A regular 'tree fix'

Durness is not renowned for it's trees. Mountains, beaches, lochs yes. Trees? no.
Well to be fair we do have some trees if you're willing to seek them out and one area of woodland is so special to me that it remains my secret!
So, occasionally I take a photographic road trip to visit forests and areas of woodland with the hope of finding a great composition but if I'm honest, mainly to get my tree fix.

Being amongst trees has always had an attraction to me. The sound of branches and leaves moving gently in a breeze, perhaps the sound of a small burn meandering it's way, all accompanied by a chorus of birdsong, it all makes for the most calming, relaxing feeling of renewal.

October. Ravens Rock Gorge is a location which has experienced huge changes in recent years. A footpath once wandered into a steep sided gorge, looking like a place that time forgot. Then a landslide completely transformed the place, obstructing it with the collapsed walls of the gorge and scattering huge trees like tooth picks.

However, this is still a place worthy of a visit and in autumn, the palette of colours is impressive. Mid-morning, the sunlight starts to find its way to the innermost areas of the woods casting a superb soft light contrasting with deep shadows

​February. Having your vehicle in the dealership for repairs is never a treat but on this occasion I decided to make best of the day (and use of the courtesy car!) and to go and explore Aldie Burn near Tain. On arrival I was surprised to see patches of ice in the car park where the sun hadn't reached. It had been a couple of weeks since we had snow or temperatures below or approaching zero and starting along the track extensive stretches of ice made progress tricky.
For the duration there was no sign of sunlight and I made my way through the forest in flat grey light. Oh well, I was enjoying the walk. As I approached the final section of the trail, I stood alone just taking in the silence and admiring a really unusual tree and wondered if there might be a composition there for a return visit in better light . Then amazingly, before my eyes, the scene before me was transformed. Beautiful filtered sunlight made it's way through the canopy illuminating sections of the tree like a spotlight

I quickly set up the camera on the tripod, quickly checked settings and fired the shutter. The resulting image, 'Gnarly Tree' was my one and only exposure - immediately after reviewing it on the camera's screen the sun disappeared and was absent for the remainder of the day. In actual fact, I did experiment with other compositions regardless but the position of the tree, flowing burn, and the steep bank on which I was positioned made it a difficult scene. I'm actually quite pleased with the result. I love the contrast between the branches illuminated by the sunlight and the deep shadows of the foreground and background. I even like the quirky tall grasses pointing towards the tree (something which many photographers would have 'edited out')

Shooting in woodland can be tricky, with so many visual distractions, compositions can be almost chaotic at times but at risk of using a much overused phrase this one really does 'take me back to the moment'. I hope you like it as much.