Reflection
Photographs are windows, or portals, into an alternate reality of time and place. The viewer looks through the
boundaries of the frame into this alternate universe, or depiction of reality. Inside the photograph there may also
be portals, framed by boundaries in the landscape itself; an example could be the view between the flanks of a mountain,
or valley, or trees; or reflections in a window, or in a still pool of water.
Reflections in water are the most magical and evocative of portals a photographer can use
in an image. They can be a perfect mirror, and used to create symmetry of what's reflected; or texture can be used,
either from freeze-frozen ripples in the water, or a time-blurred representation of the water's movement, to create
an ambiguous, or impressionistic, representation of both that which is reflected, and the nature of the reflector itself.
Ice and Stone, Portage Lake, Alaska
In very early May Portage Lake was still mostly covered by a thin fractured layer of ice. A local I met on the evening I made this image
told me that in all his dozens of trips from Anchorage to photograph it, he'd never seen it still and quiet like this. For me the conditions
perfectly complemented the serene and simple palette of blue, grey and white. The only sounds I could hear as I stood on the lake's edge
were the faint splintering of melting ice and some far-off splashes as a beaver swam across the lake.
Mewslade Beach, Gower, Wales
One of my very favourite beaches. Quite hidden to find, and totally submerged at high tide, its treasure of intricate limestone
formations make it one of the most photogenically rich and rewarding beaches that I know and I usually return once a year.
Seilebost, Isle of Harris, Scotland
Thousands of lugworm casts are exposed at every low tide, after the sea completely drains from the bay of Traigh Losgaintir.
Erupting Mt. Redoubt from across the Cook Inlet, Alaska
The state-owned Stariski campground lies just off the Sterling Highway, which runs down the eastern shore of the Cook Inlet.
Perched atop the cliffs, both the highway and the campground have incredible views looking over the inlet to the volcanoes on
the far shore. On our visit on 14th May however, the view was even more spectacular than usual - Mt. Redoubt, the third highest
peak of the Aleutian Range and an active stratovolano, was erupting. Devoid of its usual snow cover compared to its neighbours,
the plume of steam from the summit lava dome is here strewn across the sky by prevailing winds. We were the sole users of Stariski
for this night - the entire campsite was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash.
Luskentyre Seaweed, Isle of Harris, Scotland
Sand ripples, Mainland Orkney, Scotland
The reflection here of the setting sun is provided by the wet Orcadian sand.
Talisker Bay, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Uig Beach, Isle of Lewis, Scotland
Lake Pukaki, Canterbury, New Zealand
This view of a calm and glassy Lake Pukaki opened up as I drove along the road from Tekapo village on a cool cloudy evening. In the week
I spent in the area I never saw the lake even half as still as this.
Bla Bheinn, Isle of Skye, Scotland
An incredibly still and crisp December sunrise as I drove past Loch Cill Chriosd towards Blaven, the snow-flecked mountain here on the
left. A few hours later I was surrounded by the frosty rocks on the top.
Ghost Trees, Portage Valley, Alaska
Loch Alsh, Scotland
Teklanika River, Denali National Park, Alaska
Ribbons of glacier melt reflecting a bloodshot sky.
Sand ridges, Mainland Orkney
Taken on an Orcadian beach at sunset.
Rackwick Beach, Hoy, Orkney Isles
Calanais Stones, Isle of Lewis
A storm approaches the 'Stonehenge of the North.' At the time they were made from the local Lewisian gneiss, sometime around
2000 BC in the Bronze Age, the climate was warmer and drier than it is today, and boggy peat has long since replaced the greener
landscape of the past ages.
Abandoned Crofter's House, Isle of Harris
This decaying old cottage is now used as a shelter for sheep. But as I ventured inside, treading carefully through the thick
carpet of straw and compacted droppings, I found this poignant reminder of the life of the last inhabitants - a vase still
placed on the mantlepiece; the drying rail above the gas stove; and the wooden chair in the corner, facing into the bare room.
Rackwick Beach, Hoy, Orkney Isles
These ebony pebbles buried in the sand caused the receding tide to carve gentle channels around them as it went.
Calanais Stones, Isle of Lewis
A long exposure by moonlight captures the eerie silent spectral forms of these 5000-year old standing stones.
Loch Leathan and the Cuillin, Isle of Skye
Clisham, Isle of Harris
It was a boggy slog up this highest peak of Harris and Lewis; there's no path, only a thick blanket of wet moss covering the lower
slopes.
Loch An Fhir Bhallaich, Isle of Skye
The December's setting sun cast a deep red hue across the brown heather on the lower southern slopes of the Cuillin ridge.
Luskentyre, Isle of Harris
Traigh Mheilein, North Harris
This rusty buoy lies half buried in the sands of this remote beach. It may look a pleasant enough day - but in typical Hebridean fashion,
we suffered several hailstorms blown by gale force winds during our half hour return along the steep rocky coast back to Huisinis!
Bla Bheinn, Isle of Skye
An incredibly still and crisp December sunrise as I drove past Loch Cill Chriosd towards Blaven, the snow-flecked mountain here on the
left. A few hours later I was surrounded by the frosty rocks on the top.
Traigh Sheileboist, Isle of Harris
Golden light as the sun sets behind Taransay in May. Traigh Sheileboist is a stunning sandy beach near Sielebost that looks
out over the Sound of Taransay and the hills of North Harris.
Standing Stones of Stenness, Mainland Orkney
I always try to capture the image I want in-camera; normally I would use a graduated neutral density filter on the camera to balance the
intensity of light from the sky with the land, so that the exposure records detail in both halves of the frame. But here that would have the
effect of making the bottom half of the central stone lighter than the top half, with an artificial line running across the middle. So instead
here is a rare occasion that I've blended two exposures together - a technique known as HDR ('high dynamic range'). I shot two images - one
exposed for the grass and stone, and one exposed for the sky; and then manually blended these together in Photoshop. It's the equivalent of
using a GND filter in the shape of the standing stones of Stenness... but who has one of those?
Traigh Sheilebost, Isle of Harris
Pierowall Harbour, Westray, Orkney Isles
Westray is one of Orkney's most northerly small isles, with population just 550; Pierowall is its only village. From this island to its neighbour
Papa Westray is the world's shortest scheduled flight, which lasts a mere two minutes!
Sandwood Bay, Sutherland
Sandwood Bay is a spectacular, pristine, unspoilt expanse of
sand, miles from the nearest road and only reachable after an hour's walk. Paradise.
Sheigra, Sutherland
A lone clump of pink flowers clings to a crevice in the rock, their colour lost in the surrounding warm glow from the setting sun.
Luskentyre, Isle of Harris
Spring flowers basking in the orange glow of a Hebridean sunset.
Luskentyre Seaweed, Isle of Harris
Strathaird Coast, Isle of Skye
Wanting to find original
angle from which to make an image of the Cuillin from Elgol, I walked south along the coast of the Strathaird
peninsula where I found a multitude of interesting rocky bays and cliffs looking across Loch Scavaig.
I returned late in the evening to make an image; my intention was to capture the tide shooting up the two
rock crevices in the lower half of the picture; however, my favourite exposure turned out to be this one,
0.4 seconds long, just long enough to catch an impression of the wave washing across the rock.
Elgol rock formations, Isle of Skye
It's satisfying to find symmetry and order in something so seemingly random and chaotic as natural landscape. Here
I liked the juxtaposition of rock textures, and the fact that the three large clumps of foreground rock, nearly
identical in form, gave home to three clumps of small pink flowers.
Road to the Cuillin, Isle of Skye
The natural lines
act as a road for the eye to move from the foreground rocks to the ridge on the horizon.
Elgol beach, Isle of Skye
No stone was placed...
not by man at least. Strong tides have one by one placed these large pebbles into the crevice between two slabs
of contrasting rock. I framed the scene with a strong symmetry, using two larger pebbles to terminate
each end of the line with a full stop.
Elgol beach, Isle of Skye
The natural curve of this
rock near the shoreline reminds me of the shape of yin and yang, Taijitu.
Twilight on Elgol beach, Isle of Skye
No artifical colours
or preservatives... on film or digital, a long exposure taken well after the sun has set and under
a clear twilight sky has the effect of casting a deep blue hue across the landscape.
Lichen and rock, Isle of Skye
Snail, lichen and rock, Isle of Skye
In the half minute or so
which elapsed between the two exposures that I took, this snail had rotated by 90 degrees. I only noticed when reviewing
the images later that evening.
Island of Rum from Elgol beach, Isle of Skye
Light on a tree, Isle of Skye
Hiking down from
the Cuillin outlier Blaven, I noticed how the late afternoon sun was reaching across the sides of the
steep-sided valley at just the right angle to illuminate the young green foilage and branches of the trees
but not the valley itself.
Eigg from the lower slopes of the Cuillin ridge, Isle of Skye
I used a second's exposure during a gust of wind to capture movement in the grasses, but the result is slightly
lost in the overall texture. I like the light though.
Rock shape on Elgol beach, Isle of Skye
Talisker Beach, Isle of Skye
In this image I wanted
to arrange the sunken rocks in such a way as to connect them by their encircling mini-moats of draining sea water,
and thereby somehow relate them together inside the frame.
Skara Brae, Orkney Isles
The 5000-year old
Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae lies half buried in grass and sand on the edge of an encroaching beach.
