Another spectacular sunrise this morning.  This was taken from just outside the front door, catching the amazing colours as the sun rose behind Sgurr Mor.  We get these great sunrises at this time of year, just at normal getting up time.  This one was made, in my opinion, by the clouds etched in purple against the faint blue of the sky and the deep reflection on the sea.

I took this shot, just outside the Eden Court Theatre, on my way to see the grils performing at the Ness Islands Halloween Show tonight.  Lovely evening and lots of folk having a great time with spooky goings on in the woods!

We took the opportunity of having a free afternoon with half decent weather to take a trip over to Skye for lunch and a wee photoshoot detour to Torrin.  The light had improved later in the afternoon and I remebered this stunted tree as a possible interesting foreground feature for a shot of Blabheinn.  Unfortunately someone else was there taking shots when we arrived so I had to look for some other locations while I waited for him to move on.  The follwig shot is of the burn which runs down into Loch Slapin.

This shot of Blabheinn was taken on the way to Torrin with a bit of telephoto zoom to emphasise the height of the mountain with the reeds on Loch Cille Chriosd in the foreground.  I had thought this would look good in colour but the reeds were just a bit beige and not very interesting.  When converted to black & white I think it looks much more interesting.

On the way home the light to the east was very dramatic with heavy dark clouds over the mainland and occasional sunny spots in Broadford Bay.  As we were approaching Waterloo the sun was shining on Pabay with the background very dark and brooding and I had to stop and try and capture it.  Unfortunately it was passing by the time I got out of the car and set up with the camera, but this worked OK considering.  It is a bit soft for, possibly a bit of camera shake because I didn't take the time to open up the aperture and increase the shutterspeed in my rush to capture the shot before the light moved on.

17 days since the sun last shone properly in Lochalsh as far as I can remember and I had to be in Inverness.  However, on the way home I arrived at reraig just in time to cacth this sunset, looking towards the Skye Bridge.  This only lasted for a few minutes so I was really lucky.  It just goes to show that it pays to always have a camera with you.

Despite the rather dull weather and poor light for photography I was fortunate enought to catch this brief glimpse of sunshine on beinn Alligin this afternoon on my way back home from Torridon.  It kind of looks like there is snow on the top but it is just the brightness of the sun shine.  This moment was very short-lived but made the afternoon for me as I thought it was going to be another day with no decent photo opportunities.

Looking back at yesterday's shots of the old bridge at Cluanie I took a bit of time to crop in a bit closer on the shot I posted yesterday.  I quite liked the result and noticed that I had also taken some shots with a bigger zoom on the lens.  The above is the result and I like it better.  The main focal point, the falls and the bridge, are much more of a feature with less distraction from a rather unintersting sky and too much surrounding rock.  I think this time I prefer the colour version because the little bit of sky is really just off white with no features, whereas at the wider zoom in B&W the clouds added something I think.  I do like the clarity that the B&W provides though.

Thanks to Helen Robertson for bringing this fantastic spot to my attention.  She has done a few brilliant painting of this bridge and waterfall and since seeing them I have wanted to go and take some photos.  This is my favourite composition from the shots taken this afternoon on my way home from Inverness, but the autumn colours have not quite reached their climax yet and I hope to go back when the light is a bit better and the colours are fully developed.  I quite like the colour version of this but prefer the black and white.

I had an early morning trip south to Glencoe today  I had the good fortune of being a little early for my 9 am meeting so popped up to Loch Achtriochtan to catch this shot of dawn rising in Glencoe.  The patchy light on the autumn coloured hills and the reflections of the light in the burn flowing out of the loch make this shot I think.

I also toook this shot of Achtriochtan Cottage, just off to the right in the above shot, takig in the spectacular hillside above with the waterfall.  I like this, although the light was not great, being mainly in the shade at this time of day.

Earlier on my way south I stopped at a car park by the A82, just north of Spean Bridge.  I had to try to capture these shots of the mist lying in the bottom of the glen as the sun was rising in the east and the moon was still visible in the west.