Yesterday I met up with Sean (only a few hours later than I’d wanted him there!) and drove up to the West bank of Loch Lomond to Balmaha. On the way, we stopped off at Loch Ardinning as there’s a photo I wanted to repeat from a previous visit when I didn’t have my tripod with me. Sadly the light was rubbish where I needed it, but we had a little wander around regardless and the shot below is one of the results from this.
This post is very, very late. I was supposed to have written it late last year, but fell ill before I got around to it and then forgot as usual. It is not, however, too late to pay attention thankfully.
I received a comment from Scott Provan on the post about my September 2008 Loch Arklet shoot, informing me of the plans by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) to plant a new forest beside and around Loch Arklet. Have a look at my post to get an idea of the landscape as it is now. In order to reach this view, I had to drive quite a long way through FCS planted forrests beside Loch Ard and Loch Chon, both of which now being densely wooded and very difficult to do much useful with as when you get to the banks of Loch Chon in particular, all you can see are those irritating very few species of tree the FCS tend to use.
I do not want to see this at Loch Arklet. Right now it is a beautiful wide open space and a fantastic thing to stop and look at. I do not want to drive back that way in a few years and think “remember the photographs I got from here? I think it was here, can’t quite see for all the trees”. Unfortunately, this is what the FCS seem to want. I honestly don’t know if they’re so arrogant that they believe any unforrested part of Scotland is rightfully theirs to devastate or if their heads are so far up their arses they actually don’t realise the harsh impact on our landscape they continually submit us to.
Regardless, it is time for them to be told clearly and loudly that we’ve had enough and right now you have the chance to sign a petition to state that you find this unacceptable. It has now come to the attention of The Scottish Parliament so your support now is not too late. Please consider visiting their campaign website and signing the petition once you’ve read the information provided there. All the information you need, along with the petition, can be found at:
As we have finally been getting some rather nice sunny weather, I met up with a couple of friends in Glasgow’s West End for a saunter along the banks of the River Kelvin from the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. Just a few of the photos I shot along the way are presented below.
A couple of days ago I went to the East coast with two friends in order to do some seaside work. I think we all managed a few good photographs and each entirely different from the others, demonstrating nicely how photographs can interpret the same scene to a drastically different effect. I’ll leave a few photos below to give you an idea of my own results.
The second photo in the 9th September post from Balmaha has been annoying me for some time, so I’ve considered new crops which I find more pleasing … 2 variants below, I’m favouring the second at present.
One of my main shooting partners was in the area this evening and the sun came out after an afternoon of miserable rain. Off we went to Balmaha on the East bank of Loch Lomond with some kit and arrived shortly before sunset. We only had time to capture a couple of scenes and I’ve made mine available below.
Yesterday I drove up to the area just West of Aberfoyle and had a good look around Loch Ard, Chon, Arklet, Katrine and Lomond. The weather was … variable. That’s probably the kindest way to describe it. Regardless, a little dedication and patience paid off and as this was the first true landscape shoot I’ve done in over two and a half years, I’m really quite pleased with the results.
Light was rather flat and uninteresting for the hour or so I spent walking around, but I still managed a small number of photos I’m happy with for various reasons.
