At Ardtornish

As is usual, July was a slow month for me photographically and I guess this is down to the harsh light that you tend to get at that time of the year. However, I did make some trips out with the camera to Ariundle Oakwood, Glen Moidart and Ardtornish Estate. The first two were more walks than anything else, with the aim of finding some places to photograph when the softer light of autumn arrives, while the purpose of the trip to Ardtornish was to complete some photography work I’ve been doing for Ardtornish Estate. While there I took the opportunity to do a little photography of my own and I this blog shows some of the images I captured.

​I arrived at Ardtornish on a dull afternoon. However, the forecast was for the rain to stop and the cloud to clear, so I was hopeful of some soft evening light and perhaps even some sunset colours. The cloud did clear for a while and this allowed me to do a little photography for the Estate, but sadly it returned and the dull conditions that had greeted me on my arrival returned.
 
On the plus side, it was a calm evening with only a light breeze, the type of breeze that is just enough to keep the midges at bay, so it was most welcome. To take advantage of this and to make use of my time, I decided to fly the drone at the head of Loch Aline to see what shots I could get of Ardtornish House.
 
The image above was from the drone’s first vantage point, above and behind Ardtornish House, looking down Loch Aline towards its entrance which has the village of Lochaline on its right and the Isle of Mull in the distance beyond it. If you look carefully, you can see Kinlochaline Castle in the midground to the right and an old boathouse on the loch shore to the left. These two buildings where the subjects of my own photography for the rest of the time I was there.

Having taken some wide shots of Loch Aline, I decided to move the drone down lower and closer to Ardtornish House itself, photographing it from various angles, with my favourite image being the one shown on the right above. It was taken looking north-east over Ardtornish House with the high hills of Beinn na h-Uamha and Beinn Iadain catching the last of the evening’s sunlight in the distance.
 
Ardtornish House is a rather magnificent Victorian mansion built by Valentine Smith in 1885-91. It replaced a more modest-scaled shooting lodge that was completed by his father, Octavius Smith in 1866 and had subsequently succumbed to dry rot. The original shooting lodge had a separate clock tower, which escaped the dry rot and stands on the hillside behind Ardtornish House to this day.

The following day, I woke to clearing skies and morning sunshine, so I left early to take advantage of the conditions and complete the photography I was doing for the Estate. Once this was done, I spent some time photographing Kinlochaline Castle from different angles, using both my drone and my camera.
 
The Castle is the former 15th century seat of the Clan MacInnes and stands proud at the head of Loch Aline. It had been uninhabited since 1690 until its owners decided to renovate the building into a family home in the late 1990s. The original part of the castle was a large, rectangular, 3 story space and during its renovation it was decided that the best way to create a living space and deal with problems surrounding re-roofing the building was to construct a one and a half story dwelling on top of the existing tower.

On the shore of Loch Aline to the southeast of Kinlochaline Castle, sits an old, broad-eaved boathouse which was built in 1852-3 and was subsequently superseded later in the 19th century by a second boathouse further down the loch because it’s location meant that was of use only to the smallest boats at high tide. 

​I had explored the boathouse the evening before, finding lots of interesting detail that I thought would be good to photograph, so I made a note to return to it the following day. When I returned, the mid-morning sun was lighting up its stone-built walls and slate roof so I spent some time photographing the gothic style windows, rusting steel wall retainers and the various ferns that had embedded themselves into the mortar in the walls.

Inside the boathouse, you can find a high, point-headed boat entrance through which you can see Kinlochaline Castle over on the western side of Loch Aline. When I was there, the tide was just beginning to cover its gravel and mud floor and sunlight was being reflected off the water and onto damp stone walls and steps.

Having finished exploring inside, I took a little while to sit on the wooden bench that can be found outside and took in the view down Loch Aline. All in all, this was the perfect way to end my exploration of this interesting little building.