March 3 // 6:19PM
Neist Point // Isle of Skye, Scotland
I drove for what seemed like forever. The narrow, one lane, half paved road that I had been traveling on to traverse the island was in a terrible shape and the vehicle bounced back and forth constantly. My only moments of peace were when I pulled over to allow an oncoming car to pass.
The weather was bleak, but that was to be expected, for this area is known for it’s saddened overcast skies. As I exited to begin eyeing my composition, the wind whipped harshly, and the cold came leaking through my many clothes layers, straight into my bones. I wondered how I would ever keep my tripod still in the wind. I hiked up to the top of a hill to get a good view of the lighthouse, only to find that I had left my shutter release back in the vehicle. It would have been a fatal mistake had I been hiking for miles. Though, even the 200 yards I had walked felt like miles in the cold, damp, windy weather that was upon me.
I stashed my gear, and made the trip to get my shutter release, then set up for a few frames. I tried a few different compositions to compose the peninsula the way that I had imagined, and finally – a photo I was satisfied with.
A 30 second exposure proved difficult to keep steady in the wind. With a ND grad on the front of the lens, the wind pulled and tugged at the corners, giving the camera a decent shake. I would have to time the shot with a break in the wind, and yet would still have to block the wind from the camera with my body.
The drive out was a tired one, though I was happy to be out of the cold. None of it mattered, the photograph lasts far longer than the memory of the numb fingers and wind blistered skin.