Scotland Archives - Tony Tomlinson Photography

17/04/202605/05/2026

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 from 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 Tarbert 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.

09/04/202605/05/2026

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 divot 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.

06/01/202605/05/2026

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.

24/11/202505/05/2026

Glencoe – A Missed Opportunity.

We set off on our first visit of the winter to Glencoe which we were eagerly looking forward too as the weather forecast was predicting snow, and misty conditions.

As we drove over Rannoch Moor, we were met with a picture postcard scene, all the mountains had a covering of snow on them, a scattered covering of snow on the ground, with the sun shining and projecting spottled areas of sunlight and shade across the landscape.

The plan was to drive to the Kingshouse Hotel hotel to see if our room was available, if not Carole would relax with a cuppa, a bite to eat and relax for an hour or so whilst I would go out to photograph some locations. At this time of year the hours of daylight in Scotland are getting really short, sunrise being around 8am and it being dark by about 4pm.

Once I was on my way, the decision was a choice of traveling to a specific location, or to work with the conditions that we had. I decided on the latter, the Buachaille Etive Mòr was bathed in sunlight, quite unique conditions, so it was time to use the drone for the first time in anger.

I pulled over and found a suitable launch pad for the drone, I had flown it locally to get used to the controls, but this would be the first time I had used it out in the field.

I wanted to get a photography from hight looking down towards the Buachaille Etive Mòr, and maybe even a view looking down the Glen. I gingerly got the drone into the sky to a safe height where there were no obstacles, I then began to manoeuvre it in to place, when looking at the screen on the drone remote control, the detail was quite impressive. I was soon expanding my flight envelope to capture photographs of the valley, no videos at this time, as I wanted to concentrate on the still images. I even had a go at taking several panoramic images, the plan being that I would stitch these together in lightroom later. I was conscious to keep an eye on the battery monitor for the drone, the last thing that I wanted was to lose it on my first flight.

Buachaille-Etive-Mòr, Glencoe, Scotland, scottish-highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Snow covered Buachaille Etive Mòr,

After about 40 minutes of messing around with the drone, I landed this and got packed up to head further down the valley. I have wanted to get a decent photograph of The Three Sisters mountains in decent light, but has I got ready for the short walk to get where I needed to be, I noticed that the sun was now dropping behind the Tree Sister mountains, this concerned me as this would put the Tree Sisters in the shade and hide the detail of the cliffs.

I had a short walk along the Old Military Road, as I was making my way along this, I noticed a couple of compositions which included a small stream as one, and a culvert under the old road as another one, taking these photos delayed me even more in reaching my final location, but it was an opportunity I was not going to let go.

Glencoe, old-military-road, Scotland, scottish-highlands, three-sisters, winter — The Three Sisters captured from the Old Military Road

As I neared “The Study”, an area adjacent to the Meeting of the Three Waters, which provides a view down the lower Glen, with the Three Sisters being prominent on the left side of the image. There is a huge boulder located on a slab of flat rock which makes an interesting foreground interest when taking this shot. I initially began taking single images of this scene but then progressed to taking a 7 shot vertical panoramic sequence of photos, again, these would be stitched together in lightroom in post processing.

am-bodach, aonach-dubh, bienn-fhada, boulder, gearr-aonach, Glencoe, Scotland, scottish-highlands, sron-gharbh, the-study, three-sisters, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — The view from “The Study”

I then climbed a little higher up the slope to look for any other images, I came across a virtually round rock embedded in the grass, so concentrated on this to get another couple of images.

boulder, Glencoe, Scotland, scottish-highlands, three-sisters, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Another round boulder is the foreground when looking towards The Three Sisters

By now the light was going very fast, so it was time to pack up and head to the hotel for a well-deserved hot drink and some food.

As I drove back up the Glen towards the Kingshouse Hotel, it was a little frustrating to see the colours in the sky from the setting sun, although there was no light in the Glen, I presumed that up on Rannoch Moor there would have been some lovely conditions, but, you cant be in tow places at the same time, you make your choices and deal with the outcome.

Once back at the hotel, I was soon washed and changed and ready to sample the culinary delights of the establishment. Post food, it was time to look at the weather proposals for the following morning, up until this time these weather apps had indicated nice sunrise conditions with the chance of mist and sunrise colours. Disappointingly this had now changed to indicate an overcast, dull conditions, with the chance of rain to rub more disappointment into the mix.

I then done, what you should never do, I looked at two other weather apps to seek confirmation of the conditions, one supported the first, but the third still showed possible good sunrise conditions. Carole and I then had a long conversation as what I should do, as sunrise coincided with breakfast time at the hotel, should I get out and rush back to try and catch the late breakfast time?

After, what seemed like ages, I finally decided that I was staying at the Hotel for breakfast, and I would go out after this to see what photographs I could get.

We awoke next morning to a pink coloured sky, this filled me with self-doubt, frustration and disappointment, I had made the wrong call, missed a glorious opportunity. Once back in our room post breakfast, a couple of posts on social media confirmed my missed opportunity mindset, some of the photos were spectacular, this really lowered my enthusiasm levels, why, being here on location and making the wrong choice really hit home.

But life goes on, we were still in the middle of the lovely winter’s paradise, time to give myself a shake, get ready and get outside to make the best of what was there.

I planned to follow the route of the River Etive from the hotel with the snow covered Buachaille Etive Mòr being prominent in the scene, what I needed was some foreground interest to use to support this scene. I was looking for a “S” shape of the river, unique boulders, or frozen foreground to use.

I like to think that I captured some decent images from this exercise, some in landscape orientation and some in portrait orientation, do you have a preference to any of the images below?

Buachaille-Etive-Mòr, Glencoe, river-etive, Scotland, scottish-highlands, Tony Tomlinson Photography, winter — The mighty Buachaille Etive Mòr, with the River Etive as foreground

From the banks of the River Etive, then planned to head up above the hotel to the Cauldron Falls, even though the water levels in the rivers and burns were very low, I was sure that with the snow-covered mountains, I could take a decent unique photograph from this location.

What happened next would further dent my earlier disappointment of missing out on the morning’s conditions, as I began retracing my route back along the river towards the hotel, the sun totally disappeared behind a thick covering of clouds.

Now what do I do, by this time I was fully of negativity, do I continue to head to the falls, or change my plans, so I threw in the towel and heading back to the warn interior of the hotel.

Sure enough, by the time we had a warm drink and a short chat, the weather gods were dead against us, light rain began to fall intermingled with whisps of snow, all the time the clouds were getting thicker and the light levels falling. Such a shame, this was fast becoming the end of the day’s photography for me.

40 minutes later and it was constant rain, with very poor light, so we decided to get some wet weather clobber on and head to Glencoe Village for a short walk to get some fresh air, we ended up having a leisurely walk around Glencoe Lochan, a lovely place to visit.

glencoe-lochan, tony-tomlinson-photography, scotland, gelncoe, scottish-highlands — A partly frozen Glencoe Lochan

By the time we arrived back at the hotel, it was becoming dark once again, so all that was to be done was to have a lovely warm shower, get changed and head to the hotel’s restaurant for a delicious meal and a few comforting glasses of wine.

The next morning brought us typical Scottish dreich weather, (miserable wet, windy and bleak), so it was a day comprising of a short drive around Loch Leven, a brisk visit to Kinlochleven, and another early afternoon in the hotel, no photography again on this day.

The next morning was our day to leave and return home, the weather gods were being more kind than the day before, this at least allowed me to capture a could of misty, moody images at Rannoch Moor.

black-mountains, Mist, Rannock-Moor, Scotland, scottish-highlands, Tony Tomlinson Photography, winter — A rather misty Rannoch Moor

The final take away for this short visit to Glencoe was one on a missed opportunity of the mornings conditions, but despite this the image quality of my drone images really surprised me, this was a huge positive for me and will (hopefully) get me using the drone more and more in the future.

Along drive home to look forward too, but we will be back for another stay at the Kingshouse Hotel in between Christmas and New Year, lets see what this brings.

31/12/202405/05/2026

My Last Photography of 2024

Glencoe, Kingshouse Hotel, Landscape, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter

Right after Christmas we took ourselves off to Glencoe for a few nights stay, it’s a beautiful part of the world, we love staying at the Kingshouse Hotel, and I was planning to fit some photography in at sometime during our stay.

The weather forecast was far from pleasant, but you must expect some inclement weather in the Scottish Highlands in the middle of winter.

Day One

Upon arriving at the hotel, it was a right “peasouper” thick mist, overcast and substantial rain falling, brilliant, but once we settled into the hotel, I took off out for a short hike along on of the tributaries of the river etive, up towards the glencoe ski center. I had included the Cauldron Falls in my plans of places to shoot, but I wanted to go higher up the burn, then follow its path back to the hotel, the thought being that I would find some new and original compositions as I went along.

After a bit of huffing and puffing, slogging along the peat bog, I finally reached the river, all I had to do now was get my breath back and take the leisurely walk along its banks.

I soon came across an interesting small waterfall, which would have made an excellent leading line to the Buachaille Etive Mor, if you could see it. The mist and overcast conditions really restricted the inclusion of any background interest.

Here I go again, never happy with what nature provides us, are all photographers like this? (let me know with a comment)

Glencoe, Landscape, long exposure, River Etive, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, Waterfall, winter — High Falls

I set up but I was soon losing the battle to keep everything dry, the back of my bag was soon soaked, the lens cloths that I was carrying were becoming soaking wet, and I was easily losing the battle to keep the front of my camera lens dry.

Still, you battle on, don’t you? Once I captured a couple of images, I packed up and off I set, along the riverbank looking for another composition.

I came across a section of the river which split into two, where I found a huge lichen covered rock which made an interesting foreground character. So, the battle against the elements resumed, me, the equipment getting wetter by the minute, an element of frustration creeping into my work, and a few well-chosen words to myself.

I next arrived at the Cauldron Falls, a place where I have visited on many occasions, as there was a lot more water flowing over these than the last time that I was here, I set up and took a few images, sadly though the magnificent background could not ne included due to the miserable weather.

Couldron Falls, Glencoe, Landscape, long exposure, River Etive, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, Waterfall, winter — The Cauldron Falls

I was not too long before I decided to pack up and head back towards the West Highland Way, which would get me back to the warm and dry hotel, but to achieve this I has another, but shorter, slog across the peat bog, but as I began this torturous path, I captured a image of the quite frankly appalling conditions with hotel sitting below the mist, quite an atmospheric image some would say, what do you think?

Once back at the hotel, I was soon showered and changed into dry clothing, the camera bag was emptied with everything laid out to dry before tomorrow’s entertainment begins.

Day Two

Believe it, or not the weather forecast was right, we woke to worse weather than the days before.

As we sat eating breakfast, the weather outside was bleak, and I mean bleak, nearly horizontal rain being driven by 30 mph plus winds, the rain battering of the restaurant windows.

I studied the weather forecast, which showed that the winds were due to drip by mid-morning, and the rainfall should reduce, so I being the positive one, packed up my camera bag, sorted out my wet weather gear and waited for this to happen.

I eventually convinced myself that the weather had improved, in hindsight, I am sure this was a false dawn on my part.

I headed for the Meeting of the Three Waters in Glencoe, because if the worse came to the worse, I could get under the A82 bridge to shoot the falls, and keep dry, it might be dark under there, but I could work around this.

A82, Bridge, Glencoe, Landscape, Meeting of the Three Waters, River Coe, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, Waterfall, winter — Under the A82 Road

And so it came to be, me under the main A82 road, trying to shoot the waterfall. I tried differing shutter speeds, lens lengths etc to try and secure a decent image.

Glencoe, Landscape, long exposure, Meeting of the Three Waters, River Coe, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, Waterfall, winter — Meeting of the Three Waters waterfall

Once a crawled form under the bridge I decided to take the short hike over the road, and get above the waterfalls, I had never been up there, so it would be new ground for me, and help me capture more original shots.

Once on top of the falls, I realised how strong the wind was, and how heavy the rain was falling again. And, so, it began again, the battle of finding a composition, setting up, and trying to keep everything reasonably dry, I had brought along a umbrella today, in the hope that this would help shelter the camera from the worst of the rain, but this proved useless, as the strength of the wind continually blew inside out.

Once I took a few shots looking over the top of the falls, the A82 bridge and the overhanding mountains, I set off on a hike along the river up to the higher areas of the river.

Glencoe, Glencoe Infinty pool, Landscape, long exposure, Meeting of the Three Waters, River Coe, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, Waterfall, winter — Glencoe Infinity Pool

This turned out to be a good idea, from which I identified many interesting options for the future to come back and photograph, but not today in these conditions.

I found a little hidden waterfall which deserved more time to investigate the best composition, but to be honest, my enthusiasm was at a low point today.

So, again, wet, cold and miserable I set off back to the car, once out of my wellies and wet clothing, I had a talk to myself and decide to drive further down the Glen to see if there was anything worth shooting.

You know the answer, don’t you? No there wasn’t, so I made the return trip to the hotel and repeated the same exercise as the day before, in drying my equipment and clothing.

Day Three

Believe it or not today was worse than the previous two days, the burn running towards the hotel was about to bust its banks, and the main river was roaring.

This was an easy decision, definitely no photography today, but we did take a reconnaissance journey out in the car to view what conditions were like higher up, and lower down the Glen.

We were very surprised that in Glencoe village the wind was virtually non-existent, and the rain being know-where as heavy as it was higher up the Glen, so we decided to take a 30/40-minute walk around Glencoe Lochan, at least we got some fresh air and a little exercise, but no photography for today.

Glencoe, red-dear, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, Wildlife, winter — Red Dear

I did manage to get some photos of some dear that were roaming around not far from the hotel

So, back to the hotel for the remainder of the day, time for some food and liquid refreshment.

Journey Home

We awoke to the rain battering on the bedroom window and the wind was howling around the exterior of the hotel. A quick view out of the window gave us quite a shock, the burn which run’s down towards the hotel from the Glencoe ski center had burst its banks and flooded quite a large area of land leading form the hotel up to the main road, in fact a large section of the road was now under water.

Once in the restaurant for breakfast the River Etive had also bust its banks and had flooded large expanses of peat land on each side of the river.

We packed and checked out of the hotel, only to get soaking wet loading up the car. The journey home was going to be an eventful one.

floods, Glencoe, Kingshouse Hotel, Landscape, River Etive, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, tony-tomlinson-photography, winter — Flood Waters at the hotel

We drove home from 10am to 3.30pm in what were supposed to be daylight hours, the cars headlights were on for the whole journey.

Back home safe and sound and looking forward to the next visit to glencoe already, whenever that may be.

Until next time, stay safe and enjoy what you do.

09/06/202405/05/2026

Our visit to the Isle of Harris and Lewis. Part 2.

tony-tomlinson-photography, Mangersta-sea-Stacks, isle-of-lewis

Day 3

A day of planned travel to a couple of far-off places, we were intrigued by the Callanish Stones and the history that are associated to them, so this was our first stop off of the day.

We pulled up at a smaller stone circle before we realised our error and then headed for the correct stone monument.

It was when we reached the Callanish Stones that we read that there are several smaller stone monuments located around this central stone monument.

The height and layout of the stones was fascinating, unfortunately the weather gods were being a tad unkind to us, no sun, just flat light and overcast skies, so no creative photos from this location today.

There is a shop and visitor center at the stones, although this was closed for refurbishment at the time of our visit, but there was a small café where you could purchase a warm drink and snacks.

tony-tomlinson-photogrpahy, callanish-stones, isle-of-lewis — Callanish Stones

From Callanish we headed for the Mangersta Sea Stacks on the western coast of the Isle of Lewis,

Our schoolboy error was not realising the time it would take to travel to and from this location, although the distance is only about 40 miles, it took us 50 minutes to drive there.

My research informed us that parking was sparse and the road narrow, however on the day we visited the wind was howling, rain battering down, hence not may cars about, so I was able to park in one of the small road-side parking areas, just big enough for one car.

Upon leaving the car, the short struggle over the moors to view the sea stacks was an eventful experience. The wind and rain were battering me full on, several times it nearly knocked me off my feet,

Once at the cliff tops the view was amazing, you can easily see why this place is so popular with the photography fraternity.

Unfortunately, I was unable to use my tripod to gain a suitable viewpoint as the wind was blowing this over, even me holding on to it was a fight and the tripod was vibrating quite significantly.

I found a couple of locations in some dips in the ground and kept the tripod low with its legs out as far as they would go. Even this set-up was a battle against the wind, then the inevitable happened, it began bloody pouring down. I was now using cloth after cloth to try and keep my camera lens dry, a loosing battle.

The images I took were not bad, they could have been special, but the weather conditions were against me.

After a hour or so, I gave in, packed up and retreated to the car, soaked and battered.

A link to more information about the Mangersta Sea Stacks can be found here.

On the way home we passed Loch a’ Mhorghain and witnessed something that I had not seen before, the wind was that strong it was lifting the water out of the lock and blowing it away with such force. I tried to get out of the car to photograph this phenomenon, but gave up as I could not open the car door against the force of the wind, so I improvised, I moved the car so that I could lower the window and get a snap of the event ?

tony-tomlinson-photography, Loch a' Mhorghain, isle-of-lewis — Water being blown out of Loch a’ Mhorghain

We then retreated to the hotel to sample a couple of hours of their excellent hospitality.

Day 4

This was going to be a one location trip; we were heading to the Isle of Scalpay to see what the area looked like and to visit the Eilean Glas Lighthouse.

To get on the island we crossed the quaint road bridge, this is a single lane affair which is a recent construction to aid the islands transport links, Scalpay Bridge opened in 1997 and was designed by Halcrow Crouch. It replaced a bow loaded ferry as Scalpay’s link to Harris. Its design had to consider complex geology, environmental impact, climactic conditions, the lack of existing infrastructure and fit the natural beauty of the location. From here we viewed the unique houses on the island as we headed towards the lighthouse.

We came to the footpath towards the light house, so we wrapped up and began the adventure, the path is well appointed and relatively easy to navigate, with some amazing Moraines (mounds of poorly sorted till where rock debris has been dumped by melting ice or pushed by moving ice) on display, one near the lighthouse gained my attention as it reminded me of a dice

tony-tomlinson-photography, eilean-glas-lighthouse, isle-of-lewis — Eilean Glas Lighthouse-Moraines

The lighthouse is within its walled grounds and forms a formidable structure on the headland. As you drop down towards the building the small quaint harbour comes in to view, walk a little closed to the lighthouse and a lovely bothy is found, this is well maintained with couple of chairs, books and a little tinned food on the shelves, a small wood burned would provide any warmth required.

tony-tomlinson-photography, eilean-glas-lighthouse, bothy — Eilean Glas Lighthouse Bothy

We scrambled and explored the Lighthouse grounds, with the main interest being the sea, huge waves battering the shoreline. The lighthouse is now un-manned, but the people who used to work at these facilities must have been brave and hardy souls.

We had dark, very dark clouds heading our way, so we made the executive decision to begin the 1.5 mile walk back to the car, hoping that we got back before the clouds emptied their considerable contents on us.

tony-tomlinson-photography, eilean-glas-lighthouse, — Eilean Glas Lighthouse

The need for a little urgency on the return walk ensured we took a lot less notice of the surrounding landscape, we made it back to the car just in time, as we left the car park the heavens opened.

Another mid afternoon finish for us, so we retreated to the hotel for a well deserved meal and drink, followed by another drink, and another, and !!!

Day 5 was going to be a biggie.

Off to explore the far north of the Isle of Lewis, in particular some of the beaches on the east coast, particularly Garry Beach, the Garry Bridge, and Traigh Mhòr Beach.

I was really looking forward to today as I have seen numerous photos of these places, and they look fantastic. Unfortunately, the weather gods were again against us, 40 to 50 mile a hour winds. Low cloud, with extremely heavy showers were forecast for most of the day, but you have to make the best of what you can, don’t you.

Traigh Mhòr beach is a fantastic lump of sand, a place you can easily get sand-blasted, and your photography equipment covered in sand, well, at least on the day I visited.

As the ride was well out, and still reseeding, there was no way that I was heading to the shoreline, so I grabbed a couple of wide shots and retreated to the car.

tony-tomlinson-photography, Traigh-Mhor-beach, Isle-of-Lewis — Traigh Mhor Beach

On to Garry Beach where my hopes of getting any decent images were not too high. However, the tide had turned by the time I got to the sea stacks, but unfortunately it was still some distance away from the stacks.

I grabbed some wide, close-up images of some of the sea stacks, with the dark sharp rock contracting against the lovely, patterned sands.

From here I made (the unwise) decision to walk along the beach following the waters edge to he northern most end of the beach. I soon retreated from the water’s edge, as I was being battered by the wind, several times nearly sent sprawling into the sands surface.

Once I got to the northern end of the beach, I found a couple of rocks which had waves circulating them, so I tried to capture the water flowing around these rocks, with limited success. I could not view the images on the back of the camera as this was soaked with sea water and sand. When I viewed these image slate, I was disappointed with them, as I had not managed to capture the flow of the water as I had hoped.

tony-tomlinson-photography, Garry-beach, isle of Lewis — Garry Beach Rollers

Disheveled, wet and covered in sand I retreated from this location to get back to the car, walking into the gale force wind, this was not a pleasant experience, I assure you.

Once back at the car it was a case of getting rid of as much sand as I could, a change of footwear and time for a cuppa.

Whilst sitting enjoying the warm drink, the weather really closed in, with the rain battering down. I made the decision to head back to the hotel and not visit the bridge to nowhere, a choice that I would later regret.

The previous two days had been extraordinary wind, which had resulted in the ferry form Tarbert to Uig being cancelled, as we stood there was no certainty that our ferry would run at 7am on the day of our departure.

Despite contacting the ferry company, they could not provide any indication if the ferry would run or not, but they would update their web site once any decision had been made.

So, as we sat enjoying another excellent meal in the Harris Hotel, we were pondering on our predicament, several drinks later, the ferry companies web site was telling us that the ferry was running, but at an earlier time of 6am.

This change meant that I was not going to have the opportunity to get back to the Garry Bridge to nowhere, disappointed, yes, but there will be another time.

Our concerns were now concentrated on the possible ferry journey back to Uig on the Isle of Skye. The waves had been of a substantial size during our trips around the islands, what would the crossing be like?

tony-tomlinson-photography, storm-Kathleen-rough-seas — Storm Kathleen arrives

Our homeward journey begins with a early, very early alarm, as we had to be at the ferry terminal 40 minutes before departure, and we were worried what the volume of traffic would be as the previous two days ferries had been cancelled. So, here we were checking in to the ferry at 5.15am and being towards the back of the que of vehicles waiting to board the ferry.

Once on board the ferry we made our way to the rear of the vessel, found a couple of seats, had a cuppa and waited for the adventure to begin. Whilst the crossing was a bit on the rough side, we managed to cope with the conditions and were soon disembarking at Uig for the journey back to Fort William for our overnight stay.

Our Review of our first journey to the Isle of Harris and Lewis.

Firstly, the hotels we stayed in, the Caledonian Hotel at Fort William and the Harris Hotel at Tarbert were very good, the staff were fantastic at both venues, with our rooms being clean and the food good.

A special mention must go to the staff at the Harris Hotel, who were magnificent, nothing was any problem to them, and they provided lots of local knowledge to us during our visit.

The weather, obviously we can’t change this, but it was, shall we say, “not the best”, but this did not detract from what was a lovely holiday for us.

We did not get to some locations which we identified, this was partly to our ignorance of not realising the travel times on the island, and of course the weather did impact on this at times.

Will we, would we, go back to the Isle of Harris and Lewis, of course we will, but we will probably break the journey up more and allow more time to visit the areas we never go to this time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article.