Iolair-Bhara
Coire Ardair (Creag Meagaidh)
The photograph's composition is very much dictated by the arrangement of the cloud, hopefully allowing it's full drama to dictate the scene.
A completely inaccurate weather forecast (by TWO separate online services), that promised frequent sunny intervals on the tops from dawn, spurred me to make the long trip up to Glen Spean, going without a night's sleep in order to make the most of the day. At sunrise, as you see, a few rents in the cloud allowed one or two breaks to briefly enliven things - but not long after this was taken the clag moved in with more authority, distributing heavy(ish) snowfall for the remaining hours I spent up there. The copious hill-fog just didn't look like retreating, & a gusty, unpredictable wind seemed to be widening it's scope. Having just one decent photograph (there are others of roughly the same scene under different light) hardly merits a 300 mile round trip, so I'm beating myself up a wee bit at present at my spontaneous decision to 'push the boat out', despite knowledge of previous erroneous predictions by the professionals. The photograph, itself, I'm very happy with (at the moment).
Coire Ardair is one of Scotland's most dramatic corries. I was first introduced to this glorious setting a few years back on a spring day that nearly seen me blown off Creag Meagaidh by one of the most fixed, constant jet-stream winds I can ever remember. Numerous day-long, static lenticular clouds stand out in my memory.
My return, yesterday, revealed the same corrie & it's resident lochan buried under huge amounts of snow. A very different scene.
Coire Ardair (Creag Meagaidh)
The photograph's composition is very much dictated by the arrangement of the cloud, hopefully allowing it's full drama to dictate the scene.
A completely inaccurate weather forecast (by TWO separate online services), that promised frequent sunny intervals on the tops from dawn, spurred me to make the long trip up to Glen Spean, going without a night's sleep in order to make the most of the day. At sunrise, as you see, a few rents in the cloud allowed one or two breaks to briefly enliven things - but not long after this was taken the clag moved in with more authority, distributing heavy(ish) snowfall for the remaining hours I spent up there. The copious hill-fog just didn't look like retreating, & a gusty, unpredictable wind seemed to be widening it's scope. Having just one decent photograph (there are others of roughly the same scene under different light) hardly merits a 300 mile round trip, so I'm beating myself up a wee bit at present at my spontaneous decision to 'push the boat out', despite knowledge of previous erroneous predictions by the professionals. The photograph, itself, I'm very happy with (at the moment).
Coire Ardair is one of Scotland's most dramatic corries. I was first introduced to this glorious setting a few years back on a spring day that nearly seen me blown off Creag Meagaidh by one of the most fixed, constant jet-stream winds I can ever remember. Numerous day-long, static lenticular clouds stand out in my memory.
My return, yesterday, revealed the same corrie & it's resident lochan buried under huge amounts of snow. A very different scene.