At the far south west of the Scottish mainland lies the Rhins of Galloway, an 'ear' shaped peninsula jutting out into the Irish Sea and on a clear day from the most southerly point, the Mull of Galloway, you can see the Lake District of England, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. At first thoughts it's easy to think that the Rhins do not offer much in the way of photographic potential - no mountains, no large lochs, no crashing waterfalls and not much in the way of rivers. However, the Rhins do have some of the largest beaches in Scotland (at low tide) along with plenty of rocky shores. Together these produce some excellent photographic opportunities.

Looking on the OS map, I spotted a lighthouse at Portmaggie bay that looked as if it could provide some good photographic potential. When I pulled up at the car park just a couple of hundred yards before the lighthouse I spotted the large beach of Killantringan Bay. Thinking there may be some good shots to be made I wandered down to investigate. Checking the tide tide times revealed that the tide was on the way out meaning that more of the beach would be revealed as I was shooting. I wasn't disappointed. The beach was surprisingly deserted for such a beautiful place which made it better for photography - no footprints to spoil the sand.

Not only was there plenty of interesting rocks randomly positioned on the beach with pools created by tidal action, the sky was being kind to me. Some stormy clouds were forming producing some very interesting shapes to compliment the rocks in the sand. As the tide was receding more shapes were being revealed and waiting paid off resulting in some images I am very pleased with. Unfortunately, I got so wrapped up in the beach I completely forgot the reason I came here in the first place. By the time I got back up to the lighthouse I had lost the light and had to abandon the shots I came for. Never mind I had a good result with the beach, the lighthouse will have to wait for another day.

New England Bay, situated on the eastern side of the South Rhins, has a lovely beach with a rocky outcrop forming some interesting foreground subjects. Being on the eastern side lends itself for some potentially good sunrise images. Setting the alarm for ridiculous o'clock in the morning I managed to drag myself to the beach on a day to coincide with a low tide. Observing the light I determined where the sun will be rising and positioned myself in wait. My initial efforts did not give me the images I was hoping for but walking along the beach a little way I noticed a few rocks nestled in a shallow pool. Noticing the sun was still quite low and hadn't lost its beautiful glow thankfully to some dense atmosohere, I quickly set up my camera and took a few frames beforre the sun got too high and lost the georgeous light. Worth dragging myself out of a warm bed for.

The Rhins of Galloway is now firmly on my list of favourite places to visit and I will be be returning to this area more often. Ther are a number of places I meant to visit but time didn't allow so a return visit is high on the list. I never did get back to that lighthouse.