Possible Scottish photography trip - suggestions

[Nigel_O]

My youngest son and I both need to use some holiday, so I thought I'd venture north of the border for a couple of days, rather than our usual destination of North Wales. Holiday time is booked for the week commencing 25th September.

I'm into my landscapes, especially mountains / lakes / reflections / sunrise etc. I also quite like architecture and cityscapes. My son (who will probably show his face on this thread later) is rather less into landscapes and definitely more into architecture, but (hopefully) willing to try anything new. I'd also like to try some coastal shots - long-exposure waves on rocks, castle by the beach etc etc

We're based just north of Birmingham, so its a fairly easy if ordinary run up the M6 / A74 / M74 etc. The aim is to travel up early one day, get half a day (and an evening?) shooting in, before crashing out at a B&B. Early rise next day for some sunrise shots, then travel to other location(s) for most of the day before slogging it back home.

So, for the Scottish based photography enthusiasts on this forum, we'd welcome some suggestions for locations and ideas. Suggestions for a decent B&B would help as well.

If anyone wants to join us and show us a few local sights, we'd probably be up for it

Thanks in advance

EDIT - I'm 55 years old with a dodgy back and a dicky knee, so suggestions of "Ben Nevis summit at dawn" will be discounted fairly quickly, unless someone here also runs a helicopter sightseeing company.....

Edited by Nigel_O on Thursday 24th August 14:51

[R8Steve]

How about Loch Lomond or Skye?

I think the further up north you go the better the scenery, apart from the landscape aspect of course, which gets less the further up you go.

Some of the best photographs i've taken have been from a boat, depending when you are going i could possibly take you out round the islands if that was something that interested you.

[malks222]

hmmmm dunno how logistics/ timing of this would all work....... but a few locations/ suggestions would be:

- drive up via glasgow/ west coast
- hit loch lomond
- head north for glencoe/ rannoch moor
- spend night in kinghouse hotel in glencoe
- wake up early for sunrise of ranoch moor
- quick trip to glen etive (james bond skyfall picture)
- head south, via lochearnhead/ callander
- stop at falkirk area for shots of 'falkirk wheel', kelpies
- finish up with sunset at forth road bridge
- stay somewhere near the bridge and get into edinburgh for architecture, plus plenty of good views from arthurs seat/ calton hill
- head for home

dont know if thats too much, too far or also too many 'iconic' shots where you might feel you are replicating what you've already seen?!?!

[OGR4M]

R8Steve said:

Some of the best photographs i've taken have been from a boat, depending when you are going i could possibly take you out round the islands if that was something that interested you.

Now that seems like an idea!

I'm not sure I can speak for Dear Father's sea legs, but I think the unusual perspective of photos 'on the water' may yield some very interesting results! We plan to go up Monday 25th September, and return the following day, and so far have little planned in terms of where we wish to go (hence this thread, really!)

I'd like to visit Edinburgh castle, I think there's potential for some shots there, unsure of 'architecture' possibilities locally, but Loch Lomond is only a 90-minute hoon away from there, and seems like a decent place to visit, weather dependent, of course.

As we're somewhat limited to give-or-take 36 hours, I don't know how far north we'd be able to go without flying there, so I'm not sure we'd be able to get right into 'proper Scotland'.

P.S. Dad, I'll look into booking digs, but no sharing rooms! Camping at Le Mans is enough for this year!

ETA: if we can wrangle the logistics to find Glen Etive and do the skyfall images, then I'm afraid we'd have to take the British car, rather than the Italian...

Edited by OGR4M on Saturday 26th August 00:00

[DibblyDobbler]

The mountains etc are all west and north but in central/east you have the Kelpies and the Forth Bridges all handy for the M9 so not hard to get to - see below


The Kelpies by Mike Smith, on Flickr

Reflections by Mike Smith, on Flickr

[technodup]

Train from Glasgow on the West Highland Line. Any stop past Helensburgh will do.

Fishing ports, silver sands, Harry Potter viaducts, hills, lochs, take your pick.

[davidexige]

OGR4M said:

ETA: if we can wrangle the logistics to find Glen Etive and do the skyfall images, then I'm afraid we'd have to take the British car, rather than the Italian...

Edited by OGR4M on Saturday 26th August 00:00

Be warned if you do go take care on the road up to Glen Etive, there's quite a few places where the car can bottom out, especially if it's on the low side, however they're usually quite easy to spot due to all the gouges in the road, if you take your time at these spots you should be ok.

[Gandahar]

North coast Smoo cave and then a paddle on any of the fantastic beaches up there?

You can also photo some of the pink scottish lewisian gneiss,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewisian_complex#/me...

one of the oldest rocks.

[Einion Yrth]

Gandahar said:

North coast Smoo cave and then a paddle on any of the fantastic beaches up there?

You can also photo some of the pink scottish lewisian gneiss,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewisian_complex#/me...

one of the oldest rocks.

That's a bloody long way in one day from Brum, if you want to take photos as well.

[TheRainMaker]

You could try Milarrochy Bay, it's popular though.

I looked to see where the sunset would be, planned a location on google maps, timed it so I would arrive just before sunset.

Got to my perfectly picked location to find another 8 photographers already set up

Milarrochy Bay by The Rain Maker, on Flickr

[OGR4M]

davidexige said:

Be warned if you do go take care on the road up to Glen Etive, there's quite a few places where the car can bottom out, especially if it's on the low side, however they're usually quite easy to spot due to all the gouges in the road, if you take your time at these spots you should be ok.

Hmm, I drive a Jag XJ, potential to struggle based on its wheelbase (don't ask how I've found that out before). A bit of google street-view to be planned in, I think.

More ace suggestions, so thanks all. I think the plan now is to trek up Sunday night, so we effectively get two near-full days of shooting. Although we'll be staying in the not-too-far regions on this occasion, so I think the Lewisian area is a tad of a stretch. Definitely worth considering if we return, though, based on the google images!

[Einion Yrth]

OGR4M said:

davidexige said:

Be warned if you do go take care on the road up to Glen Etive, there's quite a few places where the car can bottom out, especially if it's on the low side, however they're usually quite easy to spot due to all the gouges in the road, if you take your time at these spots you should be ok.

Hmm, I drive a Jag XJ, potential to struggle based on its wheelbase (don't ask how I've found that out before). A bit of google street-view to be planned in, I think.

More ace suggestions, so thanks all. I think the plan now is to trek up Sunday night, so we effectively get two near-full days of shooting. Although we'll be staying in the not-too-far regions on this occasion, so I think the Lewisian area is a tad of a stretch. Definitely worth considering if we return, though, based on the google images!

Caithness and Sutherland are well worth the trip. Not an overnighter from Brum though, IMHO.