As well as being a professional photographer for my business, I also love taking photos for myself; so, photography is both my business and my hobby.
One place I particularly love to photograph is Scotland, and I think I’ve covered nearly all of it, apart from the Orkneys and Shetland.
I’ve now decided to publish a series of four photo books about my journeys which will be available to purchase
As well as loving photography I also love driving, and at times I must remind myself that I’m not Colin Macrae or Richard Burns – two Scots rally drivers of the past zooming along the country roads.
I usually go away for 5 to 8 days, during which time I sleep alternately, one night in my car and one night bed and breakfast in a hotel, where I can have a decent wash and clean up.
Generally, I find the best time to take my photography holidays is pre-summer holidays, ideally around the longest day of the year, June 21st – when the further north you travel, and particularly in Scotland, you are still able to sit and read a book at 11 o’clock at night, sitting in your car without having to put a light on.
Another reason for travelling at this time of year is that there are less people around, and I prefer not to get them in my photos. I find tourists the most undesirable creatures in the entire universe! Part of my reason for this is also, that they have a habit in parking in passing places, completely disregarding the fact that locals have to live and get around for work. Not surprisingly, they get irate when roads are blocked by holidaymakers.
What do I like to capture?
What draws me to Scotland is the wild beauty of the landscapes. There is a spiritual ruggedness, solitude and peace. And the dramatic scenery transforms with the incredible weather and changes with the light or brooding skies.
The country of Scotland is varied, with mountains, lochs, coastline, isles and often harsh and unexpected weather. It is the most sparsely populated country in the UK, with 91% of the population living in settlements and localities which account for 2.3% of Scotland’s total land area. So there is a vast amount of glorious scenery, weather and ‘moods’ to photograph.
I’m also drawn by the many different things around in the landscape, be it living or inanimate – often the juxtaposition between the light and shade of life.
The main thing for me when trying to capture amazing skies and Scotland’s weather – is to observe weather formation patterns developing and then trying to find somewhere to park without being a hindrance, which often is impossible.
Once in your location, you have to stay there and wait for the weather to move and develop. Quite often I can wait a couple of hours – it’s all about patience. As I’m on holiday I can take as long as I like.
What equipment do I take with me?
Filters.
These are very important, because they help reduce the post editing time. This is part of the creativeness; the artistic element is to do with what the dark room would have done in the past. As now, photographers would take a lot of photographs and the pros of the day would have the negatives, look through them and select the negatives you wanted.
They’d make a full-size mock-up print directly from that negative. Then you would go round, and you’d mark areas where you wanted them darkened or lightened. E.g. this area plus 3 − 2 + 3. Then the dark room person would make changes to the image to enhance it.
These days, the enhancing techniques that we think are all unique are not at all – it’s just been digitised. People with real skill could do it in the dark room.
All of the photos in the series of books are digital photos.
Tripods
I don’t use tripods, as I have very steady hands – I’d have made a great sniper in another life!
The main thing is for me to be ready, so that I can ensure I’m able to stand firm and in a good position to capture the photo I want.
Back up of images
When I’m on one of my trips, on average I take between 3000 and 5000 photos. I back them up onto my laptop and external half drive, so that I have 2 copies of everything, and then also, I can reuse the cards. For me, a backup is not a backup unless I have two!
Generally, the cards that I take, depending on which camera I use at that time would hold about 600 photos.
My publisher is aiming to have my books available for the beginning of the new year.
