WARNING: Long-winded “why, you wouldn’t believe what happened to me” story. <g>
Faerie Pools, Isle of Sky, near Glen Brittle. I had seen a postcard at the
Visit Scotland Centre in Portree, and I wanted to find the spot and take my own
shot. (The postcard shot was lovely, but terribly overcooked.)
We parked Dreadnaught in the car park and headed off down the trail. The area
was such that we could see the trail far ahead. First we sent down, then we
started up. Presently, we found ourselves along the stream whereon the faerie
pools were to be found. There were several extremely photogenic locations, some
of which I set up and shot, others of which I bypassed, looking for the
postcard promised land. It looked to be a wide pond, or even lake, with some
short falls in the foreground, and some bodacious mountains in the background.
I know Mike posted some of this area in his recent, ah, opus. I can’t give
links because I don’t have internet at the moment. They’re in the Skye section.
We kept walking. Got soaked by a passing shower, and forged ahead. Ever on and
up. I could see ahead what I thought was a plateau, on which I was sure I would
find the pond. The air now was still, and I was hoping for a very nice
reflection. We never seemed to get there. Finally, we topped the “plateau” and
found no pond. Only a steadily narrowing stream that seemed to continue winding
up into the Cuillins. I feared we didn’t have enough time to keep going, so we
turned back and started meandering the several miles back to the car park.
Having stopped at one nice pool to rest and take a few snaps, we fell into
conversation with a father-daughter duo that had come up behind us. I asked
them how much farther they had gone, and they said up to where the stream
became a small creek and the trail started to get _really_ steep.
I allowed as how I was frustrated that I had not been able to find the spot at
which some wag of a photographer had taken a lovely shot. Just then I noticed
another photographer setting up his tripod in the middle of the stream and
deploying a neutral density filter to soften the water. Looking closer, I
realized the smallish pool he was getting ready to shoot was shaped remarkably
like the pond on the postcard. I shifted my own POV a few times and realized
that it was the same spot. Not a pond, just a puddle. A pretty puddle, but the
postcard shooter obviously had gone ultra-wide and “distorted” the scene into
something that it wasn’t.
I started laughing and cursing, and Joan and the father-daugher duo joined in.
A grand chuckle was had by all. “Done in by one of your own!” Joan said.
--Bob Whitmire
Certified Neanderthal
On Nov 26, 2014, at 10:57 AM, Paul Braun <pbraun42@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Whenever I go to a touristy spot, I'm always looking for alternatives to
> the postcard photos I can buy in any gift shop.
--
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