CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

On Wednesday this week it will be four years since we moved into our current home in Dunbar on  Scotland's east coast and we are still discovering new places to visit locally.  Today was another first as we went for a walk in Pressmennan Wood, a Woodland Trust Scotland reserve near Stenton just outside Dunbar. While there has been plenty of snow in the Highlands and further south, East Lothian has not seen any of the white stuff, but it has been VERY cold, with the car showing minus 3 degrees as we headed into the hills outside Dunbar. The sun was low in the sky, as it always is at this time of year, which cast long shadows through the trees. Using the Fujifilm X-E3 I have on test until Tuesday I captured some images along our walk around the frozen lake.  The ice was very thin, you certainly couldn't stand on it, but it did make for some really nice images. I used the 23mm f2, 18mm f2 or the 90mm f2 prime lenses for the images on this page. CLICK HERE ...

Today we took a  ride out to Abbey St Bathans with the intention of walking out to see the Edin's Hall Broch, a 2000 year old round house that was very rare in the south of Scotland. The walking route took us along part of the Southern Upland Way and followed the Whiteadder Water and the circular route was about 7 miles in length following the well marked Abbey St Bathans pathway. The Broch is perched high above the river valley and there are great views all around.  The Broch itself is very visible and there is evidence of other buildings in the same area. Not much is known about why this structure, which is more common in west and north Scotland, was built in this location and whether the other building were part of the same settlement or were built in another period. HISTORY OF EDIN'S HALL BROCH Text from Historic Environment Scotland website The broch, or roundhouse, at Edin’s Hall is just one part of a complex site. ...

Landscape photography is mostly about planning to be in the right location and waiting for the right light.  However sometimes you just 'luck in' and this happened to me yesterday on the shore of Loch Fyne in the Highlands of Scotland. We were traveling back up the A82 to Inveraray when it started to rain.  The village has a small harbour so we decided to stop and wait for the rain to clear through.  As I was parking the car the light suddenly changed and a full rainbow appeared above the anchorage, highlighted by the dark rain clouds further up the loch. I grabbed the X-Pro2 with the Samyang 8mm fisheye to get the full arch rainbow.  I then had time to switch to the 50-140mm to get a closer shot of the rainbow hitting the sailing vessel moored up and then the 18mm f2 to get a different viewpoint before the rain stopped and the rainbow disappeared. It was a beautiful sight and one that I was in the right place at the right time to capture - pure luck!! ...

The Three Widest Fujinon Prime Lenses 14mm f2.8 - 16mm f1.4 - 18mm f2 You often see on Fujifilm forums and groups questions about which wide angle lenses are the best for landscapes and travel and I see a lot of different answers from people of varying expertise.  It is really down to the individual photographer to identify what they want to shoot and the best lens for them.   For me I love to have an ultra wide lens, so  my favourite wide angle lens in my camera bag is the Fujinon XF10-24mm f4, which goes with me everywhere because of its flexibility and relative compact size.  I also have the XF18mm f2 prime, which was one of the four primes I bought with my X-Pro1 back in 2013, which is one of my favourite primes for having on the camera when I am travelling due to its small size and fast f2 aperture. The Three Widest Fujinon Prime Lenses 14mm f2.8 - 16mm f1.4 - 18mm f2 The widest field of view prime lens that Fujifilm produce for the X Series is the ...