St Columbas Hospice, Edinburgh

As some of you will know my mum died on the 4th of November 2012 and had spent the last two weeks of her life being cared for by the wonderful staff at St Columbas Hospice in Edinburgh.

In the three weeks since her death, my sister and I have been clearing her house and giving a whole load of equipment that is no longer needed to the hospice as they can use it.  However, it really needs cold hard cash to provide what can only be described as amazing care through the worst period in anyones life and then support that persons family afterwards.

To raise some funds for them I am organising a sale of my calendars and 7 one off prints (two gallery quality framed prints and 5 canvas prints) at my home on the 1st of December between 1.30-6pm. During this afternoon 25% of the price paid will go to the hospice.  

However, if you are in or around Edinburgh and would like one of my calendars I will deliver it to you and 25% of the cost will go to the Hospice.

Here is the link to my site if you wish to order the calendar. 

http://www.jamiestoddart.com/photo_9727175.html

Please buy this calendar for you or someone who will appreciate these fine photos and to help raise funds for a truly amazing service.

January

July

 

September

November

Edinburgh Goes Boom

I had this long post all planned out about the hard part of photography, the rejection and how I dealt with it.  Luckily you can all thank my friend Steve who texted on sunday morning to say he was buying tickets for Princes (not Princess) Street Gardens so people could watch the end of festival fireworks.  After spending several years down in Inverleith for them I naturally jumped at the chance and said yes.

7.45 comes along and we all meet up and find a space to settle down in.  As the gardens fill up I take photos and before I know it I'm trapped with a sappling in the way but I decide to make the best of it and catch this photo before the fire works start.

The fireworks were spectacular and the obligatory setting fire to the castle rock was good too.

Anyway with out further ado here are the photos, thanks for reading this nice and short post.

A Confession

My name is Jamie Stoddart, I'm a photographer and I have a confession to make.  I spent a week on Skye, visited Elgol and did not take a photo of The Cuillins from the beach.

I know, it is against the photographers code, but I was heading out on a fast rib trip to Canna to try and spot some basking sharks, sea eagles and puffins.

As you can see below we found sharks, lots of sharks.  It was amazing to see over 30 of these huge fish close up, although the teenage boy next to me seemed oblivious to the spectacle of so many of them feeding all around us.

When the trip returned to Elgol I did consider getting a photo, but it looked like rain was coming and EVERY boat trip was returning at the same time.  In this scenario there is only one option and that is get in the car and beat everyone up the hill.

For those who have never been the road from Broadford to Elgol is single track with passing places.  That's not so bad I hear you say, well no it is not, but when you throw in lots of tourists in hire cars who lack the understanding of what a passing place is then things get interesting.  I found this out when I came nose to nose with a tourist car and they would not reverse to the passing place.  They pulled in to the side and after some very slow (and silky smooth) driving the car got past.

Skye is a wonderful place to visit and whilst I struggled to get a good sunset there were lots of stunning photo opportunities throughout the day and I took advantage of them.

The Quiraing (top) and the Trotternish Ridge(above) were high on my list of places to visit and photograph, however the evenings and mornings were not that good so I manned up and took these at about 2pm.  As you can see the results were stunning.  Another thing about these places is you shoot The Quiraing from The Trotternish Ridge and vice versa.

I discovered Neist Point through flickr and decided to head over one evening to see what I could get.

Neist point is the most westerly point on Skye and if you set off heading west you either hit The Western Isles or some part of North America.  Here there is a light house and lots of cliffs as you can see below (I did actually walk out on the path another day but regretted it as the steps back up are steep and long).

Whilst the photo above is the standard shot you see of Neist Point there are some amazing cliffs to the south east and they can be easily over looked which is really scandalous.

Midway through my week on Skye I took a day trip to the Western Isles and whilst I screwed up a big beach shot I did find this little gem which shows that sometimes the smaller shots are better.

If you follow me on twitter you may have seen my tweets with @landscapes365 and @portraitskye, well I was lucky to meet Andrew and Rosie Woodhouse whilst up there.  They are great people and I spent a couple of hours with them resulting in me taking their photo with their lovely 5d mark 2.  I haven't seen the photo yet, so either I suck or got a good one and they are keeping it hidden.

They also showed me a great spot on the River Sligachan to get a photo up to the Black Cuillin and I stopped on the saturday as I headed up to Lairg to grab this shot.

Following on from Skye I spent a week in Lairg which really is in the middle of nowhere.  On the plus side it is quiet and the scenery is amazing.  However, I must point out that whilst a screaming golden eagle outside your window in the morning is amazing it does lose its charm after the third day.

So, what's there to photograph up that way?

lots.  On the sunday there was a trip up to Durness in what can only be described as a little wind and rain.  On the plus side The Smoo Cave looks great with water flowing in.

Durness is also home to Cocoa Mountain which serves amazing hot chocolate and makes great chocolate.

Naturally one should go to John O'Groats whilst so far north, I'd recommend skipping it and going straight to Duncansby Head as the views are breath taking.

The beach at Dunnet Head is also pretty spectacular on a windy day as the waves are funnelled in from the west.

Below is a burn I discovered as I was driving to Ullapool before driving up through Assynt,  past Stac Pollaidh and Suilven before turning back to Lairg

The bridge below is Laxford Bridge and believe it or not, it serves as the main route from Ullapool to Durness and beyond to Thurso.

On my final day I decided to head up to Kinlochbervie and check out the beaches.  Below is Oldshoremore Beach with a lot of rain heading my way.

I should add I did get a sunset and it was from a lay-by on Skye as the light just became perfect.

Thanks for reading and I hope you like all of the photos from my two weeks up north.

Taking a Chance

So, it has been over a month since my last post.  What can I say the photography was quiet.


Anyway, last Saturday night I'm at home and thinking about heading out to get a sunset shot (7.30pm for those of you who require all the details).  As usual I have no idea where to go, although there are a few options.  First up head down towards Biggar (25-30 miles away) and find a shot there as I am going to be exhibiting in the BiggART festival as part of the Biggar Little Festival (first big plug, pay attention as you may miss the second).  Second option is to head over in to Fife(another 25+ mile trip) and get another seascape sunset.


What do I do then?


I go for the complete outside option and decide I am going to drive 90 miles up to Glencoe to see if I can capture a sunset there.  Now at this point in my decision making process it is the best idea ever, but by Callander I'm having second thoughts as the cloud has thickened up.


For those of you who have never been to Glencoe the drive involved motorway driving followed by lots of driving on an A road along with the lorries, camper vans, cars with caravans and the annoying slow drivers (which there were a lot of).


Sorry, just had to pop away there as it sounded like the washing machine was taking off, turns out it was just a seriously heavy downpour of rain that's flooding the farm track.


Where were we?  Oh yes, Callander.  


By 8.45 I've made it to The Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum and it is still cloudy, but all of that is about to change.  Well I lie, it is going to take a further 15 minutes of driving to change.


I head up towards Bridge of Orchy and beyond to Loch Tulla.  Now the drive from Tyndrum to Glencoe village is about 30 miles of stunning landscape that evolves from forest to mountains to moorland and to top it all off a drop down from the moor to what can only be described as Lord of the Rings country.


Back to the drive.  I head past Loch Tulla and get to the hill leading up to Rannoch Moor,  I look in the rear view mirror and see a Ford Transit Camper Van gaining on me so I do the only thing I can, accelerate.  No!  I am not petty honest.


As the road levels out I start to see a hint of golden light on a little hill to my right and my luck is improving.  This small beam of light gives way to this scene below at Locan Nah Achlaise.

I see a layby and as there is no traffic around pull in and leg it across the road to get what I called my back up shot. Once this was in the bag I returned to the car and headed on towards Glencoe itself.

I got round to Glencoe to see the glorious sunlight fading fast but decide there is still something special to shoot and continue driving.  

Just after the Kings House Hotel there is a bridge over the River Etive and I decide I am going to park up and get a photo from beyond the bridge and down by the river.  It seemed like a good idea to park on the east side of the bridge and walk across it and then down the banking to the river.  It was not a good idea as cars heading east would suddenly appear and I had to be quicker than Ussain Bolt to cross the bridge.  Mental note, park in the layby on the west side and walk back.

Anyhow, I get down to the river and select a spot to set up and take another shot of Buchaille Etive Mor (I told you I like it in another post.  If you have not read it why not????).  The end result was this shot.

On the right you can just see a faint hint of red light as the sun drops behind the mountains and all that is left is the fading light.

Well, having got the shot I pack up and head back to the bridge and prepare to cross.  However I look up the hill and see a car coming down it fairly quickly so I leg it across safely.  I park myself on the grass verge as a Honda NSX roars past me in the fading light.  Ok I'm a car geek and I'm proud of it, I just wish I had got a shot of it.

Back at the car I pack my kit away and head home not quite sure what the end results will be and as I got home at 12.10am I wait until the morning.  Safe to say I am more than happy with the results and on Thursday enter the shot of Buchaille Etive Mor in to the Take a View Landscape Photographer of The Year (and yet another subtle plug).

Do I think I can win the competition?  No I don't, however I love this shot and think it is very special and want people to see it along with the other 6 I have entered.

To sum up it is good to take a chance and stick with it as the end result can be amazing.  Also, choose your parking spots wisely as running like a muppet is not good when avoiding cars on the road.

Thanks for reading and take care.

What do you get?

Last week I received an email from someone through my site recommending I drop my prices as they liked my photos but felt my prices were too high.  Why were my prices too high?  Because they could get photo canvases a lot cheaper from (insert any generic shop here)!

Naturally I replied pointing out that they could buy a canvas from said shops but they would be buying a higher quality product and the knowledge that thousands of people around the world did not have the same photo if they bought my work.  This did not work as the person said I should drop my prices to match these shops as they were OBVIOUSLY making money from their canvases.

Firstly, these companies buy photos from stock sites for pennies and then send them off to a printing company somewhere far away to be run off in its thousands.  These printing companies will invariably use cheap materials and not properly stretch the canvas.

So Why don't I do that?  Economies of scale is the simple answer as I do not have thousands in the bank to pay for such an order.

As I mentioned before the standard of materials used will not be of a high quality (cue fading, sagging of canvas and so forth) and it will show.  I bought a canvas print of one of my photos from Jessops and the quality is no where near as high as the canvases I sell.

Linking in to this, the person said I should reduce my quality so that the prints would become cheaper.  Not surprisingly I said no to that idea as I want to provide a high quality service and products to my customers.

If you have seen my website you will know how much my canvases sell for, but what are you actually paying for?

You are paying for the printing of a high quality product and the associated costs of supplying it (fuel for me to get the shot, food, maintenance and purchasing of equipment, delivery from a local company and so on).  What you may not know is that I do not make a huge amount of profit from these sales.  This is because I want to make my products as affordable as possible and to encourage people to buy my work.


Anyway, enjoy the photos below and I hope you will consider paying a little more for your photographic art so that you will support the person who worked hard for the shot you like.

Hit List

As I stood taking this photo of Bamburgh Castle a rather strange thought crossed my mind, I started to wonder how many iconic or very well known landscape photos have been taken within a short distance of a road or car park?

Bamburgh is a case in point.  If you look at this photo you'd think I had to walk miles to get this shot, but no the car park is to the right and behind me.

Obviously there are some locations that lend themselves to helping the photographer and Eilan Donan is one.  As a visitor attraction the car park over looks the castle and you could spend many hours there taking photos (The photo below was one of 6 taken in 5 minutes) and come away with a variety of shots.

Glencoe and Rannoch Moor is another location where you can turn up and take photos until your heart's content or the battery dies or memory card fills up.  I took the photo below on one of my first trips out with the 40d and again I didn't have to walk far.

As my thoughts go this was quite a good one and I have decided to do something with it.  On one side I am going to challenge myself to go to these locations and try to find a new and very different angle to shoot them.  But!  On the other hand I am also going to look at other well known locations where I will take the short walk to get the shoot so that I can impress you all.  At present there are two at the top of my list.

First up is the Storr on the Isle of Skye as a few factors put me off the long (well 750m)walk up a hill.  The weather being the prime factor and I am hoping this July when I head there the weather will be a lot better.

Second is a rather large location of Sutherland where I want to shoot Stac Pollaidh, Assynt, Duncansby Head etc.  I don't have any photos of this area yet so you can search on Flickr and google for examples.

Any way thanks for reading :)

Revisiting Old Locations

Yesterday I took a little trip over to Loch Lomond and decided to stop off at The Falls of Falloch.    I took the camera and tripod as I was hoping to try out a new adjustable ND filter.

I have taken a photo of the falls previously, probably two years ago in the summer time and to be honest I was happy with the shot.

However, yesterday I took several shots using a different lens and my new filter.

                                                  

As you can see there is a difference in the finished shots and some of this is down to time of day, year, light direction and so on.  I am now far happier with the shots from yesterday.

So where am I going with this you ask?

Whilst sitting in front of the I Mac and Lightroom 4 (blatant name dropping and product placement there) editing the photos last night I started thinking about why I and other people return to locations where they have taken shots they are happy with?  If you look at Joe Cornish's site you will find many photos of Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire for  example.

If you could look at my hard drives you would find a variety of shots from Scotland and the North of England, however you will find two locations that crop up again and again.  Skye and Glencoe.

Skye (including Lochalsh) and Glencoe are easy to explain as they are in my opinion the most photogenic areas in Scotland and there is an excellent chance that the conditions you have one day will not be the same the next day or in six months

This shot of Eilan Donan has been included because it is a nice shot.  I have about 8 other shots of the castle but this is my favourite.

I took the photo of Elgol below in July 2009 and it featured in my 2010 Calendar.  It is a nice shot but given the time of day and year I was not going to get a stunning shot (in my opinion) and I've always wanted to go back.

    

On a trip up in February I took the chance to head over to Elgol and I got the shot below which I REALLY like.

Now to highlight how different the conditions can be, the photo below was taken about 5 minutes after the photo above and whilst the composition is almost the same the light conditions have changed dramatically.

As I have said Glencoe is exceptionally photogenic and since I first went there in 2001 I have always wanted to go back. The photo below was taken with a Fuji 2MP camera in 2004 and there is something about it I like.

When I decided to become serious about photography I took a trip up to Glencoe in November 2008 with my shiny new 40d, tripod etc.  One of the shots I took was this photo of Buchaille Etive Mor. Not knowing any better I stuck to shooting with Jpegs instead of RAW.  The resulting effort has an almost painted quality to it.

This photo was taken from the road by the bridge over the River Etive late one September evening in 2009.

I have also revisited locations around Edinburgh like the locations below.

The Forth Bridges

 2009

2012

 2012

North Berwick

 2009

 2011

Why do I revisit locations then?

I revisit a location because I like it (which is always good), I have a new idea for a shot there or as in most cases I rightly or wrongly believe I can take a better shot of it.