Sunrise Portknockie

Nice! Just a perfect start to a day. Great photo Ian!

Fantastic, simply fantastic! This is my idea of morning, witha cup of coffee, my camera, and my eyes, overlooking a spot where dreams go on and on, where the colors of heaven are seen, in natural state, with no choas around, you and the beautiful wonders of our world. Gorgeous!

Ian,

Awesome shot.

Bob

Wonderful shot Ian. A magnificent view captured perfectly.

Beautiful sky, excellent detail and amazing color, Ian. Awesome image! :)

Beautiful Work!!!

Jill :)

This is intense, Ian. Colors and comp are perfect.

Awesome!! It's hard for me to call 4:00 am morning, but I'm doing so more frequently now to catch the beautiful morning light. I love the colors in this. It would be great without the yellow flowers, but they really make this special.

I am often mesmerized by your images, Ian, but this one even more so. It drew me in immediately. The grass and flowers on the right appear to be almost liquid flowing and not stationary. Very nice. Thank you for sharing another view from your land.

Beautifully crafted image!

Yes Ian, that is some mighty fine light. Congrats on being there to capture it!!

John

Great image, Ian! Must've been absolutely wonderful to be there.

Lori

This is fantabulous!

Every one of your photographs makes me want to return to and/or move to Scotland, Ian (my father was born in Edinburgh). This one is certainly no exception. Excellent!

Really like how you were able to bring out the green and yellow wildflowers on the bluff despite late light. Red components of the scene look beautifully aesthetic though a bit too Velvia for my tastes but that is just my personal taste. I also shot several years successfully with a Pentax 6x7 II most with that same heavy beast of a 55-100mm zoom. ...David

Excellent capture here Ian. The detail with the cloud folds is exceptional leading out to the pink sun rise. The green carpet wild grass and wild yellow flowers gives real definition to the gray rock scape. Nicely done, and glad to see more good Medium Format work here.

Awesome light Ian, excellent exposure and composition!. The yellow flowers add a nice touch of foreground colour!. Is that an Island on the far horizon line, or just clouds?. Excellent image!.

Ian - this is breathtaking. We are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful country - and you capture it beautifully. Thanks for sharing this.

Ian Mason

Breathtaking!

Beautiful, Ian...just beautiful...

Hi Nick. No its not an island it would be cloud. I did wonder myself whether it was the other side of the Moray Firth but I have checked the hi res Tiff and it isn't. Incidentally you can't see it in this small image but that rocky island (mid ground) the one that is a bit whiter than the others is actually covered with guano and the top of it is lined with guillemots and razorbills.

I don't have anything new to add....just echo the same sentiments!

Ian,

A wonderful photo. I can stare at it for hours.

Ian, this is one of the most fantastic images I have seen!!! Absolutely stunning!

Wonderful image, Ian! Lets go to Scotland enjoy the landscape (and drinking Scotch). I will do that in August.

I saw this earlier and forgot to leave a comment ! I love it, Ian. Only small nit is how dark the far right top land is - seems the GND darkened it a bit more than what looks natural to my eyes.

A beauty -- great composition! So crisp and clean yet has the sultry glow that morning light gives. The clarity and detail is almost surreal -- and as to the dof -- this seems to push the envelope.

What an amazingly beautiful photo, Ian

Will
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada

Thanks to everyone for the astronomical response. As I mentioned Velvia does have its own colour pallette. It is not to everyones taste but if I'm honest it certainly meets mine 95% of the time. It also matches my memory of the light that was present and the near perfect stillness of a very fine morning in mid summer so for that alone it is completely acceptable to me. The rock on the right side has been slightly affected by the grad but I could see no way of avoiding it and hold detail in the sky (one up for digital). I decided not to crop it off as it unbalanced the image I suspect someone more skilled with photoshop than myself could correct the problem for me.

This is great, Ian. I feel as though I am there when viewing it. The Vevlia color suites my taste most of the time. Sometimes it doesn't even do enough justice to the color my eye's recall.

I really enjoy viewing your images. Thanks for sharing

Gorgeous, simply gorgeous!

stunning

I can't really add anything that has already been said so I'll just say that I think this is one of your best and one of the best I have seen on this forum in a long time. Not only are the color and comp very nice but the web presentation is outstanding. Kudos to the photographer and to Velvia (which I still use).

Another stunner from you! Superb!

All that and more - this is as close to a perfect image as I have seen. Can't think of a single thing I would change.

Guy

Simply inspiring, Ian.

Another nearly perfect photograph! And a great story to boot.

beautiful tones - congratulations

Hi Marc, don't worry about it, if a shot doesn't move you then nothing the photographer says, or for that matter any amount of praise lavished upon it, is going to change your opinion of it. I can tell you why it works for me but that certainly doesn't mean that I have sucessfully conveyed it to you, that is perhaps my failing. I have seen this scene look so ordinary you would not give it a second glance let alone stop to take a picture of it. Just for the hell of it let me outline the circumstances that lift this to something extraordinary for me and perhaps at the same time show why it doesn't necessarily translate to you. Imagine you have had a nightshift as a Police Constable, there are just three of you on duty to cover three towns and all the drunks that spill out of the various pubs and nightclubs decide that they are going to punch seven bells out of each other, drunk drivers speed off into the night and collide with stone walls and neighbourhood disputes seem to be at an all time high. We are quite literally running from job to job from town to town pulling our hair out at the stupidity of our fellow man. This debacle carries on for the best part of ten hours and I finally go off duty, completely wrecked, on what should have been a calm sunny July evening at 3am. I routinely keep a camera in my car and rather than go home to unwind, I drive to one of the outlying towns called Portknockie and look over the cliffs, (no I didn't contemplate jumping), there is calm. The sun rises under a heavy bank of grey cloud and turns it pink, a roe deer grazing on the edge of the cliff, (never seen that before), bounds away and there below, a pod of 50 odd dolphins leap joyously out of the water some performing somersaults. The contrast quite literally leaves you emotionally supercharged. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up on end, the show lasted less than a minute before evaporating into steely grey. I am convinced that the show was for me and me alone. Now, could I convey all that on film, most unlikely, but I promise you that this was the very best I could do and the memory of that morning is far greater than the sum of its parts. I think it's a good photo, it is very accurately recorded, it is probably not the best picture I have taken and certainly no offence is taken.

A very special moment and an exceptional capture of it, Ian! One of the things I like best about it is the 3D sense of form and height on the cliff and the rocks below. The exposure is perfect also with realistic light levels and color in the sunset. I don't know how you could possibly have done it any better. You were very fortunate to have been there at the right moment and very skilled to have captured it as well as you did. Congratulations!

My critique reposted from above - previously deleted when edited. Thanks Ian, for your response. It's good to share opinions. It's clear why this particular image has so much emotional impact for you - no doubt I would the same given such a situation.

It's really interesting to me, the attention this image has generated. "As close to a perfect image as I've ever seen", "I could stare at it for hours", ect. ect. People just love this thing! Well, except me. And I have stared at it for many hours now. You're one of the very best photographers I know, Ian, and I in no way mean any sort of disrespect but my opinion stands that this is simply good, but not great. YOU have MANY images that stand alone, but I'm not feeling this one more than the next ocean sunrise. I'm sure we all know of images that make us wonder....what are they seeing in this? Or what are they not seeing? And why is my view so different....but that's why it's art I guess.

Missing is the emotional impact I get from many of your other shots. The rare atmosphere captured in "Islands in Mist", the serentity found in "Stone Embers", the once-in-a-lifetime god-beam that touches down behind that island tree in one of your recent captures - can't recall it's name, but I miss that special, magical quality in this image that would separated it from so many others. The composition is very simple, and very direct. The landscape heavily weighted to the right portion of the image, and though the sloping island helps correct the dominant right, it still leaves too much emphasis on the lower left corner IMO, wherein the white water further draws my eye away. Some foreground interest would have added more depth and sense of where you were standing, if that is, it could be used to compliment the landscape (but I trust your judgement that this was the best comp available at this spot). The light is vibrant, but the sky is not any more interesting that your average sunrise/sunset and surf scene IMO. Also, the magenta cast throughout the sky detracts from the vibrant burst on the horizon - which I'm sure in real life was better separated from the naturally grey clouds surrounding. The flowers are a real highlight, but again, lie only on the right side along with almost all the interest in the scene. The grad line is still a bit too noticeable and reduces the depth gained from the landscape protruding through the sky. I certainly don't dislike the comp, I just don't find it as compelling as others do.

Keep in mind that these are my opinions and I state them in the interest of gaining a better understanding of this landscape photograph and photography in general. They are not in any way meant to detract from others enjoyment of the image nor are a rebuttle to other comments given. I whole-heartedly emphasize that I LOVE the majority of your work and wish you all the best.

Wow! This one does make the heart go pitter-pat just looking at it! Your story makes it even more special. Beautiful scene, wonderfully captured! :)

I love the color

I personally like this image a great deal. The seaside cliffs, calm water, lush green grass with flowers, and great sky all compliment each other very nicely. The whole of the image make me wish I were there just to enjoy the moment

wonderful photo