iesmith.net photography

Bamburgh Castle is built on the Northumbrian coast atop a large basalt outcrop, and though seperated from the sea by a curtain of sand dunes, it dominates the landscape for miles around. The castle is one of the most impressive in northern England, and while in my opinion it lacks the atmosphere of the neighbouring Dunstanburgh Castle, it makes up for that in spades with it's sheer size and grandeur.

Bamburgh Castle is very much a counterpoint to it's nearby neighbour; where Dunstanburgh lies mostly in spectacular ruin, Bamburgh is very much intact. The castle has been extensively restored over the years, first by Lord Crew in the 1750's and more recently by the the Victorian industrialist William Armstrong at the end of the 19th century. Indeed, the castle still serves as home to the Armstrong family, along with a number of other residents who rent out luxury apartments here - reputedly at great cost!

“Imagine Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ frozen in stone and hung up like a colossal screen against the sky. It seems as if Nature when she hurled the Cuillins up into the light of the sun said: ‘I will make mountains which shall be the essence of all that can be terrible in mountains. I will pack into them all the fearful shapes. Their scarred ravines, on which nothing shall grow, shall lead up to towering spires of rock, sharp splinters shall strike the sky along their mighty summits, and they shall be formed of rock unlike any other rock so that they will never look the same for very long, now blue, now grey, now silver, sometimes seeming to retreat or to advance, but always drenched in mystery and terrors” – HV Morton

Glen Sligachan on the Isle of Skye is well worth the trip, and don’t let HV Morton terrify you into staying at home. The glen lies in the shadow of the foreboding and atmospheric Sgurr Nan Gillean of the Black Cuillin mountain range, and the rivers that run through it have numerous waterfalls as well as an attractive stone bridge. On Skye, don’t be surprised to experience the proverbial three to four seasons in one day, but unlike other locations this can be counted quite a blessing, as a moody sky is certainly the most fitting backdrop for the Cuillin... Just be prepared for the challenge of keeping your kit dry.

Isleornsay is a small fishing village on the Sleat peninsula of the Isle of Skye. Across the waters from the village, and over the Sound of Sleat lie the Knoydart mountains of the Scottish mainland, giving a spectacular backdrop to the nearby tidal islands of Ornsay and Eilean Sionnach. On Eilean Sionnach stands a lighthouse built by Robert Louis Stephenson's father in 1857 and automated a little over a century later in 1962.

The lighthouse of Eilean Sionnach is a perfect centerpiece to a quite spectacular bay, surrounded on three sides by cloud-wreathed mountains and the waters of the Sound of Sleat. The fast-changing weather in the bay makes landscape photography a slightly more fast-paced affair than you may be used to, and the tidal nature of the islands means that the character of the bay can change dramatically thoughout the day... Though after a few days on Skye, you'll have gotten used to that.