Eigg Day Four – Flu in Full Swing
My flu was progressing nicely today, especially with the long day yesterday. We walked to the beach with Tamara, Paul (he started looking human again) and Dav this morning and progressed onto Laig bay where both Paul and Dav started flaking badly.. We had some intense sunshine and blue skies which quickly knocked people for six. I must have walked around the area for a couple of hours and only found one shot showing the textures of the beach but taken in open light it was never going to win any awards. I’ve uploaded a version of both the Astia transparency. The problem with intense light is that it kills all subtle contrast and colour and although the details were superb in places, trying to shade enough area to make more than a plan view shot is tough. Dav managed a shaded shot which reflected his mood I think.
After taking this shot, I talked Tamara into taking a large format detail shot, introducing her to the delights of compound swinging and tilting. She did a fine job although I’m not sure we’ve converted her yet (her tripod may need upgrading if she did).
That evening, Dav and I ventured all of one hundred yards up the road to a small field in the back of someones garden where a few chaotic pictures were taken against a non-eventful sunset. I was surprised at how well the pictures came out on digital considering that they were taken some time after a cloudy sunset. At the time I didn’t think a large format picture could work but since looking at the digital pictures, I realise now that there is nearly always the possibility for good results, even if you can’t see anything. I could almost see interesting images on the back of the camera, but wasn’t sure they would translate – now I know to try it next time.. This was the last day on Eigg and the next day we split for a very wet Skye
Getting everything together for our journey over to Skye was such a pain – six photographers with associated gear distributed around a two up two down is just not a tidy experience. Two hours later though and our gear is distributed all over the road where a minibus, ferry, steam train, another ferry and a car drive later and we’re in Skye, boozing away in a pub instead of taking photographs (which was pretty nice). On the way back to the accomodation, myself and Dav were rocking away to Sucioperro (a alt-rock band from Ayrshire). Zooming along a dark lane, just as the song reached a head banging climax, I wondered where the road had gone … and why there were lots of boat parts either side of the road … and when we started heading downwards, an emergency stop and clouds of dust cleared and revealed a velvety black loch, a handful of yards away from our headlights. So – moral for the story – rock music, booze and roads that end in piers don’t mix!
