We love being in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature and photographic opportunities.  Having visited the Outer Hebrides a couple of times, we opted to visit The Isle of Mull this time. We poured over cottages and have had this visit planned for over a year.

I bought new filters, was looking forward to giving my birthday lens a workout. ( I actually never got it out of  my bag ) What we hadn’t planned on was the rain. It rained every day that we were there – including the two days it took us to get there. Huge storms battering the picture postcard patio outside the cottage looking over Ben More where I’d had visions of sitting with my camera and coffee.

‘Watch the otters and eagles’ friends said, you just have to sit patiently. On our first outing I had on 2 t shirts, a woolly jumper, a waterproof coat, hat and gloves and I was still freezing – sitting patiently anywhere was not going to be an option.

Plan B then! I love photographs of texture and so went ‘small’ in terms of getting a macro shot of a small part of an image. We saw some amazing abandoned boats in Salen known as the three ladies. My teacher brain immediately kicked in and I knew these would be perfect for the sort of work I enjoy.

It had fortunately stopped raining for a short while and so I spent a happy half an hour taking photos.

Tips for this sort of image would be:

• Fill your frame – as in the centre image – keep your camera level to your object
• Look for contrasting details – like the old wood and new sapling top left
• Are there details which will lead people to want to know more – you can then move back and include a shot of the whole scene (weather permitting)

‘The best wide angle lens? Two steps backwards, look for the ah ha’

Ernst Haas

Once you decide to look at texture or images that fill your frame the possibilities are endless.

I’m doing #30dayswild with ~Tommy & LJ this month and this is a great activity whatever the weather 🙂 Give it a go J x