alan frost

Scotland – Part 2 ….. Ardnamurchan, sadly just passing through

**Before the rain – A lone house near Sanna Bay**

After a week’s stay on the Isle of Mull we took the CalMac ferry from Tobermory to Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsular. Arguably one of the most remote peninsulas on the west coast of Scotland. On leaving Kilchoan and before driving to Morar, we decided to head north west and take a relativelyshort detour along a single track road to visit the lovely beaches of Sanna Bay. An absolutely stunning location. The lighthouse at Ardnamurchan Point was our next port of call, as we had to say we had been to the most westerly point of the British mainland.

Sadly we were only passing through Ardnamurchan and we only scratched the surface of this rather special area of Scotland.

**The remote peninsular of Ardnamurchan, on the west coast of Scotland.**

**The view from the ferry looking east in the direction of Loch Sunart**

**The isolated and beautiful sands of Sanna Bay** **(above and below)**

**The most western telephone box on the British mainland near Sanna Bay**

In Part 3 of this short series on Scotland, I will be sharing some images taken during our stay at Morar, which lies to the south of Mallaig.

The highlight of this second week being the beautiful sands at Camusdarach, famous for being one of the principal locations used in the 1983 film ‘Local Hero’. To whet your appetite here is an image from that location.

**The beautiful sands at Camusdarach, near Morar**

Scotland….. it has been too long!

**Morning light near Salen** **on the Isle of Mull**

I am not alone when I say that the landscape and light in Scotland can be quite breath taking. My photographic eye cannot fail to be inspired by the scenery and the ever changing weather, whatever the season.

My wife and I last visited Scotland back in the spring of 2019. The Isles of Harris and Lewis was our chosen destination. Because of Covid, Lockdown restrictions and for other personal reasons we have not ventured very far since then, but back in October we finally threw our bags in the car and returned to the Isle of Mull. A favourite place for us to go and one of the islands that form part of the Inner Hebrides. We stayed in two locations on Mull and spent another week on the mainland at Morar which is just south of Mallaig.

It’s has taken a little while but at long last I been through and processed a selection of the many photographs I took during our three week stay, and I would now like to share some of my favourite images with you.

This will be the first of a number of posts from our trip to the west coast of Scotland. I shall include captions about some of the images and their locations etc, but essentially I would like the images themselves to tell the story.

First off …… the Isle of Mull.

**Looking south across Loch Na Keal towards Balnahard**

**The White House of Aros to the north of Salen Bay**

**Rubha Nan Gall lighthouse (the name means ‘Stranger’s Point) by the Sound of Mull near Tobermory**

**The old bridge which crosses the Coladoir River near to Loch Scridain**

**The view across Loch Tuath with Ben More in the distance**

**On the ferry crossing from Tobermory to Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsular**

I shall be posting more images from our Scotland trip in a few days time.

In awe of the light and dark clouds at East Head

Never before have I witnessed such a dramatic scene – fortunately I was in the right place at the right time.

At the end of last month I visited East Head at West Wittering, a place I have photographed and written about many times before on this site. But this time the conditions were very different and they couldn’t have been more atmospheric, moody or in one word spectacular. It was early evening as the drama unfolded before my eyes.

As I walked on the sand I noticed a line of fence posts which roped off a section of the dunes. After all East Head is owned by the National Trust and they are keen to protect this important habitat for wildlife and in particular nesting birds. This was a minimalist image (above) but as I turned round to look in the opposite direction I saw dark clouds gathering fast.

Colour revisited …… in monochrome

If you have been following this blog recently you will already know that for a period of time I switched from black and white and started working in colour. A previous entry goes into more detail as to why I have now returned to my first love of monochrome.

In the circumstance I decided it would be a good idea to revisit a few of those colour images, re-process them in black and white and share them with you. So here is a small selection and I hope you enjoy them.

Revisiting the majestic Wells Cathedral ….. to capture some details

If anyone was to ask me to name my favourite Cathedral, it would be a choice between these three: Wells in Somerset, Chichester in West Sussex and St Davids in Pembrokeshire. Pushed to say which would come out on top and I would have to say Wells Cathedral. Why? It has a very special atmosphere born out of the quite majestic architecture and the extraordinary detail of its design. The history and its setting in what is a small city just adds to its appeal.

Last week my wife and I enjoyed a short holiday in Somerset. We were staying about 10 miles north of Wells so another visit had to be included in our itinerary of places we wanted to see. I have been fortunate to visit and photograph the cathedral previously, but this time round I decided to concentrate on some of the details, which to me tell a story about the building and sum up very nicely why it means so much to me.

I could spend hours and hours in the cathedral and never be bored finding other compositions so another visit is very much on the cards. Until then here are a selection captured last week and if you would like to read my other blog entries about Wells Cathedral here are the links are below.

A Monochrome Masterclass and a visit to Wells

A quote by St. Francis of Assisi reminded me of Wells Cathedral

The Chapter House – making amends for a missed opportunity