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.
