Taynish Peninsular

A short September break found me in Scotland close to Lochgilphead, very mixed weather for the week and not much opportunity for photography, then I visited Taynish.

Taynish and Loch Sween.

Taynish is a National Nature Reserve on the west coast of Scotland, west of Lochgilphead near the village of Tayvallich.
Situated on a peninsula in the heart of Knapdale, Taynish is one of the finest examples of ancient Atlantic oak woodland in Europe. With its parallel wooded ridges ‘knaps’ and waterlogged valley mires ‘dales’, Taynish forms a nucleus of mixed deciduous woodland, a remnant of the former Knapdale landscape.

Oak and Ferns create a unique atmosphere.

Having survived here for over 7000 years, this ‘temperate rainforest’ is home to a wealth of wildlife, mosses, lichens and ferns thrive in the mild, humid climate. A wide range of insect life including butterflies, moths and dragonflies flourish in rich grasslands and mires including the marsh fritillary, one of Europe’s most threatened butterflies.

The light on the peninsular is incredible.

I've visited Scotland a lot over the last thirty years, climbing, running and walking, to be honest I was unaware of the National Nature Reserve's, there are more than 50 NNRs in Scotland and Taynish is one of the finest. When I next decide to head north to Scotland I shall make sure I've checked out the 'Scotland's National Nature Reserve' website first.

http://www.nnr-scotland.org.uk

Ruby

One of the disappointing things about being a commercial photographer is you generally only get to see the shots used once, which seems a pity after all the hard work that goes into organising a shoot.
Back in 2012 I was in London on a shoot at Wilton's Music Hall, part of an annual report, the shoot involved taking shots of that evenings performers one of which was soprano Ruby Hughes.
Ruby contacted me after the Wilton's shoot and has since been using the images to advertise her concerts all over the world, the latest being the BBC Proms concert shown below.

http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/proms-2017/proms-at-bold-tendencies-multi-storey-car-park-peckham/

Ruby Hughes began her musical studies as a cellist graduating from the Guildhall School of Music in London. She went on to study voice at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Munich and the Royal College of Music, London, graduating in 2009.
To see the whole of Ruby's biography click on the link below.
http://www.rubyhughes.com/biography

Dry Run

On the 31st March 2017 as part of the re-opening celebrations of the Settle & Carlisle railway there will be a commemorative railtour from Oxenhope to Carlisle behind ‘Flying Scotsman’.
In February 2016, after a 500,000 tonne landslip north of Armathwaite the railway was closed north of Appleby. At over 240 feet above the River Eden, re-instatement of the subsided section was to be the subject of a £23 million engineering project involving the building of an enormous concrete and steel structure beneath the railway.
As part of my work on the 2009 FSA annual report I photographed the interior of the 'National Railway Museum' in York, I also photographed parts for 'Flying Scotsman' as part of the ongoing renovation.
'Scotsman' needs to be photographed on the Settle & Carlisle line later this year and as I'm not a train spotter I thought the running of the new Peppercorn class A1 Pacific steam locomotive 'Tornado'  on the Settle to Carlisle Railway was an opportunity not to be missed.
Deciding to give the circus at Ribblehead Viaduct a wide birth, I drove in to Dentdale to set up at Dent Head Viaduct. A busy week leading up to my one free day meant I had to wing it, not my normal style even though I tell myself this is just a practice for later in the year.

Tornado crossing Dent Head Viaduct

Everything is New

---

York Minster Carillon from the book The Bells and Bellringers of York Minster

I recently changed my whole website to Squarespace. I'd always had people helping me out with my webdesign but finally after much research I discovered a tool where I can make my site look the way I want without having to do any coding. Works great and looks good.

Since I changed the entire website all my old blog posts have disappeared. I decided that I wanted to start off afresh, I've added a few of my older more interesting blog posts as a sort of launch pad, if that makes any sense.