Sneak Peek from my Upcoming Exhibition

Suilven from the Inverirkaig Road

My 2023 Steadings gallery Exhibition is fast approaching, opening this Saturday, 20th May, until 2nd June.  The exhibition will be open 11am to 5pm daily and admission is, as always, free of charge.  I am busy getting all my images printed, mounted and framed, ready for putting up tomorrow evening.  This year I have gone 'Back in Black & White', although there are some colour images as well.  There is a mix of B&W infrared and straight B&W photos from around the Highlands & Islands.  Most are new but some have been seen before, with updated processing.

Anyway, I thought I would provide readers with a sneak peek at a few of my favourite images.  The first (above) is a classic view of the magnificent Suilven from the Inverkirkaig road.  This amazing coastal road (not part of the NC500 thankfully) is one of my most special and favourite places, one that I must visit every time I am in the area.  On this occasion, fairly recently, I was a complete tourist and stopped in the road to take this image with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 infrared camera.  I think it catrues the wonderful textures on the mountain and contrasts the background beautifully against the bright new spring foliage on the trees, and the road disappears mysterously round the bend - what is there further down the road?.

Dead Pine - Strath Brora

This is another infrared image, shot at Strath Brora last summer.  The contrasting white fluffy clouds against the dark sky (bright blue in reality) set off the sharply textured, dead pine tree with its amazing tortured pattern of branches.  Once again the green foliage on the birch trees and ground flora of the foreground, rendered bright white in the infrared format, make this look almost like a winter scene.

Finally, the thrid image in this preview is an older one which I have exhibited previously in colour.  The wonderful cascade falls on the Allt Dhuirinis are a wonderful example of the type of watercourse found in our magical temperate rainforest.  Yes I am being serious, these wet mild woodlands found on the west coast of Scotland are internationally important areas of temperate rainforest - a much more scarce cousin of the better known tropical variety.  These wonderful ecosystems are typified by the presence of various broadleaved tree species and a beautiful assemblage of lichens, bryophytes, ferns and mosses, all sustained by our wet and mild climate producing amazingly humid conditions in which they thrive.

Rainforest River, Allt Dhuirinis