Shooting the Loch Ness monster

I had one of the funniest and most bizarre experiences this week. In fact I’m still laughing every time I think of it! lol

The first half of the week has been primarily taken up with wedding photography engagement sessions and meetings with potential brides and grooms looking to book an Edinburgh wedding photographer. I’ve also had two bookings this week for weddings in 2011 which mean the couples qualify for a free engagement session currently available as a special May promotional offer to anyone who books their wedding photography with me this month.

But then on Thursday I travelled through to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs for something a little different. I have a wedding here later in the summer and the bride and groom are wanting some Loch Lomond scenic landscapes to be used throughout their album as page back grounds and linking fillers. I’ve wrote previously how my wedding albums and books are exclusive and bespoke designs and this is an example of just how personal and unique we can make them. Almost anything is possible creatively!

I’m pretty familiar with the Loch Lomond area from magazine and commercial work I’ve done in the past so I had in mind some great locations that I wanted to shoot. With landscape photography the best hours are the first hour after sunrise and last hour of the day before sunset. The sun is low in the sky and creates beautiful textures and lighting which is why these times are referred to as the golden hours. So I had a really early start in order to get to Loch Lomond for sunrise.

I got their in plenty of time and headed up the less frequented eastern bank of the loch, which in my opinion is prettier and also better for photography being off the beaten track and close to three other lochs, a river and two waterfalls. Anyway at just after 5am I was in position ready for the sun to arise at around 5.30am.

As I’m sat there studying the light I hear this rustling in the surrounding undergrowth. Initially I thought it must be a fox or a feral goat but then it grew so intense and deliberate I knew it couldn’t be a small animal. I admit to being a touch apprehensive because I was in a little known location that was completely secluded and at that time of the morning you generally expect nothing but total peace and quiet. The noise became louder and louder and was definitely heading in my direction so I stood up and braced myself. Suddenly, bursting out from the bushes there appeared this Japanese tourist carrying a camera with the longest lens I have ever seen mounted onto an enormous tripod! “Ahh”, he exclaimed with delight when he saw me, “I have found you!” With a mixture of relief and adrenaline still surging through my body the most I could manage was a “Hi” by way of reply, lol.

Apparently, he was staying in the nearby Inversnaid Hotel and had seen me draw up in my car and then head off into the woods. He’d grabbed his gear, its a 600mm Canon lens for you techies that want to know, and ran after me in the hope of catching me up.

“You are after the monster”, he said. I wasn’t sure if this was a question or a statement, but whatever, I had no idea what he meant. He must have seen the confusion on my face and tried an explanation. “You are here for the monster?” Still a baffled look from me. “The Loch Ness monster. You here to photograph.”

Well I had to try my hardest not to burst out laughing. “No” I said, shaking my head. “No monster here. This is Loch Lomond”. Now it was his turn to wear a confused look. “This”, I said pointing out over the loch, “is Loch Lomond, not Loch Ness. No monster here!” He pointed at my camera making persistent hand movements as if to prove I was wrong. “The camera”, I said, “is for the sun. I’m here to photograph the sunrise”. Again this was met with a puzzled frown. “The sun”, I said, pointing at the sun to make things clearer. “I’m waiting for the sun”.

“Ahhhhhh, I see” he said elatedly as he finally got the point. “Of course”, he continued nodding his head triumphantly. “Son of Loch Ness monster!”

“Nooooooooooooooo” I managed to stutter out between feelings of hilarity and frustration. I was about to launch another attempt when he firmly planted his tripod into the ground and declared “I wait with you!” beaming me a radiant smile. It was pretty close to sunrise now, and I didn’t fancy my chances of success with any more explanations, so I decided to simply get on with the job.

We stood side by side and waited just a few minutes as the orange, purple glowing sky turned golden and the sun duly arose. I took quite a few different shots as the sun rose above the loch and mountain side. My new companion kept looking at me suspiciously every time I fired the shutter, straining to look out across the waters to see what I was photographing. After several shots I showed him the images on the back of my camera and explained “beautiful sunrise”. Which he somewhat reluctantly agreed with. “You take some”, I encouraged. After all he had got up at the crack of dawn and he sure as hell wasn’t going to get any monster photos so I figured at least he would have some nice landscapes for all his efforts, lol.

When I’d taken what I wanted I pointed to the great looming bulk of Ben Lomond and told the man I’m now climbing up there. I was thankful he didn’t decide to come with me. Not because I didn’t want his company but because it would probably have given him a heart attack if he’d tried to lug his huge, heavy gear all the way to the 3,200feet summit!

I spent the remainder of the morning on the slopes of Ben Lomond taking photographs at periodic intervals on the route up finally arriving on the summit around noon. There’s a few shots from the day here together with a couple from previous visits. The guy standing on the Ben Lomond summit enjoying the view is me by the way. Gotta luv camera self timers!