Low Light at the Storr

Low Light Photography at the Storr

For quite a while I have been keen to visit the Old Man of Storr to photograph there after dark. I also wanted clear skies to get a starry sky, so that meant watching the weather forecasts carefully. Last Wednesday (29th January) provided the best opportunity in recent weeks, so I set off along with Louise and met Richard, from Portree, at the Storr walk car park.

As we were making the effort to go to the north of the island, Louise & I thought we’d like to check out another location first: the old diatomite works at Lealt. We knew the winter light would be difficult there in the afternoon but felt a “reccie” would still be worthwhile. It was! It’s a slightly awkward scramble down to the shoreline but manageable with reasonable care. The ruined buildings make interesting subjects in their unusual location, and we found that it was an easy walk along the river to reach the first of two waterfalls between the shore and the road.

By 3.30pm we were on the path up to the Old Man of Storr, and endured an occasional odd glance from tourists on their way back down. Without pushing on too hard, we reached a split in the path below the Old Man in just 40 minutes. Given that we were carrying quite a lot of equipment, that wasn’t bad going. It was still light and we had enough time to look around and try a few shots before darkness fell.

Just when we thought we were the only people crazy enough to be up there, a torch appeared in the darkness and the well known Skye-based photographer, Marcus McAdam, appeared out of the gloom. He very thoughtfully checked with us that what he wanted to try wasn’t going to interfere with our photography and then proceeded to light up the big Storr cliff behind us with several powerful LED spotlights. We were impressed with those lights so he’s forwarded me a link to his wife’s website: she sells them! See www.spotonlights.com – Marcus recommends the 101 model rather than the 303, and his wife has said she can let me have that at half price for cash (£50). Please let me know if this is of interest. They give a much colder, whiter light than my torch, perhaps more like the colour from a flashgun.

In spite of my mocking comments on the way up when Louise was leaving little piles of flour on the track, on the way back I was grateful that she’d had the foresight to do this. In the dark it really did help our confidence that we were on the right track, and the flour stood out well in our torchlight.

We all went home with some interesting images and, I think, a desire to try it again! On that note, I’ve discussed an idea with Louise and we think we’ve got another good torchlight photography spot lined up for you that’s a bit nearer for most people. Watch this space!

David McH.