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| Puffin 1 | Puffin 2 | Puffin 3 |
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| Puffin 4 | Puffin 5 | Puffin 6 | Puffin 7 |
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| Shag | Razorbill |
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| Sheep | Highland cattle | moss landscape |
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| Chaffinch | Frog |
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| Puffin 1 | Puffin 2 | Puffin 3 |
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| Puffin 4 | Puffin 5 | Puffin 6 | Puffin 7 |
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| Shag | Razorbill |
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| Sheep | Highland cattle | moss landscape |
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| Chaffinch | Frog |
Scotland is a country well known for its landscape, its people and the weather. For a photographer, the light and the fast changes it induces in the landscape are equally important and add to the appeal of Scotland. For animal or birds photographers the coast and its seabirds are well known. Places like Bass Rock swell with seabirds and photographers come from everywhere to visit these.
Lesser known are Lunga and the other Treshnish Isles. These islands are owned and managed by The Hebridean Trust. To protect these islands the access is restricted. You need to visit them with tour operators who have permission of The Hebridean Trust. On Lunga live and breed more than thousand pairs of Puffins, several thousands of Guillemots and smaller numbers of Shags and Razorbills. As the islands are uninhabited and there are no larger (wild) mammals than rabbits (and no predators) these birds are rather tame. They can be approached slowly and with patience you can come very close.
The pictures were made during one boat-trip to Lunga in June 2003. At this time the Puffins are still breeding in their burrows. There are no chicks yet and the parent who is not breeding is able to relax in the sun. Later in the month, once the chicks are hatched, they need to fly out during the day to catch fish to feed their offspring.
The West Highland Way is one of the most spectacular ways to hike through beautiful parts of Scotland. It is not the best way to see wildlife as the trek is rather popular and and chances of meeting rare wildlife are rather limited. But the most abundant representatives of animal kingdom in Scotland, sheep and cattle, are easily met.
The pictures were made during the hike from Glasgow to Fort William end of May 2003.
I came to photography by taking pictures during holidays to show where
I have been and what happened there. Photography started out to be a
mean of recording my environment - landscape, animals, plants, people,
houses etc.
Now my challenge is to make my pictures readable for somebody else too.
Every picture is just a snapshot of reality seen through my eyes. Only
my eyes? Some fractions in time boil a three-dimensional reality
including movements, sounds, odors and emotions down to a
two-dimensional solely visual record - a picture. It's meaning and
message is clearily visible for me - but is it also for somebody else?
I struggle to show more than the 2-D representation of the beauty and
the emotions of these moments.
Taking pictures of wildlife add another delighting aspect for me. Finding, approaching and finally photographing the (undisturbed!) subject is a satisfying experience by itself. It is even further rewarded if the pictures turn out to be good.
Consequently my equipment is a 24x36 mm film system (Nikon) but I am now strongly leaning towards digital. I cherish the invention of VR but still carry a carbon-fiber tripod on my hikes. Still I am photographing mainly during my vacations but I am currently exploring my neighbourhood too. This trip was the first to Scotland - but certainly not the last!
Contact:
Dirk Funhoff, Mannheim, Germany