Scottish photographer Colin Cameron hosts a great blog called Scotland in the Gloaming. It is based on a flikr group of the same name. The members of the flikr group nominate the best photographs of Scotland in the gloaming to feature on the blog.
Mellon Udrigle, a photo by jimlaide on Flickr. “Mellon Udrigle Beach. Sunrise. Mellon Udirgle beach is one of the most visited places for landscape photographers in Scotland. It has been voted as one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It has amazing views and fantastic light at dawn and sunset There is a proposal to build a 55 foot wind turbine attached to a holiday chalet only occupied for 6 weeks of the year. ©Jim Henderson
What I love about this blog is it makes great use of a great scots word – GLOAMING. You may have heard the song ‘Roaming in the Gloaming’. Gloaming means twilight; the time after sunset but before dark and just before or around sunrise. As any landscape photographer will tell you this ( both ) is the golden hour.
Light is what transforms a scene and a photograph into a picture you would want to hang on your wall. Snaps or postcards are typically mid day shots to remind people of the place. It is ‘golden hour’ shots we would typically think of as art and see as prints in a gallery.
During the gloaming a definition on Wikipedia would tell you lighting is softer (more diffuse) and warmer in hue.
The blog Scotland in the Gloaming is therefore onto a winner. Scotland has stunning scenery and superb gloaming. If you want to see what we mean go and pay this blog a visit.
Mhairi and Dougal enjoy the gloaming at Balmerino bay, Fife, Scotland ©Paul Carroll
The golden hour is the first light of the day – just before the dawn – and the last. Early risers get the best shots as do those that stay out late. In many ways if you want to be a landscape artist you should get up before the dawn, sleep through midday and get back out for the twilight. Of course in mid winter both of these hours are easily part of the normal day and at a sensible o’clock. So rather than being the time to put the camera away the winter can be a boom time for photographers.
