It was our first time visiting Scotland, and it probably won’t be the last. There was stunning scenery, snow, and lots of weird and wonderful weather. What more could you ask for?

The biggest surprise, apart from the massive mountains, was how quickly the weather changes. In the space of 5 minutes, it would go from sunny skies and clear weather to almost zero visibility and hail.

We hadn’t even got to the place where we were staying when we had to stop and take some photos, when the photo below was taken it was very windy, although you wouldn’t be able to tell. Minutes after it was taken the place was completely covered in fog and rain.

Glencoe, Scotland
Glencoe, Scotland

We stayed in Fort William, but on one of the days we drove all the way around, and through, the Cairngorms National Park. It was a long trip, but with scenes like the photo below, why wouldn’t you take the opportunity?

This particular one stood out as a perfect opportunity, first you had the leading line into the valley covered with trees, then you have the rolling hills in the background, and finally you have the winding road, winding through those hills. It was the scene that had multiple layers too it, and below are two views, one wide, and one picking out the detail of the mountains and road.

Cairngorms National Park, Scotland
Cairngorms National Park, Scotland
Cairngorms National Park, Scotland
Cairngorms National Park, Scotland

We almost missed sunset on the day this photo below was taken, we’d setup at a location and waited for sunset to start, the problem is it start to become cloudy and rainy, at the last minute we decided to drive to a place we’d seen earlier (the scene below) at Glencoe, and we only just about made it as the sun had already set. Everything was frozen, the ground, the water, everything.

After taking this photo I made the mistake of walking in the overgrown frozen grass with my tripod extended but folded and my new Canon EOS R at the top of it. One misstep later and I was flat on my face, now horizontal with my tripod and camera in the same orientation. Thankfully the camera landed in some other bushes rather than the gravel path I’d fallen on, apart from broken skin nothing else was.

Glencoe, Scotland
Glencoe, Scotland

These next photos were taken after leaving Fort William on the last day on the way back to the airport. We stopped in a carpark, again at Glencoe and had a bit of a walk around, I’d seen the final photo as we were driving and had to stop to take some shots of it. I used an ND filter to allow me to use a slow shutter speed for the water, it was just a perfect scene, and one I wasn’t expecting at the end of the trip.

Glencoe, Scotland
Glencoe, Scotland
Glencoe, Scotland
Glencoe, Scotland

I think we’ll be going again, 5 days wasn’t enough to take in all the sights, and there’s plenty of places we didn’t get a chance to visit. I could spend hours and hours at in each place we went taking photos.

Posted in: Photography