This afternoon on my way back from the Post Office I took a quick run around the Balmacara Estate since it was another lovely afternoon.  This shot was taken from one of my favourite spots, down by the coast at Port Cam, between Duirinish and Port an Eorna.  There are always boats on the shore there and with the backdrop of the Bealach an Ba, when it is not hidden in cloud, you can't go wrong. 

I stopped again on my way back to the office, just near the railway crossing at Duirinish and popped up one of the small knolls to get this shot looking towards the low sun and the Cuillins of Skye.  There are a few clumps of trees and some isolated individual trees which offer nice foreground interest in what is otherwise a very wide vista which is hard to capture effectively.  The sun made the fading autumn colours look more vibrant than they realy were , set against the bright blue of the sky.  This was a pretty challenging shot to capture with the very bright sun making the foreground very dark.  Working with a RAW image does allow a lot of the shadow detail to be recovered in Lightroom though and the final result is much more like the human eye saw it.

This morning dawned bright and sunny with beautiful blue skies and still some snow on the higher ground.  I could not resist heading out to try and get some shots of Bla Bheinn with snow on it but also some colour still in the landscape as Autumn has not quite passed just yet.  Anyway, I stopped at Loch Cill Chriosd for the wonderful reflections, givent he complete lack of any breeze.  I was not alone of course, as you never are these days on Sky, but it was still a pleasure to be out.  These shots are a collection of the best ones I managed to capture, including the remnant moon shining just above Bla Bheinn and reflected in the water.  The reeds also make the reflections more interesting rather than just an expanse of open water.

For the following shot I tried something a little different. It was taken through the reeds but still focused on the background with a small aperture to try and keep the reeds sharp.

For this shot I just took the reflection and I think it works really well, but it does mess with your mind a little.

The next one was taken on the way back to the car, looking back towards the church at Cill Chriosd.  It was a difficult shot to expose properly as it was looking towards the sun and a bit washed out.  I liked the vibrant colour of the bracken but the grass was still frosty and very pale, as was the water and the pale blue sky.

I moved on to Torrin and the shore of Loch Slapin for the classic shot of Bla Bheinn.  Not very imaginative but it is still a fantastic view.  With the bright colours of the seaweed on the shore and the fading colours of autumn and just a little dusting of snow the hill was looking rather splendid.  This was taken with my widest angle lens to try and capture the grnadeur and scale of the landscape.

For the next one I composed the shot with the end of an old wall in the foreground to add interest, and also to hide the road which was just in front of me when I took this.

I have taken a few shots of this tree with Bla Bheinn in the background but today the sky looked a little uninteresting.  However, when I got down low to the ground the fanne dout light clouds became more apparent and even more clear wen converted to black and white in Nik's Silver Efex Pro with a red filter to darken the sky a bit.  I really like this shot, with the moon just showing above the hill and to the left of the tree.

Just to the left of the stunted tree there is a lovely old bit of dead wood which provides lovely leading lines into this picture.  Again I think this one looks better in black & white as the textures on the wood show up better

Finally, another shot from the shore, in balck & white this time.  I am not sure if I like this that much as the reflection is lost in the mess of seaweed floating in the water.  It definitely shows up better in colour.

My 2019 calendars are now available to buy or order.  At £10 each they would make an excellent festive/New Year gift for friends and family. I only got a small number printed so if you want to avoid being disappointed get your order in soon. I will also be selling them at the Plockton High School Christmas Fayre on Saturday 1st December, if I have any left.

I am currently awaiting arrival of my limited edition 2019 calendars.  The calendar is in A4 format, wire bound and comes cellophane wrapped and include twelve of my landscape images from the north west of Scotland.

The calendars will be dispatched to your address for £10, including postage (UK only, please ask for a price if sending elsewhere).  Alternatively, I will be at the Plockton High School Christmas Fayre on 1st December and will have copies for sale there, if I have any left. I have only ordered 50 copies initially, but depending on demand I may order up to another 50 but that will be it.  So if you are interested in buying/reserving a copy get in touch via my contact page and I will get back to you to arrange payment.