“So That Sheep May Safely Graze” — A road sign on a single-track road in Scottish sheep country.
On the Isle of Skye, and for that matter all over Scotland, there are sheep. A LOT of sheep. What cattle are to the American west, sheep are to Scotland, or so it seems. The sheep and their abundant pastures are a significant component of the Scottish landscape — you encounter them everywhere when you walk or drive. I’ll let you speculate on the purpose of this road sign for a moment before explaining… (If you read this post where the next paragraph is already visible, pause and see if you can figure it out.)
“Highlands Loch, Mountains, and Sky” — Dark clouds, a loch, and mountains in the Scottish highlands.
Having just returned from our second long visit to Scotland and the highlands, I’m still trying to form a clear sense of just what defines the character of this landscape. Admittedly, this is a subjective thing, affected by our unique experiences there and by the prior experiences to which we compare that. My touchstone for “mountains” is California’s Sierra Nevada, a generally congenial range with sunshine and access to very high places. By Sierra standards, Scotland’s high places are “low” — but equally spectacular. Scotland definitely does not seem like a “place of sunshine” — instead it is wet, cloudy, and when sunshine comes it is often muted.
“Trees, Stream Bank” — Trees and spring grass along side a creek, Applecross Bay, Scotland.
Perhaps I have already mentioned that we experienced a lot of “gray” weather during our May visit to northwest Scotland? In fact, the locals told us that it was colder, wetter, and grayer than usual for this time of the year. We even saw new snow on some highlands peaks, and we had at least some precipitation just about every single day. That weather, along with early May time frame meant that we did not see a whole lot of lovely green landscape. But there were a few exceptions, including this spot at Applecross Bay.
“Autumn Cottonwood Tree” — A small cottonwood tree with autumn foliage next to a sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park.
Although it has been more than a decade since I made this photograph (yes, another “lost and found” photo), I have distinct memories of the circumstances surrounding it. That fall I spent a few weeks exploring the Southern Utah landscape, from the backcountry of Grand Staircase-Escalante to several national parks. Sometimes I photographed alone, but along the way I met up with various friends, relatives, and photographers.
A photographer friend and I camped for several days at Capitol Reef National Park. We explored areas near the campground. (Yes, we tried the pie…) But one day we took a longer trip into the park’s backcountry. At the end of the day we returned to the campground, and just before we arrived we stopped to photograph these autumn trees against a red rock wall.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
