In this expanding section of my website on landscape photography I have taken you behind the lens on a selection of shoots at different locations. Many of the images featured here were captured using high end digital cameras so an accurate record of the settings used will be available in the form of metadata. This information is supplied for each image along with the equipment used and a precise Ordnance Survey map reference.
Equally, if not more important than the choice of equipment and workflow, is the ability to identify the best location, camera angle, composition and lighting for the chosen shot. It will become clear when reading these articles that when I am working in Britain, and when given the opportunity, I will always favour and seek out an elevated mountain viewpoint rather than a roadside or valley alternative. I prefer to shoot at dawn and dusk when the light is usually most colourful and directional, but this is not always possible and there are occasions when a compromise must be made. That said, except in winter when the sun is always low in the sky, I rarely shoot in the middle of the day.
Autumn in Glen Shiel
Glen Shiel is arguably one of Scotland's finest glens, and the road that makes its way from Loch Cluanie in the east to the shores of Loch Duich in the west passes some of the grandest and tallest mountains in the entire Scottish Highlands. There is so much here to capture the photographer's eye and imagination ...
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First Light on An Teallach
An Teallach is one of the most distinctive and popular mountains of the Scottish Highlands; its distant and jagged ridge is a familiar sight to those travelling between Inverness and Ullapool. In translation An Teallach appropriately means 'The Forge', a name fully justified if one is fortunate enough to witness the first rays of the morning sun light up its steep terraces of red Torridonian sandstone ...
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Morning Light on the Buachaille
The Buachaille Etive Mor is iconic amongst the peaks of the Scottish Highlands. Standing proudly above the Rannoch Moor and guarding the entrance to Glencoe and Glen Etive, its vertical buttresses and narrow ridges soar like a cathedral high into the sky. The numerous rock pools and waterfalls of the River Coupall provide excellent foreground for ...
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Skiddaw, Saddleback and Derwentwater
The familiar shot of Skiddaw, Blencathra and Derwentwater from Catbells (Blencathra is also known locally as Saddleback) is one of the classic views of the English Lake District and, indeed, I had taken and published several similar images of my own many years ago. However, as I set off on this cool, frosty November morning I wanted to produce something different ...
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Liathach from Loch Clair
On this particular morning I had headed out in hopeful anticipation of some interesting dawn light on the mountains of the far north west of Scotland, but when I reached Ullapool the cloud was down to sea level accompanied by a roaring easterly gale. So I headed back south towards Torridon but as soon as I left the sunny coastline around Poolewe and Gairloch ...
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Ben Nevis Dawn
This study of Ben Nevis was one of many I had considered for that 'autumn window of light' when conditions both on the ground and in the sky can produce some very dramatic imagery. This was a cold morning; the overnight change in the prevailing winds from south-west to north-east had cleared the low level cloud to reveal an upper layer of cirrus ...
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The Cuillins from Loch nan Eilean
I had captured an image here in the spring of 1985; the loch was still and clear of vegetation providing an almost perfect reflection of the Cuillins beyond. However, it was too early in the day to light the scene to perfection and the intervening moor was a uniformly uninteresting shade of brown. I had resolved to return but never expected that it would take a further 29 years ...
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The Saddle and Glen Shiel
When I am in Glen Shiel I cannot resist capturing yet another image of The Saddle from the River Shiel. A winter ascent of The Saddle is one of the classic mountaineering routes of the Scottish Highlands, and the view of the peak and its pointed neighbour Faochag from the River Shiel is much underrated and neglected in favour of its more illustrious neighbours ...
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Snowdon from Capel Curig
Snowdon was the first peak that I climbed when I first took an interest in mountaineering and photography over 45 years ago, and so to this day I always enjoy returning to an area I regard with much affection. The view of the peaks of the Snowdon Horseshoe seen across the waters of the Llynnau Mymbyr from the Royal Bridge at Capel Curig is one of the finest ...
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Glen Garry
This is another of those iconic viewpoints, looking west over Loch Garry towards the snow capped mountains of Glen Quoich and Knoydart. Over the years the conifers in the foreground of this shot, when taken from the roadside, have begun to encroach upon the composition, so I now work from a location some 30 metres up the hill behind ...
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Glencoe Sunrise
This was a shot which I had attempted two years earlier, planned well in advance by calculation of the sun's azimuth and altitude when seen from this location, so it was just a matter of patience - and good fortune - that the right conditions would prevail during the window of opportunity that I had identified. It is a classic viewpoint for The Pap of Glencoe and the Bidean nam Bian massif ...
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Glen Garry Summer Sunset
This image was one of a series taken over a period of 20 minutes as the sun disappeared over the horizon - in this case at almost that precise moment. This is a very well-known and visited viewpoint and there is nothing new or different here in its content or composition. Indeed, I have taken many images from this viewpoint before, at all times of year ...
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Glen Loyne Shower Clouds
I am a frequent visitor to this location, and the view rarely disappoints. Standing upon this exposed hillside at an elevation of 350 metres, one can expect to encounter difficult conditions on a winter's day when snow showers are hurried across the loch and open glen on a strong north-westerly breeze. Such were the conditions when I took this image ...
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Liathach Torridon Panorama
Liathach is arguably one of the most iconic and frequently captured images of The Scottish Highlands - and justifiably so. I cannot recall how many times I have stood on this spot in all seasons and in all weathers. This time it was early February and I was hoping for a good covering of snow, but it had been a long, cold and relatively dry winter ...
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Loch Torridon Sunrise
The mountains of Torridon epitomise everything that I love about the Scottish Highlands. The landscape has a grandeur that is unrivalled anywhere else in the country, and, in particular, the tall monolithic mountains of Beinn Alligin, Liathach and Beinn Eighe rise up evocatively out of a rich tapestry of moorland and loch forming secretive glens ...
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Skiddaw and the Anti-Twilight Arch
The most evocative and uplifting moments I have experienced in the mountains of Britain and the Himalaya have been during the twilight hours, particularly in the pre-dawn, when one is alone, the world around is still, and the only sound to be heard is that of silence ...
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Sunrise Over Snowdon
I have a particular affection for Snowdon. It was the first mountain that I ascended, it was where I spent the formative years of my mountaineering life and where I carried out much of my 'photographic apprenticeship'. In the years that had passed since, I had made only fleeting visits ...
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Ullswater Morning Mists
It would be inapporpriate to declare any one of the Lake District valleys as being more beautiful or popular than any other, but given the close proximity of, and easy access to, both the Helvellyn and High Street mountain ranges, Ullswater ranks highly in many peoples' minds, including my own. When I decided to capture a new and original image of Ullswater ...
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Kintail Rainclouds
The weather had been particularly changeable during the early part of the month and after the clearance of yet more overnight rain a showery north-westerly airstream prevailed. In hopeful anticipation of some interesting light and dramatic images I headed west towards the coast and the shores of Loch Duich, from where the summits of The Five Sisters of Kintail rose ...
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