Winter in Loch Muick

Dylan Thomas once wrote a poem called “do not go gentle into that good night” and he was raging, quite rightly so, that his father was dying and it wasnt fair that such a good man should pass away?

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light..

And so it is in winter, that photographers shout out “rage, rage against the dying of the light” as winter brings shorter days and flat light. The only bonus through the 4 or 5 months of winter, is when the snow arrives and most landscape photographers leap out of bed and dress up warmly and head out into the wilds.

I’m a lover of loch Muick in the depths of winter, and often head there to chance my luck with the light, as loch Muick has its own climate and until you arrive into the glen, you can never tell what the weather is going to be like.

Glas-allt-Shiel is a royal hunting lodge on the shore of Loch Muick in Aberdeenshire. Its name is Gaelic, and means "Green (or grey) stream lodge" and it sits at the far west side of loch Muick, in the most stunning location between two mountains that sit at the base of Lochnagar.

Although I have walked past this house hundreds of times over the last 7 years or so, i never fail to be amazed at the different beauty of it in any season. Winter though, with snow covering the hills, is the most stunning time to photograph it.

The boat house at loch Muick is owned by a local angling club, but in all the time I have ever been too loch Muick, I have never seen anyone fish there, though they say there is some fabulous trout lurking in the dark waters.

This boat house has always been one of my favorite compositions, with that little tree just adding to the remoteness of the place and on my visits, I have seen it in its autumn glory, covered in snow or just shinning in the morning light. There are days, I walk the full circuit and never see another soul.

The walk from the car park at loch Muick, has only one direction for me (mainly because I walk early mornings) and is along the south side of the loch, so I can view Glas Allt Shiel from the opposite bank, when the sun rises over the hills behind me, bathing this beautiful house in warm morning light.

I don’t think I have ever walked the opposite rotation, yet every time I walk it, it always takes my breathe away when the light appears apon the loch. Stormy days I feel are always best for the light there and on some occasions, I’ve found myself high up on the top of the surrounding mountains, in conditions that scare me, which I should never put myself into, but the search for a different composition drives me higher in worse conditions.

I am always fully dressed for any conditions, but often think of the film where the guy got his arm stuck in a rock and had to cut it off with a penknife. I’m not sure I’m so tough and nowadays tend to be a bit more responsible on where i go.

I walked into loch Muick this day, with only a short walk in mind, as the weather was dull and misty, but the further I walked into the glen, the further I wanted to go as the light was so sublime, i can honestly say, I’ve never seen such good light for a long time, so was sucked into the far end of the loch, stopping often to look and photograph as the mist lifted and the sun started its light show over the loch.

There are large herd of stags and hines around the hills of loch Muick and if your lucky enough, they seem to have no fear and will stand until you can get quite close, albeit with a large zoom lens fitted and on occasions, I seem to recognize their faces from previous shots I have taken of them. There is nothing better than standing in the presence of these magnificent beasts, though don’t get too close during rutting season, as they have been known to attack people

Peace and stillness

I Worked and lived a life once in Korea, that was on the edge of insanity with stress and deadlines and where millions of dollars were at stake. The higher the stress, the more peaceful my photography became and i lived like this for almost 6 years. Looking back on the drink we consumed and the hangover i had, it was a wonder i even survived or had time for my photography. I wondered the south west coast of korea, and drove with no purpose, other than to see what lay at the end of the road i was on. Sometimes i turned left and sometimes i went right. I had no idea where i was going most of the time and i think this was in parallel with my life at this time. I had no direction, no goals and no meaning to my life. I was good at my job, i worked really hard and on my days off, i roamed, searching for something that i couldn’t find, because i didn’t know what it was. Its like leaving the house and thinking, shit did i leave the oven on

I searched for stillness in my life and its evident in all my photography, though i didn’t know this at the time. I just seemed to be at peace in some of the landscapes and managed to portray my feelings into my images. I turned off all my thoughts and in these moments that i captured, i found the stillness i saught. All of my images, when i look at them years later, give me back the feeling i felt, while standing watching the light change in the landscape i happend to be standing it. I don’t know how many thousands of miles i drove, but i saw more of korea than most foreigners or Koreans could possibly hope to see and i captured a country of such stunning beauty, it stuck in my soul and even 4 years after leaving, i miss it so much.

i once read a quote by Thich Nhat Hanh , the famous buddist monk turned teacher, where he said “Everything inside and around us wants to reflect itself in us. We don’t have to go anywhere to obtain the truth. We only need to be still and things will reveal themselves in the still water of our heart”

I wondered the country, taking long exposures of images, because i wanted to stand still and listen to the noise around me, but i didn’t know that, and i just remember the stillness and the escape from the constant chattering in my head of things to do with work, or things in my life that were not right, yet i didn’t know what to do about them. My photography is about calm, its about stillness and in most cases, there are no people in my shots, because i wish to escape people and feel the isolation off the moment.

Now i suffer no stress and my life keeps on giving me what i need and strangers i meet tell me to slow down, stop and listen. My ife gives me jobs, where there is little to do and no way of being stressed and i get to travel to exotic locations and see wonderful things. I meet people who help me through bizarre circumstances and i strive most days to keep my mind focused and never to worry. I yearn for south korea as if it was a person that had died and i feel pangs of jealousy, when i see others going back or living there still, and i feel sad, that my life will not take me back. But yet i know, that it is not my time and jobs i apply for there, seem to come and go and i have to learn to accept my fate. But yet even as i think this, i know i can not go back. Longing and desire are things i have yet to explore, and i certainly don’t understand them yet. I miss the past and i cant change until i let go. I have no idea where my life will go from now, but i accept all that comes my way and perhaps i will just take a look down this new road that seems to have opened for me.