Inspiration

On Thursday I commenced an HNC in Photography at West Highland College in Broadford.  Why did I decide to return to study when I really don't need any more paper qualifications?  Well the answer lies in the inspiration generated by having to think more about photography, as opposed to simply snapping away at things that look nice.  The course has not really started properly yet but I was out on Saturday to the north of Skye for work purposes, so on the way home I took a bit of a detour round to Staffin in search of some inspiration. 

Many years ago in the early '90s I did a land use survey of the Staffin area and one of my favourite spots was the township of Digg (pronounced 'Jeeg').  So I popped in to see if there was anything of interest and stumbled upon an old tin roofed house in a pretty poor state of repair.  Inside was this old range, lit from the right side through a missing back wall.  I have lightened it up a bit and the colours and textures in the wall are really  interesting and the range itself is grate (get it!).

Old Range, Digg (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-105mm f/4L lens at 28mm, ISO 800, 1/13sec at f/8.0, Handheld)

The following shot is of the house that the range was in, and as you can see it was in a pretty poor state of repair.  I tried this shot in full colour and in black & white but for this version I slightly desaturated the colours and I like the overall feel of it.  Somehow the desaturated colours emphasise the sense of neglect and I love the downy thistle heads in the foreground.

Old House, Digg (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-105mm f/4L lens at 40mm, ISO 400, 1/40sec at f/22, Handheld)

Beaton's Croft House, Borneskitaig (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-105m F/4L lens at 28mm, ISO 400, 1/100sec at f/22)

Croft House, Uist - Paul Strand 1954

The reason for my trip to north Skye was to visit Beaton's roft House, an A-listed traditional thatched croft house that is owned by the National trust for Scotland and which I have responsibility for managing.  The cottage is almost identiical to one photographed by Paul Strand back in 1954 when he visited the Uists and featured in his book Tir a'Mhurain. 

I decided to try and recreate a simialr shot at beaton's Croft House (top left) by way of comparison with his (bottom left).  Maybe next time I'll take my bicyce, a 1959 Flying Scot, up with me and try to include it in the shot as well.

For my shot I chose a sepia tone finish, but perhaps I might take a look at other tones, maybe selenium to see if I can more accurately recreate the slightly cool blue tone.

The Quiraing from the north (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-105mm F/4L lens at 105mm, ISO 100, 1/320sec at f/8.0, Handheld)