My previous 3.00am rise for the Old Man of Storr had been a solo experience as my boys had arrived here late the night before - too much to then expect them to accompany me so early! However my youngest son Joshua (@joshua_earle) after seeing my photos was very keen to have opportunities to get his own photographic record of the location. So after studying the weather apps, I set the alarm for 3.40am this time, and after waking everyone up at that unearthly hour we headed off for another pre-dawn start to the day!
The moon was still out and brightly shining down over the Old Man, which provided a good excuse for a few minutes rest on the way up!
This morning was completely different to the previous visit earlier in the week: The wind was much gentler, but in particular the storm clouds from the overnight wet weather were still hanging around the horizon muting the colours as the sun rose.
But it didn't take long for the sun to start breaking through the clouds, casting its orange glow across the water and onto the Old Man:
I decided to set up the tripod on a different high point to the previous visit to provide a slightly different angle to the shots, while leaving Joshua up on the previous spot that can be seen on the middle right of the above photo. This was until he noticed that I wasn't around and came running down the hill with his camera to check out the new perspective, not wanting to miss out!
Inevitably it was soon time to head back down to the car, diverting via a small loch to capture reflections of the Old Man in the still waters:
On the descent to the car, I saw the lochs down by the roadside were very calm with some reflections noticeable on the far loch. I had been waiting for the right conditions to get a particular reflection photo there looking back to the Old Man, and although not exactly meeting the criteria, we headed off so I could see what shots were possible:
So another start to the day was complete, almost! Taking Willow for her morning walk and exercise down to Staffin Bay, I noticed the loch by Kilt Rock waterfall was reflecting like glass, so pulled up for a few photos! It was just in time, as shortly after getting the photos a breeze picked up rippling the water's surface and the moment was gone.