Photo of the Month: May 2014

Pittenweem harbour, East Neuk, Fife

18th May 2014, Pittenweem, East Neuk, Fife

Pittenweem harbour in the East Neuk. It has the largest fleet of commercial fishing boats in Fife as well as a fish market and some of the oldest buildings in the East Neuk.  I have spent many hours here photographing along the quayside.  On this particular evening the inner harbour was like a millpond as the sun was setting on a brooding sky. A graduated neutral density filter added some definition to the sky and the final image was created by stitching together two overlapping frames. 

Technical Info:

Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mkII
Zeiss Distagon T* 21/2.8 ZE lens

EXIF: ISO-100 / 2.5 sec @ f/11  x 2 frames, stitched

Lee filters: 0.6 Soft GND

RAW File converted to TIFF in Canon DPP, developed in Adobe PSE9

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Go Ochils: Lower Glendevon Reservoir, Perthshire

I took a drive up into Glen Devon tonight to search out potential locations at both Upper and Lower Glendevon Reservoirs.  There is parking at the roadside where the private road signed for Frandy Farm leaves the main A823 road through Glen Devon.  Alternatively, drive 2km along the private road to Frandy Fishery (seasonal) and seek permission to park at the lodge. The track can be rough in places and livestock is allowed to roam freely.  From the fishery I made my way to where the road ends at Upper Glendevon Reservoir.  There wasn't really much potential here unless your forte is for concrete dams, walkways and overflow channels.  It was all a bit bleak.  

Returning to Frandy I noticed the outflow tower on the other side of the lower reservoir so once I was below Frandy Farm I pulled over and went for a look.  The evening was very warm, humid and quite still.  Ideal conditions for the scourge of every landscape photographer in Scotland; the midge, or little b*stards as they are mostly known by.  Once I reached the reservoir they descended on me, the camera, the lens and the filters.  I was fighting a losing battle.  At least I kept the fishermen amused with my constant blowing across the filters to stop the buggers from landing and waving my arms about like a mad man with a hood up and hat on.  The conditions were far from ideal too with the sun due to set too far to the north west for this location in July.  The outlet tower makes a good subject though with some interesting stone architecture and ironwork, although the final section of the bridge to the tower is out of bounds due to gates and locks, etc.  I will return in the autumn when the sun has moved around and the midges are no more.

A satellite map of Glen Devon and Glen Eagles is below.  Auchterarder is the nearest town, 5 miles to the north, and has B&B's, pubs, cafes, banks and shops.  For those burdened with heavy bags of money, fear not because The Gleneagles Hotel is there to help you lighten the load.