Once we finally reached the car park at Balmaha the light was still rather boring thanks to a variable thickness layer of cloud which didn’t look like it would shift anytime soon. So rather than another walk along a fairly bland shoreline, we decided to use the path up Conic Hill which leads from the rear of the car park. Let’s ignore the fact I tore my left calf muscle a few weeks ago and that walking on the flat is still somewhat painful, let alone climbing a hill. Thankfully it turned out to be worthwhile as the nature of the cloud cover meant there were interesting layers with varying levels of light filtering through and some almost direct light on part of the loch itself.

I couldn’t resist this next shot. There are plenty of sheep roaming freely around the hill and every now and then one of them actually does something interesting (like using a hang glider or giving guided tours to other sheep). Well this one didn’t do either of those things, but it did let me get close enough for the following photo without running away. That’s good enough for now, I suppose.

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:

http://www.locharkletview.org.uk/

These four photos were all taken overlooking Loch Arklet as it just happened we got a great burst of light around this time and rather thick heavy cloud for much of the rest of the time. The above photo has been converted to a selenium style effect while the three below are as taken.

I am very much a photographer rather than “visual artist” and therefore prefer to do as much as possible while taking the photograph, leaving post processing to be as minimal as possible. There is, however, absolutely nothing wrong with taking a mediocre photograph and then processing it so heavily it ends up looking great, quite frankly I would like the skill to be able to do that myself at times!

I am looking to do another shoot in this area towards the end of September or early October, possibly taking in a sunset on day one and sunrise the next. A little more generous weather would be great so I can cover the area better … we’ll see what happens.