Scotland October 2023

Scotland October 2023

October saw me on my long-awaited trip to Assynt and Coigach in the highland of Scotland in the company of a fantastic photographer Mark Littlejohn https://www.instagram.com/mark_littlejohn/. This region doesnt seem to be visited too much by phptogarpher which apealed to me as also it was always a favourite on my motorcycle tours but is now my favourite for photography. It's remote, very remote being north of Ullapool and with little traffic in October is great for being able to drive, stop on a whim and park up without any traffic behind. Try doing this in Glen Coe and you’ll cause chaos. The weather, wet/sunny/wet/ sunny and wet again with lots of wind. It's typical Scotland and it followed 2 storms and the wettest period for years. It was 2 fleeces under the waterproof sort of weather.

New technique of the week, standing on slippy muddy slopes with a telephoto lens in a 40mph wind trying to get sharp images. Tripod, no chance, much too windy for that and not enough time in the fleeting light. High ISO, f4 to get high shutter speeds are the order of the week. This was seeing some light and composing quickly on instinct. This is a great way of shooting purely on feeling. It's also a great way of filling memory cards with rubbish. 2500 files. To be fair most were trying out compositions waiting for light so when it does arrive you have a head start. The 1st in the gallery below is my favourite. Not an original composition I found out on my return home and a relatively obvious one when you’re there but when the sun came out between the squalls it gave me some wonderful light.

Altogether it was an excellent week of photography. 1st day of my drive home taking a scenic long route of 3 days. With snow on the mountains, I must have stopped at every lay-by to take many photos. In some ways, it was my best day with some fantastic light and weather.