were heading in the opposite direction of the vast majority of the day trippers, who were here to view the wonders of the Quirang, and once we had lost the few stragglers heading in the direction of Beinn Edra, we only met two people all day. We encountered rain, mist, wind and sun, and my daughters camera back took a plunge down a 300ft cliff. I'm pleased to say that we all made it back OK 5 hours later, with a few decent shots in the bag.

Well, it's been a long time since I put anything on this blog. I think I've been up to Skye twice since I last blogged, cut my folks peats with my brother, and brought them home for them!
I'm up again this week and this time I'm going up with my two older kids, and we hope to walk around the Quirang ( which I've never been to) and along the ridge to Beinn Edra, which I've also never walked. Hopefully we'll get some nice moody shots as well

Heading up to Skye for the Easter Weekend. Staying over in the Skinidin house- which belongs to my auntie- rather than my Mum's in Dunvegan,as the family (at least some of them) are coming up with me. That means that I can get up early and be straight onto the shore in the morning for some early light shots. I'm going to try and make Skinidin a project for this year as there are so many family ties to the place.

Incidentally, can I thank Dunvegan Village's FB for using my photo of the village as their profile picture. Also, for anyone visiting Skye this Summer, please note that my prints are now being stocked in the main Dunvegan Castle Shop (rather that the St. Kilda Gift Shop)

Watch this space for more Skye photos after the holidays!

Well, another trip at Hogmanay to see the folks. Weather mixed, wet and windy, but some good photo opportunities between showers. Managed to get down to Elgol, a place I'd never been before, and experienced 3 out of the 4 seasons. Got some nice shots, and a few that didn't quite make it (see below). The gloomy weather gave me an opportunity to practice my mono photography, which I am enjoying and seems suited to the Scottish Coast. Had to cancel a planned trip to Raasay because of the high winds and rain, but there should be plenty of opportunities this year to do the Dun Caan/Hallaig walk, and hopefully get some decent shots. Can't wait!

Taking the colour out of the world and thinking monochrome is a difficult thing to do. As I try to get to grips with this mindset, I find that two major problems beset me.
1. Subject matter
2. Post-processing

Firstly, what are the best subjects for mono photography? Because my shots are all taking in Scotland, there is a constant battle with wind, rain and grey skies. Mountain photography really doesn't work on grey days - you need shadows and the contrast from early morning or evening light. I've not really mastered mono photo skills on mountains even in good light yet, but mountain burns and smaller details seem to work better for me. The area which I have been practising on most is that of coastal photography. I've gone from an initial obsession with sunsets, which most photographers seem to go through, with an urge to capture stormy days and the power of the sea. A shutter speed of around 1/10th of a second seems to work well on capture movement in crashing waves, and two - four seconds for wider angle shots in conveying the effect of wind over the sea/shorescape.

Secondly, post-processing. My initial temptation was to make everything way to contrasty, and then I went too far, resulting in grey, washed out images. I've found that a good way around this problem is to use a polarizer and an ND Grad filter at the same time, which helps to increase exposure times and also add in contrast before the image is fed in into phootoshop.

Here's an image below which nearly worked, but in the end didn't have enough of interest in it.....

I don't usually like these, but this one at Inverclyde Sports Centre in Largs is good,as all the table fees and door receipts go to Breast Cancer Charity, so it is well worth supporting.

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Just back from a flying visit to Skye. Having picked my parents up from Glasgow Airport, I transported them back in the rain to Dunvegan, and I was worried that the next 2 days might be a washout! However, I needn't have worried. The next morning I headed out to Glen Uig to the rock formation known as Caisteal Eoghainn (Ewen's Castle), and although I didn't get any particularly good photos, it was great to be out visiting another part of Skye that I had never been to before. Later that afternoon I headed out on the road towards Talisker Bay in glorious sunshine, and made my way up to the summit of Stockval, where I had a relaxing late afternon snapping away in the changing light. Having arranged to meet renowned photographer Alex Boyd the next day, with a view to walking the Waterstein cliffs, I was disappointed when he had to call off due to car-trouble! I still managed a short jaunt out over the Point before the rain came on.

Next day it was back down the road, and I stopped en-route at the side of Loch Garry to try and get some shots of reflections and clouds in the loch.