Allt Chranaidh

Allt Chranaidh was on the list before it made it onto any formal itinerary. Driving around the northwest Highlands with no fixed plan beyond chasing whatever the weather was doing, I found myself pulling over and following the sound of water into the gorge.

Outside, it was properly windy — the kind that makes you question your life choices. Inside the gorge, sheltered by the rock walls on either side, it was almost still. Just the falls, the pool, and the overcast sky doing exactly what overcast skies are supposed to do for waterfalls: diffusing everything into soft, even light with no blown highlights and no harsh shadows. Sometimes the weather you’re chasing turns out to be the weather you already had.

The shot started life as a 360° panoramic — 16mm to keep the frame count down — then cropped back to this wide horizontal slice. The symmetry of the composition more or less gave itself to me. The gorge walls frame it on both sides; all I had to do was get low, get level, and not fall in.

A place that earns a proper return visit.