Winter Holidays Isle of Harris
Isle of Harris – A photographer’s paradise
Rosie Honeywell
Autumn and Winter on the Isle of Harris are perfect for photographers who enjoy winter landscape photography in Scotland.
Winter Holidays Isle of Harris – the Autumn heralds the longer nights for stargazing as well as fantastic light for photographers.
Dramatic seascapes, rainbows, clouds and shafts of light abound, bringing an ethereal beauty that will stir your soul and moments that you will remember for ever.
There is something about the reflective qualities of the sea that surrounds Harris that creates such unique vistas, as well as the continual movement of the sea and the clouds. Moody one minute, bright the next. A rainbow pops up, then gently disappears. The sky can turn almost black with an approaching storm, and just as suddenly be blue again.
At night, the green glow of the Aurora can sometimes burst out into shapes of coloured light dancing in the sky. Other times the sheer darkness right outside the door at Oran na Mara offers the chance to see the Milky Way in all its glory, literally from one horizon to the other. There are so many stars that it can be difficult to distinguish some of the constellations. This is an awe-inspiring experience that you will never forget.
A full moon offers another opportunity – it is so bright in the unpolluted skies of Harris that you can walk on the beach without the need for a torch. The phosphorescent sea glows gently too, and the hills turn jet black in the background.
Whether rough or calm, there is always something to catch your eye. And if it does get too chilly, retreat back into Oran na Mara where the huge windows offer a cozy viewing platform from the islands in the south to the hills of the north, bookending the dramatic Chaipaval peninsula framed by the sweeping Scarista beach – there are no better views anywhere!
Our guest blogs in future will feature a dedicated amateur astronomer who is staying in November, and our photographer friend Mo Thomson who returns to Harris again and again to capture more images of his favourite place.