The setting sun silhouetting the ruined house on Murray's Isles as seen from Carrick Shore.
The picture above was taken in 1999 This page is not just about a particular place, but also a particular time: the evening of the autumn equinox.
These shots are all taken at
Carrick Shore,
and they are all taken on the evening of the 21st September. Carrick is at the entrance to Fleet Bay, a side bay leading off Wigtown Bay on the Solway in southern Scotland. Sunsets are irresistible for me
as a photographer, as you may have noticed from other pages, and the equinox is often a time that offers mellow weather; although admittedly there are years when it is too dreich to get the camera out. Being in the same place at the same time each year means that it is tide and weather that dictate the shots. Here is a selection from recent years.
The islands at the entrance to Fleet Bay. To the right, here touched by the sun, are Murray's Isles - the gap between them can just be seen; and to the left is Ardwall Isle, less distinctly an island in this shot, but in any case only an island for a few hours a day
Ardwall Isle
has the site of a chapel and house - little is known about them
Steel grey - just a reminder that fine weather is not found every year, this was in 2016...
...nor is the sea always calm as this shot in the wind and rain of 2008 shows
A more tranquil evening over Murray's Isles
Part of a sequence of the setting sun taken every few minutes looking over Murray's Isles in 2014
The subtle colours of 2013...
...and the drama of 2007 ...
...when the clouds are lit from below
The moon in 2012 following the sun to rest just the right distance behind
the sun to reflect its warmth over the sea
Sometimes the aberrations of camera optics produce rather splendid effects as with this circular flare.
There are many arguments about adjusting images. This flare is not in the scene, neither was it added afterwards. An arbitrary added circle here would almost certainly have been distracting. However, the image has been cropped to fit the circle.
Black clouds over a black sea.
The shots on this page have hardly been altered from those produced by the camera. Usually an increase in saturation or shadow detail is helpful, but not here. Generally the best pictures come ready made by the camera; later adjustments rarely can add magic to an uninspired scene.
The sun has gone, but look at that curve of orange across the bay around the edge of the water
And here a longer lens picks out the ruin and the setting sun in 2007
The next page
continues with the islands off the Kirkcudbright coast, adding to those shown on this page the islands of Heston and Little Ross. The latter, in the picture to the right, has recently sold for an, as yet, unknown sum.
A page about the nearby town of Kirkcudbright
A page about water and boats in Vietnam
