Majestic mountains, incredible aquamarine and turquoise waters, endless white sands, waves gently washing ashore and just your own footprints for company. This is Luskentyre. A place to take a moment and listen to the sounds of the waves and the call of the nearby oystercatchers, open your eyes and see soft clouds scooting by chased in by dark ominous squalls across the bay. A place to hit the pause button.

Luskentyre was high on my list of locations, and I had set my schedule to give me three goes during my visit, given the unpredictability of the weather on the Outer Hebrides. So, having landed on the islands the day before, this was my first location on a long list. A three-mile single track road takes you from the main road on Harris, next to Loch Fincastle, to the car park next to the cemetery. Yes! The cemetery is in one of the most beautiful locations on the islands, just behind the dunes. I could not think of anywhere better to spend my afterlife thank you very much.

Anyways, back to more pressing appointments, and the drive down this road is all part of the experience, dipping in and out of bays, pulling over every 100 yards or so to take in the views that just keep changing. There are a few designated spots for motorhomes on the way, so I passed a few of my fellow wacky racers off the ferry from yesterday, one lady waving furiously with a big smile.

Past a small group of houses, and you arrive at a decent sized car park a few yards from the beach. It was around 9 am and high tide was due just before 11. Perfect for some incoming waves and hopefully great reflections in the sand.

I walked the few yards across the dune and the views and sounds just exploded. Straight ahead was the island of Taransay wearing its own small cloud as a hat, to my right the mountains of Lewis and to my left high sand dunes ran along the beach towards the somewhat smaller rolling hills of South Harris. Glorious. Beautiful white sands, crystal clear waters and the sense that you are the only person on the planet.

I was clearly in for a day of changing weather and was lined up for those “four seasons in a day”. Early morning sun was coming from behind me, but I could see some dark clouds on the horizon. I grabbed my first shot to my left as the sun rounded the end of the beach.

Early light over LuskentyreEarly light over Luskentyre

Early light over Luskentyre

The light was changing by the minute and directly in front of me across the bay stood Taransay. A small island famous for launching the career of Ben Fogle in Castaway 2000. The programme followed a group of thirty-six people who were tasked with building a community on the island. Not a raving success, but Ben was happy no doubt. High cloud fanning towards me and low cloud sitting atop Taransay, I grabbed this handheld shot.

Taransay with its own cloud halo.Taransay with its own cloud halo.

Taransay with its own cloud halo.

I wandered along the shoreline and around the corner looking back towards Seilebost, and grabbed a few shots of the varied shells and debris washed up on the beach.

crab on the sand at Luskentyre beach, Ilse of Harris, Scotland.crab on the sand at Luskentyre beach, Ilse of Harris, Scotland.

The tide was really coming in now so time to get my wellies wet and get low down to the sea, so I returned to stand in front of Taransay. On the edge of the waves I found a piece of kelp moving around in the surf, so got my tripod out for the first time to grab my first long exposure of the day. Every so often the waves would hit my feet moving the kelp, so I timed it for a 23 second exposure in between the bigger waves. It took a few attempts, but one of my favourite shots of the day.

Kelp on the smooth clean sands of LuskentyreKelp on the smooth clean sands of Luskentyre

Kelp on the smooth clean sands of Luskentyre

It wasn’t long before the tide was now hitting my wellies with every wave. Luskentyre beach is quite flat and smooth, so the tide comes in quickly.

What a feeling!

Now was the time to grab some medium length exposures, and as the water was now washing around the feet of my tripod, 8 seconds was the longest I could do without another wave causing the tripod to sink in the wet sand.

Big skies reflecting on LuskentyreBig skies reflecting on Luskentyre

Big skies reflecting on Luskentyre

Washed sands clear out to TaransayWashed sands clear out to Taransay

Washed sands clear out to Taransay

Time for a wander, and I walked back along the beach towards Seilebost once again. What started off as some dark clouds on the horizon, were upon me within minutes. I was expecting a soaking, but somehow they passed over without any drama and I was able to grab a few moody darker images at high tide.
 

Remarkably dry storm clouds passing over HarrisRemarkably dry storm clouds passing over Harris

Remarkably dry storm clouds passing over Harris

High tide at LuskentyreHigh tide at Luskentyre

High tide at Luskentyre

I planned to come back when it really was raining and try for that ultimate tempestuous image of squally rain, breaking light, and huge waves. I made a mental note to get back some time in the next week or so once the weather broke. Little did I know……

Crashing waves catch the light before the storm.Crashing waves catch the light before the storm.

Crashing waves catch the light before the storm.

Fine sands of Luskentyre give great lines
 

I was in that place now caught between stormy clouds moving along the horizon and intermittent bright sunshine from behind, so I climbed up on the dunes to look down on the beach and give me some foreground interest. I wish I had maybe started at the other end, as climbing straight up a very steep soft sand dune fully laden with camera gear is quite a challenge. But the view was well worth it.

Sunshine and showers over Luskentyre.Sunshine and showers over Luskentyre.

Sunshine and showers over Luskentyre.

I’d been here two hours now and the only footprints I could see were mine in this shot.

Eventually a couple appeared with their dogs and wandered past waving a good morning wave. I sat on the top of the dunes for quite some time, just taking in the sea air and watching the two dogs play in the sea. Two Black Labs, so I was missing my boy Max now and thinking how much he would love this beach. But then he does have a knack for dropping paw prints “in shot” or dumping his ample rear end on my tripod, ruining a long exposure shot. I’ll bring him next time.

Lunch time arrived and I decide to take one more shot before putting my camera away and going for a longer walk along the beach to just take in the location for the next visit and soak up some more atmosphere of this amazing place.

I went for a long exposure from the top of the dunes looking straight out to the mountains of Lewis. It was pretty windy, so I excluded any moving foreground grasses and went for a cropped in shot to highlight the moving clouds above me and over the mountains in the distance. The tide had turned so I got a nice misty edge as the waves ebbed and flowed.

The movement of sky and seaThe movement of sky and sea

The movement of sky and sea

After exploring for another hour, the trudging through soft sand was taking its toll so I decided time to go back to the van and explore more along the road back toward camp. I stopped off at a great little spot for a coffee and to watch the tide retreat further.

Great camping spot.

The sky was clearing again so I decided to head back out of Luskentyre and go to a spot I found the other day with a great view of the whole bay. Time for a panorama I think.

I arrived at the layby, and it was perfect timing. The tide had retreated far enough to show the curved channels where the river continues to flow out to sea, and the emerging sandbars under the turquoise waters. I needed to move fast and get this panorama.

A ‘stitch-pano’ is made from several images taken one after another whilst moving the camera left to right, but this was going to be a challenge as there were waves moving across the scene.

First of all, I got my tripod set up dead level, turned my camera on its side and using the on screen level, checked it did not move off level when moving the camera from the extreme left to right. I strongly recommend using an L-bracket if you want to use this technique, as it allows your camera to pivot around the sensor, whereas just titling your tripod head, means the sensor also moves in an arc and you can get distortion in your final image. Having left my tripod at home (idiot!) I was having to do the latter and prey. As most of my scene was in the distance, the impact was diminished.

I checked the exposure to the lightest part of the panorama shot and I was almost ready. Get a move on, the light is changing!

Here was the challenge, I needed to take fast shots and move the camera quickly so there was as little movement of the waves between shots as possible.

First trick was to plug in my remote “clicker”, so I was not having to push buttons and use a timer on the camera, and second was to make sure the tripod was as stable as possible to avoid vibration when I move the camera. 3 heavy stones. Thankfully the exposure across the scene was quite balanced so I dropped in a little exposure compensation along with selecting f/10 to get everything in focus. Finally, the exposure compensation allowed me to shoot at 1/320 sec so I could work quickly.

Bish bash bosh, I took 10 images one after another as the sun hit the dunes once again.

The curves of Luskentrye’s estuaryThe curves of Luskentrye’s estuary

The curves of Luskentrye’s estuary

Why go to all the trouble? Well, the density of pixels captured means I could blow this image up to the size a whole wall if I wanted to, and it means I can get images within images by cropping. Not easy to demonstrate on a blog so here are a couple of cropped images from the above image.

Curves of the estuary

The sand dunes where I stood a few hours earlier

I promised myself some breaks during the day after doing a few sunrise to sunset days at the beginning of my adventure, so I headed back towards camp to grab some food before the café closed and spend some time processing my images.

Skies were still moody and the wind strong, so before getting settled for the night, I wandered once again down to Nisabost beach on foot, to grab another shot of Ceapabhal that by now was wearing its own cloak of cloud, a little like Taransay that morning.

Ceapabhal cloudscapeCeapabhal cloudscape

Ceapabhal cloudscape

Nice long two-minute exposure to round the day off. Great colours in the sea and those clouds!!

Still no proper sunset here, but plenty time to get that.

I loved my time down at Luskentyre. Lewis and Harris was delivering on all fronts from day one. The tranquillity of the beach mixed in with the bursts of drama just had me hooked. Everything I had read or heard about this location was spot on. And lets not forget, I was there a good few hours and only saw two other humans.

A lot of fresh air today, so I got settled with my laptop, some music and a hot drink.

Tomorrow is a rest day. Good night all.