My New Year resolution is to do more blog posts. So here goes…

I have decided to start with the story behind this stunning picture of Stirling Castle and the snow covered Ben Vorlich and Stuc a’Chroin mountains. Importantly I will finish the answer to the question that I am most often asked about this shot, not what the settings were, or what camera I used, but where was the shot taken form?

The picture is called Stirling Blush. It was taken on 27th February, 2020.  

I saw a similar picture, without the snow, online and knew it would look good during a winter sunrise, as the rising sun would light the scene head on. I managed to work out roughly where the picture I had seen was taken from, but ended up contacting the original photographer for directions. I stay in Kirkcaldy and sunrise at that time of year is about 8am, so I left the house about 6am and braved the Central Belt traffic to get there. I had to do a bit of driving about but eventually found that the spot the shot was taken from. Unfortunately by the time I walked to the top of the hill the sunrise was passed.

A few days later the forecast looked favourable so I set off again, this time I arrived in plenty of time but there was cloud on the horizon and no sunrise to speak off.

On the 27th the weather again looked good in the forecast, but as I drove towards Stirling I was disappointed to see the clouds above the city. However, the sky to the east was clear. I climbed the hill and set up for the shot. It is taken on a Nikon Z7 with a Sigma 150mm - 600mm lens. That is a big, big lens.  As the sun rose the clouds above Stirling started to turn that beautiful pink colour and it turned out to be one of the best sunrises I had seen in a long time. My camera and lens was on a tripod which I weighed down, but even then it was blown about a bit in the wind, so I really had to up the ISO for a shutter speed fast enough for a sharp shot.

As a footnote, I posted this shot on social media the following day and it is one of the few pieces of work that I have that actually went viral. One celebrity endorsement in particular helped this, Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser in Outlander) commented on it on twitter and his half million fans loved it. 

As promised, I said I would tell you where the shot was taken from. It is shot from the little hill behind Bannockburn Bus Depot. The map below shows the location and direction of the shot.