Landscape Archives - Tony Tomlinson Photography

17/04/202617/04/2026

Isle of Harris and Lewis Photography Trip; Days 5 to 8

16x9, Golden-Sand, Isle-of-Harris, Luskentre-Beach, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, turquoise-water. waves

Day 5 of the Photography Workshop.

Geodh Mhartainn

Today’s adventures began with a little lie-in, breakfast was at 7 am, then a visit to another local beach to our cottages.

Geodh Mhartainn is a coastal cove or inlet located on the west coast of the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, which is known for its dramatic, rocky scenery and views over the Sound of Taransay.

We arrived at the beach, to find that the wind had lost none of its ferociousness overnight, but it was creating the huge waves that were battering the shoreline.

I concentrated on trying to capture the waves as they crashed over the rocks and headland at this beach, I found it easier to set the camera on a fast shutter speed and fire blocks of shots off as the waves arrived.

This causes a lot of photos being rejected but gives you more chance of catching the ideal image from the block of images.

Geodh Mhartainn Beach, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, scottish islands, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlindon-photography, Waves — Geodh Mhartainn Seascape

I then spent a little time trying to capture a wave as it broke further out from the shore, I was not that successful at this, but I did capture a couple of reasonable images

The problem of keeping the camera dry rose again, only this time the spray was coming form the breaking waves, this spray being salt water, so I sheltered the camera all the time as best I could and kept one drying cloth to had to wipe the camera at very regular intervals.

After a couple of hours on this beach, we loaded up the minibus to head for the Golden Road.

The Golden Road

The extreme bends of the Isle of Harris’s Golden Road tend to keep traffic to a minimum on this winding single track route through some of Harris’s rocky East Coast.

The road starts at Meabhag nam Bhaigh, before rejoining the main East Coast Road at Leacali.

It’s widely assumed it got its name because of the construction cost – If it cost that much then it must be made of gold! – but like much island folklore that is disputed.

Local historian, Bill Lawson says the name officially relates to the first sealed road in Harris, built in the years after World War Two, as a safety measure after many accidents as people waded across rivers to get home.

What it lacks in traffic it makes up for in scenery and wildlife. There is a wide range of birdlife to spot, and even seals basking on the rocks of the coast. Supposedly the views are better from the south (something else that splits opinions).

The environment along this road on the eastern side of the Island is very different for the west coast, extremely rocky, with a moon-like view.

The road is very undulating, one bend blends into another, and one change in elevation immediately meets another, not ideal conditions to travel if you have a dislike of undulating roads.

Soraya Photography Studio

We stopped off at the Soraya Photography Studio, a local woman who is an extraordinary wedding photographer and has on display some exceptional fine art prints for sale in her studio, these were for sale at reasonable prices.

From here we travelled the short distance for the studio to photograph a derelict house on a little cove, the rusty corrugated roof making a nice comparison against the blue of the sea and sky and the green of the surrounding vegetation.

Geocrab, Golden-Road, Isle-of-Harris, Outer-Hebrides, Ruin-House, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography — The ruined Old House on the Golden Road

St Clements Church

St Clements Church is found on the southern end of the Island and a place that I have visited the last time that me and Carole visited the Islands.

The church was built for the Chiefs of the MacLeod’s of Harris, who lived in Dunvegan Castle in Skye, probably from about 1520, and is not considered the first church on the site although there is no clear evidence of an older Celtic church.

It was a Catholic church before falling into disuse shortly after its completion around 1560 as a consequence of the reformation, but the churchyard continued to be used as a MacLeod burial site.

The church’s decayed roof was renewed in 1784 by Captain Alexander MacLeod of Berneray but burned down shortly after and had to be rebuilt once again in 1787.

In the 19th century it was used as a cow byre before being restored by Catherine Herbert Countess of Dunmore in 1873, and in 1913, the tower was rebuilt after being damaged by a lightning strike six years earlier.

Today, the church is under the care of Historic Scotland.

In 1528, Alasdair Crotach MacLeod, the 8th Chief, prepared for himself a magnificent wall tomb on the south side of the choir – possibly the finest medieval wall tomb in Scotland, being crowned by an arch and ornated by carvings of biblical design.

The 9th Chief, Alasadair or Alexander’s son William, had his grave prepared in the south wall of the nave in 1539.

In the south transept, there is a third grave probably belonging to John MacLeod of Minginish, the 10th Chief.

There are five more grave slabs leaning against the wall of the north transept. The graveyard surrounding the church contains several MacLeod tombs.

Quite an history lesson for a church that is so remote.

From the Church, we travelled around the southern end of the Isle of Harris, stopping off to have a look at the ferry terminal to Leverburgh for a look around the harbour.

Sgarasta Mhor Beach

We ended up here as there were a group of photographers at the Northton Salt Marshes, so rather than wait around, Dean brought us to the Sgarasta Mhor Beach to photograph the beach from within the sand dunes.

You would not have thought that this was the same beach that we had visited earlier in the week, today, the sun was shining, but still bitterly cold, and the wind was still battering us.

I got into the sand dunes and began looking for a composition using the sand shapes and forms as foreground but being able to include the headland as the background.

Isle-of harris, long-exposure, Mood, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Sgarasta-Mhor-Beach, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, Traigh-Scarasta — The view across Sgarasta Mhor Beach

After a couple of hours here, were retraced our rout back to the Northton Salt Marshes.

Northton Salt Marsh

From her we visited the Northton Salt Marshes, this is a well-known photography location which is beside the road, parking being the issue, it is a drive quite a way along the road to park, then retreat to the Salt Marsh on foot.

The photo opportunities are restricted to a couple of the small islands that are accessible for the shore as the water ways are deep and have a layer of thick claggy mud in the bottom of them, making them virtually impossible to navigate unless you have something to bridge the gaps between to small islands.

Isle-of-Harris, Northton, Northton Salt Marsh, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography 1 — Northton Salt Flats

From the Salt Marshes, we headed for Luskentyre Beach, even though the clouds were gathering and the wind was picking up.

Luskentyre Beach

By the time we arrived at the car park at Luskentyre the weather gods had become angry, light drizzle in the air that was being driven by the strong winds.

We duly had a bit of a chat to see who wanted to shoot what, I wanted to try and get some atmospheric shots from the beach looking towards the Lewis mountains.

Others wanted to look for patterns I the sand at the northern end of the beach.

One I was exposed on the beach, the full force of the wind was battering me, again I was getting sandblasted, and it was getting everywhere.

I did manage to get a decent shot that I wanted of the mountains on Lewis and even sneaked a photo looking towards the Isle of Taransay, which meant turning into the head wind, which was carrying sand and rain.

Golden-Sand, Isle-of-Harris, Luskentre-Beach, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, turquoise-water. waves — Luskentyre Beach with the dark patterns in the sand

As the weather looked like it was in for the day the joint decision was to return to the cottage, get the equipment cleaned, and then for us to get showered, changed and have a leisurely late afternoon before our evening meal.

Day 6 of the Photography Workshop

Day six began with a early alarm and breakfast as we were again heading up the Isle of Lewis, this time to Bosta Beach on the Isle of Berneray on the Northwestern edge of the Isle of Lewis.

Another lengthy road journey to get us to Bosta Beach, but before that we crossed the bridge onto the Isle of Berneray, this was surprisingly short and there were two bridges side by side, apparently the old bridge was falling into disrepair, so the new one was built next to it.

Bosta Beach.

Bosta Beach was approached by walking over a small headland, then getting absolutely battered by the onshore wind.

From here you could see the bay and the Sea Bell just offshore. The tide was covering the bottom of the bell which made it more photographic.

Offshore were the small islands of Flodaigh and Bearasaigh, these forming the backdrop when photographing the sea bell from this viewpoint.

Bosta Beach, Isle of Bearasaigh, Isle of Flodaigh, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, scottish islands, Sea Bell, Seascape, Spring, Tidal Bell, tony-tomlinson-photography — Bosta Bell

I found this location very different and enjoyable to photograph, but once I got home this enjoyment was short lived as most of my photos that I took from the headland was not sharp, probably due to the bloody wind on the day.

I then went down onto the beach to try and photograph the incoming waves but using a slightly slower shutter speed to add some movement into the sea.

After a couple of enjoyable hours at Bosta Beach we retraced our route back towards the bridge onto the Island.

Berneray Old Bothy

We stopped just before the bridge to photograph a series of Bothy ruins next to the sea, (above) apparently there used to be a small ferry which crossed the estuary at this point before the bridges were built.

Kneep Harbour

Our next location was to be Kneep Harbour, a small historical island harbour on a small sea inlet.

We arrived to fishermen attending to their nest and carrying out some work on one of the fishing boats,

An old fishing boat perched high up on the slipway got my attention, I set out to take a photo of this boat but capturing the background so as to tell a story of the scene.

Isle of Lewis, Kneep Harbour, lobster pot, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, scottish islands, Sea-scape, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography — The old fishing boat at Kneep Harbour

I then found a sole lobsterpot on some grass, the brightly coloured ropes on the pot contrasted against the grass on which it was sitting.

Kneep Beach

A short journey along the road got us to the lovely Kneep Beach, another gorgeous sandy beach with turquoise coloured water lapping up to it, and the island of Pabaigh Mor and Vacsay offshore.

It was here that I took some of my best photos of the whole trip, in sunny but cold conditions, and still be battered by the strong winds.

Isle of Lewis, Kneep Beach, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, scottish islands, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography — Kneep Beach

Dean then took us to the high interior of the Isle of Lewis to drive along the original track to Stornoway where we would find a selection of the old bothies.

The Sheilings

This area is named “the Sheilings”, a shieling is a little hut or cottage in the moors used in the summertime by the women and children who took the animals out, or by the people who worked the land, be it, Peet cutters, fishermen, and suchlike,

When photographing the wide selectin of buildings, I wanted to emphasise the remoteness and isolation of these buildings.

Some were actual ruins, but others looked as though they were complete which could be used.

Isle-of-Lewis, Landscape, old-bothy, Outer- Hebrides, Scotland, scottish islands, sheilings, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography — More Sheilings, this time with a bright red door.

When we finished here, it was 4.45pm, so time for the long journey back to the cottages on the Isle of Harris, thus ending day 6 adventures.

Day 7 of the Photography Workshop

Day 7 began with another pre-breakfast session, this time at the nearby Sgarasta Beach at which we hoped to get a decent sunrise opportunity.

Dean again drove us the short distance to the off-load point.

Sgarasta Beach Sunrise

The plan was this morning we would end to the north end of the beach to revisit the little burn that we had been too a couple of days before, hoping to get some sunrise light this time.

Disappointingly, the sunrise was a none-event, but this did not stop me from getting some lovely atmospheric images from here.

An enjoyable session followed by another hearty cooked breakfast provided by Sally.

Once breakfast was devoured, and we were all ready, it was off on our journeys for the last days photography.

This morning we were heading to a new location for me, a place called Huisinis, found in the northwest corner of Harris.

It was going to be over an hour’s travelling to get there, but we were soon stopped at the Seilebost Viewpoint as the conditions were sublime.

Seilebost Viewpoint

As we headed over the headland, the sight in front of us was exceptional, the early morning light was hitting the full width of waves heading towards the expanses of sand, we simply had to photography this scene,

We jumped out of the minibus, gabbed the camera to hand hold the camera for this series of photos that I took

Golden-Sand, Isle-of-Harris, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Seilebost-Beach, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, turquoise-water. waves — Patterned waves at Seilebost

From here we headed to Huisinis

Huisinis Beach

As we pulled up in the car park, which was right on the beach front, we were surprised to see a lovely large hut/shed at the end of the car park, I had to go and take a look around this, what could it be?

I was very surprised to see that the building was a café and toilet facility, an area overlooking the beach with floor to ceiling glass wall, vending machines, and open for anyone to use. The café area and the toilets were spotlessly clean, what a lovely facility, and all paid for by people donating towards the building of it.

The Huisinis Gateway Building, a cafe and toilet facility

There were a group of photographers on the beach in the place where Dean was taking us too, so he suggested that we head over the small headland where there are other photo opportunities of the sea and the small island of Scarp.

This is where me, George and Phillipe headed, there was a small ramp where fishing boats would be launched into the sea, a few small buildings, probably fishermen’s huts.

There was a fishing boat positioned on the slipway, so I captured a long exposure of this, and the long exposure flattening out the water’s surface.

I then saw a bothy on the Island of Scarp but positioned on a small headland, I took a series of shots of this.

16x9, Hushinish Peninsula, Isle of Lewis, Isle of Scarp, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, scottish islands, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlindon-photography — Isle of Scarp, house on headland

I then positioned myself above a small rocky cove with the island of Scarp in the background. I experimented with a wide selection of shutter speeds to obtain different effects of the water.

From here me and George scrambled further around the bay to look for other compositions, what we found was a series of small cliffs and boulders that went into the sea, the waves were smashing into these which made for a nice composition, and there was a wrecked boat higher up on the cliffs, this had to be included in the photo!

Once me and George had taken all the shots we needed, we headed back to the others on the other side of the headland, all told, I got some interesting photos from here.

We retreated to the gateway building to tuck into our packed lunches, defiantly the best place we ate our lunches all week.

It was here that Dean offered us all a “free” afternoon, i.e. we could go to the place we wanted too (within reason) from where he would pick us up later in the afternoon.

The consensus was that Luskentyre was the place where we all would like to visit, as Scalpay (my selection) was not practicable due to the 50-minute walk to reach the location, then the same return time, this would severely reduce the time at the location.

Luskentyre Beach

Dean duly dropped us off at the car park at Luskentyre Beach from where he would collect us in two hours’ time.

Dave decided not to take up this offer and headed back to the cottage for the afternoon, meanwhile George and Phillipe again headed to the north of the beach, whilst I headed to the highest sand dune to investigate form there.

I was soon dragging myself along the dune ridgeline, then up to the top of the highest sand dune. This took some effort, trying to fight my way through the soft sand on the incline was far form easy, and I will be honest, I nearly threw the towel in.

Was the effort worth it, well once I got my breath back and surveyed the views, yes, defiantly, it was.

Looking down from the highest sand dune on Luskentyre

The height of the sand dune was surprising; it provided a very unique view of the surrounding area.

I also took a series of long exposure shots when looking out over the sea towards the mountains of Lewis.

Golden-Sand, Isle-of-Harris, Isle-of-Taransay, long-exposure, Luskentre-Beach, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, turquoise-water. waves — Luskentyre Viewpoint from the highest sand dune

Once I was happy with this images that I captured, I decided to walk down to a lower sand dune to look at the compositions that this would provide, again experiencing very deep and loose sand whilst getting to this location.

I found some interesting patterns in the sand whilst walking this route, at first, I could not understand how they had been created, but then I realised that they were formed by the wind blowing the tall strands of grass around in the sand.

Once in position on the lowered level of sand dunes, I shot through the Maran grass to create a very close foreground.

Checking the time, I was surprised to see that Dean would be returning in 30 minutes to collect us, so I began the long trek back to the carpark.

This curtailed the photography for the last full days photography of the workshop.

We headed back to the cottages for the final time, where we would cleanup, and pack our belongings for the following days departure.

When our evening meal was finished, we chatted on how we thought the week had gone, and what we had liked, and was there anything we were not happy with.

It was here that Phillipe explained that he was being collected by taxi at 6am the following morning to catch his flight from Stornoway to Glasgow, and from there to Belgium.

Dave was catching the ferry from Leverburgh to Berneray to continue his photography on the Outer Hebrides for another three days.

Meanwhile George was travelling with Dean to get back to Inverness from where he would be travelling to Northumbria for another photography workshop, before heading home to Australia at Easter, and Sally would be following Dean in her own vehicle.

This meant that four of us were catching the same ferry from Tarbet to Uig in the morning.

Chatting to Dave about the nightmare of travelling through Glasgow, he suggested that I return via Sterling, this would mean me missing the roadworks, with not allot of time added to my overall travel time.

Day 8: Homeward Bound

The day started with a hearty cooked breakfast, then the vehicles were loaded up and the rooms cleaned.

Dave was the second to leave (Phillipe had left at 6am) so we said our farewells as Dean drove him down to catch his ferry to Berneray.

Once the cottages were prepped and ready, we left them to head for the ferry.

The ferry crossing was through reasonable seas, not too much motion on the ferry. As we approached Uig the car deck was opened so I said my farewells to Dean, Sally and George.

My travel plans were to get to the Green Welly Shop as quickly as possible, which I did, only to find that the restaurant was closed.

My fault, I had not realised that it was 5.40pm in the afternoon. So, I grabbed a coffee and a couple of snacks to keep me going.

As I drove towards Crainlarig, I needs to make a choice, do I stick with the Loch Lomond route, or head to Sterling as Dave had suggested.

The levels of traffic on the road from the Kyle of Lochalsh had been sparse, and I had made good progress all the way to here, so I decided to stick to the Loch Lomond route.

Once I reached the Glasgow roadworks, the traffic was still light and I got through them with very little delay, thank heavens.

Once past Glasgow it was a straight 2.5 hour run to home, this ending the 8-hour return journey.

My reflection of the trip

Once home, unpacked, and sorted, it was time to reflect on the weeks adventure.

Had the weeks photography been worth it, of course, I was more than happy with the photographs that I took, sure, some had been disappointing, spoiled by not being sharp due to the extraordinary high winds, but that is a learning experience for me.

Did I get value from the weeks workshop, defiantly, whilst not being the cheapest photography course available, it was totally self-contained, once I reached the cottage on the Isle of Harris, my car never moved, nor did I need to buy a meal or drink (with the exception of using a local café on the island)

My final thoughts on the weeks workshop are that Dean was excellent in leading us around the Isle of Harris and Lewis, he was able to change locations to suit the weather conditions and displayed a wealth of knowledge on the numerous locations we visited and passed by.

I would not hesitate to recommend one of Dean Allan photography workshops.

Thank you for finding the time to read this second article from my week’s photography exploits on the Isle of Harris and Lewis, I hope you found it interesting

Until next time stay safe.

09/04/202609/04/2026

Isle of Harris and Lewis Photography Trip; Days 1 to 4

Coast, Cove, Golden-Sand, Isle-of-Lewis, Outer-Hebrides, Port-Sloth, Scotland, scottish-islands, Seascape, Slipway, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, Turquioise-Water

My Outward Journey

I booked this trip 10 months ago, when it seemed like an eternity before it would come around. Suddenly, it was here and I was packing for the week’s photography workshop trip on the Isle of Harris and Lewis.

The workshop was due begin on the afternoon of the 7^th March 2026, but because of the ferry timetable I would have to travel part way on the Friday, so that I could catch the Uig to Tarbert ferry which departed at 9.50 am on the Saturday morning, but check would close at 9 am.

So, my plans were, Friday morning set off to travel from home to the Kyle of Lochalsh where I would have an overnight stay at the Kyle Hotel, and this would leave me an hour’s journey to get to the ferry terminal at Uig for around 8.40 am.

The travel time to the Kyle of Lochalsh was showing as 7.5 hours, plus a couple of stops if I needed them, so, at 10 am of the Friday morning I said my farewells to Carole and off I set, no rush, just a leisurely drive all the way to the Kyle of Lochalsh.

My first stop was at the Abbington services on the M74, just a toilet and coffee stop, and then I was off again, I was surprised to encounter falling snow on this stretch of the motorway, which was laying and building up along the edge of the motorway.

I got on to the M8 at Glasgow where, I encountered road works, these put an extra hour on my journey time, frustrated as I was, I had time on my side, so it was a matter of being patient to get through the works.

Once through the roadworks, the journey along Loch Lomond was uneventful, if just a little slow moving. The snow made another appearance here, but it was nothing too serious, and I passed several gritters, so the roads were being treated.

Onwards to the Green Welly Shop for my second pit stop, this was a necessity has I had run out of windscreen washer fluid, a huge negative with the Honda ZR-V car, it has a small washer bottle capacity, and no warning light to forewarn you of the impending lack of washer fluid.

An expensive container of windscreen fluid, and a 5-litre container of drinking water purchased with the car suitably serviced, it was time for me to purchase a well-deserved coffee, and tuck into a couple of sandwiches which Carole had very kindly prepared for me.

Once I was suitably fed and watered, it was off on the final leg of the journey, down through Glencoe which was as beautiful as ever, on to Fort William, then over the passes to get to the Kyle of Lochalsh.

I had to make one more stop, as I passed Eilean Donan Castle, the light was very, very nice so I made a stop to get a photograph of it.

Castle, Eilean Donan Castle, Loch Duich, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography — Eilean Donan Castle bathed in afternoon light

Upon arrival at Kyle of Lochalsh at 6.50 pm it was a matter to find the Kyle Hotel and check-in and get settled in for the night. During me checking-in the receptionist informed me that breakfast on the Saturday morning starts at 8.30 am, this was too late for my needs, so he very kindly made me a packed me an eat and go bag, which I collected a short time afterwards.

Once in my room, which was basic, but clean and tidy, I decided to munch the morning breakfast as my evening snack, get some sleep and I would have a breakfast on the ferry the next morning.

On to the Isle of Skye

The next morning, I was up washed and off on the hours journey to Uig on the Isle of Skye to catch the ferry.

On route I stopped at the Asda petrol station at Broadford for an eagerly anticipated coffee, only to find that the machine was broken. Just my luck, so it was a cold drink and onwards to Uig.

I arrived at Uig in plenty of time, around 8.30 am only to find that the ferry terminal was not open, time to sit and wait, once checked in for the ferry it was not long until I was boarded.

Once on the ferry there was an announcement that the crossing “could be a little rough”, so I decided to give the planned cooked breakfast a miss, a coffee would suffice on this trip. I found a comfortable seat to pass the time of the crossing.

tony-tomlinson-photography, CalMac-ferries, Uig, Tarbert, — The Uig to Tarbert Ferry Leaves Uig.

Reaching the Isle of Harris

Once at Tarbert, I disembarked the ferry and went to find something to eat in the town. I ended up with a freshly cooked toastie, pie and coffee, this would have to put me on until the evening meal at the house where we would be meeting later in the afternoon.

I had anticipated this free period when planning the trip, so I set off to Luskentyre Beach for some photography.

Day 1 of the Photography Workshop.

Luskentyre Beach

Once at Luskentyre, the weather was not that good, overcast and a howling wind, but it was dry.

I set off along the beach looking for compositions, I was specifically looking to use patterns in the sand to use as leading lines into the view towards the Harris mountains in the distance.

I was very content doing what I was doing, and taking my time to get the photos, unfortunately after about a hour the wind went up another notch, and the rain came in.

Here was I standing in the middle of this beautiful beach, with my back to the wind and rain sheltering my camera and tripod close to by chest, then having to stand on my bag strap to stop it blowing away.

After what seemed like ages, I decided that this wasn’t working, so I packed everything away the best I could and headed for the car.

At the car I decided that the weather was not going to improve any times soon, so I decided to drive towards where we were staying but keeping an eye out for any photo opportunities along the way.

I did stop at the Seilebost viewpoint, but the conditions were not great, my coat was wet through, and there was sand everywhere, time to get a few quick photos.

3x1, Golden-Sand, Isle-of-Harris, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Seilebost-Beach, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, turquoise-water. waves — Seilebost Beach looking towards Luskentyre in rather dreary conditions.

From here I headed for the cottage to meet Dean, Sally and the rest of the workshop attendees.

Arrival at the Cottage.

Dean had provided details of the two cottages where we would be staying for the next week, these were Otter and Corncrake Cottages, two very well equipment cottages.

Upon arrival I introduced myself to Dean and his wife Sally, I had attended one of Deans workshops in Assynt the year previously, but it was the first time that I had met Sally, she would be providing our meals for the weeks stay.

Dean informed me that George and Dave had gone off to the beach to get some photographs.

The evening meal was set for 7pm, so I unpacked and made myself at home, upon opening my camera bag I was surprised to see how much wet sand was in it, and the pockets of my coat also containing a sizable amount of wet sand, the first of many drying and camera cleaning sessions began

At around 6pm we all met for the first time around the dining table we made out introductions. The fellow photographers being Dave from Yorkshire, George from Australia, and Phillipe from Belgium, quite a selection of people.

The meal was scrumptious, with good portions, a trait that was constant throughout the week.

Day 2 of the Photography Workshop

Dean had forewarned us that the Sunday morning would begin before sunrise with a planned visit to a nearby beach called “Small Beach”, and from there we would visit several local beaches that were reasonably close to our base, but that these would be weather dependant.

Bright and early, we were loading up the minibus to get to the beach well before sunrise which was at 7.05 am.

Small Beach

Upon arrival at the beach at 6.30 am Dean gave us a brief explanation of what we could photograph here, and recommendations of where to go and what to look for.

The weather was dry, but an onshore wind was battering us, this creating sizable waves which were crashing on to the shore.

This was a predominantly rocky beach of black coloured rock, with golden coloured sand and turquoise coloured water offshore, and brilliant white crested waves crashing into the rocks and onto the sandy beach.

We spent two hours exploring the beach, and getting soaked during the process with short heavy showers which were being driven by the ever-increasing wind strength.

Isle-of harris, long-exposure, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Small-Beach, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, Waves — Small Beach

Today was the day that my camera played-up, with the rear screen going off, and finding some condensation inside the viewfinder, worrying times which are recorded in the attached news blog on my website, that can be found here.

Once we were all satisfied with the photography, we loaded up the minibus and headed back the short distance for a hearty hot cooked breakfast and time to warm up.

Tragh Lar Beach

We head for another local beach which was called Tragh Lar Beach, a small cove which had a rocky outlook to the sough and a sweeping sandy beach to the north.

We headed for the rocks, dark black in colour, with the turquoise-coloured sea hitting these with substantial force that you could feel in your body.

It was time for the camera to be put in rapid fire mode and let it fire away as the waves come crashing in.

I then changed to a slower shutter speed to try and capture the waves hitting the rocks but showing some movement in the water.

3x1, Isle-of harris, Outer-Hebrides, Rocks, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, Tragh-Lar-Beach — Tragh Lar Beach

Seilebost Viewpoint

The next location was to be the Seilebost viewpoint, the same place that I had visited the day before, but today’s conditions were substantially better than then, even though there was low lying cloud, and flat light, at least it was dry and you could spend time selecting a composition.

This location is a layby on the roadside, with the view across to Luskentyre right these at the roadside we spent over a hour at this location.

Sgarasta Mhor Beach

The next location was back down the coast at Sgarasta Mhor Beach, this is a gorgeous stretch of golden sand that leads into a bay with a huge expanse of sand.

This was not far from the cottages, but Dean still drove us as far as he could, followed by a short walk across a couple of fields to reach the beach, it was the beach that Dave and George had visited the day before.

The sand was unspoiled, with crashing white topped waves hitting the beach, turquoise coloured water, even in these overcast conditions.

Unfortunately, the wind was howling towards us, it was also picking up sand and this was blasting us.

Dean suggested that we go to the northern end of the beach as this would offer us some protection form the brutal wind, and there was a little stream that could be used to compose our images.

The little stream was not so little in depth, we had to cross it to get on the other side of it, after walking along this stream looking for a place to cross it, I eventually decided just to for for it, pick a path of least depth, then get across, needless to say I ended up with wet feet.

Dean had wellies on, clever lad, but the others soon followed my lead.

3x1, Isle-of harris, long-exposure, Mood, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Sgarasta-Mhor-Beach, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography, Traigh-Scarasta — Sgarasta Mhor Beach, high tide

Once we were all satisfied with the photo opportunities, it was time to head back to the cottages to clean the gear, get a change, shower and look forward to the heartening evening meal.

Following our meal we sat and held a general chat session and getting to know more about each other, Dean also set out his plans for the following day, thankfully we could have a little lie-in., but it was going to be a day of travelling as we were heading up to the Isle of Lewis for the day.

Day 3 of the Photography Workshop

Callanish Stones

We began the day by loading up the minibus and heading north form the Isle of Harris to the Isle of Lewis, with the first stop being the Callanish Standing Stones, on the west coast of Lewis.

The visitor’s centre was closed for refurbishment when we arrived, but access to the standing stones was still allowable.

I had been to this location previously and I struggled to pick any reasonable compositions form the area, I explained this to Dean, and he suggested a couple of methods which would isolate parts of the stones and avoid clutter in the background.

Although the weather was overcast but dry, low cloud was prevalent with dull water laden clouds creating poor conditions.

Even so, I was happy with the images that I got, including catching some images of the surrounding landscape.

Calanais-Stones, Isle-of-Lewis, Landscape, Outer- Hebrides, Scotland, scottish islands, Standing-Stones, Stone-Circle, tony-tomlinson-photography. Spring — The Callanish Stones

Shawbost

From the Callanish Stones we travelled further along the coast to arrive at Shawbost, a small western facing cove on the Isle of Lewis, comprising of a small sandy beach with cliffs on both sides, it was the cliffs on the southern side of the cove we were heading for.

A short walk from the carpark got us to the top of the cliffs where we could look down on the huge waves rolling onto and smashing into the cliffs.

The wind was very strong, swirling from a side wind to a full offshore one, this caught your attention, as these were real risks if anyone got too close to the cliff edge and were then his my the offshore wind, Dean really emphasised his concerns and that we needed to be fully aware of out surroundings at all time.

We were soon scattered along the cliffs trying to pick out suitable photographs which we hoped would record the power of these huge waves.

I again tried using a quick shutter speed against a reasonably slow one to try and add some motion to the photograph.

Isle-of harris, long-exposure, Mood, Outer-Hebrides, Seascape, Shawbost-Beach, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography — Shawbost breakers

Once back at the minibus, Dean explained that he had planned to head to the Stack a Phirs Sea Arch which was a short journey along the coast, and a place that I had hoped to visit. However, due to the prevailing wind conditions Dean explained that he could not possibly be responsible for all four of use at this location.

As much as I was disappointed, I fully understood his position and responsibilities, hopefully we would get another chance to visit the Sea Arch.

So where too, now, Dean had pre-thought this his recommendation was a small cove on the eastern side of Lewis called Port Sloth, the bonus was that this was on the route up to the Butt of Lewis.

Port Sloth

About a hour after leaving Shawbost we pulled up beside Port Sloth, a lovely, concealed \cove with a small winding track down to the beach.

There was a small bothy on the northern side of the cove, so I took several images including this into the frame.

As we worked our way down to the beach, there was a small burn which ran through the sand, I saw this has a opportunity to capture a shot of this.

Once on the beach, I decided to take a couple of photos using Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), I have seen many photos using this technique, and I though that this scene would compliment this type of photo.

What are your thoughts of this type of photograph, do you like it or not, please send a comment to me.

I then spent some time capturing the rescinding waves retreating from around a cluster of black rocks sited in the sane.

From Port Sloth we headed to the Butt of Lewis, a place that I have always wanted to visit.

Butt of Lewis

One we had offloaded the minibus Dean guided us from the views from the carpark to a place on the western side of the lighthouse, this necessitated a short 15-minute walk, but this was across level ground which was not to strenuous.

Once around the lighthouse Dean split us into two pairs, each would work at the two places he identified ensuring we would all experience the same views.

Again, we were perched on top of some sizable cliffs looking down on to the massive waves crashing into the vertical cliffs.

I wanted to capture a wider view of the lighthouse, cliffs, waves and a island a little distance offshore, to do this I took 9 shots which I would combine in post processing, the finished photo is shown below.

Butt-of-Lewis, Isle-of-Lewis, Lighthouse, Outer- Hebrides, Rocks, Scotland, scottish islands, sea, Seascape, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography — The Butt of Lewis

We then swapped places with the other two people, this change of position created new viewpoints to photograph, again I varied my shutter speed between fast and slow speeds, to change the look of the moving sea.

We all agreed that this was a special place to photograph, and the conditions greatly enhanced the scene, the wind driven huge waves defiantly added to the photographs that we took.

We took time to eat out pre-packed lunch before leaving the Butt of Lewis, all provided by Sally.

Once we were all fed and watered, we boarded the minibus and headed for a location on the top of the peat moors near Stornoway.

Peat Workers Bothy’s

After around an hour travelling, we pulled up on the side of the road, with what appeared to be nothing in sight. Dean then pointed out two small, very small bothies out in the moors.

These bothies used to be used by the workers who cut the peat for heating and fuel for the local communities, sadly this trend has slowly died as mor modern practices have taken over.

A short, but tricky trek across the peat moor got us too a spot where we could photograph the furthest away from us, this had a green roof, a little weathered now, but Dean was saying that he could remember it being bright green coloured with the peat workers tools stacked outside.

I wanted to emphasise the remoteness and isolation of this bothy in my photos, I hope that I achieved this.

16x9, bothy, Isle-of-Lewis, Landscape, Outer-Hebridies, peetland, sheilings, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography. peet-workers-bothy — An isolated Peat Workers Bothy

We then retreated back towards the road and headed in a general northern direction to come across a small “U” bend in the small burn, on the island in the middle of this burn was another small bothy, the challenge was to photograph the bothy but use the “U” shape of the burn to frame the bothy.

bothy, Isle-of-Lewis, Landscape, Outer-Hebrides, peetland, Scotland, scottish islands, sheilings, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography. peet-workers-bothy. peet moorlands — The burn “U” bend

Surprisingly, it was 4,40 pm when we loaded up the minibus to head home, the journey time back the the cottage would take about 1.5 hours.

We settled in for the journey, thinking that our photography was done for another day, a long day, but a very enjoyable one.

Dean then threw a curve ball and pulled up alongside a small loch called Loch Baltios, as there was a small fishing bothy which makes a splendid subject.

Loch Baltios

The fishing bothy was again in a very remote area, with the view looking back towards the Harris Mountains. The weather again took a turn for the worse, with rain now battering us in the constant high winds.

Phillip and Dave both took a tumble here with a leg falling down a hidden divet in the ground, thank fully, both were ok and could continue to photograph the scene.

Despite being very cold and battered by the wind and rain, I got some reasonable photos form here, disappointingly, many of these were out of focus, or blurred due to camera movement, what a shame, caused by my lack of w=awareness of how the wind was moving the tripod during these long exposures.

3x1, bothy, Isle of Lewis, Landscape, Loch Baltios, Outer Hebrides, Scotlan, scottish islands, Spring, tony-tomlinson-photography — The remote Loch Baltios

With the time of 5.50pm it was now time to head back to the cottage for our well-deserved evening meal.

We were now in a routine upon arriving at the cottage, the minibus was unloaded, then our tripods were washed under a running freshwater tap, our boots washed the same way.

Then it was clothing put into the drying room, bags emptied of sand and dried if needed.

The minibus was vacuumed if necessary to try and keep it relatively tidy and clean for the next day.

I then downloaded all the images on my camera memory card onto the laptop, where they were filed in a logical structure. Once I had checked that my images were securely saved on the laptop, I would delete everything form my camera memory card.

I cleaned my camera and lenses every night to ensure there was no slat, sand or water on an of these items. They were then placed next to a radiator to dry them intime to be placed in the camera bag the next morning.

Time then to get a nice hot shower and change into warm clothing intime for our evening meal.

Thus ends the record of the first 4 days of my adventure on the Isle of Harris and Lewis, the remaining days will be posted in another news article to follow shortly.

Thank you for finding the time to read this article, I hope you found it enjoyable.

28/03/202628/03/2026

A Marvellous March (For my photography)

blea-tarn, Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, langdale-pikes, Reflections, side-pike, Spring, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK

March has been a marvellous month for me, during this time I have been reasonably busy with my photography.

Wasdale

I started the month with a visit to Wasdale, which produced some reasonable photographs which I shared on social media, including a couple of drone shots.

Isle of Harris and Lewis

Shortly after this I set off the Isle of Harris and Lewis for a week’s photography on a workshop organised and delivered by Dean Allan Photography.

I had attended one of Deans workshops in Assynt a year before which was probably the best weeks photography ever.

We (Carole & me) had visited the Isle of Harris and Lewis once before for four days, this ended up being a very hectic few days chasing the honeypot locations. This inevitably lead to a huge amount of time being wasted by travelling from one location to another.

The plan behind booking onto Dean’s workshop was that he would take the hassle out of locating and finding the photo locations.

There are a (very) large number if images which I captured during this week, the plan is to create a specific blog post reflecting on this visit in the future, once I have completed editing them.

Woodland Bird Photography

Upon returning home, the photography continued with a visit to the Cumbria Woodland Photography Hide, it is a place that I have visited on many occasions.

Stephen and Linda have done a fantastic job in getting the hide up and running and securing the visit of the Sparrowhawks and the other small woodland birds.

On this visit, I was very fortunate to photograph a male and female Sparrowhawk, amongst the large number of small birds, I even managed to capture some in flight.

Male Sparrowhawk, tony-tomlinson-photography — Male Sparrowhawk

Bullfinch, tony-tomlinson-photography — Bullfinch Landing

Low Rigg

Three days after the visit to the hide, I was off to visit Tewet Tarn, another place that I have been visiting for a few years.

I am specifically looking for a replacement image to use on my website, the one I have on show now is a really nice photograph, but I am conscious that it is becoming several years old, so a replacement would bring a nice update to the website.

After checking the weather gods, it looked very promising for a clear sunrise, with a smattering of cloud cover.

When I arrived at the Tarn, I was very hopeful, the sky was showing signs of pastel colours, just what I wanted, then within 5 minutes it was gone. The sky was ow a boring blue, with very little cloud cover.

Still, I was here so it was time to make the best of a bad situation, I took some photos of the Tarn from higher up on Low Rigg fell, then took a walk over the fell towards High Rigg fell.

Blencathra, Cumbria, Lakedistrict, Landscape, Low-Rigg-Fell, Spring, sunrise, tewet-tarn, tony-tomlinson-photography — Tewet Tarn form Low Rigg with Blencathra in the background.

I found a dead straight drystone wall which made a interesting leading line for another photo looking towards Blencathra.

Blencathra, Cumbria, Lakedistrict, Landscape, Lonscale-Fell, Low-Rigg-Fell, Spring, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography — The straight drystone wall leading towards Blencathra.

A little later on I came across an area of Daffodil swich contracted against the surrounding colours, so I framed up a couple of shots using these as foreground interest.

Blencathra, Cumbria, Daffodills, Lakedistrict, Landscape, Low-Rigg-Fell, Spring, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography — Daffodils in the Valley

Finally, I consulted the OS map to see what paths were local to me, I followed a bridleway back towards here the car, hoping to come across something worthwhile to photograph.

Sadly, nothing caught my eye, so it was a swift journey back home for some breakfast.

Blea Tarn

My next trip out was three days later, the 26^{th of} March, again the forecast was looking favourable, so it was time for the long run to Blea Tarn.

The reason behind this choice was that I have a image on show on my website, but it has been there for a while, time for a re-fresh.

As I pulled up at Blea Tarn with the sunup and hitting the Langdale Pikes opposite, also, there were a few photographers already in place capturing their shots.

It was not long before I was in position on the lake shore and trying to find some reasonable foreground rocks, I hate having loads of them in the foreground.

Again, the only blight on the horizon was the lack of cloud cover, just a boring plain blue sky, not to worry, you have to work with what you are given.

16x9, blea-tarn, Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, langdale-pikes, Reflections, side-pike, Spring, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — Blea Tarn and those fantastic reflections

Chatting to several of the fellow photographers, it was interesting to hear that they were on a four-day workshop in the Lakes organised via Jessops.

It was nice to chat with them to hear what and where they had been too in the previous days, and whet their plans were for the remainder of the day.

Back to the photography, I had moved location to try and create something different, shortly afterwards moving higher up the hillside to change the angle of the scene.

Once I had captured all that I needed, I took a short walk further around the lake where I took a couple of photos using the wooden fence as a leading line, and another close-up of a frozen inlet.

It was soon time to get back to the car and head home for a well-deserved bacon sarnie, the benefit of these early sunrises, a 4.30am alarm, but you are home by 10am.Thank you for finding the time to read my news post, until next time stay safe, and enjoy life.

01/03/202601/03/2026

A Frivolous February.

crummock-water, Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, long-exposure, mellbreak-fell, Reflections, snow, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter

February 2026 has been a very slow and unproductive month for my photography work and my social media updates.

There are the usual reasons for this, my lack of enthusiasm, time constraints, shocking weather in the Lake District, and family commitments.

The major reason for my lack of photography is very personal, that being my wife, Carole has had major surgery and has needed me to support her through her journey

She isn’t out of the water just yet, but she is on the mend, and hopefully it wont belong until she has her mobility and independence back.

So with this aside, what have I been up too during the month of February, there isn’t much but here it is!

Red Squirrels.

The first weekend of February, a good friend of mine Lorraine introduced me to these adorable creatures at a local location.

I have always wanted to see these creatures in the wild and to photograph them, this visit fully met my wishes. Once the Squirrels became use to us, they were soon scampering about snatching the food that we had laid out for them.

Despite the speed and agility of the squirrels, and me still getting use to my new camera, I managed to get a few reasonable images form this visit, many thanks to Lorraine for her support and guidance.

tony-tomlinson-photography, red-squirrel, wildlife, winter, cumbria, — Red Squirrel feeding

Derwentwater

I had a little bimble (a leisurely walk or journey) around Derwentwater, hoping to meet the forecast mist, sadly this was missing, but a nice wee walk anyway!

The Centenary Stones, created to celebrate the Centenary of the National Trust in 1995.

The Green Curved bench was placed on the headland of Calfclose Bay by the Keswick Lions Club to celebrate the Millennium.

The Derwentwater Launches, these travel in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction visiting the seven landing jetties scattered around the lake.

I had a short chat with Mark Hetherington about our plans for the morning and the conditions, as us photographers do!

Mark is a very good photographer who has an excellent back catalogue of images on his Instagram page (Instagram).

Despite not taking many images, it was good to be out in the fresh air and to be able to have a pleasant walk about without the maddening crowds of later in the day.

blue-hour, cumbria, Derwentwater, jetty, keswick, Landscape, launch, rain, tony-tomlinson-photography — One of the Keswick Launch’s tied up at the jetty

Cumbria, Derwentwater, hawthorn, Landscape, Lone-Tree, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK, winter — A Lone Hawthorn on the shore of Derwentwater

Borrowdale, Cumbria, Derwentwater, lake-district, Landscape, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK, winter — The curved seat at Calf Close Bay

calf-close-bay, Centenary Stones, Derwentwater, long-exposure, winter — The Centenary Stones

Harrington Red Squirrels

A return to the wood to photograph the Red Squirrels, to horn my photo skills and to witness these stunning little creatures again.

We had to wait a while until they made an appearance, but the wait was worth it.

I managed to get some better photographs of the squirrels this time, and cant wait to get back to photo them again.

Cumbria, red-squirrel, tony-tomlinson-photography, Wildlife, winter — Posing

Crummock Water

I had a photograph in my head that I have been trying to capture at Crummock Water for some time, so with the weather gods looking promising I set off to the northern end of the lake.

What a pleasant morning it was, cold, crisp, and clear with a slight dusting of snow on the higher fells. The water was flowing over the weir but not has high as I thought it would be considering the amount of rainfall we have had recently.

crummock-water, Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, long-exposure, snow, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — The weir at Crummock Water looking towards Mellbreak, Red Pike and High Stile.

United Utilities want to drastically change Crummock Water by removing the weir and lowering the level of the water by 1.3 meters, I have covered this in a previous news post, this can be found here.

After taking a short walk around the southern and northern shore of Crummock Water, I decided to head to the southern end of the lake, a area that I had not visited for several years.

It is a lovely walk around the southern shore of Crummock Water, I was hoping that the old rowing boat would be there, this has made many photos in the past.

As I headed around the rocky headland where there are three rocks that jut out into the lake, I could not resist stopping to get an image, the light was not the best, but it wasn’t too shabby a shot.

crummock-water, Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, Rocks, snow, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Headland

As I was walking along the lake shore, I noticed three black horses and a whit horse in a field which were being back-light by the mornings sun, the white horse made a really nice composition.

Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, long-exposure, snow, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, White-horse, winter — Silhouetted White Horse

Sadly when I reached the meadows which sit between Crummock Water and Buttermere and where the rowing boat use to live, the area was totally waterlogged, far too much flowing water flowing through the reeds to move around, but I did manage to reach the little bay where the rowing boat is normally located, this was missing, so getting wet legs and feet was not worth the end result lol.

Unfortunately, this sums up my photography exploits for February, but all being well with Carole, I have a week’s photography to look forward too on the Isle of Harris and Lewis in March.

Thank you for finding the time to read this news blog, until the next one, stay healthy and safe.

Tony.

06/01/202609/01/2026

Our winters trip to Glencoe

Once Christmas was done, we were eagerly waiting to begin our three-day trip to Glencoe, staying at the lovely Kingshouse Hotel. The weather forecast was looking very favourable during our stay, cold with a chance of snow.

We took a leisurely drive up to Glencoe making several stops to stretch our legs, as we came to Loch Lomond the temperature was dropping, and there was a light covering of snow on the higher mountains.

As we drove onto Rannoch Moor, our eyes widened as we saw the view in front of us, simply stunning, ice-covered Lochs, low cloud circulating the mountains, and the sun beginning its long slow decent to the west which was beginning to cast lovely light onto the mountains,

Corie-na-Meinne, Glas-Bheinn, Landscape, Leathad-Beag, Loch-Ba, rannoch-moor, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Frozen Loch Ba

As we headed over the ridge to begin the long decent into Glencoe, the “Buckel” was crowned with a circle of clouds which were being illuminated by the afore mentioned sun, I decided to again drive up to the Blackrock Cottage to get a few shots, I’ve been here several times but always got reasonable images, this time though, the light made all the difference, well worth the stop off.

Black-Rock-Cottage, Buchaille- Etive-Mor, Gelncoe, Landscape, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Blackrock Cottage

I was surprised how busy the road was that passes the cottage and then noticed how busy the ski-centre was, the car parked looked full, quite unusual for this time of year.

From here we headed to the Kingshouse Hotel where we would get Carole checked in, and the plan was for me to head out to get some photography of what remained of the afternoon light.

I left Carole with a nice cup of tea and a snack as there was going to be a short wait for her to get to the room.

With her blessing, I head back up the Glen towards Rannoch Moor, having a idea in my head of what I would like to photograph.

As I approached Loch Ba, I wanted to stop here and head out over the moor to get some images of the remaining sun hitting the mountains to the east, these being Glas Bheinn, Leathad Beag and Coire na Meinne, (don’t ask me to pronounce these names lol).
Unfortunately, there was a very large lorry on my rear bumper which prevented me stopping at the road-side layby, this meant that I had to continue onwards until I found a marked layby where I could turn round, this little episode lost me about 20 minutes, which meant that I missed the best of the light.

On my return journey, I managed to pull up in the layby, and I was soon changed and trudging over the moor to try and find a bit of high ground.
It was a rush, but I got the tripod sorted, camera out of the bag, and composed a image of the frozen Loch with the mountains being light with the orange glow form the setting sun.

Glas-Bheinn, Landscape, rannoch-moor, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Glas-Bheinn

16 x 9, Glas-Bheinn, Landscape, Loch-Ba, rannoch-moor, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Frozen Vista

During the time I was here I had a short and interesting conversation with a lady who had travelled all the way from Bordeaux in France to spend Christmas in the Scottish Highlands.

The light soon disappeared, and I was surprised how dark it had become in the short time that I had been here, it was nearly dark enough for me to use a torch to re-trace my route back to the car.

I headed back to the hotel to get settled into our room and to look forward to a evening meal, it had been along days travel from Cumbria!

During the evening we discussed our plans for the rest of our stay, sunrise was the same time has breakfast, so something would need to give to make this work, so we decided to get breakfast as early as possible, this would allow me to head out with the camera for 2 to 3 hours, then return, and allow us the rest of the day to get out for some walks and sightseeing.

Day 1

So an early alarm for the next morning, breakfast was devoured and I was heading back up to Rannoch Moor in the hope that I would witness an interesting sunrise, with the plan of locating on the eastern shore of Lochan na h-Achlaise.

After some time, I found a suitable location and got set up waiting for some light to develop, it was bitterly cold, minus 6 degrees, so I was well wrapped up.
There were soon highlights of pink in the sky, which got me pressing the camera shutter button, unfortunately these conditions didn’t hang around long, but the conditions remained conducive to photography.

3 x 1, Am-Monadh-Dubh, Black-Mount, Clach-Leathad, Landscape, Lochan-na-h-Achlaise, Meall-a-Bhuiridh, rannoch-moor, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Lochan na h Achlaise

Clach-Leathad, Landscape, Lochan-na-h-Achlaise, Meall-a-Bhuiridh, rannoch-moor, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — The Road along the Moor

After about 50 minutes, I mover further around the shoreline of the Loch to try and find different compositions, there were many small islands between me and the backdrop of mountains, but it was very difficult to get any separation of these.

I persevered, to get some reasonable photos, as well as some detail shots of the frost on the branches and reeds along the shoreline, encased in frozen water.

Ice, Lochan-na-h-Achlaise, rannoch-moor, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Shards of Ice

Not long after this, the sun rose above the surrounding mountains, this produced hard, harsh light immediately, so I decided to retreat to the car and make my plans of where to go now.

As I was driving back into the Glen, I noticed that once the sun rose over the mountains along the ski slope side of the valley, this might hit the Buachaille Etive Mor, I began to think of where I could head too, to create a decent composition.

I decided to go to the Cauldron Falls which are above the Kingshouse Hotel, I have been to this location before, but not for a couple of years, the freezing conditions might create something original.

After a short trek across the moor from the West Highland Way path, I soon found the falls, which were virtually frozen solid, all that remained were several small areas of flowing water.
I took a few images which, at the time I thought were reasonable photos, but suddenly, the sun hit the mid ground and the “Buckle” which totally changed the scene.
All I had to do was press the camera shutter to get some very good images.

Buchaille-etive-mor, Couldron-falls, Frozen, Glencoe, Landscape, river-etive, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, Waterfall, winter — Winters Waterfall

Like before, once the sun was up and over the ridgeline, the light became very harsh, so it was time to pack up and head back to the hotel.

After a shower and change, a lovely warm cup of tea which washed down several pieces of shortbread, we decided to head to Glencoe Lochan for a leisurely walk around this lovely area. When we arrived, we were surprised to see that the car park was full, and the walks were well populated, again, a surprise for this time of year.

After a couple of hours at the Lochan we head for Glencoe village to get some supplies and have a wander about.

After this we headed back to the hotel for an early evening meal, and relaxation for the evening.

Day 2

Day 2 set off the same as Day 1 with an early breakfast, then I was off out, this time to the Lagangarbh Hut, otherwise known as the “Wee White House” on the lower slopes of the Buachaille Etive Mor, where I was hoping for more of the same from the day before sunrise, i.e., a nice pink coloured sky.

As I approached the parking area on the main A82 road, I was amazed to find that the layby on the opposite side of the road was already full, and that there were a large number of vehicle’s parked on the rough track leading down to the Lagangarbh Hut, I had to drive past as I could not see any parking places, so I turned round at the mountain rescue helipad and slowly drove back towards the parking areas to try and find a parking place, luckily a very slow drive down the track got me to a spare parking place.

I was surprised to see so many people setting off to climb/hike up the Buckle, there must have been around 20/30 people in total, whilst I was here taking photos, I could follow the early starters as they began heading up the side of the mountain.

The conditions were cold again, minus 6 this morning, with the ground covered in a white frost, the River Coe was frozen over which made for some interesting compositions.

I set off using the foreground as a leading line which included Lagangarbh Hut and the Buachaille Etive Mor, then moving down to the edge of the river to include this as the foreground.

Buchaille-etive-mor, Frozen, Glencoe, Lagangarbh-cottage, Landscape, river-coupall, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Frozen Landscape

From here I moved further along the river capturing a shot looking back towards the view, and finally I set up to capture a 7 shot panoramic of the whole scene.

Buchaille-etive- beag, Buchaille-etive-mor, Custom-Ratio, Frozen, Glencoe, Lagangarbh-cottage, Lairig-Gartain, Landscape, river-coupall, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Buachaille-Etive-Mor & Lairig-Gartain

I then retreated to the car to drop off the camera stuff and collect my drone; I wanted to try and recreate a shot that I took many years ago when I hiked up to the top of Bienn a Chrulaiste looking across to the Buckle and including elements of the Glen.

I’m not as fit as I was, so hiking up the mountain was out of the question, so I was hoping that the drone would be a easy option for me to capture this shot.

I’m relatively new to using a drone, I am still learning the art of smooth movement of the drone to produce reasonable video.

I got myself in a position on the lower slope of Bienn a Chrulaiste on the Wests Highland Way path, and launched the drone, once at a reasonable height I got it into position to take several images which I would stitch together to make a panoramic image of the view.

Bienn a Chrulaiste, Buchaille-etive-mor, drone-shot, Frozen, Glencoe, Landscape, river-coupall, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — The Glen

I again tried to take some video footage with the drone flying along the Glen then raising the gimbal to produce a expanding view of the Glen, unfortunately when I viewed this footage it was very stop – start and jerky which is not suitable to use.

Once I captured the photos that I needed from the drone it was time to return to the car and head back to the hotel.

After a wash and change, we headed to the Glencoe visitors centre for a look around, we found this a worthwhile visit as there are loads of information to view, and we visited the Turf and Creel house, built using the same materials and techniques as those used in the 1600’s.

You can walk around and into the building and provides a very realistic understanding of how people lived all those years ago.

We would recommend a visit to this centre; it is a very informative and enjoyable experience.

Turf-and-Creel-House, Glencoe, tony-tomlinson-photography, glencoe-visitors-centre, winter, scotland, scottish-highlands, — Turf and Creel House: Side Elevation

On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at the Buachaille Etive viewpoint at the River Coupall, just to take a look around and assess the conditions, what is normally a very boggy ground underfoot was frozen solid, so no need for wellies, but the water levels in the river were very low, so low that there was no flow over the little falls that are normally used as foreground when shooting from here.

What water was flowing was almost frozen solid, much like the Cauldron Falls the day before. I made a mental note to return the following morning in the hope that sunrise would bring some suable conditions.

Buchaille-etive-mor, Custom-Ratio, Frozen, Glencoe, Landscape, river-coupall, Scotland, scottish-highlands, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Illuminated Buachaille Etive Mor

Day 3

As I have alluded to above, this morning’s location was going to be the River Coupall, so after another early breakfast, and de-icing the car I took the short drive to the car park at the head of Glen Etive to take photographs of the Buckle.

Another bitterly cold morning -8 today, so I was well wrapped up against the elements. The best thing about this location is that it is only 2 minutes form the car park, I arrived in the blue hour, so composed my initial shot and waited for the conditions to develop.

The consensus of my photography here was get set up and take photos as the conditions change, so I ended up with many images of the same view, but slightly different lighting conditions, which I would need to select my favourite ones in post.

Illuminated Buachaille Etive Mor — The Viewpoint in Winter

Once I was happy with the images I had captured at this location, I took a brief walk along the riverbank to see if there were any shots to be had.

Buchaille-etive-mor, Frozen, Glencoe, Landscape, river-coupall, Scotland, scottish-highlands, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Frozen River

It was now time to head back to the hotel and check out as today was travel home day, thinking that my photography was finished for the trip, we packed the car, and set off for the long journey home.

We didn’t get far before we just had to stop, as we came over the ridge and got our view of Rannoch Moor, the view was amazing, low-lying mists, low light, and hoar frost on most of the trees that you could see.

We stopped at the first available layby and grabbed the camera bag, scrambled up the nearest hill to capture the best shots that I could.

Some of the trees looked amazing covered in frost but light by the low-lying sun in the south-eastern sky.

Hoar-Frost, rannoch-moor, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, trees, winter — Wintery Trees

An unscheduled but enjoyable stop to round off our winter wonderland trip to Glencoe.

Thank you for finding the time to read this article, until next time, stay safe and well.

20/10/202513/12/2025

The most intense Inversion I have witnessed

Whilst mooching around the home, I casually looked at the weather apps, they all indicated favourable conditions for mist and possible inversions around the Lake District the following morning.

I was eager to follow the indications of the weather forecast, but where to go, I had recently spent a morning in the Lorton Valley in misty conditions, Ambleside was visited last week, so where to go?

I decided to play it by ear! get in the car and drive towards Keswick and see what the conditions were looking like.

As I dove past Embleton, not much sign of mist, my enthusiasm was draining, onwards towards Bassenthwaite Lake, and my fists sign of mist, my enthusiasm returns, within no time, I was driving under a thick blanket of mist or cloud, no visibility of the surrounding hills, and less than 150 meters of visibility up the road.

Time to reduce the speed as it was becoming a serous peasouper, even in these conditions, drivers were flying past me at ridiculous speeds driving into a wall of unknowns.

I reached Keswick and stopped to take stock of what was around me, thick mist horizontally, but still no sight of any of the surrounding fells. Racking my brain, I decided to get up high, in the hope that I could get above the mist, Ashness was the closest road which would enable me to do this, so this is where I was heading. Even driving along the shore of Derwent Water Catbells was not visible.

As I began to gain height up towards Ashness bridge, the mist was still very thick, over the bridge I went and continued up towards Surprise View, I passed Ashness farm on my left and I was still in the mist, but then suddenly as I gained a little more height, I came out of the mist to a clear autumnal morning. I was intrigued to see what the conditions were going to be like at Surprise View, would I be above the mist, or still entwined in its grasp.

As I approached the viewpoint, having parked the car, I was gobsmacked at the scene in front of me, the whole of the Borrowdale valley was smothered in a sold blanket of mist, nothing was visible in the valley for as far as the eye could see. Time to get the camera out and find some compositions.

3 x 1, Autumn, Borrowdale, Catbells, Cumbria, inversion, lake-district, maiden-moor, Suprise, surprise-view, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — Greeted by this view from Surprise View

It was 10 minutes before sunrise, so the light was flat with little contrast, it was surly just a waiting game for the light to hit the masses of mist from above?

Patience was the name of the game now, lets just wait and see what develops, a fellow photographer joined me at this time, he being set up at the opposite end of the viewpoint.

I began by taking a series of panoramic shots of Maiden Moor and Catbells to show the intensity of the inversion, even though there was no real light on the fells at this time. This method would be my composition of choice for the remained of my time here, as I was struggling to capture the story of the conditions in one standard 3 x4 frame.

Autumn, Borrowdale, Catbells, Cumbria, inversion, lake-district, Surprise, surprise-view, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — Maiden Moor to the left and Catbells to the right, under the inversion is Derwent Water!!

Then, wowsers, as the light began to impact on the views in front of me, some lovely light in the sky contrasted with the light being bounced off the layer of mist in the valley. There was some lovely light and mist conditions around the Skiddaw range, but I was frustrated not to be able to shoot the full length of the hills as I was being blocked off by the encroaching trees and bushes close by. Not to be disappointed, I shot what I could in the hope of being able to create some decent images from those that I took.

Autumn, Borrowdale, Cumbria, inversion, lake-district, Skiddaw, Surpise, surprise-view, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — The Skiddaw range

The conditions were stunning when looking towards Bassenthwaite Lake the only land I could see was Swinside poking through the solid layer of mist in the centre of the scene, Skiddaw range to the east, and the Cumbrian Mountains to the East, everything else was hidden from view.

19 x 9, Autumn, Borrowdale, Cumbria, inversion, lake-district, surprise-view, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — The Cumbrian Mountains to the east, Swinside poking through, and Skiddaw to the west.

The sun was getting higher in the sky by this point, further enhancing the magical conditions which I was witnessing, I just kept taking shots.

Soon it was over, the light was becoming very intense and hard, but the inversion was still 100%, as I had been snapping away for over a hour, I had a thought in my head, what kind of conditions would there be at Ashness Bridge, there was mist adoring it on my earlier drive up, so off I set to bomb down the hill and see what greeted me.

I was well please when I got there, the mist was swirling around, clearing then closing in in. Ideal conditions for trying my hand at some woodland photography, now, I am by no-means competent at this genre of photography, but I had to give it a go.

Ashness, Autumn, Borrowdale, Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, Mist, silver-birch-tree, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — Mist and the Birch Tree

I even got an unusual set of images of the Ashness Bridge looking towards Keswick, with nothing in the background but mist, the autumnal coloured trees helped make the images though.

Ashness, ashness-bridge, Autumn, birch-trees, Borrowdale, Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, Mist, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — A atmospheric Ashness Bridge

I went for a little trek around the area, having the place to myself, and found several shots of things like spider’s webs covered in due and back-light, I also found several interesting woodland shots

Ashness, Autumn, Borrowdale, Cumbria, hawthorn-bush, lake-district, Landscape, Mist, spiders-web, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — A Spiders Mess

From Ashness Bridge I decided to head down to the lake to see if the mists had lifted a little and was hopeful of finding something interesting.

Isthmus Bay was my location, and I was happy to find that the mists had in fact dispersed from the lake area, but was still prevalent higher up along the fells, the sun was breaking through which was creating some nice light, calm conditions so the water was reasonably calm, and on my jack jones again.

Time to get snapping, not long after, I noticed that the lake launches were running, with the mist creating a rather surreal image as they sailed into, and out of the mist, I was on to this right away as I thought that these would make interesting images.

Autumn, Catbells, Cumbria, derwent-water, fawepark, Isthmus-bay, jetty, lake-district, Landscape, launch, Mist, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — The Launch Towards Catbells

The autumnal coloured trees on the opposite shore of the lake created an interesting backdrop for a couple of photos when contrasting against the whiteness of the mist and the water.

Autumn, boat-house, Cumbria, derwent-water, fawepark, Isthmus-bay, jetty, lake-district, Landscape, Mist, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK — Mistiness

After a hour or so at this location, the light was becoming hard, and the mists were slowly disappearing, the best conditions were behind us, so it was time to head home for a warm drink, some food, and to reflect on what had been an enjoyable 5 hours.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my adventures, I hope it brings some enjoyment to you, until next time, stay safe, and enjoy life.