Tim Parkin - Landscape Photographer

OK.. I’m really sorry about not posting for ages.. I haven’t actually been out apart from a quick trip to the lakes in November. I have promised myself that I’ll catch up with the Scotland trip before I got back to Glencoe again in February. I should add a big thanks to Richard Childs for coming out with us during our Scotland holiday. We tried to have a day outside but we got dramatically rained off. I tried to wait it out with my camera set up on a tripod but after about 40 minutes we packed up. As an aside, anybody who is using an Ebony (or I presume most wooden cameras) make sure it isn’t tight when dry if you want to go out in the wet. My Ebony seized up when I got it back after it’s wet weather experience. It didn’t get wet but the moisture in the air obviously expanded the wood. I was worried for a while as it wouldn’t move att all (and it made some dramatic clicking sounds as I forced it) but once it dried off a bit it was fine.. I’ve since loosened it off a bit and carry a screwdriver to slacken it off a little more if I know I’m going out in wet weather. Anyway – thanks Richard, your company made a rainy day memorable..

So, following our wander around the Glencoe valley, and wanting to have a bit of a longer walk to make up for one short day and one lost day, we decided to see how far we could get up robbers falls near Glen Etive. We’d walked this way the previous year but got fought off by ticks, which we hadn’t seen before and were a bit freaked by. This year we were prepared with our Avon ‘Skin So Soft’ Bug Guard which we tested against a couple of ticks and it worked a treat (not like the Deet which the ticks had a bath in, drank a few pints of and proceeded to headbutt us). The previous year we got just below the main lost falls area where the path splits, this year we decided this would be the starting point. Don’t make the mistake we did and take the little right hand path, it ends up precariously following the river (about 100ft up) and the bank is close to collapse. Taking the right hand, well worn path, we continued about a mile and started crossing a few rivers (well done to Charlotte for not freaking out). This took us to just below the ridges where we had our sandwiches and headed back down the other side.

At this point we started seeing quite a few dead tree stumps that had been overgrown with moss, heather and bracken. The picture below shows a shot I fluffed (compensating in the wrong direction for reciprocity) which tried to show some of the dramatic textures of the wood. I’ve been trying hard to include context in my detail shots but sometimes it’s difficult to transition from fore to aft elegantly. I do like the weathered wood textures though.

Just before the final slope on the way down we encountered what must have once been a copse of Scot’s pine. The roots we dramatically overgrown and in the distance the rain and clouds that had just come over were breaking to reveal scanning beams of sunlight. It’s at these points where the myth of the composed photographer just goes completely to pot. Personally I find myself torn between continuing looking for better subjects or commiting to a location and then torn between finalising composition or setting up for the photo and then torn about how comprehensive I am about focus/exposure.. If I take too long the light may go. If I commit too early the light might stay around and I could have found a much better composition. Ultimately you have an unresolveable problem; A mathemetical equation with too few variables. I have been trying to make sure each photograph I take is better than the ones I already have, but this is blatant nonsense as in any batch of photographs, some will work well and others will fail. I haven’t worked out the best answer to this but I think as I build more of a portfolio of pictures I like, I will feel less bad about the missed opportunities and hence can spend more time looking for the better compositions. At the end of the day, I would prefer to have a good composition with poor light than a poor composition with great light. I know the better light picture will be more popular but I won’t have learned anything about composotion by taking it.. At some point the great light will persist and I may get to marry it with a great composition (once I’ve learned how to take on that is).

Anyway – this time I ran between a couple of different trees and found a composition that included a ‘live’ scots pine and also captured some of the variation in light in the distance. I think I could have done with being a bit lower down as the picture looks a little split in two by the brow of the slope. If I could have dropped until the tree stump broke through the diagonal slop, the picture may have become more united.

As it is, I like the picture and it was worth the pint of water I wrung out of each sock when I got back (new boots have since been bought for my next Glencoe trip). I’d love to know your feedback on this picture and how you manage to resolve the unsolveable ‘when to commit’ question..