Landscape photographer and adventure guide, lover of the Scottish Highlands landscape and culture.
20/03/2025
Settled weather and late season snow on the Cairngorms brought forth that rarest of things in landscape photography - completely predictable light conditions. I used the opportunity to explore a new location in the forest, which is in itself a bit of a rare thing for me around my local patch these days.
I knew the late evening sunlight of the equinox would light the slopes of Coire an Lochain exactly this way, creating a nice opportunity to photograph it through the gap in the hills called Ryvoan Pass. But as it was a new spot for me I had no idea what foreground opportunities would present themselves. In the end this standing dead Scots Pine seemed the best choice from an otherwise fairly chaotic and dense wall of trees.
Do I love this shot? No. It's ok, but the pure blue sky, for one thing, never works to my satisfaction. It lacks the sense of dynamic change that I crave. I debated whether to share it at all. But many times (most times) in landscape photography we go not to capture but to see and to learn. I know exactly what type of conditions will work in this spot and exactly what time of year I need them, so now I can tuck it away until the right opportunity presents itself.
Photos captured in 1/100th of a second are often many years in the making.
