I found this astonishing, inspirational, emotional, honest & replete... In my qajaq I have felt this way, inside the frame, shooting off the hip & going home through creaking glens, performing the next great roll & feeling nothing when there is everything to feel...Zacks short film is an instant classic.

•≈ Zack

With that in mind I took the kayak out & through the wild arches, mad surf & stacs, ending up at Cladach Sgiogarstaigh where low slung rocks create a viewing amphitheatre below the waterline I took a slingshot into a small but natural haven, the drummed skin protesting at being forced onto rounded boulders. Ahead of me - small houses & crofts scattered out like cornflakes on a tabletop. Behind me, subsonic rumbles, great soaring arches & sea stacks. Dragging the sea kayak ashore, I watched a storm build out in the Atlantic & prepared to take this shot..

I ended up at the deserted 19th century harbour, deserted but for a few small craft rotting at the top of its slipway, it's walls gently clanking with loose chains & creel lines like an impatient old man tapping his pipe, waiting for the to'ing & fro'ing of purpose, or youth, to return...
I slipped back into the qajaq & pulled the Tuiliq over the coaming, setting a mind course in the darklight, for broth, a fire & sleep.

The next day, I was on that road back to Skye, weaving through dramatic clouds & swirling horizons. All of this punctuated by light & independant rain storms. Seconds after I took this shot I had thousands of tiny white balls in my hair :o)
Today is a day of 360° grey, rain & wind. The coliies nose is pressed against the window, as is mine...

There's always time for a swift right hand turn in the kayak for Dhail Beag when travelling the Western Edge. Ergo, there is always time for a quiet photo oppurtunity.
The surf will ferry you swiftly in, between proud soaring cliffs arches & stacs to a perfect beach landing every time, & as soon as you set foot on sand, it rains. So I laid down in the river for a while, nose to nose with a stone, to feel drier.

The secretive Fhorsa - on the way to Dail Beag

Rubha Robhanais again - note the scratch of light toward the NW corner.
This was a trawler spotlight & shows the exposure drift on a 60 second shutter opening.


Some dedicated qajaq posts are drafted & waiting for the near future while I get over the addiction of a new camera. These will cover a series of technical Greenlandic rolls, some on film, survival techniques covering making substantial use of the ocean environment [natures supermarket], night kayaking & various restorations & builds. I hope you can all forgive my brief excursion into obsessive photography posts. We will be back to kayaks & rolling shortly. Now, where did I put that ND filter... :o)

...& with a companion moon over my shoulder, & feeling far to lazy to roll the Igdlorssuit Anas in bitter seas cut with an ice wind, I walked silent as a Buddhist monk amongst snowed in boulders & took some shots of that playground we love most of all, the ocean...I stayed until well after dark, down climbing wee cliffs patchworked in ice & frozen kelp, snot dangling from my nose like a shoelace & fingers so numb the camera turned into an intiutive brail machine.

Peace can be found in the oddest places, the slightest immersion. I think the additional colour shots, taken without a filter & using only available light, may cause Douglas to have a funny turn.
I'm going to try some long exposure shots while rolling & exercising on the Qajaasaarneq ropes soon, & we shall see what occurs...


Available Light

A couple more random test shots, the first hand held using the ND filter stacked on the UV...Ideally, a tripod is a must when the shutter is open for an extended time to achieve a crisp result of movement against the immovable. Remote shutter release is better than self timer. A top tip for any LX3 owners who prefer remote shutter cable release is this fella: •≈ Richard Franiec who will hand build a hot shoe adapter.

Anyway, being a lazy ass, I refused to carry the tripod out into the wild this time, since yomping 17ft kayaks over cliff tops to water, one on each shoulder, is inherently part of the day job...Nooo! A cannae even carry ma own CAKE today man...Am no carrying yers!!
I should get the collie a rucksack or a wee wheelie sled so he can carry cake... & tripods. There's an idea!