Two 'Commended' Images in SLPOTY

Last September we did a two and a half week road trip around Scotland, including Skye, with my 86 year old mum - who had always wanted to visit but never been there. We had a brilliant time and also some amazing conditions for photography, so I was able to capture some shots I was quite pleased with.

This meant that I could finally enter the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Award competition - and today I was chuffed to bits to find out that I'd received not one but two commendations.

The first one, Loch Dunvegan Reflection, was shot in the early evening from a jetty just behind our holiday cottage on Skye - after a rainy day that turned into something quite stunning an hour before sunset. This was the only time all week that the sea loch calmed down enough to give us any reflections at all!

This second one, Loch Nell Sunrise, was also shot from behind a holiday cottage - this time on the shores of the lesser-know Loch Nell on the west coast of Scotland near Oban. We stayed in the fabulous Clan Cottages - a favourite location of ours - and this abandoned boat was sitting in the reeds just a short walk away, making for a perfect photographic subject. I'd got up early in the hope of capturing the sunrise through the mist over the loch, and wasn't disappointed!