Scotland 2008 Part XXVIII: Photographing Rivers on Skye

Digital original

This river, in the Sheil Valley, was the only time R_ and I actually had to ford a river to get to a location; We both carefully walked through chilly water up to our knees to get to  the lovely turbulent river on the other side of the larger one. Before R_ and I began working in the space together, I made an image of the stream itself, one of my few landscape from the second week in Scotland.

Digital infrared original, 6 frame stitch

Once I got the landscape images out of the way, R_ and I began working with the space. The water was cooler than I'd hoped, so the first portion was spent with R_ posing beside the river. Eventually however, she took the plunge and we made half a dozen compositions focusing on the interplay between skin and water. The shallow bowl which R_ spend so much of her time working in was just perfect for modeling; the only missing element was warm water!

Digital original, 3 frame shutter speed blend

Made at the end of a long day photographing on the mainland, R_ and I were driving through the rain towards our bed and breakfast when we passed the Sligachan bridge; I glanced at it, was was stunned by the beauty of the swift-moving river below the bridge. I spent a couple of minutes out in the rain, carefully shielding the lens from the water that was still cascading down. The soaked feet and cold hands were more than worth it.