Dougie Milne Photography

24/08/2026

Sunset over Crinan

It's been a while since I last posted. I took a version of this picture, from a viewpoint in Crinan Woods, the last time that I was up in Crinan, but I held off until I could get back up there in the evening, because it is perfect for sunset.

The large island on the horizon is Scarba, with the north end of Jura to the left. The smaller islands in front of Scarba are Eilan na Ciele and Garba Reisa, with Craignish Point on the right. Crinan Harbour, with the westen sea lock of the Crinan Canal, nestles in the forground.

01/08/2026

We had a great conversation with macro photographer Tibor Molnar the other day.

Tibor Molnar is a gifted wildlife photographer, particularly renown...

20/07/2026

The Old Crane, Ellenabeich, Isle of Seil

Crane No. 295, built around 1870 by William Browser & Son of Glasgow, originally stood on the timber pier at Ellenabeich and served 19th‑century paddle steamers travelling between Glasgow and Fort William. By 2000, the pier had deteriorated and the crane was at risk of collapsing into the sea. The Scottish Slate Islands Heritage Trust and Seil Community Council rescued it as part of a local enhancement project.

The crane was repaired and reinstated by Alan Walker in memory of his father, and a new timber platform, replicating the original pier, was constructed. It now stands in the village square at Ellenabeich, just off the waterfront and next to the Slate Islands Heritage Centre, close the old timber pier where it once operated.

See my picture of the remains of the old pier here: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1406318718178088&set=a.459431809533455

15/07/2026

The Old Slate Quarry, Ellenabeich

Slate from the village of Ellenabeich, on the Isle of Seil, and from the other Slate Islands, was said to have roofed the world. By 1869, when it produced around 9 million roofing slates, the quarry was 140m by 75m, and 50m deep. It was separated from the sea by an unquarried wall of rock, strengthened with a masonary wall. The base of the quarry contained an elaborate system of railway tracks, powered from an engine house which still exists in ruinous state to the east of Ellenabeich. The masonary wall was breached by a storm in November 1881, destroying the wall and flooding the quarry, leaving the tidal basin which can be seen today. Fortunately the storm happened at night, and nobody was hurt. The unquarried wall of rock can be seen to the right of the photograph. The old railway line is still at the bottom of the quarry, along with all of the workers' tools, lying where they left them, ready for the next day's work.

13/07/2026

The island of Belnahua, in the Firth of Lorn, Scotland, on Saturday.

To get technical for a moment, the usual way to take a panoramic shot such as this is to put the camera on a tripod, make sure that the tripod is completly level, put the camera into manual mode, set the shutter speed, aperture and ISO so that it is the same for every shot, set the focus to manual so that it is the same in every shot, then take a series of photographs, moving the camera 2/3rds of the way across the previous picture between shots so that the pictures overlap. A shot like this would usually take 7 or 8 pictures, which are then stitched together in Photoshop to create one massive photograph.

In this case, I was on a moving boat and working without a tripod, so making sure that the camera was level and stable was just not an option. The camera was in high speed continuous burst mode, because I had been trying to capture shots of the wildlife we were supposed to have encountered on the trip, but which on this occasion, had failed to show up (dolphins and whales have got no sense of occasion). I was in Shutter Priority mode, with my shutter speed set to 1/3200 of a second, with ISO set to Auto. I put the camera on its side, aimed in the general direction of the island, pressed the shutter release button and kept it pressed as I ran the camera along the length of the island. The camera took 45 shots in the couple of seconds it took to move it from left to right, all of them with substantially more overlap than I would normally use.

To my surprise, they stitched together well in Photoshop. I'm missing the right hand end of the island, because we hit a wave at that point. As it is, I've had to create a 4x1 crop, so a wider shot would have just made the island smaller.

Belnahua is one of the Slate Islands. Commercial quarrying began in the 19th century, with the population expanding to 150 before the island was abandoned in 1914. The remains of the slate-workers' cottages can be seen on the island.

Seafari Adventures (Oban)

27/05/2026

Moine Mhòr Salt Marsh, Knapdale

I've gone for something a little more abstract than my usual shots. The Moine Mhòr Salt Marsh is an internationally important coastal wetland habitat in Argyll, Scotland, located at the heart of the Kilmartin Glen. It serves as a vital feeding area for migratory birds and rare species, bordered by the estuary of the River Add and the raised bog of the Moine Mhor.

17/05/2026

"One is never alone with a rubber duck"

I found this bathtub in a small walled enclosure - "field" would be too grand a word for it - on the Isle of Easdale. I don't know what it is doing there. Farmers sometimes use an old bath as a feeding trough but there are no farms and no livestock on the island.

So it's an old bath on a small, sparsely populated island. And it has a rubber duck floating in it.

13/05/2026

Wheelbarrows, Easdale

There are no vehicles and no roads on the tiny island of Easdale. Everything arrives on the ferry, and if it is too heavy or too bulky to carry, then residents transport it to their houses by wheelbarrow.

Here the wheelbarrows are lined up by the jetty waiting to be used.

11/05/2026

The Ferry Waiting Room, Easdale

This is the former waiting room for the ferry which runs between the Isle of Seil and Easdale, two of the Slate Islands.

07/05/2026

The Old Wooden Pier, Ellenabeich, Isle of Seil

The pier was built around 1870 to service Ellenabeich and Easdale Island, seen directly across from the pier in the photo. It served steamers carrying passengers and freight as far as Glasgow, until the 1940s. At one time, there was a wood and iron post crane on the pier head, though this was moved to the village square in 2002, when the deterioration of the pier threatened to topple it into the sea. The crane was used to lift slate quarried from Easdale on and off waiting ships.

The Pier has now deteriorated beyond repair and is on the Buildings at Risk Register.