I have an affinity with Scotland for my photography, we regularly visit Glencoe, the Isle of Skye and have visited many other locations in Scotland. Each has its own merits, and compositions, the common denominator being the Scottish weather, this can never be taken for granted and must, always be accounted for when visiting the country.
One area that I have always wanted to visit is Torridon and Assynt, but it is a very long way to travel to begin finding and scouting locations, accommodation is not readily available, and travel times are substantially longer than the norm.
I began thinking about what would be the easiest and most time effective way to visit these areas, I then became aware of several professional photographers who run “workshops” in these areas, these being of four, five, six or more days, some including accommodation only, some being “all inclusive” that is, all your meals are included for the duration of the workshop.
So, 12 months ago I took the plunge and booked a 6-day all-inclusive workshop with Dean Allan photography in Assynt. We were to be based in a large 9-bedroom house at Clashnessie, not far from Clachtoll, Sutherland, Assynt in the far north-west of Scotland.
In no time, it was time to begin packing and planning my journey up to Clashnessie, an 8.5-hour car journey from my home. I decided that I would break the journey up with an overnight stay in Inverness, followed by a relative 3-hour journey to Clashnessie, but coming home, I would start the journey as early as possible and aim to make it home in one journey.
So, the day arrived, I finished work, packed the car, said my farewells to Carole and off I set. A 6.5-hour journey up to Inverness where I was booked into the Leonardo Hotel for the evening. I reached Inverness easily, but the sat-nav sent me on a mystery tour of Inverness before I finally managed to find the hotel, the maddening thing was that it was located at the end of the slip road off the A9.
I was soon checked in and settled in for the night, I grabbed some food from the restaurant, had a couple of drinks and was soon fast asleep. The next morning saw me get a hearty Scottish breakfast. I was soon checked out and off to fill the car with fuel before the journey over to Clashnessie.
I found the hotel very reasonable, it didn’t cost the earth, and the food was very reasonable. The staff were helpful and friendly, with the room being clean, and well equipped.
I arrived at Clashnessie at about 1pm, but the house was not available until 4pm, so I took myself down to the beach to take some photos and help put the time in.
Once at the house, I was met by Gary and Lucy who would be providing our food throughout the stay, with Gary also assisting Dean on our travels to the various locations. Once everyone arrived, introductions were made, 5 of us being paying photographers and Dean provided a brief explanation for the 6 days ahead. This was topped off by a lovely evening meal expertly cooked by Lucy.
Day 1.
A very early start, 4.15 am alarm call for a pre-sunrise visit to Stoer Lighthouse. We would be using Dean’s 7-seater transit bus. What a location, we stayed there for a couple of hours then retuned back to the house for a lovely, cooked breakfast. We were also provided with a packed lunch for the day comprising of a sandwich of your choice, crisps, cake, biscuits, and a couple of bottles of water.
Once breakfast was finished Dean explained that the rest of the day would be relatively local to the house to make travelling easier for the first day, so we took the very short walk down to Clashnessie beach where we set about finding compositions of the location, the sands was a lively golden colour with turquoise waters lapping at the shore, this was to become a common theme throughout the 6 day trip.
From Clashnessie beach we then travelled to Ardvreck Castle, a location that I had drove past the day before on my journey up to Clashnessie, here, Dean provided us with some history of the castle and of the story behind the castle’s ghost. He also provided suggestions/recommendations of the best compositions for the location. Dean also provided some history of the ruined castle which helped
As the weather was closing in, with rain, low clouds and a strengthening wind headed for Clachtoll beach. It was here that I saw the famous Split Rock for the first time. It was here that I had a chat with Gary, and he suggested a couple of alternative viewpoints of the split rock, advice that I eagerly took. Although the wind was now blowing quite strong and squally showers were present, we spent quite a while here, but Dean did say that we would return when conditions were better.
We returned to the house at 7.15 pm, so day one had been a long, but enjoyable day. Time for a wash and change before we were provided with another excellent evening meal by Gary and Lucy.
Post-meal, we sat down and chatted about all thing’s photography, as we got to know each other more. Dean gave us an update on the next day’s weather which was contradictory depending on which forecast was used, but he thought that it was not going to be the best, so he planned the next day’s travelling accordingly.
Day 2
A little lie-in this morning lol, up at 6.30 am for breakfast then a journey north. The first stop was going to ne at the lovely Kylesku Bridge, which is an outstanding piece of engineering. The curve of the bridge being quite unique. Again, Dean gave us some recommendations, but left us to our own devices, if anyone wanted, or needed guidance, he was always on hand to provide this. A good example of this was that whilst we were all concentrating on the bridge to photograph, he noticed three red deer on a small hill behind us, they were as interested in us as we were them.
From the Kylesku Bridge we continued northwards to Loch Stack. The first stop here was to photograph a lovely little Bothy near the loch’s shore. I headed off in a slightly different direction to try my luck at getting a slightly different image of this. I also found some small tree saplings growing at a crazy 30–60-degree angle. Whilst tramping through the terrain, I inadvertently placed my foot in an awkward position which really stretched my Achilles tendon. This had been damaged several weeks before and was healing nicely, however this little incident re-stretched the tendon, which would leave me in some pain and discomfort for the rest of the week.
From here we continued to travel along the shore of Loch Stack to the far end of the loch, here we disembarked from the bus to photograph some lovely reeds in the water, a boathouse, with all this being set against a lovely mountain backdrop which had different layers of colored rock which followed the contours of the mountain.
Next stop was as for north as you can go on the western coast of Scotland; we arrived a Durness, and what a place, the beach was unbelievable. We were soon on the beach photographing the incoming waves which were being blown backwards by the strong offshore winds. Unfortunately, the rain returned which made things a tad challenging. Sand was soon getting everywhere, but the colour of the water and the rising waves made for some really nice photographs.
Once we were all content with the photos that we had taken we reconvened at the bus, we now had a 2.5-hour journey back to Clashnessie, and with the worsening weather this would probably be the end of today’s photography. Once back at the house, it was time for a shower and some camera cleaning chores before another excellent meal and sociable gathering to close off day 2.
Day 3
Day 3 began with a retune to Ardvreck Castle as the weather gods were playing ball today, and even though it was our second visit to the location, we were capturing such different images due to the different weather conditions. It was here that Dean was explaining how he captured one of his first published photographs, so I thought that if it was good enough for a magazine, then it would be good enough for me. A brisk climb up a substantial incline gained me some height so that I could use the road as a leading line through the image. I had to be careful though as I was using a long exposure to capture the panoramic image, but the wind was very strong, so I had to really dig the tripod spikes into the ground, and even then, I had to stand in front of the tripod to try and reduce the force of the wind buffeting it.
Our next location was Elphin Bothy, a small Bothy that originally used to be a Dog Kennel for the local landowner. Dean was very clued-up on the history of this building, again this adds interest to the photograph that you are taking. Whilst here, I noticed an old washing line behind a property with very stained and marked clothing hanging from the lines and structure. Upon looking in more detail, the cloths pegs still attached to the washing lines and the old pots and pans added a great story to the photograph. I could not resist taking the shot.
will conclude the first part of this blog here as it will become too large for one post. Part 2 will follow shortly. Thank you for taking the time to read this article, I hope you found it of some interest.
