One Photo | The Abandoned Boat of Carbost, Skye, Scotland

I first heard of the Island of Skye when my good friend Efisio, travelmate of many adventures and photographer, told me he was planning to spend a week there. I didn't need much convincing when I saw that the location is nestled in the Scottish Highlands. Shortly after, I was making flight reservations to go across the pond and meet him there for a road trip. And what a road trip it was.

We based our journey from a B&B in Staffin just 14 kilometers out of Portree, a small village and capital city of the island. We spent our days driving around, chasing light and landscapes, and despite the cold weather, we had a blast. 

One of our outings took us to Carbost. A hamlet on the south shore of Loch Harport, the place is best known for the Talisker Distillery, a favorite spot among visitors. The day was grey, and the weather not cooperating with us, but we pushed forward and kept going as things can change fast in this region. 

Close to the village, we found this spot—an old abandoned boat, its wood rotting, and sinking, part of it submerged on the loch. From the moment I saw it I thought it would be a fine black and white image. The boat was not far from shore, so I positioned the camera as close as possible and filled the frame with the sunken boat in diagonal position to give the image some movement. 

I photographed this image with the Fuji X-T1 and the Fujinon XF 16-55mm F 2.8 R LM WR mounted on a tripod. I wanted a long exposure to smooth the water and create a "silky effect" so I added a six-stop neutral density filter in front of the lens to make this almost minute-long exposure. Post was done in Lightroom with a quick trip to Photoshop for the black and white conversion using the OnOne Perfect B&W plugin. 

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