Enochdhu

Near Enochdhu. D700 and 28-105 AF Nikkor at 105mm.

We're in the middle of a week-long break just a 90-minute drive from where we live, a situation brought about by the operator of our original destination, which was hours away, deciding to close down their holiday home business and leaving us with little time to find an alternative.

It's turned out to our advantage as the spot where we're staying, a big log cabin up a wooded hillside at Kirkmichael in Perthshire, is gorgeous. It's surrounded by a variety of woodland birds, deer and foxes. Probably lots of other creatures as well. We're here with our daughter Freya and fiance, Joe, whose favourite thing is to relax in an outdoor hot tub.

We've four dogs in tow as well and the walks around the hillside are great. I nipped out today while the youngsters were in the tub and Cath was looking after the dogs. Not far from our cabin, about 15 minutes by car, is Moulin Moor, a stretch of nicely desolate countryside replete with wind-blasted trees, gentle sloping hills and a considerable history.

Look, Phil - iphone 16! Enochdhu Hillside

The moor is about halfway along the road that runs from Bridge of Cally to Pitlochry, just past a little hamlet called Enochdhu. Legend has it that Ardle, a Pictish prince, was killed in battle with some big, hairy Vikings - is there any other kind? - at Enochdhu and is buried beside Dirnanean Lodge, the length of his grave attesting to the notion that he was a giant. If so, then he couldn't have been too prolific as I was keeping an eye out for giant descendants and didn't see any.

If my pal Phil of Fogblog fame is reading this then he should look away now. Phil's been gently berating me over my decision to go back to digital and won't like the idea that I'm out taking pics with the D700, 28-105mm and 85mm Nikkors and the indispensable iphone 16, my secret weapon. And he doesn't even have a densitometer! I know!! 

Did I mention the iphone 16?

Near Kirkmichael

However, aside from the photographic side of things, the weight saving is such that I can get about more easily, particularly up steep hills, and that's an important consideration. On the actual photographic side, the iphone is pretty well unbeatable when it comes to shooting into the light. The software guys at Apple have got this spot on in my opinion.

Lone Tree

One click and almost every scene is presented in its best light. I don't know what the magic sauce is but there's clearly a little tasteful HDR going on which is expertly judged to retain the highlights without ever looking artificial.

Take the pic below. The sunlight was blinding and shining directly onto the Loch. I framed the picture as a square format shot and took the photo. The software has produced just about the perfect balance of tones. If I wanted, I could lighten the shadows a bit. That's seriously impressive to me. Yes, with film I could have faffed around for a while to get something similar but I don't regard any of that stuff as artistic in any way so it makes sense to me now to let the software handle it rather than waste time and energy in pursuit of the same result. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

Loch Morlich

This next one was pretty much the same - the sun shining directly into the camera. Again, I could have made life more difficult with film but whether it's getting older, less energy, less motivation or just that my vivre isn't as joie-ful as it used to be, I find the traditional approach a waste of time now. I respect photographers who are using film but, nowadays, no more than I respect any photographer who's trying to make art regardless of how they're doing it. 

Forest Pond, contre-jour

Obviously, film can be tweaked to capture a fuller range of tones by exposing for the shadows and using pyro, two bath, compensating, water bath, or highly dilute development to keep the highlights in check. Feel free. You’ll get something similar and will have had the fun and satisfaction of standing at the sink inverting a developing tank 60 times in 15 minutes.

I can only say that I thoroughly enjoyed my trip into the countryside with the D700 and the iphone 16, using the Nikon mainly for those shots requiring a longer focal length and the iphone for close-ups, wide angle views and into-the-light stuff. And being able to return to our holiday cabin, have something to eat and then update this blog with my pictures an hour or two later is just the icing on the cake.

P.S. If you followed The Online Darkroom for the film and darkroom content then please be assured that I won't be banging on about digital forever. I was exclusively film for many years but now new thoughts, motivations and explanations come to me regularly since I've gone back to digital and I'm just putting them out here.