A New Year Odyssey

a musings production

A NEW YEAR ODYSSEY OR ONE MANS SEARCH FOR PEACE, QUIET AND OTHER RELAXING STUFF

Foreword An Odyssey? Well maybe not in the Homer stakes but it sometimes feels like it. I have been doing these journeys for a few years now and it has become 'vital' for my sanity. Photography is the perfect way to 'stop and smell the roses' so to speak because it makes you look at the details of a scene, it makes you 'feel' the scene and compose it the way you want it and in the process you become part of it.

This 'Odyssey' consisted of 2 days, 670-ish miles and about 800 photographs and took me from my home in Dundee to Glencoe, Mallaig,Arisaig, Mam Ratagan and the utterly terrifying Bealach Na Ba. Over the next few pages I will show the photographs I made and kept over the 2 days with a little explanation of my thoughts at the time and I think on this occasion I will show the photos in chronological order to add to the movement.

I still maintain the best things about a trip like this is what you learn about yourself, you have numerous conversations with yourself (and random sheep it seems), talk through things and it becomes life affirming, not to mention the health benefits of it.

I'm a great believer in the Norwegian system of Friluftsliv... a way of connecting with nature that brings many physical and mental health benefits (apart from the talking to sheep thing!)

There are people who spend a lot of money going to therapy in a stuffy office, what better than to re-establish your place in the greater scheme of things than looking at some of natures best work? Feeling the cold, a healing cold, a reminder of being alive cold... the wind in your hair(beard), the rain on your face.... these are the moments we live for, not sitting at home, or in an office.

You Weren't Put Here To Pay Bills And Die

My kit for the weekend was .....

Fujifilm XT-1 Fujifilm XE-2 iPhone 6 LG G4 Fujifilm 14mm wide angle Prime Lens Fujifilm 18-55 WR Lens Fujifilm 55-200mm lens Chinon 55mm f1.7 Vintage lens Manfrotto BeFree Tripod Cokin Pro Filters

These days I am completely dedicated to the Fuji X-System, I feel I can work with it to get the shots I need from my travels, it inspires confidence and gives me shots I feel I wasn't able to get before.

Davie Hudson

Circumstances usually dictate what and how I do things and with a lot of flooding in Scotland I had no choice but to take the long road to Fort William Via the A9 road. As it happens it didn't matter, it was pitch black and I couldn't see anything at all and I hate that..... countryside people will know that darkness up here is REALLY dark , an all encompassing dark that can feel very claustrophobic.

While I was already there is seemed prudent to drive along the Glen Nevis road and take in the vista it gives you, the shot above is that vista and while it's one I have shot before I never mind doing it again in different conditions.

The mountains are calling, and I must go.

John Muir

The above picture is a panorama of 14 individual shots merged together to for one massive image. All of the shots were hand held and just swivelled at the hips, no need for pano heads or any other such nonsense the shops try and sell you.

I never saw a discontented tree.

John Muir

From the mountains of Fort William I made my way to the beaches of Arisaig. It's days like this that show the diversity of Scotland and it's landscapes and itis diversity that keeps it interesting.

The beaches of Arisaig have a very pure looking sand and water and a lot of fascinating things get washed up, making for strange yet compelling photography opportunities. While in locations like this I find myself looking for patterns created naturally and perhaps I am edging towards a more organic style.

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.

Isak Dinesen

I don't even know what this is, I just know that I like the textures and it makes for(in my opinion) a great photograph.

God is in the details.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Here are a couple of examples of the style I usually fall into when anywhere near water, I love the growths on the rocks and the seaweed with the subtleties in the colours .

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

-Navajo Proverb

I'm not a massive fan of long exposure photography, I see it as a gimmick, almost like a plaster people use to cover their own inadequacies.....but..... it has it's place (I should say not everyone, some people do it REALLY well and are masters of their art). I wanted to smooth the water a little, and take the harshness out of the sky and for that I had to break out the filters. This was exposed for 12 seconds to achieve this.

Solitude is the place of purification.

Martin Buber

By the time I made this photograph I was looking at my watch, it hadn't been a great day with bland , flat and boring light and I was asking mysef a question.... Can I make it to Glencoe before the sun goes down? The answer will be obvious on the following couple of pages. The scene on your left kinda spoke to me... It had something, I'm not entirely sure why but then I don't usually question these things.

A panorama of the above mountain shown in context, I think the dusky blues work well with the snow caps.

I will always photograph this beautiful mountain whenever I see it..... Why? This is my muse, this is the scene I love, am IN love with and I have photographed it too many times to count.

On this Particular occasion I loved the very subtle sunset shown at the bottom and the detail I was able to draw out of the mountain.

I awoke on Day 2 with the dread that the light would again be bland. With this thought in my head I was thinking along the lines of being out is the key .... A bad day here is better than a good day not here and it was with that and a hearty breakfast I decided to head to Wester Ross and the AMAZING Bealach Na Ba. The best thing about that route is the stunning scenery you pass on the way and the sun ( if we can call it that) was coming up just as I got to this scene... again, this is a panorama made up of numerous shots to get as WIDE as I possibly could.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Arthur Schopenhauer

I think today will be re-named .... "Go big, then Go Home "

I make no apologies for milking this scene for as much as I could, As I was standing there I saw a storm coming..... that meant time was limited, so I had to work fast.

I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.

-Frank Lloyd Wright

The 5 sisters of Kintail, and what beautiful bountiful sisters they are.Whilst I realise that I made this image it is images like this one that make my heart soar. I'm sure poets, dreamers and writers would be able to express their feelings ... I can't I don't think, all I know is (and to paraphrase George Eliot) my very soul is wedded to it and if life ever gives me the option I will spend the rest of my days documenting scenes like this as best I can.

In my solitude, many miles from men and houses, I am in a childishly happy and carefree state of mind, which you are incapable of understanding unless someone explains it to you.

Knut Hamsun

I think monochrome works here, I don't use it often as a big component in what I do is colour but here with a foreboding scene I think it adds drama to the whole thing .

As the storm moves in it starts to blur the scene, like a big wave surfer I had my set and it was time to move on .

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

-Ansel Adams

The incomparable Bealach Na Ba (The Pass of The Cattle) a road that defies all logic, in fact at some points I think it defies physics. The warning before you drive the road is , for me, less of a warning and more of an invitation and it's an invititation I am more than happy to accept.

At it's highest point the road is over 2000ft and is a succession of hairpin bends similar to those in the alps and it is a driving experience that certainly won't bore you .... neither will the face-ripping wind at the top.

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”

Jack Kerouac, On the Road

The last shot of the weekend, I was very happy with the classical painter look of the sky. I think it was a good end to a very enlightening trip. A lot of miles covered, a lot of beautiful scenery covered and maybe it will keep me sane .... until the next one.

www.redstagphotography.co.uk