AV News 186 - November 2011
In s p ire d b y th e L a n d s c a p e
Suzanne Walker ARPS
Winner of the Bronze Medal
at the 17th National AV Championships.
A couple of years ago I decided to go on
another photographic course. I wanted to
improve my photography and needed some
stimulation and new ideas. Ken Biggs had
told me about some landscape photography
workshops he and Margaret had been on,
organised and run by Iain McGowan FRPS.
They sounded just what I wanted.
Iain, and his wife Joy, run several each year
and we decided to go on one to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. We’d
never been there before. The workshop was for a week in May and we spent
a few days on the way on the Isle of Skye and then the Isle of Lewis.
We had clear blue skies
until our second day on Lewis
when we had a heavy
rainstorm. Had the weather
changed for the worse?
But as we went south to
Harris, the skies cleared.
Maybe we’d be lucky. We
were.
It
was
perfect
photographic weather: not
totally clear blue skies but with
interesting clouds and some
dramatic lighting.
There are several advantages
going on an organised course
like this: we had time to wait
for the light; I didn’t have to
think about dinner as we had
a resident chef; and most
importantly, Iain knew the
area and so knew the best
time to go to different places.
We spent one day on
beaches on the west coast
and a contrasting day in the
rocky east.
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