A Year of Recovery
February
Ardgour | Ardnamurchan | Moidart | Morvern | Sunart
From the Gloom
Castle Tioram, Dorlin, Moidart
February certainly has its fair share of dull and dreich days which, at first sight might not seem to be the best for photography. However, heading out with the camera can pay dividends, especially when light manages to break through the clouds, just as it did at the far end of Loch Moidart to highlight Castle Tioram on this rain soaked and overcast morning at the start of the month.
In the Wind
Sanna, Ardnamurchan
On blustery blue sky February days, you can often have the expansive beach at Sanna all to yourself. As you stand on top of the dunes around the edge of the beach, marvelling at the intense blue colour of the sea, you could be forgiven for thinking that are in the Caribbean. However, winter clothing protecting you from the cold and marram grass whipping at your waterproof trousers soon remind you of where you really are. A wild but very special place.
Island Retreat
Tioram Cottage, Eilean Shona, Moidart
Castle Tioram is a place I often visit and when I’m there at low tide, walking along the edge of the exposed beach, the small white shape of Tioram Cottage on Eilean Shona on the other side of Loch Moidart’s South Channel frequently catches my eye. It did just that at daybreak on a February morning when a hint of pink light from the rising Sun managed illuminate and cast some colour onto an otherwise grey and cloudy sky.
After Eunice I
Ardnamurchan Lighthouse viewed from Port na Carraidh, Ardnamurchan
Ardnamurchan Point can be a stormy place, but it was surprisingly calm on this February afternoon given that Storm Eunice had just swept across southern England leaving a £360m trail of disruption in its wake and Storm Franklin was bringing severe flooding to the northern half of England and southern Scotland. I went out west to photograph high seas but instead found myself photographing this relatively calm scene of the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse set against the backdrop of a hazy orange sky.
Distant Lighthouse I
Port na Carraidh, Ardnamurchan
This is another shot taken at Port na Carraidh on the evening when Storm Eunice had just left the UK and Storm Franklin was causing flooding in many parts of it. I had spent a couple of hours walking across much of the bay’s foreshore, both rocky and sandy before eventually settling on this calming composition using a stream flowing between the sand and seaweed to draw the eye out over a calm sea to the lighthouse on a distant Ardnamurchan Point.
Sunlit Pines
Tòrr Mòr, Dorlin, Moidart
This stand of Scots Pines sits to the side of the Loch Shiel Estate track that runs along the River Shiel from near Tòrr Mòr to Dorlin. I’ve passed them many times at different times of the year and never really noticed them until this particular morning in late February when the Sun was in just the right position to cast some beautiful side light on them. It was such a lovely scene, that I had to stop and capture with my “walking about” camera and lens combination.