Glencoe day 3 - Buachaille Etive Beag

Our photography trip continued today with a sunrise shoot at Buachaille Etive Beag. When we parked the car, we had already seen the sky started to be painted red by the sun. It was a short stroll from the car park to Lochan Na Fola where we wanted to capture the early morning light on Buachaille Etive Beag and its reflection in the water. We still had time, so I decided to try to find some foreground interest for a contre-jour shot that would include the colors in the sky and also the mountain Beinn a'Chrulaiste. I made multiple exposures for later merging in Lightroom. This is the first extra of today.

After breakfast a bold plan was made: we were going to drive for over two hours to Eilean Donan Castle in Dornie, capture it after sunset with the castle illuminated and then drive back to the hotel. When we arrived we still had lots of time and we tried to find a higher viewpoint overlooking the castle. This didn't work out as we hoped, but we did find a viewpoint overlooking Loch Duich, where I made exposures to merge into a panorama. This is the second extra. We then had dinner at the Dornie Hotel, after which we returned to the castle.

Conditions at the castle were not as hoped: the sky was almost completely covered with clouds and the water wasn't high enough to hide all the kelp under water. Still it was great fun just being there, even when we were definitely not the only photographers around. After the shoot it was an interesting drive back to the Clachaig Inn, with deer and goats close to the road and even on the road. It took us quite a bit longer on the way back and there were close encounters with the wildlife, but nothing too close and we returned safely after midnight. Thanks Herman, that was excellent driving!

Since the forecast for Sunday promised rain, rain and then some more rain, we decided to skip the final sunrise so we could sleep in a bit before the journey home...