Blog

Autumn is starting to come to a close here in the Cairngorms. Most of the trees have now been stripped of their leaves. The hills are dusted in snow every other day. I find my days are busy as I work on plans and projects for next year, but it's always nice to take a little while to look back on what has been another beautiful season. So, in reverse order of when they were …

Heading home I saw the hillsFrom the North the Cairngorms display their true size. From other angles pretending at being small. Vast, precipitous, and they beckon. Lairigs draw breath The great spaces of The Interior, my heart with it.Golden birch trees flashed by.A streak of white across the high places.Shining silver layered on slopes of blue.Rest day for me. Restless compulsion returned. not old, but young neitherPhysically not there. Desire to go At least feel …

A Plan Suitable for the Weather This last Saturday was my final scheduled photography workshop of the autumn. The original plan for the day was to head to Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve. There we would walk up to the beautiful loch overlooked by the impressive cliffs of Coire Ardair. However, a few days before the photography workshop it was obvious from the weather forecast that a change of plan was called for. Strong winds, …

Last Saturday was the day of the long anticipated Torridon and Loch Maree workshop, which I had been especially looking forward to. Autumn is arguably the best time of year in the Highlands, and the hills, woods and lochs of Wester Ross look particularly superb at this time of year. I did feel a few pangs of worry at the weather forecast before the workshop, but by the Friday night I was happy to see …

The recent case of a man lost in the Cairngorms for two nights is just the latest incident for the busy Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team. It won't be the last. Fortunately there was a happy outcome on this occasion. When these incidents happen, it really hammers home the importance of good navigation skills. Navigation is the topic of this post, but I want to approach it from a slightly different angle. There are hundreds of …

https://youtu.be/jONYTJFBjMQ Starting Out A few days after my photography mission to Braeriach it seemed that the warm settled weather had no intention of leaving the Highlands. The Cairngorms were bathing in sunlight day after day. So, after letting my legs recover for a few days, I headed back to the hills to visit a very special place. Hidden in the heart of the Cairngorms lies what I think might be the most beautiful loch in …

Autumn Photography Workshops I'm pleased to announce that I will be running a series of one-day landscape photography workshops this Autumn. Each workshop will be taking place in a different location across the Highlands, visiting some of the very finest landscapes Scotland has to offer for us to enjoy while we learn. Who's It For? New to photography but keen to do something fun and creative? Had a decent camera for a while but have …

In digital photography there are these things called histograms. They look a little bit like this: As you can see, it's a kind of graph with lots of peaks and troughs. Most cameras have an option to display these when you review the image. On some, you can see a live histogram that changes as you point the camera at different things. Unfortunately though, it is completely baffling as to what it actually means. So …

We've all experienced the disappointment of photographing a gorgeous scene, only for the photo to come out looking horrible. One of the most common problems encountered is the White Sky. Like in the image above, all the detail and colour is completely lost. So why does this happen? And how can we deal with the problem? Why The White Sky Happens The White Sky happens because the camera becomes 'overexposed' in the brightest parts of …

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with modern cameras, I'll admit. For one thing, they are far more complex than they need to be to shoot landscapes. It seems that there is no end of buttons, menus and controls that perform functions which vary from the gimmicky to the downright arcane. The reality is that most of these controls are completely unnecessary. Whenever I have a new camera to work with I usually …

Understanding exposure is the most fundamental knowledge in the world of photography. This short primer will explain all the terms and what they mean. By the end of this article, and with a little practice, you should be confident in understanding how and why to control the exposure on your camera and how it affects your image. Understanding Exposure In photography the word Exposure refers to how much light comes into the camera for any …

It was three little words that cemented my decision to attempt the hill I've been dreaming of for nearly a decade. Three little words in the weather forecast that carried a prospect of such beauty as needs to be seen to be believed. Summits above cloud. The moment I read that I knew I had to give it a shot. The mountain that has been looming over me for all these years, standing there as …

Heather season is well and truly here at last in the Highlands, with the tiny pink flowers drenching the landscape in colour. I got out a couple of times in the last few days to do some exploring around the forests near Loch an Eilean. Around six weeks ago I hurt my back and had to be very cautious and gentle with exercise, so this is the first time I've really been out since June. …

It seems like I can't go more than a few days without seeing a facebook post about another 'dirty camping' incident in the Highlands. And, as a ten-year resident of the Cairngorms, I feel like I've cleaned up more than my fair share of other people's mess when I come across it during my photography adventures.

As July comes to a close, I'm keenly aware that I haven't been very creative lately. That's ok. I've always found that high summer is the least inspiring time of year for me. It's a combination of factors. The heat for one thing. The uniformity of the landscape during 'peak green'. And also the fact that there are so many people around in the summer. I find my emotional reaction to a natural landscape is …

A certain euphoria came over me as I dashed back and forth. This was living. My heart was bursting with the joy of the mountain. My lungs breathed the clarity of the air. My blood flowed with the purity of the water that flowed and pooled in the rocks. My eyes sparkled with richness of the morning light. My body felt the coldness of the wind and stone, but met it with its own life …

For many years I've wanted to spend a night camped at the spectacular Coire Mhic Fhearchair in Torridon. This magnificent coire is one of the finest in Scotland, owing to its remote location and its incredible geology. The coire lies on the north side of Beinn Eighe, among some of the wildest terrain to be found anywhere in Scotland. A 7km walk with around 500m of ascent is the shortest way to reach it. Once …

I have always thought the waters of Loch Maree are one of those few places in Scotland that can only be described by one word: elemental. As if they came fresh from the forging of the world. Pure. Tempestuous. Wild. The long nose of the kayak rode up on a wave and slapped down hard, splashing water into the air. The wind snatched the spray and slapped me in the face with it, catching me …

"this journey (…) is not to be undertaken lightly. One walks among elementals, and elementals are not governable. There are awakened also in oneself by the contact elementals that are as unpredictable as wind or snow”Nan Shepherd, The living Mountain I don't know what it is, but there's just something about this place. These red rocks, these shining snows, these coires and carns. It's not like other mountains I know. White clouds are blending the …

Very often landscape photography feels like a chase; trying to read the signals of weather, light and landscape to put yourself in the right place and time to see something remarkable. Guessing, hoping, searching, trying, often failing. But it's not always like that. Sometimes photography happens much more gently. Like sleep, it comes when you aren't trying. The ifs and maybes of what could happen disappear, and you find yourself lost in the clarity of …