Was at Arichonan yesterday, a village in Argyll in the west highlands of Scotland. This is a ruined village, forcibly 'cleared' in 1848 during the Highland Clearances. The 'clearance' was opposed by tenants and is quite well documented, eg:
http://lettereold.humnet.unipi.it/ai/books2/communities/03_MACINNES.pdf

The site is beautifully situated high on the hillside, with fine views down to Loch Sween. One of the ruined houses has distinctive triangular stone windows. Here's a photo found on a google image search:
http://www.pbase.com/crisscross/image/80140671

I'm in the early stages of a project photographing sites associated with the Highland Clearances.

Cheers,
Gavin

Gary (Poisson du Jour), Arthitril, Steve Robb and I will be heading down to the Otway rainforest tomorrow for a little trek in the cold and wet. The Weather Bureau has promised that there will be over 100mm of rain down there this weekend, so we're aiming to get a little bit muddy. And then there are the leeches. Lots of leeches. We're going to Wye River Falls which has no defined track. You have to follow pink ribbons that have been tied to the trees to find your way through dense scrub and trees. One or two of the guys are bringing their partners. I hope they're tough, because it will be very rough and very muddy. Two guys are taking 4x5's and I'm taking the 8x10 and shooting Velvia.
Hopefully Gary and I will be able to put up some shots from the trip in the next few weeks.
Mike

It was a good little adventure, not nearly as drenching as we had expected... although, we couldn't get to our last destination because the track had turned into a churning torrent! However, on the up side, I didn't come across a single leech this time!

Well it ended up only being Gary, Steve and myself who got to the Otways,, but it was well worth it. The track from the carpark was blocked by orange webbing and a note from the Parks department saying that it was closed due to falling trees, but we, being the dedicated photographers that we are, ignored it and, burdened with our gear continued on. About halfway there was more orange webbing across the start of a bridge, which had had a tree fall on it. Gary, our lab rat, went across first, because he's the lightest, then Steve and then me with 30 kilos of gear and 90 kilos of me. Not a problem.
The track, or should I say creek, was continuously uphill, and at times the water flowing down it was 15cms deep. Still after another kilometre and a half we arrived at the falls which were in full flood. There had been around 100mm of rain in the previous 2 days, so it was no wonder. We spent the next 1 1/2 hours taking photos, getting drenched and generally enjoying ourselves. Then we had the trek back to the car, all 3 kilometres of it. We piled into the car and went into Lorne for a bit of lunch and then tried to get to Sheoak Falls but the water level on the track was at waist height on me and I'm 182cm, so we dropped that idea and decided to take some shots of the tesselated pavement on the foreshore instead.
Last weekend I had a 50th birthday party to go to, 120 kms from home, so I decide to kill two birds with one stone, and went on to Hamilton, a further 150 kms. After all the rain we've had I knew that the falls at Wannon and Nigretta would be flowing well too, so off I toddled with the Tachihara. As you can see from the attached photos on Flickr, it was well worth it.
Mike

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40218037@N05/

Thinking back on it Mike, we probably should have used our 'lab rat' to properly determine the depth of water over the track at Sheoak Falls too

For those who've never seen him, Gary is about 5' 5'' or so. The water level would have been very close to neck level for him. I really don't think he would've enjoyed that.
Mike

Another trip to the far northwest highlands of Scotland.

Trekked into Sandwood Bay, a remote mile-long beach complete with sea stack, reckoned by many to be the finest beach in Britain.
Walked in for the dusk low tide and got perfect light, will post something to gallery when film processed. Went with my wife, so I took an extra camera as I had a load-sharer - took my Pentax 67II, 75mm lens and my Fotoman 617, 150mm Caltar...!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwood_Bay

Also had a trip to Rosal, a village cleared during the Highland Clearances - I'm working on a long-term project photographing clearance sites.
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/sutherland/rosal-strathnaver.shtml

Cheers,
Gavin

A trip to wooded Glen Lyon in Perthshire, Scotland for the glorious atumn colours...

Another trip to Arichonan yesterday, a village in Argyll in the west highlands of Scotland. This is a ruined village, forcibly 'cleared' in 1848 during the Highland Clearances. The 'clearance' was opposed by tenants and is quite well documented, eg:
http://lettereold.humnet.unipi.it/ai...3_MACINNES.pdf

The site is beautifully situated high on the hillside, with fine views down to Loch Sween. One of the ruined houses has distinctive triangular stone windows. Here's a photo found on a google image search:
http://www.pbase.com/crisscross/image/80140671

This is my second photo trip here, part of a long term project photographing sites associated with the Highland Clearances. Beautiful autumn colours this time.

Cheers,
Gavin

Went up Stac Pollaidh today, a mountain in the northwest highlands of Scotland. Lovely stormy winter light, was lucky enough to get a ribbon of light working across the flank of Suliven with dark heavy sky above. In my opinion Suliven is the finest mountain in Scotland.

I used my Fotoman 617 panoramic and my Mamiya 7 - when combined with a tripod + the necessary outdoor kit it all made for a heavy rucsac...!

Cheers,
Gavin

Jan 30th I went snow shoeing around Bear Lake (if I recall) that was up about 30mi off of Boulder, Colorado.

Temperature was PERFECT. On the lake the cold wind seriously whipped into you making you shiver, but for the rest of the hike the sun was out and it was warm enough to unzip the jacket a bit and keep the gloves off.

Hiked around 6 miles total... Last mile on the way back we were rather beat so some of us took our shoes off and hiked it (following a snow-covered access road) back to the parking lot. I took many pics on my Ektar 100 test roll.

Had a couple pics taken of me on my sister's digital P&S. Man my face looks fat. I need to lose 15 lbs or so. Lol!

No photos yes, haven't developed the film yet.

A trip up Sgurr an Fhidleir, a mountain in the northwest highlands of Scotland. Carried Fotoman 617 + Mamiya 7. Snow top 700ft or so, much windier than the mountain forecast predicted - cloud closed in at summit, wind whipped snow into spindrift, became very difficult to stand or see...!

Suitably chastened, I made it down hill before nightfall, no photos, but a great (if hairy!) mountain day out. View is incredible from summit when you can stand upright for photos! - have already decided to revisit this mountain and camp near summit for a photo trip in early summer.

An idea of the mountain here on Scottishills, a hillwalking website I often use:
http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=8544

Looks great - I should think about going there one day.

Those shots are awesome coigach! A stunning view all around, but I especially love the shot looking down the nose (nearly straight down!).

Walked today into the Triple Buttreses of Coire Mhic Fhearcair. This amazing cliff face is underneath Beinn Eighe, a mountain in the northwest highlands of Scotland. Took Fotoman 617 and Mamiya 7, was rewarded with nice brooding light looking to the peaks in the Flowerdale forest. Got soaked on return walk though...! Here's an idea of the terrain:
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/torridon/coire-mhic-fhearchair.shtml

You know, that has the same feel as one I did some years back. I only found the location of it (here in Colorado, USA) with the help of the APUG forum users here:

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum138/85787-any-die-hard-hikers-outdoorsy-photographers-here.html

You can find a better-weather set of pictures here (not my gallery): http://www.lightrainproductions.com/Photo Galleries/PhotoGalleryFifteen.htm

Different greens/trees/rocks, but it strikes me as somewhat similar.

A return trip up Sgurr an Fhidleir in the northwest highlands of Scotland - see a few posts back for a link to a hillwalking website for pictures. Last time I didn't get the picture I wanted due to very high winds and snow spindrift. Got what I was after this time though, gorgeous dusk light on the summit over the peaks of Assynt. Felt like I'd died and gone to heaven! Coigach / Assynt is my favourite place in the world, to see from high up in the amazing soft colours of a winter dusk was just perfection. Was pretty cold though, fingers numb! Used my Fotoman 617 and Mamiya 7, and had yet another epic return in the dark by headtorch after making photos.... Managed to slip on boggy ground near the end and broke a rib, ouch....!

Rewarded myself with a great chippy in Ullapool on the way home to Easter Ross. (Winner of the BBC Radio4 Food and Farming Award for 'Best Takeaway in UK' a couple of years ago trivia fans...!).

Went up Cul Mor, a mountain in Assynt in the northwest highlands of Scotland.

Bizarre localised weather - was a sunny day, but with several hills covered in cloud, yet many higher hills 10 miles north and south cloud free. Waited for an hour on the summit but no luck.

A real pity. I had done my homework - the sun sets directly over the iconic mountain Suliven at this tiime of year and I was hoping for soft dusk light. Oh well - a return trip is in order. At least it gets me fit...!

Another few trips in the last month: Loch Maree at dusk, Mellon Udrigle beach also at dusk, both in Wester Ross in the northwest Highlands of Scotland.

And a trip to another site in an ongoing project to photograph sites associated with the Highland Clearances. This one was Dubh Clais, above Glencanisp in Assynt in the northwest highlands. It's a small settlement which was forcibly cleared in 1800. The site has great views to the iconic mountain, Suliven, in my opinion the best mountain in Scotland.

Where have all the posters in this group gone? Surely I can't be the only person hiking with my camera...?

No, you're not the only one, it's just that I haven't been able to get out and about lately.

However!!! On Monday while I was in Alice Springs for my partner's graduation ceremony we went to Palm Valley which is about 130 kms west Of Alice. This is in Australia (otherwise known as the land of Oz) for those who don't know. To get to this place you must have a 4wd with reasonably good ground clearance. A Subaru Forester will not do.

Palm Valley is utterly delightful. Lots of great vistas and hard walking. Unfortunately because we flew, I was not able to bring my 8x10 and was stuck with the 35mm, but I was able to get more shots because of this. The landscape is made up of very red rock due to the high iron content, and because the valley is very protected from wind has very mature palm trees growing. These trees are the same species that have been growing here since the dinosaurs, and they only grow in this one valley. The day we went was totally windless making for wonderful reflections in the pools of water that make up the Finke River. This river is said to be the oldest continually flowing river in the world. The river only flows in times of heavy rain and this year has flowed quite a few times already. The average rainfall is usually about 70mm but this year there has been 300mm already, so the area is quite green, with plenty of wildlife and flowering vegetation. The shame of it is that I was shooting b & w not Fuji Velvia.

I now have three rolls of b&w and 30 sheets of 8x10 (from previous trips) to process, and, when I get a scanner, I will post some of them here for everyone's enjoyment.

Mike

A dusk visit to Redpoint in Wester Ross in the Highlands of Scotland.

Last light is late at this time of year, about 10.30pm-ish. Lovely low dusk light over Loch Torridon, across the islands of Raasay and Rona, and over to the jaggy Cuilllin mountains on the isle of Skye.

Used my Fotoman 617 panoramic. Was a privelllege just to be there and experience such amazing light and beauty. Hopefully got the photo I'd visualised in my head too...!

I've been busy lately, and haven't got out in a long time to do anything. Just this past weekend though I went out on a boat on a lake near Lake Granby (but not Granby) in Colorado here. Got a few pics, but I have to develop it still.

Honestly, I love getting out and shooting through a roll of film, but I am very concious of taking rolls of film that just show "Trees.... trees... more trees...." so I'll refrain from shutter-happiness often unless I see something nice or am at least attempting something (i.e. seeing how a 2x teleconverter on my 200mm zoom makes a 400mm zoomed photo).

May be going to Pike's Peak around 4th of July, as well. Finally starting to warm up here! Can get out and do stuff now!

It was a short one out at Crisp Pt to the lighthouse with the guys from Photostock.

Another visit to Redpoint beach, Wester Ross, Northwest Highlands, Scotland. A wild west coast day, with squalls of rain blowing and ever changing light. Was rewarded with stunning stormy light over the coast of Skye, reflected on the wet sand from the receding tide. Perfection. Got soaked 10 mins later...!