A Rare Sunrise 

There are occasional days when the rising sun illuminated the underside of  low cloud. When that cloud is broken then the light and colours are are their best, most varied, most intense, most contrasty. These days occur perhaps 5 or 6 times in a year, and seldom as good as this.  The moments when the dawn is showing at its best are short, maybe seconds, and never more than a minute or two. I would have missed this light show but for the puppy barking furiously at the predawn colours as they intensified. I guess a suddenly blood red world is a bit startling to a 7 month puppy. Some additional interest is added by the Sula Mhor foot ferry. This is one of the ferries providing a limited service across the Strome Narrows while the A890 is closed east of Stromeferry due to a rock fall and  increasingly unstable cliff geology.

A two exposure panoramic composite image 

None of these images have been altered in PS other than autolevels having been used once.

The two small white lights are the navigational beacons that show predawn to allow the ferries to align their approach to the jetties on either side of the loch. 

The Sula Mhor approaching the jetty at North Strome, at this time she was transporting the Lochcarron pupils across theloch in order to arrive  at Plockton Highschool on time.  

Strome Castle Bay - Wester Ross - Scotland

 All images COPYRIGHT asserted - David Geddes at The Open Sky

Winter Reflections - Global Warming

 All images COPYRIGHT asserted - David Geddes at The Open Sky

With the exception of the last 4 images in the sequence which were taken a long time ago in Norway on Sakurachrome film (a contrasty Ektachrome copy which was processed in the standard Kodak E6 soup), the rest are all from February 2011 in Wester Ross on an unseasonably warm and pleasant day. 

Here in Wester Ross at  53.5 degrees North, the spring bulbs are pushing through the lawn in December, honeysuckle and cowslips have flowered twice this year, and there are many blossoms still flowering in December. 

It is predicted that Pacific dolphins and whales are following the pelagic food resources north and will be seen off the Scottish Islands soon.  Arctic seals are already being seen on the colder Scottish east coast. 

Migratory birds are forgetting to go south for winter, while Arctic bird species expected to winter a long way south of here are hanging about. The fishermen say the coastal species are giving way to deep water species that prefer cold deep water. 

It is suspected the melting Arctic ice cap is pushing the Gulf Stream further south. This perhaps explains the much fiercer short storms that seem repeated all too often, as warmer moist and saturated air from the Carribean collides with colder water draining from either side of Greenland, this being much less saline than it used to be, which affects the currents at the oceanic surface.  Unpredictable changes. Where will we be in 50 years? A tipping point may have been reached.

However a break in the winter is very welcome. We have had in recent years sustained spells of -20 C with superb ice climbing being indulged a few hundred feet up in the mountains where the corries face north.

Obscured by Clouds

 All images COPYRIGHT asserted - David Geddes at The Open Sky

Of course, using the title 'Obscured by Clouds' will immediately identify me by those of a certain age, as an unreformed Pink Floyd addict. Though other borrowed titles come to mind such as ' Evidence of things not seen' - the autobiography of WH Murray - the poetic author of classic Scottish Mountaineering texts, or 'Moments of Being'  the autobiographical title of the mountaineering Raymond Greene - the brother of the more famous Grahame Greene. One has to think hard for good original titles. 

Clouds generally mean weather changes or misbehaviour. The last image in this series takes me back to an open bivvy on top of Aonach Mor (before the ski lifts etc) in November 1974. Its a self portrait set up by myself and taken by our best man George on my first serious camera, an Exakta RTL 1000 with the chunky add on viewfinder and exposure meter clipped in above the mirror. The valleys were lashed with rain all weekend, but we were above a temperature inversion which filled the valleys with cloud and gave us clear skies. The furthest away peak we identified was away to the south in Perthshire - Schiehallion - being translated from the anglicised phonetic gaelic as alternatively " the Fairy Hill of the Caledonians", or "The place of constant storm" or most likely " the Maiden's Pap" (breast). Scruffy anglicisations by the first map makers really annoy me - first we loose the original meaning - then we indulge in another bout of speculation to get back to what might have been that original meaning.

Back to clouds: Mountain photography in the proximity of clouds, means a number of things. Selecting the location for the view and getting into position, and if necessary being prepared to camp there. Knowing the exact daily position of sunset - which I can do using the 3D feature on the OS Memory Maps in my computer and placing the sun, and using the Photographer's Ephemeris similar software based on Google Maps which gives a 2D prediction time and direction of sun/moon, rise and set, for every day in the year. Patience is next, as the light comes and goes in fits and starts, scraps and morcels. Some of what is viewed above is seriously composed using medium format cameras on tripod with filters, and some is point and click with a sophisticated compact and stitched together in Photoshop. By the time it gets to Picasaweb or Google Blogger, one cannot tell the difference, as the compression used on these sites is so heavy. But if one was printing for large scale canvas images, typically up to a max of -  1m x 3m, - then the difference becomes obvious, but can be overcome with further use of 'Fractal' software which as I understand it makes a vector diagram out of the image before scaling it up to the magnified size. 

The adventures enjoyed in gaining these images is as important for me as the images themselves. Then there is the learning about the geology, flora and fauna, land use and history. I don't remember ever having spare time!