Glencoe 2019 trip - day 3

Buachaille Etive Mor, Torren Lochan and Lochan na h’Achlaise

Today we had another go at the location we had in mind yesterday for our sunrise shoot. Conditions were near perfect now, with great visibility. We parked near the bridge over River Etive, crossed the bridge on foot and then walked towards the river, practically under the bridge. The river was partially frozen. The snow and ice provided some beautiful lead-in lines and there was even a reflection of the Buachaille on the ice. Some clouds behind the mountain to top it off: I don’t know how this could have been any better. We walked further downstream, towards the Buachaille. Ton got out his drone and made some great images with that as well.

Being too late for cooked breakfast, we had to do without a full Scottish this time, but the continental breakfast we had was also just fine. After that, we walked to Torren Lochan, where we hoped to capture the mountains reflected on the ice. Once we got there, we realized we had to shoot straight into the shining sun, so we moved around the lochan a bit. Not even five minutes had passed doing that, but by the time I had set up my camera, the sun and the mountains had disappeared and it started snowing. Just before the snow covered the ice, I managed to get a shot with reflections. I thought it might look good in mono and even though I couldn’t see the mountains in this shot, it turned out the information was there in the RAW file and I was able to show both the mountains and the snow thanks to some wizardry in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro.

For our last shoot of the day, we had planned to go to Lochan na h’Achlaise. It was the third time the lochan was on the menu, but both previous plans had been cancelled. This time, we did go. Conditions were challenging, with snow flurries sweeping through the area. The shot in the extras is one of the first I took at the scene. We stayed for a couple of hours, hoping the light would return. All the time I had a shot set up and didn’t dare moving the camera, because if there was going to be some good light, it would be a very brief moment. The light never did return, but I’m still pleased with the shot I did get.

Our trip started Wednesday.