Shetland

Fitful Head, Shetland, Scotland

30th December 2006

Conditions change so fast on Shetland. A cluster of tiny islands taking the full force and weather of the Atlantic. The sky changes totally within minutes. The 200m cliffs poking out the Atlantic seem to divert the clouds, sometimes. You need to be very organised, previsualised and patient. Very patient (with a bagful of dry cloths for drying lenses.)

I made a series of photographs of this scene in this week, the week that my father in law, Ian Cochrane Millar died. I’ll never forget the contrast of the sublime happiness of coming back from a morning in the landscape to that extreme sadness. I’ll never forget the guilt that I felt that I wasn’t there for my wife or her mum when the phone call came. We used this photograph on the order of service for his funeral, it seems all to apt for many reasons, but mainly just for that tiny hint of sun on the clouds whilst all around is dark.

(Incidentally, the rocks on the right are Fitful Head and this is the bay where the Braer ran ashore in 1993.)

 

Technical details

Nikon D2X, 12-24mm lens @ 18mm, 1/30s at f/16 ISO100, Lee 0.6ND hard grad filter.