Canal Reflections (July 2020)

An appointment in Nottingham was our first venture into the city since the start of the virus lockdown. With an hour or so to kill I walked along the city canal and took the opportunity to take some photographs of the reflections.

The city canal is not a new subject. Far from it. I have probably taken hundreds of similar images over the years but the ever changing reflections and colours are always compelling and as I rediscovered, it was a subject that gathered momentum the further I walked. In fact, before I knew it the time had flown by and the memory card was rapidly counting down to full!

 

Onwards to North Uist (Scotland 2013)

There was just enough time for one final visit to Luskentyre before taking the ferry from the Isle of Harris to North Uist. The photography however was hampered by a change in the weather. Overcast skies and intermittent rain replaced the fine bright conditions of the previous day. In fact, I might have skipped over this day’s photography except for two standout images. 

The first shows the river at Luskentyre zigzagging its way down to the sea with the perspective exaggerated by a long lens. The usual Luskentyre pastel tones were present with the addition of peat stained water running off the surrounding hills: 

The more it rained more peaty water flowed into the river turning the normal gentle turquoise stream chocolate brown:

In addition to the two images described above are a few of the other photographs taken at Luskentrye before setting off for North Uist: 

 

Despite the dull weather conditions, the photography continued for the rest of the day on North Uist, near to Sollas. Although we were only short distance from the Isle of Harris the landscape was very different, more open and flat with large expanses of sand at low tide. I really enjoyed the sense of isolation and a certain moodiness from the conditions as I took the following set of images. On reflection though, I think it was one of those occasions where the photographic experience was more impactful than the results. 

Harris Squares - Part 4 (Scotland 2013)

This last selection of square compositions from the Isle of Harris (2013) features peat cutting near to Leverburgh. There is, however, a slight difference to previous posts in this series as not all the images are square! That said, the principle or approach to the photography was the same: developing a topic or theme through a series of images.

Back in 2013 this type of photography was broadly new to me. I hadn’t previously considered describing a theme for my photography beyond a statement of location and weather conditions for my landscapes. Today, I take a different approach and feel that my best photography is generated from a clear definition of the subject, or motif, something that I now even apply to my landscape photography.

As a result, if I find myself struggling with a subject I tend to resolve this with a set of questions, often starting with: what characterises this place? If necessary, I can take the answers and drill down further and keep going. Eventually I arrive at more abstract concepts which I can then tie into the main theme. Of course, none of this guarantees results but it is very satisfying when it all comes together. 

Seeing the first signs of a change in my photography has been one of the most interesting aspects of this virus lockdown re-processing exercise. And, whilst I have really enjoyed revisiting all the Scotland landscapes, it has been this sub-series of Harris squares that has greatest impact on my photography over the last seven years.

Scarista (Scotland 2013)

After visiting the Harris Tweed shop in Tarbert (see my previous post) we stopped somewhere close to Scarista beach. Judging by the photographs, and using maps, I think we were on Traigh an Taoibh Thuarth, a large expanse of sand at the foot of Chaipaval which is connected to Scarista beach.

The attraction was the view across to the snow topped North Harris Hills, the wide open aspect, and the muted pastel sand and sky tones. This was also another occasion on this trip where I took multiple images with the intension of creating panoramas, something that I only followed up as part of the review, seven years later - see the first two images below:

As this was the last full day on the Isle of Harris, the photography continued all the way into the evening. There was a late afternoon stop at a peat cutting site which I will cover in my next post, whilst near to sunset the day’s clear weather had turned rain:

The last shots of the day captured the late evening afterglow looking across from Seilebost to the Luskentyre and the North Harris Hills: