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Archive 2013 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Tom Black
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Hi all,

In preparation for putting together a new Zenfolio account I've been reworking a number of shots from the last 4 years, which I'm going to post here in manageable chunks as I finish each batch. Some of these will have been posted previously, but I'll reinclude them for completeness and because many of them have been reprocessed from scratch.

I find it very hard to reign in my processing sometimes, but I've been holding back as much as possible whilst still indulging my penchant for dark 'n' moody. Constructive criticism always appreciated.

Part 2 can be found here - https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1259127/0#11987119

So without further ado, Part 1 (panoramas from St Kilda, Scotland) -

1.
Taken on my first trip to the islands, this shows the wide sweep of Village Bay, the abandoned Street which was evacuated in 1930 and many of the stone walls and cleiteans (or cleits, stone stuctures for storing peat and food), of which there are many thousands across the island. The military base and road to the radar station can also be seen.
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/330/3/5/hirta_by_hairytoes-d28uap4.jpg

2.
This is the view from one of the locations to the north of the island where I was live trapping mice. I spent weeks in all weathers watching the north Atlantic swell breaking against those rocks.
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/341/c/4/cleiteans_by_hairytoes-d2njl8q.jpg

3.
A tricky shot to process, and taken in a time window that lasted only a few seconds as the birds lifted, this shows the gannet breeding colony on Stac an Armin, the highest sea stack in the UK at 643 feet.
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/341/9/e/lost_kingdoms_by_hairytoes-d2tmwx8.jpg

4.
A viewpoint that not many people get to see - Village Bay from the highest point on Dun, a small island separated from the main island of Hirta by a narrow channel. Access is normally forbidden in order to protect the nesting puffins and fulmars but I had access for two days in order to survey the field mouse population.
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/341/2/6/isthmus_by_hairytoes-d2zs7gk.jpg

5.
Taken on my final trip and one of my first attempts at infrared, this shot was made extremely difficult by the gale force winds that sweep across this spot.
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/340/f/3/ir_pano_by_hairytoes-d6wwwg3.jpg

Cheers,
Tom

Edited on Dec 08, 2013 at 07:35 AM · View previous versions

Dec 07, 2013 at 10:39 AM

PeaktoPeek
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Wow, these are really cool. I doubt I will ever make it as far out as St. Kilda, but these are certainly inspiring from the photography point of view. There is so much going on in these, it feels like looking at a still frame from an iMax movie. I think #1, #3 and #4 are my faves here -- well done!
Paul

Dec 07, 2013 at 11:00 AM

helenica
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

A beautiful set from the end of the world!

Dec 07, 2013 at 11:01 AM

dsjtecserv
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Wow, I saw and liked #5 in the Alt thread, but these additional ones are really great. As I said in the Alt thread, you are really good at leveraging the panoramic format to produce a great composition.

Dave

Dec 07, 2013 at 11:07 AM

Justin Grimm
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Damn these are good. 1, 3, and 5 are on the top of my list. The birds are flying so perfectly in #3. Craziness.

Dec 07, 2013 at 12:49 PM

JimFox
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Hey Tom,

Very cool shots here. #1 and 3 are my favorites here. I hope your setting up of a new website goes well, I know it's a lot of work to do.

Jim

Dec 07, 2013 at 02:20 PM

Kee Woo Rhee
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Wow! Tom..

Ever since I got to see one of the gorgeous pictures of Jim Richardson of the Fog scene Boreray Island, Scotland, I still remember the St. Kilda. http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/boreray-island-fog/

You have captured so beautiful shots here. Upon seeing your wonderful images, I am very much up-mood this afternoon. Now, please tell us about stories behind each picture if you don't mind.

Bravo!

Kee

Dec 07, 2013 at 03:24 PM

Tom Black
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Thank you very much for the kind words. I think it helps having such a ridiculously photogenic island to play with! I unwittingly posted too many images which Jim has pruned down to five, I'll put the others back up in a new thread tomorrow.

Justin Grimm wrote:
Damn these are good. 1, 3, and 5 are on the top of my list. The birds are flying so perfectly in #3. Craziness.

Yeah I got lucky there. A large number of gannets all lifted off together as the boat arrived right underneath the stac. I was busy chimping at the time and only just realised in time to fire off the 5 shots for the pano. A few seconds later and the formation had gone.

Kee Woo Rhee wrote:
Wow! Tom..

Ever since I got to see one of the gorgeous pictures of Jim Richardson of the Fog scene Boreray Island, Scotland, I still remember the St. Kilda. http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/boreray-island-fog/

You have captured so beautiful shots here. Upon seeing your wonderful images, I am very much up-mood this afternoon. Now, please tell us about stories behind each picture if you don't mind.

Bravo!

Kee

Kee, I'm very pleased that you like these enough to brighten up your day! Jim Richardson's series is fantastic - evocative yet far more naturalistic than I have ever been able to achieve.

I will try and add a little background information about the shots to the original post. I spent 15 months over 3 years on the island studying the endemic field mice for my PhD.

Dec 07, 2013 at 06:54 PM

AMaji
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Great series Tom. No. 1 gets my vote.

Dec 07, 2013 at 07:01 PM

CarloDidier
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

What a fantastic place! You're a lucky guy (and a very good photographer).

Dec 08, 2013 at 05:11 AM

CW100
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

nice pano shots

Dec 09, 2013 at 12:48 PM

Sneakyracer
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · St Kilda #1 (panos)

Man, stunning locations. Thx for posting. The panos work very well.

Dec 11, 2013 at 12:11 AM


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