About lichen and waves and textures and colour.

This week I'm wondering about textures in nature, and being playful with a camera.

Saddell Bay seascape

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Do you ever find that some weeks are more about textures? It’s been that sort of week for me, textures of sandstone pebbles from a beach in Campbeltown, the rough sand paper pitted exterior of one pebble, compared with the smooth satin feel of another.

Campbeltown sandstone pebbles Photo Sarah Moorcroft

Textures of Lichen on the trees, now a palette of vibrant greens after a few days of rain.

Platismata glauca lichen, Graphis scripta Photo by Sarah Moorcroft

Textures of waves rolling into the beach, and misty spray softening the castle. Weeks have ups and downs, of course they do, and this week was no exception. What does not alter, cannot alter for me is spending time in nature, walking, noticing, photographing. I can happily visit the same place each week, notice differences, exhault in finding formations in the rocks that I have not noticed before. Rejoice in the joyful exuberance of gulls swooping in and around the waves, resting on rafts of kelp thrown up by the days storm.

I’m still not able to move as much as I would like, sciatica is still blessing me with its unwelcome presence. There is frustration in not being able to bend to take photographs in the garden, the purple crocuses with vibrant yellow stamens, tiny tete a tête daffodils, blowing gently in the wind. Celandine, flowers still tightly encased in bud, but already showing off their magnificent yellowness through the green protective sheath.

No temperate woodland wanders this week, instead ambles with Billy, slowly pondering the lichen on the forestry tracks, enjoying the birch and willow that are permitted to grow at the track edge, softening the brutal spikes of the plantation spruces, I try to name them these lichen, remember them, celebrate them, photograph them for their beauty and textures, my learning is a constant work in progress.

Possibly Hypotrachyna sp Lichen and Graphis Scripta

Usnea sp Lichen Photograph Sarah Moorcroft

I took my little camera down to Saddell Bay with Billy and my husband. Billy will wait forever for me to photograph things, my husband is less patient, but knows a wait is in store when the camera is accompanying us on the walk. It had rained all day, heavy, drenching, don’t fancy heading out in this sort of rain. Strong winds in the morning too. The sea outside the house was frothing white, magnificent. Late afternoon, the rain stopped, glimmers of colour appeared in the sky, and we set off to Saddell to enjoy the high tide waves and rawness of nature. My “little” camera is a Canon EOS M6 Mk1 (old tech now, but I don’t much feel the draw of kit), crop framed sensor, flip screen, a good little workhorse. I invested in it as my companion on mountain hikes in the Pyrenees when we lived in France, and it came with me on the Tour de Mont Blanc walk back in 2019, it’s light, reasonably waterproof, and fun. I permanently have a (removable) ND8 filter attached to the 18-150 lens. I take it out when I want to play. Saddell and waves as the light was appearing towards the end of the day, perfect to experiment. I don’t often use a tripod, if I was playing long exposure, then it would be essential, but ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) I find it gets in the way.

Life should be like that I think, we all need time to play, time to experiment with creativity. So I did. Explosions, fireworks, fountains of water, silky waves, Saddell Bay after the storm.

All photographs by Sarah Moorcroft

Next week, is World Gaelic Week. To celebrate we (Kintyre Rainforest Alliance) have an event in Skipness, Kintyre hosted by CHARTS talking about language, and songs, and stories and trees. I can’t wait, and I’ll let you know all about it soon. I’ll do my best to learn a word or two to share, and connect to my Celtic roots.

https://www.chartsargyllandisles.org/events/seanchas-sgibinis-gaelic-week-2025/

Thanks for your company, it’s always a delight to hear from you in comments, thank you for reading.

There is another shorter video here, I’m trying both landscape (above) and portrait (here) to see what works best on Substack.