Sunnyside Studio

Low tide on Kilmory Beach, looking north to Rhum and Eigg.

We spent three hours here and saw only one other person who told us that, the previous day, he had watched otters playing round the rocks. This where I would have asked the otters to pose if they had been feeling co-operative.

Low tide on Kilmory Beach, looking north to Rhum and Eigg

The lighthouse at Ardnamurchan.  This stands on the most westerly point of the British mainland.

It is not too difficult to take a reasonable photo of this. Just follow the well worn path to the shiny piece of rock where everyone stands to take this shot. Make sure the horizon and the lighthouse are off centre and hope that the light is good and there is an interesting sky. If you are really lucky there will be a yacht with a red sail in exactly the right place.

Looking south from Ardnamurchan light house on a stormy day.

This scene (180 degrees from the first shot, on a different day) is an example of "the decisive moment" problem. Dark stormy sky, sunlit foreground, rough sea breaking on rocks... there is a good shot in there somewhere. But when do you press the shutter? Which wave, which splash of sunlight on the wet rock is going to produce the great picture? And why does the really huge wave, that sends sunlit spray flying fifty yards inland, choose to come as the camera bag is being packed?

Coll outlined by the setting sun seen from Ardnamurchan Point.

Be in the right place at the right time! The time was right but I did not quite manage the place. If I was ten feet taller the two reefs of rock would have been separated by a narrow lead of sunlit water, joining the picture together.