Tanera Mor, Summer Isles, North West Scotland
I really love this place. I have spent many weeks on this island and, to use a cliché, it is a magical place.
I first came across Tanera when, as a young man, I read Frank Fraser-Darling’s account of running a small croft on the island. His book,”Island Farm”, became a classic. He lived on Tanera in the 1940s and tried to show that people could make a living from the land in such a remote place. I thought how wonderful it would be to live in such a wild area, man against the elements and all that! After reading this account I went on to read others in the genre; Gavin Maxwell’s “Ring of Bright Water”, Rowenna Fare’s “Seal Morning” and “The Island” by Ronald Lockley. I was hooked, the appeal of a remote and wild existence was so attractive. It didn’t happen for me, the getting away from it all, but it did start a long relationship with the wild places of Britain, and in particular the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Tanera is a great place for photography and I have led several groups of photographers on the island for day visits and longer. In every case the clients were delighted with their experience. The vistas east and west are spectacular and, in good light, give amazing photographic opportunities. From the east side the hills of Coigach and the ”Sutherland Giants” are visible across the water of the sheltered sound, to the west the other islands of the archipelago and further out the stormy Minch, then the Sea of the Hebrides. 
There are many sheltered cliffy bays and remote stony beaches that are well worth a visit. Here is found a good variety of seabirds, coastal flowers and in one or two places, seals. Inland the island’s high places are excellent vantage points and can easily be climbed. Here there are many opportunities for macro work with flowers, lichens, mosses and rock structures as subjects.
The resident island owners, Bill and Jean Wilder, will rent you a comfortable cottage or house and will take you on a boat trip around the islands.
The island had twenty one families in the late eighteenth century and there are several ruins of croft houses in sheltered sites on the east side. They make interesting subjects for photography. The image of the ruins shows the rule of composition whereby the eye is drawn into the picture from bottom left and continues with the track to the hill silhouette in the background. 
The sky and hills hold the eye in the picture and don’t allow it to leave the composition. A wide angle lens was used, with a small aperture in order to give enough depth of sharp focus. This means a slow shutter speed and a tripod for camera stability. Where photographers are frustrated by lack of sharpness the problem is often due to camera shake. The heart pushes blood around the body, lungs expand and contract and this, with all other physiological functions, causes vibrations. This can result in camera shake at shutter speeds slower than 1/250th so a camera support is essential. Tripods can be a nuisance but persevere and your pictures will be sharper.
Fraser-Darling and his young family lived on the east side of Tanera in the Old Schoolhouse. It was from here that he observed how the light and shade on Stac Polliadh and Cul Mor swapped around every few minutes or so. I have seen this on several occasions in the late afternoon from the same spot, usually round about supper time. Many meals have been interrupted as I shot outside to try and get the best picture. I think the image is best seen as a telephoto shot to concentrate the eye on the light on the hills. The picture shown here has Stac Polliadh in shade and Cul Mor in shadow.
The Fraser-Darling family would not have seen this particular scene, the street lights of Achiltibuie shining across the water of the sound between Coigach and Tanera. It is a puzzle to me why such a small settlement needs so many street lights! The deep darkness of Tanera, with no street lights (and indeed no streets), accentuates the pin pricks of light. Obviously a lengthy exposure is needed, about 5 seconds@ F8/11, and at this aperture your lens will give optimum resolution, but again a tripod should be used to get maximum sharpness.
Whilst we are on the subject of light, the northwest of Scotland is a superb area for red skies at either end of the day. I find sunrise is more spectacular and this image shows an almost unique event when in late May an annular eclipse was seen. The sun is chipped by the shadow of the moon and Suilven is silhouetted to the right of the picture. More reflections and hues of warm light give the picture depth and interest. 
Sunsets are best seen from the higher ground and this image is from Cnoc Glas, a short walk from the Old Schoolhouse. Here the sun is sinking behind the many smaller islands and skerries and, again the use of a long lens cuts out a lot of unnecessary detail and concentrates the eye on the main event. (I won’t mention the tripod again BUT a camera support aids sharpness and I find a beanbag useful to rest the camera on, say a rock, fence post or vehicle)
Here is a bit of advice, be wary when photographing scenes that have a high proportion of clouds. Look carefully at the shapes the clouds make in the camera viewfinder when composing the picture. This picture, a bold, strong silhouette with softer billowing clouds seemed a reasonable idea. When I looked at the picture later on the screen what I saw was an “elephant” in the sky!
Along the rocky foreshore of Tanera, especially when the tide is flowing in, there are opportunities to see and photograph birds like ring plover and oystercatcher. The latter are good subjects with their bold black and white plumage and bright red legs, bill and eyes giving a splash of colour in an otherwise monochromatic subject. Colour accent can really lift a picture. In this image I have used a technique that wildlife photographers employ to create a strong and interesting image.The out of focus and right foreground and the blurred background concentrate the eye on the subject of the picture. 
This blurring requires a large aperture, say F 5.6, so that the depth of field is narrow, and only the middle-band of the picture is in sharp focus. Also the subject is located in the right third of the composition. This serves to show that as a photographer it is good to think about the composition that you want to achieve in the camera viewfinder and not leave it all to your Photoshop manipulations. Cropping is possible in computer or when printing but I feel it is vital to look carefully at the composition in the viewfinder when making the image. Also make sure you look at the edges of the viewfinder as the balance of composition can be spoilt by unwanted intrusions.
The best time of the year for a photographic trip to Tanera is from late May to late July when the plant and wildlife is at its most varied. Several varieties of orchid and the many upland and coastal flowers give marvellous opportunities for macro work. In the sea I have watched otter, seal, porpoise and minke whale, but not long enough to photograph. Bird life is a bit less varied but fulmar, tern, peregrine, eider and divers are to be seen regularly at this time of year. On the open sea gannet, shearwater, puffin, razorbill, black guillemot (tysties) are often seen from cliff-tops or from the boat.
Tanera Mor is one of the loveliest places I know the light always changing and the frontal weather from the Atlantic can give the photographer spectacular conditions. Go there and enjoy a peaceful and inspiring photographic holiday.
Don’t forget; take only photographs and leave only footprints.
For full details of how to get there, accommodation, and so on look at ; www.summer-isles.com