Had an interesting day out last Friday on the Bowland Fells; a fairly desolate group of hills and moors straddling the Lancashire/Yorkshire boundary. The walk took in Raven's Castle - aptly named - and Cold Stone, a huge weathered outcrop of Millstone grit. Took my F5, fisheye, tilt/shift and wide-angle zoom and had great fun using them. Lots of mist, stone walls, ravens and bogs. I'll post some images here or on the gallery when I get my arse into gear and get into the darkroom.

Looking forward to seeing the images. I have the same problem getting my arse into gear but I hope to hit the darkroom soon.

Was on the Isle of Arran for a photography trip a few weeks ago. Went up a mountain called Caisteal Abhail, which gives a great view towards Cir Mhor, a wonderful, sharp granite peak. There is a perfect curving ridge connecting the two hills, and I was looking for soft late evening light to pick out the shapes. Hard work hauling myself and gear to the top, but was on summit by 5pm and spent an hour in perfect light taking photos - lovely shadow recession along the jaggy Arran mountain ridges too. It was before the clocks changed, so getting quite dark after about 6.15pm. Will post results to the gallery sometime over the next few months. Managed to get off the steepest part of the ridge by last light and had a couple of, ahem, interesting hours in the dark over trackless peat-hagged moorland with only a headtorch and a bar of chocolate for company...!

Here's a link to a hillwalking site with photos of Caisteal Abhail and the Arran ridges taken by climbers. Ignore the 'see all pictures of...' button and click on each individual trip report in turn instead, this has many more pictures for some reason:
http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Hills&group=2&showBy=area&hill=77


Cheers,
Gavin

Yesterday. What a great day! Me and Steve W. took us a plod up Glaramara in the English lake district. It was clear, bright and friggin' freezing. Little bits of snow here and there and, to cap it all, we saw a Ring Ouzel, or rather Steve saw it and I nodded sagely, pretending to be knowledgable on such things. I didn't realise how unfit I'd become since the last big walk I did last december. It's alright going uphill, but coming down! My knees were close to buckling by time we'd reached the bottom and they're still aching as I write this. I took my Nikon F80, 50mm standard and 16mm fisheye. The F80 has this disconcerting habit of going dead when it gets cold (or even slightly cold). I Don't know if there's anything wrong or if it's some kind of design issue. Hey-ho.

An Easter Sunday photo trip to a hill in the Scottish Central Highlands, Beinn Mhic-Mhonaidh.
See http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Hills&group=2&showBy=area&hill=165
Was on summit from about 5.30 - 8pm, beautiful soft low light. Wonderful 360 degree views, but particularly nice towards the Etive mountains and Blackmount for those who know the area. Will post photos to the Gallery in due course.

Cheers,
Gavin

Just thought I'd let you good people know, I've posted an image (entitled: Towards Stocks Reservoir) from my Bowland Plod in the standard gallery.

DOW CRAG
Had a great walk with son Stef last week. We went up Dow Grag in the English Lake District. My son always likes us to set off early, so there we were at 6:50 in the morning making our way up through the mist and mirk. As we reached Goatswater (the tarn at the base of the crags) the mist started to lift off the buttresses and for a brief moment, the whole scene was reminiscent of Skull Island from King Kong. It was superb to watch. We got the best of the weather; it pissed it down soon as we left the summit and never stopped 'til we got back to the car. Took the usual F80, fisheye and standard lenses.

You sure do get out Blighty . I think I got one hike since starting this group

Whenever I can, really. I have the Lake District 20 odd miles North, the Bowland Fells 10 minutes drive away and the Pennines 30 mins drive. Oh, and Morecambe bay within view from my front door. It'd be a shame not to 'exploit' this natural resource. I think I'm going up to the Lakes again this Friday! I just spent a small fortune on new walking kit - boots, trousers and kag. Not much change from £400. Aaaagh!!

Bowland Fells
Took a plod up Totridge Fell in the east of the Bowland Fells today. Good walk. Weather was cloudy but bright and surprisingly good for photography. I've just been recovering from a 48hr bug and today was pretty much my first venture outdoors since last week. Now I've gone and got a friggin' cold!! Decided to take my XA2 today, which meant I could also take my binoculars as it's productive birdwatching country around Bowland.

Sounds like you've been busy Blighty - look forward to seeing the results in the Gallery.

I'm off the the northwest highlands of Scotland in a couple of weeks, based in Ullapool. Hope to climb Canisp - plan is dusk photos from the summit over the Assynt wilderness to Suilven. Fingers crossed...!

Cheers,
Gavin

Hope you get the weather and not the midges!!

Went up Canisp, a mountain in the northwest highlands of Scotland. Set out about 5pm to get nice low light at top - hard work hauling my ass and heavy rucsac full of camera gear to summit. But what an amazing view to Suliven, in my opinion the best mountain in Scotland. Not a breath of wind and sharp views in all directions. (See thread below for some summit pictures taken by a climber on the Scottish Hills website). Left summit at 9.30pm and had another epic descent in the gloaming / total darkness...!

Will post anything worthwhile in gallery in due course.

http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4899

Cheers,
Gavin

Robinson/Hindscarth A windy day out on the North Western fells of the Lake District and a few pictures as well. It was that sort of light you only get in mountains; intense, limpid and superb for photography

Well, seeing as nobody has posted for a while, I'll make a suggestion: we need a thumbnail icon for the group. Something colourful? That rules me out!!

Been working like a dog on my photography lately, making the most of the cold winter - am gathering images of the Scottish Highlands I hope to get published as a book. Set myself a target of having everything ready to send to prospective publishers this summer. After a good few years I can see the end in sight...!

Just back from a trip in the far North West Highlands, lots of snow, biting wind but nice light. Have a big backlog of images to get through over the next few months, will post some to APUG gallery.

Cheers,
Gavin

Good luck with your book Gavin and let us know when its published as I know it would be worth buying.

Peter

Thanks for kind words Peter.

Am just back from the islands of Mull + Iona. Had a productive trip.

I was working at St Columcille's Bay on Iona, a pebble beach which has a beautiful mixture of coloured pebbles of all different rock types - must be something to do with the strange tidal currents in the Hebrides, as many of the rock types are not found elsewhere on Iona.

Was also at Shiaba on Mull, an abandoned village 'cleared' in the 1840's during the Highland Clearances. It's a beautiful but sad place. Here's more info:
http://website.lineone.net/~romhc/shiaba.htm

Trip before that was to Isle of Seil in Argyll, nice light but bl~~dy freezing! Have had several sessions there over the last few years but never quite got what I was after. Was finally successful. Here's the first of a few gallery posts:
http://www.apug.org/gallery1/showimage.php?i=50537&catid=newimages

Will post some stuff to APUG gallery when I can muster the enthusiasm to scan - scanning is such a chore...!

Cheers,
Gavin

NON-STARTER Today was not a good day. The forecast said cloudy but getting brighter, so I took the chance and sped off up to the Lakes in the hope of making an ascent of Fairfield via Greenhow End. This is a classic route up the fell with (so I've read) a bit of easy scrambling en route, so it was imperative to locate the start accurately. Anyway, the weather just got murkier and murkier, along with my mood. At the top of Kirkstone Pass the low cloud was so thick that driving was a pain. And it was drizzling. I pulled in at the car park and waited 20 or 30 minutes just to see if it would brighten up a midges; just enough to give me the merest glimmer of hope. But did it? Did it f**k! It was one of those very rare occasions when I give up before I start. I knew it would be a dreary trudge down Deepdale but an even drearier trudge up to the summit. So I drove back home (only an hour away), messed about on the computer for an hour then cycled up to the University for a swim as some sort of recompense. Looking over the bay, by 12 noon, most of the cloud over the Lakes had dissipated and my mood had not improved. Feck!!

Good morning, all;

We had a bit of a hike on Sunday on one of the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound out here in the Pacific Northwest. It was not really that much; the main goal was seeing and photographing the flowers that are really looking nice at this time of the year. And, somehow the hike organizer/leader managed to choose one of the nicely sunny days we have had this spring. Maximum elevation was only 620 feet (189 Meters), but we went from sea level up to about 600 feet a few times around the island. Total distance was only about 3 miles (~ 5 km).

The meadows were amazing with their covering of all kinds and colors of flowers. There were some small plots set aside and fenced off to indicate to people that the flowers in that area were getting to be rare, and please do not walk on them or disturb them. Some of the flowers were just beginning to bloom. Others were drifting past their prime appearance. I feel satisfied with the efforts in photography I was able to make in the time we had and in trying to keep up with the pace of the group. Perhaps next year I will come alone and concentrate on just photography.

Some of the other people carrying cameras were interested in my gear. The one discussed the most is the three pieces of white poster board or cardboard with white tape along the two joining edges to form a light reflector and wind block for the selected flower or blossom. My main use with this is with the wind blocking function. Having the camera on a little tripod or stand does not really help if the subject is still swaying and darting about.

And the photography of the flowers was often interrupted by the birds around, including a bald eagle that watched and circled us. I did not think that any of us were that close to providing a meal opportunity for him.

Enjoy; Ralph, Latte Land, Washington

Hiya Ralph,
Glad you enjoyed your walk. This is my favourite season and the colours of spring are beautiful. From a photographic PoV, distance and elevation don't make much difference, that is unless you're looking for majestic, unspoilt and sweeping vistas. This, however, brings to mind a basic conflict I have about my photography. When I go for a walk in any given place, is the impetus photographic or is it simply 'coz I just want to walk there. In other words, am I a photographer who likes hiking or am I a hiker who just takes a camera with them. It doesn't worry me much and I lose no sleep over it because the images I take (and subsequently print) are meaningful to me. Have you posted any in the gallery? Would like to see your shots. Regards, Niels (blighty).

Went up Beinn a' Chrulaiste yesterday, from Altnafeadh at the head of Glencoe in the central highlands of Scotland. Compared to it's neighbours, it doesn't look the most exciting of mountains, but the view is incredible, particularly towards Buachaille Etive Mor. Here is a link to a trip report on the Scottish Hills website which gives an idea of the great views:
http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2438

This is my second photo trip up this hill, the first (hairy!) trip was in the snow last winter, but I didn't get the photo I was after, so I tried again. Enthusiastically (or foolishly!) I carried my Pentax 67II with 75mm lens and my Manfrotto 055CX3 + 468MGRC4 ballhead to the summit - when added to the usual necessary outdoor kit the result was a bl*ody heavy rucsac...! (Will stick to my normal hillwalking combo, Fuji GA645zi + lightweight Velbon carbon tripod next time).

Views great, was on summit for low light - left summit 8.30pm. Hopefully got my picture this time. Will post anything worthwhile to gallery sometime.

Cheers,
Gavin

Good stuff Gavin. I went up Fairfield (in The Lakes) yesterday. Only took a digi with me though, I'm sorry to confess, so that precludes my posting any images here. Shit!!

The Lakes are lovely - not done too much walking there. Have done Skiddaw, Helvellyn, the High Street ridge and Catbells, all years ago though.

So many beautiful hills to climb, so little time...!

Cheers,
Gavin

PS - An intersting discussion earlier. I used to be a walker who took some photographs, but now I'm definitely a photographer who walks. No other reason to explain the madness of carting heavy medium format gear up mountains...

A couple of days ago I went up Sgurr a 'Chaorachain in Applecross in the North West Highlands of Scotland. Was on summit around 9pm ish, again carted my Pentax 67II + 75mm lens + tripod to the top. Fool...!

Beautiful views over amazing terrraced sandstone ridges, then over to Skye and Torridon. A fab part of the world. No midgies either!

The Applecross Inn is a great pub with brilliant seafood if you're ever in the area.

Here's a link to some hillwalking photos and trip reports of this hill to give you an idea of the views:
http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Hills&group=2&showBy=area&hill=172

Cheers,
Gavin