CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

The River Tyne Estuary in East Lothian is at the western end of Belhaven Bay a couple of miles from Dunbar. The John Muir Country Park is on the eastern shore and Tyningham woods is on the west shore.    At low tide the mudflats and sandbanks are revealed and the estuary is home to a whole host of wading birds taking advantage of the abundant food sources along the shoreline. On the west shore the rock formations revealed by the receding tide are  fascinating  and a great source of inspiration for photography. Tyne Estuary + John Muir Country Park from MacLean Photographic on Vimeo . The Tyne Estuary and John Muir Country Park is one of the locations on the MacLean Photographic workshops. For more information visit  www.macleanphotographic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS O...

During our walk along the John Muir Way near East Linton yesterday we came across a small patch of bluebells growing alongside the path.  The overhanging trees created pools of sunlight amongst the flowers which provided some great contrasty light with which to shoot. Using the X-T1 and the 56mm f1.2 lens I took these three images of the bluebells.  Selecting a wide aperture of f4 I was able to throw the background out of focus while the flower I was concentrating on was perfectly sharp.

This afternoon we decided to go for walk in the sunshine along the John Muir Way near East Linton.  The John Muir Way stretched from Dunbar all the way to Helensburgh on the west coast of Scotland, 134 miles / 215km in total and was opened to celebrate the founding father of the national parks in the USA who was born in Dunbar.   John Muir was an explorer, mountaineer, conservationist, botanist, amateur geologist and writer of distinction.   The John Muir Way near East Linton runs alongside the River Tyne and Preston Mill, which is a National Trust for Scotland property.   Preston Mill, with its distinctive Dutch style conical-roof, was East Lothian’s last working water mill. The 2.5 mile stretch of the John Muir way crosses the river at three times, with two fords in the river for farm traffic.  The crossings allow walkers to take in the river and the scenery as it meanders its way through the East Lothian countryside on its way to the sea at ...

Hailes Castle is one of my favourite locations for photographic expeditions.  Situated just a few miles from Dunbar this ruined castle is steeped in history and is located in the perfect location on the banks of the River Tyne.  In the winter Hailes looks forlorn and bleak but when spring comes along the wild flowers provide a carpet of colour.  There are also walks on both sides of the river and plenty of things to photograph in and about the castle grounds. Last Wednesday I spent an hour photographing the snowdrops and also the castle itself in the beautiful spring sunshine. History Hidden away in the pretty valley of the River Tyne stands the remarkable castle of Hailes. It is one of Scotland’s oldest stone castles, dating from the first half of the 1200s. Hailes Castle served as a fortified noble residence for over 300 years. The puzzle is its location, for the castle is overlooked at close quarters by high ground, making it very difficult to defend. T...

A winters day walk down to the Tyne Estuary as the tide was receding is the perfect way to unwind.  On the beach near Skittery Burn there are a lot of dead trees along the shoreline where the woods meets the water.  Over the years the beach has encroached into the woods, washing away the soil from the roots of the pines, eventually felling the trees.  The roots and trunks of these dead trees litter the shore and provide a great subject for black and white images. The shot at the top of the page was taken on the X-T1 with a Lee 10x ND filter fitted to give an exposure time of 80 seconds.  This produced the movement in clouds that were approaching the coast from inland.  The next set of images were also shot on the X-T1 and Fujinon 10-24mm f4 wide angle zoom and then converted to mono in NIK Silver Efex Pro2 software. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLE...

One of my favourite spots near to our home in Dunbar is the Tyningham Estate with long stretches of sandy beaches and walks through the woods which I have already written about on the blog many times.   On Sunday we went through Link Woods to the beach on the estuary of the River Tyne and walked along the edge of the water at high tide.  The trees come very close to the waters edge with a thin strip of sandy beach which is reminiscent of images from the Caribbean or Pacific islands you see in holiday brochures, even if the temperature is 10-15 degrees cooler - well this is Scotland. Both images were captured on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and Fujinon 18mm f2.  I decided to convert the shots into monochrome because I felt the strong contrasts suited a black and white image.  I applied a selenium tone as part of the conversion in Silver Efex Pro2. Today I will be travelling to Germany, heading to the home of Porsche for a meeting at the Headquarters of the German ...

Last week, before I went to Italy, I took an early morning walk up by Hailes Castle in the glorious spring sunshine.  I had been up to Hailes on one previous occasion just after we moved to East Lothian but I hadn't been back since. The ruins of Hailes Castle sits on the edge of the River Tyne near East Linton and there is a really nice walk near the river with lots of wild flowers at the this time of year ( CLICK HERE for the blog on this walk), I had decided to revisit the castle to take more shots of the ruins and also see if I could come up with a better view of the ruins as it is difficult to get a good composition due to its proximity to the river.  However on this morning I think I have found a better view for a morning visit. Here are some of the shots from the latest visit to Hailes Castle CLICK HERE for the previous blog on Hailes Castle (21 August 2013), which includes the dramatic history of this ruin. ...