More crofting type shots in yesterday's sunshine

An Tobar - Port an Eorna (Canon EOS 5D 28 mm, 1 sec at f/22, ISO 100 - HDR)

This is a shot of An Tobar (the well) at Port an Eorna.  The well is the dark hole in the centre of the photo, you can just see the channel where the water runs down towards the pool at the bottom.  These old wells can be found all round the Highlands & Islands and would have been of critical importance to these small communities.  This community still gets its water supply from the burn you can see entering the picture on the left.  You can also see the old tractor, ruined croft house and a more recent croft house, merging the old with the new.

The shot below empitomises modern crofting where many of the old croft houses have been long abandoned to be replaced by much larger modern affairs, often with picture windows to take in the view.  In days of old the houses were small to make them easier to heat and located in sheltered spots to avoid the worst of the weather.  Now, since a lot of these houses have been developed as second homes the view is ore important and modern materials and building techniques allow greater scope I guess.

Out with the Old & In with the New... (Canon EOS 5D 28 mm, 1/6 sec at f/22, ISO 100)

Old Fergie Tractor (Canon EOS 5D 60 mm, 1 sec at f/22, ISO 100 - HDR)

These old Ferguson TE20 tractors were the workhorse of the crofting areas and possibly more than any other piece of machinery revolutionised the agricultural systems of the crofting areas.  For the first time crofters could use powered machinery to do various tasks such as mowing and ploughing.  The small size of the Fergie is one of its greatest assets, being relatively light it does not compact the soil as much as modern machines do, and in these wet climes anything that reduces compaction and poaching of the soil is a good thing.

Fergie's Face (Canon EOS 5D 127 mm, 1.3 sec at f/22, ISO 100)

Drumbuie from Duirinish Station (Canon EOS 5D 28 mm, 1/20 sec at f/22, ISO 100 - HDR)

This shot was taken directly into the sun so I used HDR to balance the brightness with the shaded areas.  It produces a vibrant and more colourful result but allows for greater range of contrast.  In this shot the foreground is dominated by a wetland area that regularly hosts good numbers of Whinchat and occasional Snipe during the summer.  The grassy area off to the middle left is a fantastically species-rich meadow with huge numbers of Greater Butterfly Orchids.