Glencoe is perhaps Scotland's most astonishing glen. In addition to the justly famous mountains it has a hidden and contrasting surprise. The Lost Valley (Coire Gabhail) lies between Geàrr Aonach (Short Hill) and Beinn Fhada (Long Mountain). W.H. Murray describes in his book Mountaineering in Scotland how he and two friends waded across the River Coe in freezing winter conditions to get to the path (in 1939). There is now a bridge but Murray's account reminds us that the Lost Valley was much more inaccessible in the past.
Murray's vivid description of the Lost Valley in winter is enough to whet the appetite of any landscape photographer. On my visit at the end of last November, conditions were not quite as enchanting as they had been for Murray and his friends but they were magical all the same. A recent fall of snow had left plenty of interest even after a thaw; in fact the mixture of warm colours from rocks and trees contrasting with the pure white of snow is preferable to me.
With days so short it is important to keep an eye on the time. I almost lost the main picture, having got engrossed in a study of moss covered rocks at the flat part of the valley with A' Chailleach (The Old Woman) just included. I was determined to have light grazing the snow covered top of the mountain and didn't notice how late it was getting. By the time things came together I realized that a good sunset was not far off. Luckily I had made a photograph including Am Bodach (The Old Man) on my way in using a standard lens. Another possibility with a wide angle lens occurred to me but the light was not quite right for it. Now was the time to fine tune the idea, though time seemed to be in rather short supply.
I climbed back up the path quickly and double checked, using a viewfinder, that my previous thoughts were on the right track. To my relief the optimum position seemed very clear so I set up; till the composition is checked on the ground glass nothing can be decided as final. With sunset now well under way there was a pressing need to get the film holder in the back of the camera. But there is no shortcut to focusing and filter selection (only a grad on this occasion). It is for such situations that the photographer needs to be so familiar with the equipment that operating it is second nature. This was probably the quickest set up I have ever made, helped by the fact that exposure and filter selection were fairly straightforward. A small amount of lens tilt took care of the plane of focus. In fact I had time to make three exposures as the sunset lasted for quite some time.
The patches of snow prevented the foreground from being too dark but did not compete with the thicker covering on the distant mountains. Another important point is that the various slopes registered as separate tones; if they had merged the photograph would not have been worth making. Checking for such things is second nature to me by now. A fair amount of effort is sometimes expended in debates about intuitive versus methodical approaches. In fact there is no polarity here, intuition in any field is largely the result of having put in the necessary work so that the task at hand, whether physical or mental, is performed without laborious conscious negotiation of all the low level detail.
The other photograph shown here was made on the way in without so much pressure. The key point was to give due emphasis to the rather odd appearance of Gearr Aonach from this angle. I decided to employ two forms of contrast, one of illumination and the other of colour. The peak is rendered almost black; this was essentially a forced decision since a heavy grad was necessary to avoid the sky washing out. As the sky had some blue in it I used a coral 2 grad (inverted) to shift the landscape more towards the red. There is a time and a place for muted colours and full detail; this was not it, heightened drama was the aim.
< d i v c l a s s = " n a v i g a t i o n " > < a h r e f = " . . / i n t r o . h t m l " > H o m e < / a > & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; < a h r e f = " . . / g a l l e r i e s . h t m l " > G a l l e r i e s < / a > & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; < a h r e f = " . . / a b o u t . h t m l " > A b o u t < / a > & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; < a h r e f = " . . / e x h i b i t i o n s . h t m l " > E x h i b i t i o n s < / a > & n b s p ; & n b s p ; < a h r e f = " . . / a r t i c l e s . h t m l " > A r t i c l e s < / a > & n b s p ; & n b s p < a h r e f = " . . / p r i n t s . h t m l " > P r i n t s < / a > & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; < a h r e f = " m a i l t o : k k @ k k p i c t u r e s . c o m ? s u b j e c t = K y r i a k o s K a l o r k o t i L a n d s c a p e P h o t o g r a p h y E n q u i r y . " > C o n t a c t < / a > & n b s p ; & n b s p ; & n b s p ; < a h r e f = " . . / l i n k s . h t m l " > L i n k s < / a > < / d i v > < / b o d y > < / h t m l >