CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Just off the B9007 between Forres and Carrbridge in the Highlands of Scotland is the little known ruin of Lochindorb Castle.    Lochindorb means 'Loch of Trouble' and the 13th century castle was built by the Clan Cromyn on a man made island in the centre of the loch. On a recent visit to Forres I decided to stop off at Lochindorb to scout out the location for a future visit.  The wind had dropped completely and the loch was like a mirror, with the dark peaty water water perfectly reflecting the broken clouds above. I launched the DJI Mavic Pro to get some aerial footage around the castle as the only other way to approach the ruin is by boat.  The scene below the drone's camera was very etherial and I carried out a 15 minute flight to capture several angles and a few still images before landing the drone on the shore.  Being low down, and with only one angle from where I was flying the drone, I decided not to shoot still images with the Fujifilm X Serie...

On Sunday the Carter family headed to the west coast of Scotland for a 3 hour Sea Kayak adventure with the Arisaig Sea Kayak Centre.  This would be our first experience of sea kayaking so we had our fingers and toes crossed for calm and dry weather. Sea Kayak Trip - Arisaig from Fujifilm X Adventure on Vimeo . We had a comfortable night at the Lochailort Inn about 10-miles east of Arisaig. The  overnight  weather was not promising with heavy rain and winds but we know from experience it can change quite quickly. The next day the weather was looking better as the wind had dropped and the clouds were breaking up - perfect! We arrived at the Arisaig Sea Kayak Centre the next day and checked in.  We were greeted by our guides Suzie and Rory and after getting kitted out we drove to the launching site on the other side of the bay.   After unloading the kayaks from the trailer and a quick run through how to get in and out of the kayak and the safety...

Fujifilm X-T2 + XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 - 1/1000s @ f5.6 ISO400 Today we went along to the F oxlake Adventures Outdoor Festival which was a great day of action and fun.  The main part of the day was the Industry Pro Wakeboard Tour , with Foxlakes hosting the opening round of the four stop tour for Pro Wakeboarders. I went along to Foxlakes with my family and attended as a spectator but I couldn't resist taking along the X-T2 and XF100-400mm to capture a few action shots. Fujifilm X-T2 + XF35mm f1.4 - 1/6400s @ f1.4 ISO100 Like the Water Ski Trick event I attended a few weeks ago, the riders in this competition also have to perform as series of tricks for the judges.   However in this competition two riders going head to head to see which one will progress to the next round, with eventually two riders left in the final. Fujifilm X-T2 + XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 - 1/1000s @ f5.6 ISO400 Fujifilm X-T2 + XF100-400mm f4.5/...

The view over the anchorage at Altandhu just before sunset Fujifilm X-T2 + XF10-24mm f4 - 1/40 @ f10 ISO400 (zoom 10mm) As the horizon brightened to the west we stopped photographing at our location near Inverpolly and headed in the car the 6 miles to a view point above the small fishing village of Altandhu. The clouds on the horizon had broken up and the sunlight was streaming through producing a spectacular display.  I had fixed the X-T2 to the Manfrotto 190 tripod while I used the X-Pro2 with either the 100-400mm, or the XF50-140mm with the 1.4x converter, to get some closer images of the sunset and the cloud formations.  Fiery skies about the headland to the south west of Altandhu Fujifilm X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm f2.8 + 1.4x converter - 1/320 @ f13 ISO400 (zoom 196mm) The light was fading fast and we had to work quickly.  Being exposed on a hill on the coast also subjected us to high winds, which were also pretty cold, which meant we had to wat...

The beach at Clashnessie  - Point A on the map Fujifilm X-T2  + XF16-55mm f2.8 - 1/250  @ f5.6 ISO400 (zoom 16mm) After the stop at Drumbeg we continued following the coast road, dropping down to the beautiful white sand beach at Clashnessie.  The west coast of Scotland is famous for its beaches and Clashnessie is certainly a beautiful sight.  Not sure that I would be taking a dip in that sea though as it looked pretty cold from where I was standing. The beach at Clashnessie  - Point A on the map Fujifilm X-T2  + XF16-55mm f2.8 - 1/200  @ f5.6 ISO400 (zoom 16mm) - Panoramic Mode As well as taking some standard images on the X-T2 I switched the camera to Panoramic mode to take the image above of the entire bay. The cottage at Loch a Phollain  - Point B on the map Fujifilm X-T2  + XF16-55mm f2.8 - 1/80  @ f5.6 ISO400 (zoom 30mm) By the time we set off again the rain had returned and the likely hood of a break in th...