ian cameron

Dundonnell, Ross-Shire, ScotlandOne of my autumnal solo camping trips to a gorgeous ridge of rock in the foothills of An Teallach gazing towards one of the Fannichs. Strong sidelighting has struggled through a build up of clouds blowing over from the coast but overhead the sky is blue and the shadow side of the ridge has picked up the sky's reflection and turned it the same hue. I carefully aligned the curve of the ridge to point to the sidelit triangular peak and was pleased to be able to capture the receding pools of water at the foot of the red deer grass covered slopes of An Teallach.Pentax 67 II ,55-100 zoom,Fujichrome Velvia0.6ND Hard Grad, f/22 at 1/4 Second.

Loch Duich, Highland, ScotlandIt's easy to turn your nose up at an icon and goodness knows there are a million pictures of this gorgeous castle, but only a complete idiot would ignore sensational light like that which rolled across Eilean Donan castle at dawn one sensational autumnal morning. The castle was painted in burnished gold against an inky blue and magenta sky before being snuffed out by heavy rain. The wind that ruffled the surface intermittently destroyed the castle's reflection so I slowed down the exposure to reconstitute it at the same time applying a slight smear to the cloud mass that enveloped the castle.Pentax 67 II ,55-100 zoom,Fujichrome Velvia5 stop ND filter, 0.3ND Hard Grad, f/22 at 30 Seconds.

Loch Clair, Torridon, ScotlandOccasionally on a Spring morning there is no finer place to be than on the edge of Loch Clair surrounded by snow capped peaks and twisted Scots Pine. Occasionally a perfect reflection materialises and you can double up the mountains in the water. On still rarer mornings ice and snow extend to the loch and Spring sunshine illuminates the hills and the Scots pine light up and glow in the amber sunlight. Just as we were about to pack up and return for breakfast the light struck and I had the pleasure of capturing this image. Deep joy.Please see the LARGE version.Pentax 67II, 55-100 zoom, 0.45ND Hard Grad, f/22 at 1 Second, Fuji Velvia 50

Castle Stalker, Appin, ScotlandWithout a doubt one of the most astonishing sunset burst of tangerine coloured light that I have ever seen escape the frequently dense west coast clouds over and above Castle Stalker. The contrast was extreme and I did my very best to use the water to double its impact and used heavy gradding from left side to boost light levels on right edge of frame. Nightmare to expose for but pleased with the result.Please view LARGE.. Pentax 67II, 55-100 zoom lens, 0.45ND Hard Grad filter, 0.6ND Soft gGrad on side approx half way across left half of frame, f/22 at 1/4 Second, Fuji Velvia 50

Reine Harbour, Lofoten, NorwayThe gloom and blue mood conveyed by the oppressively heavy clouds glowering over the sunlit harbour of Reine was in wonderful juxtaposition, the two opposing hues clashing beautifully. A scene captured with my long lens to compress the tiny boats against the mountain backdrop in order to convey a sense of their massive ruggedness.Please view LARGE versionPentax 67II, 300mm lens, 0.3ND Hard Grad,f/16 at 1/15 Second, Fuji Velvia 50

0.9ND Hard Grad, f/14 at 1/30 Second. ISO 200

Beautiful big sculpted smooth black boulders make up the beach at Uttakliev like a causeway for giants. I used a very long exposure of 30 seconds to capture the moving surf between the boulders to the view of the jagged and snow dusted peaks beyond.

Traigh Lar, Harris, ScotlandYet another earth shatteringly beautiful 30 second window on the gorgeously furrowed Harris beach of Traigh Lar a few seconds after sunrise paints the top of the low lying hill of Ceaphabal a deep blood red. The Earth's shadow is still very strongly evident with the transition of hues from pink or cerise to twilight blue on the horizon and those gorgeous diagonal sand bars alternating from blue to pink as they step toward the horizon beyond a reflective pink left over tide pool.Pentax 67 II ,55-100 zoom,Fujichrome Velvia0.45ND Hard Grad, f/22 at 2 Seconds

Quiraing, Skye, Scotland.I confess I have had this one in my files for around two months and I love it. It is my new favourite Quiraing shot taken during and after a rare winter squall shortly after sunrise and features something I refer to as co-luminous light (coloured luminous light), indirect and multi-hued. Snow amplifies the effect because it is light and reflects the colour of the light that glows above it and in this case it comes from both gaps in the sky and from the large pink and yellow tinged clouds that were boiling overhead. I took half a dozen shots but stayed for an hour gazing at the unraveling spectacle in complete awe.Pentax 67 II ,55-100 zoom,Fujichrome Velvia0.45ND Hard Grad, f/22 at 2 Seconds.

Elgol, Skye, ScotlandJust occasionally the light in Scotland for an extremely short period of time is nothing less than insane. This was one such occasion and I found myself scrambling with my little Fuji XT1 and using nothing but instinctive composition to capture this shot which was at its absolute best for less than a minute, as golden light pierced heavy grey winter clouds and turned the Cuillins and Sgurr Nastri to burnished gold. Needless to say the transient light quickly evaporated but the small group I was leading witnessed something quite extraordinary. I always know cos the hairs on the back of my neck stand up like the quills on a porcupine. This one has the rare honour of making my top three dozen shots.Fuji XT-1, 18-55 Fujinon zoom, 0.45ND Hard Grad, f/16 at 1/8 Second, ISO 100, jpeg directly out of camera.

Loch Assynt, Assynt, ScotlandI have had this location in mind for some time. The problem is that it needs some very specific circumstances to get it to work well, namely completely still conditions and a light mist on the surface of the loch that lends itself to layering of the overlapping tree silhouettes by virtue of recession. Needless to say the pink glow of a diffused sunset was an additional bonus that I hadn't dreamed of, but was fortuitously forthcoming.Pentax 67 II ,90-180 zoom, Fujichrome Velvia0.3ND Hard Grad, f/11 at 2 Seconds.