Crofting Landscape Study

Tractor and Snowy Squall Arriving from Raasay (Canon EOS 5D 39 mm, 1/30 sec at f/22, ISO 200 - HDR)

For my Higher Photography project I have decided, perhaps not surprisingly, to do a study of the crofting cultural landscape of the Balmacara estate.  While this might be considered to be well within my comfort zone I am hoping to try and take an unusual perspective of things, based on the findings of the NTS Landscape Character Assessment carried out last year to try and illustrate some of the key elements of the crofting landscape and what defines that distinctive quality that we too often take for granted.  So today I popped out for a quick photo shoot after dropping the girls off at school.  It was brilliant low sunshine (about 8:30 am) when I started and then all of a sudden there were snowy squalls coming in from the Sound of Raasay.  The atmospheric light was quite special so I hope I have managed to capture some sense of that in these few shots.  I am not sure any of these will end up in the final 12 images I need to produce for the project but it is a start.

Cattle Feeding with Snow Squall in the Background (Canon EOS 5D 170 mm, 1/25 sec at f/22, ISO 200)

A Crofter's Access Problems (Canon EOS 5D 50 mm, 1/80 sec at f/25, ISO 400)

I also took a couple of more general landscape shots, one panorama of the Cuillins from Dubh-aird, Plockton and the other of the Bealach na Ba from the Balmacara to Duirinish road.  I tried the latter one in black & white as well and cropped it a bit closer and I think it is quite dramatic.

The Cuillins of Skye from Dubh-aird, Plockton (Canon EOS 5D 133 mm, 1/160 sec at f/14, ISO 200)

The Bealach na Ba from above Duirinish (Canon EOS 5D 67 mm, 1/60 sec at f/16, ISO 100 - HDR)

The Bealach na Ba from above Duirinish (Canon EOS 5D 67 mm, 1/60 sec at f/16, ISO 100 - HDR)