Island life and Jolly nights

Keeping this blog going while I dont have electricity is proving to be a bit of a challenge but the photography opportunities in the hebrides are endless so I will keep at it.  It doesn't seem long since my last post which is probably because days off have been few and far between.  I am now however into my big break of the summer before things get really busy.  Life on the island continues with beautiful sunsets, fun times and the odd night in our own bar the "Jolly Roger".  The highlight of any course is always the expedition, a chance to explore one of the fantastic remote islands of the inner hebrides, cook on open fire, swim in rock pools and check out the wildlife and rocky coastlines.  Below is a selection of pictures from the last few weeks.

Shag eggs on the west coast of A'Chuili

 My Employers - Torquil and Margaret dressed up as the Queen and Prince Philip for the Jubille

 Jubilee lunch in the main house

 Pete keeping things going (with Adrian helping) in the Jolly Roger

 Bog Cotton with Dun connel and Garvellach from Eilean Dubh Mor

 The Small island between Dun Connel and Garvellach at sunset

 Last light from Eilean Dubh Beag

 Ailsa (the biggest poser in the world) kissing a Scorpion fish

Looking north in the sound of luing on a still evenings paddle

Trying to fit it all in

My days off over the last month have been exactly as I remember the best days off in Scotland being.  Big days climbing or on the hill, nights camped in beautiful places with great people.  Below is a selection of photos from the last month.

 A day out on Etive slabs with (from left to right) Nadia, Hannah, Wee Ben, Gloria and myself.  We climbed Spartan slab with Nadia and I topping out last at about 9pm to get back down to the glen to find a fire going and dinner cooked.

 Nadia enjoying a bit of scottish slab climbing!

 The Yellow van Club - Stu's, mine and Ben's parked at the head of Loch Etive

 Halfway along the Aonach Eagach ridge with Stu, Iona, Nadia, Gloria and Hannah with of course a dinner in the Clachaig Inn at the end of the day.

 While Nadia was in Scotland we headed out early one morning to look for the "Captains Bothy" otherwise known as Carlottas Eyrie - on of the most spectacular coastal bothies I have seen.  The door is accessed by climbing up some slabs with an in situ rope to help you along...

 Messing around on expedition on the Island of Lunga.  The sundial says its time to go find a cave to sleep in.

 Hannah and I set off to have a massive course break fitting in as much climbing as possible.  This is taken on the first night at about 9pm before starting the Cuillin Ridge on Skye.  We bivied on the ridge, finished it the next day, drove to Ben Nevis, Slept, Climbed "Centurion" on the Ben (with Hannah in one approach shoe/one climbing shoe), drove to glen coe and climbed "Agags Groove" on the Buachille the next day in the pouring rain before heading back to work.

 Hannah and I about to start the Cuillin traverse at about 9pm on the summit of Garbh Bheinn the most southerly peak of the 14 peaks that make up the ridge (11km of lots of scrambling, climbing and abseiling)

 Hannah seconding up the crux pitch of Centurion - you might just be able to spot that her left foot is in an approach shoe after she forgot one shoe....

 Cuillin ridge shortly after dawn

Sunset from Back of Keppoch.

On sadder news my friend Doug passed away recently from cancer.  Doug was an amazing inspirational guy who had a story for every occasion,  Below is a selection of photos of Doug in his element on Staff training on the Deschutes river. Not sure why I shot them all in black and white but it does seem to suit.

 Doug telling another story

 Justin, Doug and Mike watching a flip drill.

Doug surrounded by staff at the Ed Rogers flag on the lower deschutes.

Back on the Island

Its been a whirlwind couple of weeks and I am now back living on "the island" (Rubha Fiola) on the west coast of Scotland.  The transition from Hong Kong to an island with no roads, internet, electricity or even anything to buy has been interesting and I am enjoying not being on my computer so much.  Island life is as mad as it has always been with jet boats, mud pits and wild people and my days off seem about to follow similar patterns to when I worked here last.  After the first course last week we finished work yesterday at 10am, drove to Fort William, Stared at rain, went to a cafe, went climbing (in the wet - kind of scary!), caught up with some friends, went for a curry, went for some beers, then some whiskies, woke up with a hangover, had a fry up, climbed a classic three pitch route in Glen Nevis, drove back to oban and am now drinking coffee and getting ready to meet the next load of kids.  

I also managed to meet Nadia for a night and most of the day last week and tried to show her some of my favourite places around Glen Coe.  

Some photos

 Staff kit piling up in "Goldeneye" to head out to the island for four months.  (a third of that is probably mine!)

 The spine of a minky whale skeleton we found on expedition last week.

 Back to smelling of campfire on a regular basis.  Expedition food at its finest, sausages and baked beans.

 Bog cotton blowing in the wind with another amazing sunset over the black isles and garvellach

Looking North just after dawn (which is rather early right now) toward Easdale, Belnahua and Mull

 Nadia and I on the summit of Buachille Etive Mor on a very cold day

All the best things - a classic scottish hill lunch.

Last shots from the old lens

I have been holding off buying a new lens for a while but my trusty old Tamron (the massive 18-270mm f4.5) is struggling on many levels. There is a vast amount of dust inside the lens, its very shaky, auto focus does not work at various lengths, manual focus is pretty messed up (leaving me with the annoying process of flicking between manual and auto to try and get the focus ring in the right position). After much deliberation I went lens shopping today and relaced it with Canons L series. (Just realised this is probably boring for non photographers so if your interested I will put the deliberations at the bottom of the post!)

The last couple of weeks have not seen me outside too much. I decided not to go to Yangshou at the last minute and have been out climbing and kayaking a bit in Hong Kong as well as working in the office. Below is a collection of shots from the last couple of weeks

Can anyone say light pollution? A long exposure from the hill behind where I live (next to the windmill for any locals) of Pok Fu Lam, Cyberport and the edge of Aberdeen on a clear night as the clouds roll over Hong Kong Island.

Taking a Sampan over to work yesterday morning with a sea kayak that need fixed, beautiful morning heading over to Aberdeen

The stormy season has started, this was taken out of the office window in the middle of the day. It suddenly went dark and then started pouring with rain.
Sunset from Lamma looking toward Lantau island.
The Star Ferry that runs across Victoria Harbour. It amazes me that the star ferries still run, they are seriously old and it only costs two and half Hong Kong dollars (about 20p)
Waves breaking over a rock at Shek O.

Lens deliberations - I decided to buy into the L series lenses as they are fully weather proofed and at first was thinking of getting a 16-35mm f2.8. I then started looking at the 24-70mm f2.8 and switched my mind to this (thinking that I will probably buy the 16-35 at a later date). At the last minute I decided to go for the 24-105mm f4. It seems like a good deal for me as I dont shoot indoors too much and it has an image stabiliser in it which kind of makes up for f4 as well as being smaller and lighter than the 24-70mm. It is also cheaper!

Camera shopping in Hong Kong is pretty funny, haggling is pretty easy and you just have to get well off the main tourist areas (Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui) and choose a few shops. The smaller and more disorganised a shop looks the cheaper it is seems to be the rule. Today there was a HK$2000 (£160) difference between the highest and lowest prices I was quoted!

I also managed to go to a "touch and test" (no really that is what it was called) of the new Hasselblad H4D (the body alone retails for over 20,000 US dollares). It was completely ridiculous with 60megapixels and a 18-90mm f1 lens on it. The average file size would be 60mb! For some amazing old Hasselblad photography check out Clyde Butcher - http://www.clydebutcher.com/ . Alright. Enough geeking out.

Hong Kong Life

Heading off to Yangshou, China tonight for some climbing and a bit of a holiday but thought I would throw some photos up on the blog taken in the last few weeks. Its been a busy couple of weeks and that added to the main lens I use slowly dieing has meant that I have not been taking quite as many photos as usual...

Pak Sha Wan (Hebe Haven) at night with Ma On Shan in the background (Ma On Shan is the peak) taken from Wong Sui Seng. Hong Kong folks might know this better as the peninsular W of Sai Kung with Trio beach on it.
The patter of tiny feet - I took a couple of these as some students ran around on an evening scavenger hunt at Wong Sui Seng
The 21st floor - Probably taken around 7am, the first challenge of every program is getting all the (correct) gear from the store on the 21st floor into the back of the truck on the 5th floor!
Bioluminescence - probably the brightest I have ever seen on the Wan Tsai peninsular. This image is not photoshoped, this was a couple of minutes of exposure at a high ISO speed with about 15 people chucking rocks into the water the whole time. The far small pin pricks of light are probably fish breaking the surface for food.
Hong Kong signs never fail to amuse. Taken with my new fancy pants Ipod after my very old one gave up the ghost.

Hong Kong Days

I am now once again busy with work back in Hong Kong, living on the beautiful lamma island and trying to fit some days of climbing and fun into my work schedule. Work over the last couple of weeks has been a shock to the system working with groups as young as 8 year olds and trying to remember how to get around the Hong Kong public transport system. I have managed a few days climbing which has been great as the pain in my ribs is now almost totally gone.

James staring at the crux on the fourth pitch of "Gweilo" (6a or 5.10b) a classic multi pitch on Lion Rock.

A work photo - Col and Juillian teaching absieling at Shek O. The weather has been a mixed bag with some amazingly hot days (around 30degrees C) and others like this that feel a little more like Scotland.
The view from the base of Lion Rock back towards the Kowloon peninsular
James coming up the 3rd pitch of Gweilo.
Me looking pleased with myself on the top of Lion Rock, taken by James after finishing Gwielo.
Unknown climber on something hard at Lion Rock, looking east towards the New Territories and Sai Kung
The morning ferry ride into Central from Lamma island. This journey never really gets boring.