Stornoway at sunset

The wicker lady in Lews Castle Grounds in Stornoway. I really like this sculpture and have been trying to take a shot of her at twilight for a few days. Unfortunately the bright spotlight to her left keeps burning out the sky. I'll probably post another picture in the future when I take out a set of step ladders and a jacket to throw over the light.

Canon 7D, Canon EF24-70 @28mm, ISO100, f4, 30sec

Twilight on a lovely calm night in Stornoway.

Canon 7D, Canon EF 24-70 @35mm, ISO100, f20, 30sec

A short while later. Unfortunately a couple of boats came through the harbour and caused some ripples on the water. Some nice effects from the car lights going along the harbour front though which I quite like.

Canon 7D, EF 24-70 @35mm, ISO 100, f10, 30sec

 Another sculpture in front of Lews Castle. The sky turned out a lot better in this shot than with the wicker lady. Lens wouldn't focus in the low light so bit of guesswork on manual focus. Could be a little sharper in the foreground but hey ho.

Canon 7D, Canon EF24-70 @ 24mm, ISO 100, f2.8, 30sec

The wicker lady in front of the castle. The castle could be very photogenic but there are 3 different colours of lights and the left side of the building isn't lit up at all (hence the blown out highlights on the tower).

Canon 7D, Canon EF24-70 @ 34mm, ISO 100, f2.8, 25sec

A little more of the Outer Hebrides.

The community boat An Sulaire getting a bit of TLC in Stornoway harbour. An Sulaire trust is a registered charity which owns and sails the only full size Sgoth Niseach (Ness Boat) in existence. You can check out the website at http://www.ansulaire.com/

A panoramic of Tarbert. The main town on the Isle of Harris and the connecting point to the Isle of Skye. The Ferry link span can be seen on the right. Unfortunately the Calmac ferry Hebridean Isles had just sailed and gone round the headland before I took the pictures. The picture consists of 8 shots stitched together in Photoshop. Hopefully I'll get it again one day when the weather is a bit more clement and the ferry is in view.

Coming home

 

Looking from Stornoway towards Tolsta with Tong, Coll, Back and Gress in between.

Looking east over Broad Bay with Point in the distance and the mountains of the mainland on the horizon.

Another view towards Tolsta with Tong sands in the foreground.

The village of Coll where I grew up. Tiumpan Head light house can just be seen in the top right.

Another shot towards Tong over the sands, Sandwick in the foreground.

Coll beach in the center of the shot. My local beach as a kid.

Stornoway looking south west.

A closer shot of the town. Goat island on the left and the castle grounds on the opposite side of the bay.

The offending plane. Not exactly a jumbo but pretty expensive for the owner I'd imagine.

It's not very often you get put into a holding pattern when you're flying into Stornoway. I wasn't even aware of a holding pattern on the island. I thought you could just cruise around at your leisure. The co-pilot came across the tannoy to announce that an aircraft had crashed on the 2nd runway and they were awaiting assistance from the fire service. This half an hour sojourn above Stornoway and the surrounding area gave some fantastic opportunities to take a few snaps. They came out surprisingly well considering the scratched state of aircraft windows. Quite a few did have to be discarded due to the engine exhaust getting in the shot.