PROJECT FIFTY TWO :: 2016

A personal project to post one image per week

By Stewart Barr

week sixteen: rannoch moor

This is the river Ba on Rannoch Moor taken on Day 4 of my solo hike of the West Highland Way. I hiked 19.5 miles that day from Tyndrum and camped in a lovely sheltered spot on the moor just close to Ba Bridge. I got here for 2:30pm so had plenty of time left to photograph the bleak but stunning landscape. This is a 2.5 second exposure shot on the Fujifilm X100T with the wide angle convertor, Lee Filters Polariser and the camera’s built in 3 stop ND filter.

week fifteen: Milarrochy bay tree

Week fifteen ended with my first night solo hiking the West Highland Way. I walked 24.5 miles on the first day and camped at Milarrochy Bay. In the evening I took a stroll down to the famous tree for some sunset shots. This is a heavily photographed tree and I wasn’t alone with another 5 photographers all trying to get a good position. This was the perfect end to a perfect first day on the trail. This is a 4 and a half minute exposure shot on the Fujifilm X100T with the wide angle convertor, Lee Filters Big Stopper and 0.6 soft grad ND filter.

week fourteen: gear load out

Week fourteen I mostly spent preparing for my 6 day solo hike of the West Highland Way.

WEEK THIRTEEN: SLEEPERZZZ

This week I was up north for a mountain biking Easter weekender, riding at Laggan Wolftrax on the Friday, Golspie Wildcat on the Saturday and Badaguish, Aviemore on the Sunday. Our base for the weekend was the Sleeperzzz Hostel in Pittentrail at Rogart Train Station where we rented one of the old converted train carriages. I took many landscape/biking pics during the weekend but I am sure the project will have it’s fair share of them so this is a quick snap I took on the way out to the pub on the Saturday evening of my Cousin Kevin taking a quick snap of the site. Straight out of camera jpeg from my Fuji X100T.

week twelve: glen moss

This week we went for a walk in nearby Glen Moss Nature Reserve. Glen Moss has areas of marshland, woodland and wet heath with open water and sheltered, shallow pools. It is a natural haven for songbirds, waterfowl, amphibians and insects, particularly dragonflies and damselflies. Rare plants include the coral root orchid. I particularly liked this shot I took of a dead tree branch because of all the details in the various mosses. This was shot on my Fuji X-Pro1 with 55-200mm lens at 200mm and is a straight out of camera jpeg with slight cropping.

WEEK eleven: DOGHOUSE

Week Eleven I was attending the ‘Great Scottish Beer Celebration’ which is the 2nd year of the craft beer festival in Glasgow. Having enjoyed last years event we were back for more over indulgence. This was shot at ‘The Doghouse’ which is Brewdog’s new smoked meat bar in the Merchant City while we were warming up for the festival. They have an impressive amount of guest beers on tap and in the fridge. This is a straight of camera jpeg from the Fujifilm X100T shot at 16:9 ratio.

week ten: kilmannan pipes

With a great forecast for the weekend, I took advantage and went hiking locally up the Kilpatrick Hills. It was a great day out and covered shy of 15 miles on a mixture of forestry roads, single track, animal tracks and some proper bushwacking. This 30 second exposure was taken at the dam end of Kilmannan reservoir and was shot on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 with XF 14mm lens along with the Lee Filters Big Stopper, 0.6 soft grad ND filter and polariser.

week nine: spooky wood

This week I was down at Glentress Mountain biking for a couple of days staying in the wigwams at the trailhead. We got down late Saturday afternoon and did a nightride which worked up an appetite for some chilli and a beer or three. We really lucked out on the weather with a crisp clear starry night followed by a misty morning. This made for an atmospheric ascent and the sun burned it off just as we got to the top of the Spooky Wood descent where this was taken. shot on the Fujifilm X100T.

week eight: waterlea sunset

Week eight we had some stunning sunsets and settled weather. I am lucky enough that I live in the country and can enjoy 360 degree sunsets and sunrises. This night I just happened to notice the colours out of the window so I grabbed my Fuji X-Pro1 which had the 14mm lens mounted and nipped out to take a few shots. This is a straight out of camera jpeg with slight cropping.

week seven: Beach racquet

I was down at Arran this week visiting the family and helped out processing the haul of driftwood from the beach to be put away and dry out in the wood store for next winter’s firewood. This old squash racquet is one of the more interesting finds on the beach. How did it get there? This is a straight out of camera jpeg from the Fujifilm X100T.

week six: Little fluffy clouds

Again we’ve had wet and wild weather here in Scotland going from one extreme to the other. This was a rare day with deep blue sunny skies. I was lucky enough to have a spare 10 minutes this morning to capture the sunrise. This is a 30 second exposure shot on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 with XF 14mm lens along with the Lee Filters Big Stopper and 0.9 hard grad ND filter.

week five: Cosy coat

After the storms of last week we have had some stunning mornings, none more so than this morning when the sun broke at the house casting a gorgeous light over the frosty fields. It has been almost spring like this week. Unfortunately there will be no lambs for this lady come spring as she is getting too old. Shot on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 with the XF 55-200mm lens.

week four: a quiet one

Week four was very quiet due to the stormy weather so this was a quick handheld snap of my wife Sarah on the Friday night, relaxing in front of the fire with a glass of red. This was shot handheld in darkness with only the light coming from Sarah’s laptop and is a straight out of camera jpeg from the Fujifilm X100T except for some cropping.

week three: winter wonderland

This week the snow arrived in Scotland so I was lucky enough to spend the weekend exploring with the camera (and the dog). I had plenty to chose from this week but I can only pick one a week so I went for this snowy landscape. It was taken in the fields of Botherickfield near Houston (Scotland) and was shot on the Fujifilm X100T.

WEEK TWO: St Vincent Plaza

I‘ve walked past this new office block in Glasgow a few times recently and thought it would make a decent long exposure with flowing traffic but the traffic lights don‘t help. Still, I like the vivid and contrasting colours. This was shot on the Fujifilm X100T with wide converter lens and is a straight out of camera jpeg.

week one: Kildonan Beach, Isle of Arran

Taken on the New Year’s Day, 2016. The weather was pretty horrible but decided to head out to shoot for an hour or so and see what I could get. I planned on some long exposure seascapes but with 60 mph gusts I was limited on what i could get without camera shake. This was taken on Kildonan Beach, Isle of Arran, looking south to Ailsa Craig and Pladda. This was shot on the Fujifilm X100T with wide converter lens.