I have to admit that 2015 has started off rather well. I spent the New Year celebrating in Edinburgh, at one of the world’s most impressive New Year’s Eve celebrations – Scotland’s Hogmanay. My thoughts and photos from that adventure will up coming up on this blog soon.
After that, I took a road trip with some fellow travel photographers up to the Scottish Highlands, and specifically Glencoe. Marred with a tragic history, this also happens to be one of the most spectacular locations for landscape photography that I’ve ever had the privilege of visiting. Plus, I had some quite wonderful lighting conditions.
I was only in the area for a couple of days, but I managed to get a fair few shots to give you an idea of why you need to fly to Scotland, hire a car, and just visit as soon as you can. Let me know if you agree by the end of the photo essay!
Largely deserted roads, epic clouds and huge mountains. Did someone say photography paradise? I think they might have done. This is the start of the 14 mile road which was used in the Skyfall James Bond movie. It was so picturesque it took three hours to drive to the end and back again…
Glencoe is all about brooding peaks and a narrow, oppressive valley. Visiting in January meant I could have been unlucky with the weather, as it was I had two days of nearly perfect light, and a golden hour that seemed to last all day. I’m not complaining.
There are countless hiking trails to take in the majesty of the area, if that’s your thing. I spotted this little trail and bridge from the road, and had to stop to shoot it. Those are the three sisters in the background.
All those mountains and snow, not to mention the occasional spot of sideways rain and sleet, means of course that there are rivers galore. Here’s one of them in full flow!
Did I mention the light was pretty special? Here’s a shot of the light bursting through the clouds over one of the many lochs in the area.
It just kept changing and getting better!
Another brooding mountain with a single track road leading to ever more spectacular sights…
Obviously you have to find a small cottage against a mountain to take a photo of. This one appeared to have been built specifically to pose wonderfully for photos.
Here’s that bridge again, with the three sisters in the background. No trolls in sight, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to have found one.
More waterfalls. It’s quite pretty here.
And the same waterfall, looking the other way. It’s kind of hard to know what to shoot, it’s so scenic everywhere you look!
And to finish off, one of my fellow travellers, Dante takes in the gorgeous scenery of the valley. You can find Dante on Instagram here.
My trip to Glencoe was a part of the #blogmanay experience, which was part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and was supported by ETAG, EventScotland, VisitScotland, Homecoming Scotland 2014 and co-creators Haggis Adventures. Created and produced by Unique Events. As always all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
philandgarth says
Hi Laurence, thank you that’s absolutely superb! Don’t you just love Google Maps 🙂 I’ve just been taking a virtual drive with Google Street View down Glen Etive, it looks absolutely stunning, reminds me of Iceland. Thanks again, not sure our shots will be quite up to yours tho, but we’ll try 🙂
Laurence says
It’s a stunning drive, you won’t be disappointed! We’re hopefully heading to Iceland soon, can’t wait 😀
philandgarth says
Incredible photos! you were so lucky with that light, every photo is stunning! Can you remember the name of this road you took? We’re hoping to go later this year, would love to see that little white cottage 🙂
Laurence says
Hi there, and thanks!
The white cottage is just off the main road through Glencoe – parking is here: https://goo.gl/maps/dAS4tJGEJS92 – the cottage is directly south on the other side of River Coupall.
Also, make sure you head down the Glen Etive road, famous for the Skyfall movie, but where a lot of the shots in this post were taken 🙂
Enjoy!