First of all, as I guide you along this two day, three location landscape photographer's tour. I thought we should start at the Falls of Bruar. As this is the first location you will come to, when driving south along the main A9 road, heading towards the town of Pitlochry. But if you are instead heading North along the A9 and driving up from the South of Scotland? Then you will probably want to tackle this route in reverse order.

But either way you arrive at these locations, I know you are going to enjoy all of them and the many photographic opportunities you will find there and the chance to grab lots of really good images all along the way.

We are then going to walk up to the top of the falls and then all the way back down the other side, in a short circular route.

Now even though the Falls of Bruar, are located up the side of a steep hill, where the path is sharply inclined in places, as it follows tightly along the side of the river. It is still none the less, quite an easy route to fully complete. Especially if you wish to get all the way up to the higher part of the falls and the second stone bridge. As you will find yourself stopping continuously, to take lots of photographs all along this trail. Which should allow you to repeatedly catch your breath at each composition.

So take your time and pace your ascent, as there are some parts of this walk, that are steep. But thankfully (for older photographers at least), there isn't too many of them.

You will also find on the right side of the falls, as you get nearer to the top, how there is a path that leads directly down to a point beneath the upper falls. But at the time of writing (early 2025), this path was closed off, due to some parts of it having crumbled into the river. Yet the sign that had been placed in front of the path, to stop you walking down it, was just a very small 'A' board, that anyone could easily step around or over and which seemed to me to be very half hearted indeed.

So perhaps the path hadn't crumbled away at all and they just wanted to keep people, away from the long drop of the upper falls, for general safety reasons. Or it had indeed fallen away and so it really was dangerous to walk along. Which if true, then they really need to set up a fence, that fully blocks off that part of the trail. Because I know a lot of visitors and landscape photographers, will simply ignore this little sign and carry on past it. And I know you know what I talking about and how all those DANGER signs we see at viewpoints, are never meant to apply to us photographers? Oh no not us, as we are exempt from having to take even the slightest bit of notice of signs such as these, just as long as we think the shot will be worth the risk in the end.

But I decided on this occasion, that I would not ignore the DANGER sign and stick to the main path up to the higher falls. Which was seriously annoying, as I was sure there would be some great photo opportunities, shooting from directly beneath the upper part of the falls. But instead I let my conscience get the better of me and walked on by.

How to get to the Falls of Bruar: Driving South on the main A9 road heading towards Pitlochry, you will come to a turn off for the House of Bruar and the Falls of Bruar on your left. Take this left hand turn and drive and then up into, the House of Bruar car park - Street View, Map View.

Then turn left before you get to the main "House of Bruar" building and keep driving deeper into the car park. Which you will now see extends around the back of the House of Bruar retail area, Street View. But keep driving around to the back of the main set of buildings and then all the way up to the "Sale Shop". If you then look to your right, you will see an old corrugated roofed building and a line of trees just beyond it, Street View.

So park wherever you can near to the Sale Shop and grab your kit and set off walking, towards the trees and the river beyond.

Once you reach the old corrugated roofed building and then walk past it, you will come to the path that leads up to the falls on your left. So walk up the path through the wooded area, for a few hundred yards or so, until you come to the first view of the old bridge, that crosses over the Bruar River at the lower part of the falls. But as you get nearer to this first part of the falls, you will see a large rocky boulder in front of you, that obscures your view of the falls. So continue walking further up the path, for another couple of yards or so and then around the edge of the boulder. Where you will find a small wooden staircase, that lets you climb up onto the top of the boulder and walk over to the mesh fence you will see at the other side of it. Walk towards the fence and set up your kit as close to it as you can, for the shot of the falls and the old bridge, as shown in SHOT 1 above.

Depending on how the light is when you are here (flat, bright, windless but overcast, is probably the best light for this location), then you may need to bracket your shots, so you can lift out all those juicy details from the shadows. But for me when I was there, the light was pretty much perfect. In fact there was even a little bit of light drizzle, that kept wafting through on a very light breeze. Which helped to keep the rocks looking wet and the foliage nicely saturated.

So having taken your shots of the first set of falls and the first stone bridge. Get back onto the path and continue up it for a few more paces and then around and onto the bridge itself. You can of course take shots from the bridge, but you will only have a partially obscured side view of the falls and even though this is an OK shot, it isn't as good as you can get from within the little tunnel view. Which you will now see just up to your left, under a sort of domed structure. So take your shots from the bridge first, because why not? But then make your way into the little tunnel and set up right next to the railings, as far forward as you can go, as shown in SHOT 2 above.

On this second occasion we visited these Falls, not only was it the height of autumn and the colours were in full swing, but there had also been several days of heavy rain over the previous week. This meant that the river was in full flow and gushing wildly down the glen - yes I know, sometimes we get all the luck don't we? But which wasn't the case when we were there on our first visit, as shown in SHOT 3 to the right.

So to get to the viewpoint were I took SHOT 3. If you carry on walking up the left side of the falls from the bridge. You will see there is a small flat piece of land, that sticks out beyond a large tree and where there is just enough room to set up and take your shot of the lower bridge, as you look back down the Glen.

Then having taken all your shots of this lower part of the falls, cross back over the bridge to the right side of the river and head off up the path.

Now this is where the path starts to get steep. But before long and after not too much wheezing, you will arrive at the next photo location and a view of the upper falls and another old bridge, as shown in SHOT 4 below. I took this shot, near to the blocked off path to the upper falls by the way and which used to take you all the way down to the pool under the falls. Which you can see at the bottom of the image shown below.

We then walked up to the top of the hill to the second stone bridge, before heading back down the other side. But where the river is mostly obscured by trees and so shots were limited. But I did stumble across this interesting abstract view, of a small muddy puddle covered in black ice, as shown in SHOT 5 below. So being the opportunist I am and that we all need to be, especially if we want to see things, that no one else would think to take a second look at. I set up my kit and grabbed a shot of it, so that it reflected the bare winter trees and sky above it, against the broken black ice.

Tip: The falls of Bruar, no longer has a natural flow that depends solely on the weather. But instead has now been dammed off further up the hill, as part of a local hydro electric scheme. So even though the flow is kept to a constant, there are times when it can become a lot more forceful than others. Which means you can arrive here and the flow is low, only to then hear the rush of a large body of water, gushing down the hill as they open the floodgates - which is exactly what happened to us on our second visit and is why you will see several NO BATHING signs, dotted around.

The Hermitage Bridge is an old stone footbridge, that crosses over the River Braan in the Hermitage forest area, near to the village of Dunkeld.

This footbridge was built in 1770, by the 3rd Duke of Atholl, to give him easier hunting access to his lands, on the other side of the river. As well as to impress visitors to his estate, with the amazing views of the Black Linn Falls and the wild salmon that could be seen leaping up it. The bridge also sits next to the 'House of Mirrors', which is a small circular building, at the right side of the bridge. The House of Mirrors is open to visitors all year round and provides a second and equally amazing view of the falls.

The House of Mirrors was constructed, to not only give access to the falls, but to also display pictures, depicting the Ossian Legend. Which are now displayed all around the hall, under clear, graffiti proof acrylic.

The legend of Ossian - and why you already know it.

Ossian was a hermit wizard, who lived in this area, a long, long time ago. Who one day, was visited by a young woman in distress, called Niamh Chinn Óir (She of the Golden Hair). Niamh was the daughter of the fairy King of the Sea, who had run away from home, after her father had foretold that one day, she would fall in love with a man and leave her home under the sea. So her father cast a spell on her, that turned her head into that of a pig, to remove her great beauty and stop this from happening. But where the only way she could return to normal, was if someone fell in love with her as she now looked and was prepared to marry her. At which point the spell would be broken and she would turn back into a beautiful princess. So she had run away from home and was looking for somewhere secret to stay, where her father wouldn't know where to find her.

So Ossian reluctantly agreed to let her to stay and to not tell anyone about it. Then over time, they slowly began to fall in love and eventually got married and the spell was broken. They soon had a son and a little time later, a second son was born. At which point Ossian couldn't hold back his excitement any longer and wanted to tell the world about his good fortune and hold a party for his family and their friends.

But unfortunately for Ossian and Niamh, they didn't know there was a second part to her father's spell. Where if she did find a man who would marry her, even while she had the head of a pig. That the moment she got married and that part of the spell was broken, then a second part of the spell would activate and greatly slow down the passage of time. So even though Ossian thought, they had only been married for a short time, it had now been stretched out to over 300 years. Which they only found out, when Ossian took her to see his family and discovered that everyone was long dead.

...and you're probably thinking, I've heard that story before, or at least something very similar to it and you would be correct. That is if you have ever seen the movie Shrek. But where instead of a pig's head, the script writers changed it to that of an ogre and missed out the time stretching part of the legend altogether.

How to get to the Hermitage Bridge and the Black Linn Falls: Having finished photographing your way up and down the Bruar Falls area. If you now return to your vehicle and then continue heading South towards Pitlochry and then on past Pitlochry towards Dunkeld for another 23 miles. You will see a turn on your right for the Hermitage car park, Street View, Map View. Turn right here.

Having now turned right into the car park. Keep to the left, as you take the single track road down to the lower parking area and park your vehicle wherever you can, nearest to the railway bridge and the information board, Street View.

You will now see there is a tunnel under the railway bridge, next to the River Braan on your left. So grab your kit and head through the tunnel and follow the path up through the woods, with the River Braan on your left. I found the only two lenses I used for this part of my mini photo tour, was my 24-105 and my 16-35 wide angle lens. Even though I did take my 70-200 with me just in case. But I never got it out of the bag, so it turned out to be an unnecessary weight to carry around.

Keep walking up the path alongside the River Braan to your left, for about 3/4 of a mile. Until you see a sharp bend in the river that turns to your right. You will then see a line of trees at the edge of the river, above a steep sided part of the river bank.

If you then walk out to the edge of the river bank and look down, you will see there are lots of large rocks and boulders at the edge of the river. You will also see a little to your left. Where there is a rough path that leads down to these rocks and where (if you are careful), you can make your way out to a large flat rock, that sticks out into the river on your right. Which is just about big enough, for a couple of photographers to work from.

So carefully make your way down to this large flat rock and set up your tripod there, for a wide angle view of the Hermitage Bridge from below, as shown in SHOT 6 above.

Admittedly, there isn't much else to shoot from this viewpoint, other than what you see in SHOT 6. As there isn't that much room to move around, or to frame up a different composition and the view back down the river, isn't really compositionally exciting either. So even though this particular shot, is a bit of a one trick pony, that every photographer visiting this location will take. It is still worth the effort to grab your version of it, because it is certainly an enjoyable and worthwhile shot to take.

So think of this as a warm up shot, that will get your creative juices flowing for the rest of the second part of this shoot.

Of course you might see something I didn't. But isn't that the name of the game?

Then having taken your shots of the Hermitage Bridge from this lower viewpoint, get back up onto the path and continue heading up the river and where you will soon come to the entranceway onto the old stone footbridge, as shown in SHOT 7 above.

If you are here at a busy time of year, such as I was at the height of autumn, when I took most of these shots of the Hermitage Bridge and Black Linn Falls area. Then it is going to get very busy indeed, especially on this little footbridge. As crowds of people queue up behind you, to take their selfie shots in front of the falls. So setting up your tripod on this narrow footbridge and taking any more than a few minutes to grab your shots, is going to be difficult and probably quite argumentative, to say the least. So walk out onto the bridge and frame up your shot in your mind. Then wait for a gap in foot traffic and setup at your chosen spot, to rapidly capture your preconceived shot. As you keep apologising profusely, to the queue of people that have started to backup behind you.

Tip: If people (none photographers) see you using a tripod, they will initially think "Ah", this person is a pro and so they know what they are doing and I am therefore willing to give them a little extra time and consideration to do it. But their willingness to allow you this extra time, will only lasts for a couple of minutes. So don't take longer than that.

Alternatively, you could do what I did and try to be here in the middle of the week, when the crowds are that much more manageable. And I also don't suggest, that you try to do the usual landscape photographer thing and be here at the crack of dawn and well before the crowds start to turn up in their masses. Because for any of these shots to work (in my opinion), you are going to need lots of light, reaching all the way down into bottom of the glen, to light up your subject. Because early mornings in this location and all the way through to around 10am. All of these viewpoints, will remain in deep shade. But if you do insist on being here at "Stupid O'Clock" in the morning? Then yes you might be able to get something to work, but be prepared to do lots of bracketing, as well as using really long exposures.

If you then walk to the very first part of the bridge and look to your right, you will see a really nice view of the Black Linn Falls gorge, as shown in SHOT 8 above.

I do wish that fallen tree wasn't there, which you can see on the right of SHOT 8. Because to my mind, it forces the viewers eye to wander out of the scene. But it is what it is and is what I had to work with. Although it's a thin little thing, as well as being right on the edge of the river. So hopefully it shouldn't take too long to rot away.

If you then continue on across the bridge to the other end and again look to your right, you will see another side view of the falls and the narrowness of the gorge it flows through it at this point, as shown in SHOT 9 above.

I don't usually want people in my landscape shots. But for SHOT 9 shown above, I just happened to be there when this man in a blue top, crawled out to sit in this very precarious position. Which just happened to fit nicely onto a third. So I grabbed a shot of him with his blue top, to give some scale to the falls, as well as to use him as a compositional element within the frame.

I then continued along the bridge, to the other side of the river and then through the little archway and where the muddy path turns to the right. Before leading you through a small gap between two waist high boulders.

Once through the boulders, you will immediately come to a sloping rocky area, that when wet, looks as slippery as hell. But none the less, I still managed to manoeuvre my old bones, all the way down to the side of the river and where I then set up to take SHOT 10, as shown above.

Then once you have taken your version of SHOT 10, I know you will be tempted, to work your way further up the river, to try and grab some different views of it. But all I can tell you is, not only do the rocks get even more ridiculously slippery up there, the views you will find when you get there, just aren't worth the effort and risk - but obviously if you are really keen, you will ignore this piece of advice and still want to make your way up there. And I do hope you find something worthy of your efforts, but all I can tell you is, I didn't.

Once you have finished in this area on the left bank of the river, retrace your steps back over the bridge and make your way up to the Hall of Mirrors, just a few yards further up the river on your left.

Then walk out through the glass doors at the far end of the building and over to the left side of the metal fence and set up there. You will now have a fantastic view of the falls as they rush beneath you, as shown in SHOT 11 to the right.

I then came out of the House of Mirrors and turned to my immediate left, where I found a short path down to the edge of river and a really interesting view across to the old footbridge, as shown in SHOTS 12 and 13 below.

Tip: But again you need to be careful when taking these shots, as there is another muddy, sloping area you are going to have to negotiate, if you want to get a clean shot of the bridge. Because if you stand back and shoot from the top of this muddy incline, you going to have lots of ugly branches, sticking into the your frame from both sides. So the only way to shoot past them, is to very carefully work your way down this slope, to get as close as you can to the edge of the river and shoot through the gaps.

The tiny island in the middle of Loch Rannoch, is called "Eilean nam Faoileag", but is now more commonly referred to by locals, as the "Prison Tower Island".

The old prison tower island in the middle of Loch Rannoch, stands on top of what is now known to be, a manmade island of wood and stone. This small island was constructed, over a thousand years ago by the local clan, to be used as their final refuge, whenever they fell under the attack of a rival Clan passing through the area. Which back in those days, was quite a regular occurrence. Hence the reason why they were prepared to put so much time and effort into building it.

There are in fact many manmade islands in the middle of lochs all across Scotland and which are now more commonly and collectively referred to as, "Crannogs".

But the Crannog in Loch Rannoch is different. Because most other Crannogs throughout Scotland, could only be reached by boat. Which would allow the people who had escaped there, to use that as part of their final defence. By firing on their enemies, as they swam across the loch trying to reach them. But instead, Eilean nam Faoileag could be reached by a secret underwater path. By wading through the water, along the top of a thin, submerged sandy bank. But which the attackers would not know existed, or even if they did, they couldn't find, because it was hidden under at least three feet of water.

The prison tower you now see on the island, as shown in SHOT 15 above and SHOT 16 below. Was then constructed at a much later date, over the top of the original refuge fortifications. To give the island a new use, as a drafty, single turreted isolation prison. Where wrongdoers could be locked into and remain in isolation, for the length of their sentence. The prison tower probably also acted, as both a visible and audible deterrent, for all the local community. Who could see the tower from miles around and knew exactly what it was being used for, as well as being able to hear the constant cries for mercy, echoing across the loch from its current occupant.

How to get to Loch Rannoch: After shooting your way through the Hermitage forest to the Black Linn Falls. Make your way back to the car park and then get back onto the A9 heading South for 18 miles. Until you see a right turn onto the A822, heading for the village of Crieff and take this right turn, Street View, Map View.

Then continue driving, until you reach a junction with the B846 and a turn left towards Loch Rannoch Station, 18 miles further on, Street View, Map View. Take this left turn.

You are now driving along a "No Through Road", that will eventually lead you all the way to a very remote, isolated and sparsely populated area of Scotland and then finally to the most remote railway station in the whole of the UK. But also past some very remote open moorland and alongside several lochs with stunning views on your left.

There aren't that many parking areas at the side of Loch Rannoch, for you to stop and grab a few shots (well there are, but they have been blocked off by huge boulders to stop people parking there???). That is until you eventually reach an area I found, where I could park under some trees at the side of the loch, Street View, Map View.

So pull in here, as you try to avoid any obvious muddy bits to get your vehicle's wheels stuck in and then walk the last few yards down to the shoreline. You will then have a wide, 180 degree view of the loch. With great views of the small Prison Tower to your left and the upper part of the loch to your right, as shown in SHOTS 14, 15 and 16 above.

The weather when we were there was pretty lousy, as the rain kept crossing the scene in waves and pouring down by the bucket load. But thankfully it wasn't windy, just torrential rain. So having brought my golfing sized umbrella with me, I was still able to continue and setup to take several shots of the views, looking both up and down the loch. In fact to show you how hard the rain was coming down, if you look at SHOT 16 above, you might think it looks like it was misty when I took it. But you would be wrong, as that misty effect was being created, by the amount of water falling out of the sky and then accumulating in the image, over a 30 second exposure.

If you then get back into your vehicle and continue driving onto the end of this "No Through Road" and the remote Rannoch Moor train station area. Then spend some time scanning, or walking around the wild moor in front of you. Where you maybe lucky enough to spot and photograph, some of the many wild animals and birds that live here. Such as I was able to do, when I took this shot of a rutting stag, as shown in SHOT 17 below.

We had pulled up at the side of the Rannoch Moor station and noticed that as it was late, the station cafe had already closed. So no chance for a cheeky, high calorie bun and hot cup of tea as we had hoped for. So we sat there for a minute or two, wondering what to do next, but thankful that the rain had stopped. Even though it was obvious, it would start again soon. So we were trying to decide if it was worth the risk, of getting out of the car to have a look round. When this stag walked out from a bush behind us and stood on a tiny hillock at the side of our vehicle and started to bugle as loudly as he could. So I grabbed my camera and set it to burst mode, with a medium range depth of field of f/8. I then bumped up my ISO to 400, focused on his eye and waited for him to start bellowing again. Which thankfully he did and here is the result.

So even though the weather was against us, for most of this third part of my mini photo guide to Loch Rannoch and the Rannoch Moor area. The photographic opportunities I was still able to find there, more than made up for the bad weather and poor light we were experiencing.

This remote area next to Loch Rannoch and the Rannoch Moor station, were featured in the Films Highlander and both of the Trainspotting movies 1 and 2.

Tip: Always assume you are going to get bad weather in Scotland, even if the forecast tells you otherwise and especially outside of the summer season. But don't let these heavy downpours, hamper your chances of getting some amazing photographs. Which you can achieve quite simply, by bringing a large umbrella with you and then using it when ever it rains. They are cheap to buy and don't weigh much to carry around and which can be thrown into the boot of your vehicle, whenever you don't need it.

Exif information for each of the numbered shots shown throughout this chapter

--1 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/100 sec, f/16, ISO 50, Focal Length 46mm, taken on 10th Oct at 10:29

--2 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 0.5 sec, f/16, ISO 50, Focal Length 38mm, taken on 10th Oct at 10:40

--3 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/5 sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 68mm, taken on 7th Jan at 12:05

--4 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/16 sec, f/11, ISO 100, Focal Length 105mm, taken on 7th Jan at 12:24

--5 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/40 sec, f/9, ISO 500, Focal Length 68mm, taken on 7th Jan at 12:56

--6 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 30 sec (with a 10 stop screw in ND filter), f/11, ISO 100, Focal Length 18mm, taken on 11th Oct at 9:41

--7 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 0.6 sec, f/13, ISO 50, Focal Length 16mm, taken on 10th Oct at 15:33

--8 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 1/6 sec, f/13, ISO 100, Focal Length 29mm, taken on 11th Oct at 11:11

--9 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 1/13 sec, f/13, ISO 200, Focal Length 25mm, taken on 11th Oct at 11:17

--10 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 0.3 sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 38mm, taken on 11th Oct at 11:40

--11 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 0.3 sec, f/13, ISO 50, Focal Length 24mm, taken on 10th Oct at 15:53

--12 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400, Focal Length 57mm, taken on 10th Oct at 16:03

--13 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 320, Focal Length 42mm, taken on 20th Nov at 11:20

--14 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 25 sec (with a 10 stop ND filter), f/16, ISO 300, Focal Length 35mm (cropped single shot pano), taken on 11th Oct at 14:56

--15 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 30 Sec (with a 10 stop ND filter), f/13, ISO 200, Focal Length 105mm (cropped single shot pano), taken on 16th Oct at 15:26

--16 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 30 Sec (with a 10 stop ND filter), f/16, ISO 250, Focal Length 51mm (cropped single shot pano), taken on 16th Oct at 15:36

--17 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/200 sec, f/11, ISO 400, Focal Length 105mm, taken on 16th Oct at 16:09