A view of Thurso

14 - Brimms Hill Panorama, originally uploaded by North Light.

I first saw this view the very first time I visited Thurso in 2002, it was not until I lived in Thurso, and had seen this view in evening light that I realalised just how stunning the vista is.
Today is the first time I have dared to try and capture the panorama, I was ill equipped as I had not gone out with any intention of capturing this shot, but the light was so good I could not drive past, so here is version No. !.
I will make no apologies for spending some time this year trying to capture the essence of this vista, when I think I have done it, I will let you know!

To the Beach

11 - To the Beach, originally uploaded by North Light.

Ok, I cheated today, weather was good, so a chance to explore Murkle Bay, had the office phone diverted to a mobile in my pocket, and off I went! Photographically not a bad morning, but the tide was high, and with the Murkle Burn being quite high, I could only get to about half the bay, needs further visits!
Like all sweeping vistas its quiet difficult to photograph, particularly with wide angle lenses, need to be very careful about foreground interest.
So there will be more to come from this location.

Murkle Bay

Murkle Bay, originally uploaded by North Light.

I drive past this bay quite regularly, yet have only taken photographs there twice, the first time was about 18 months ago, and yesterday.
It has always caught my eye, but access and parking are not good or obvious. The light there yesterday was superb, grey clouds in the background, with a low winter sun. So, 2008 is the year to explore this stunning location, and take more photographs here.
The Hotel is now quiet, just spent some time sorting and tidying the walk in freezer, not finished, my feet are too cold to continue! Ironically, the freezer needs to chill down again before I finish the job! The weather outside is very inviting, sunshine with a hard frost, Hopefully the sun will still be out this afternoon, I can then go and investigate Murkle Bay!

"Up, Up and Away"

"Up, Up and Away", originally uploaded by North Light.

A photography day, the light this morning was excellent, and, as I discovered once I got past Dunnet Head, the sea was spectacular.
I spent a very productive 20 to 30 minutes taking photographs at John O'Groats, with I think some excellent results. Note that it then took a large cup of coffee in the Cafe to warm my hands up!
I am still getting used to the Nikon, a process that will take some time, but I am not unhappy with any of the exposures, and continue to be impressed by the camera.
This image was created from a single RAW file, 5 exposures created at 1 EV steps using Camera Raw, then processed with Photomatix Pro, with some final tweaks in Photoshop, sounds long winded, but probably only took about 15 minutes to create.

Woops!

Waiting to be Eaten, originally uploaded by North Light.

I've been found out!
There's me thinking I could just quietly write a bit about my life, it would disappear into the ether on this internet thing, and that would be that.
But no, I should have known, you just can't hide any more.

I've been confused all day, the North Light flickr pages have been much more active than usual, could see no obvious reason and hence had resigned myself to waiting for the stats for the pages, and try and work out where the traffic was originating from.
Just doing a bit of surfing before I go to sleep, as one does, and visit Caithness dot org, scan the page, look a bit harder, clean glasses, no thats definitely the name of my blog, oh s**t what have I been saying in my blog?
No more anonymity, I'll just have to keep some of the thoughts to myself, guess I'll have to be careful with the pictures as well!

So a safe picture of apples and pears, can't be anything controversial about this, can there?

Well, I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year.

Caithness Flag with a Seaweed garnish

Caithness Flag with a Seaweed garnish, originally uploaded by North Light.

The hotel is now entering the quiet spell, the New Year guests are all sitting having breakfast, cases are loaded onto the coach, and after a busy day putting the hotel "to bed" the next few months are not quite as frenetic.
The 2007 season was an odd one, in terms of tours, particularly from Italy and Germany we had a good year, but individual tourists was poor, the weather, interest rates and fuel prices I guess.
On paper we are already looking busy for 2008, but cancelations will start coming in during January, it will not be until April that we start to get a real feel for the season.
Now the important bits, Photography, I intend to spend a bit more time on photography this year, going to try and post a photograph a day, where I am unable to post every day, at least take a photograph every day. On flickr there is a new Set on my pages, 366, this will hold the daily images.
Time to do some work, so, wishing all the readers of this blog a very happy 2008.