Podcast
This week I announced the start of a new podcast / visual essay series. The first episode you can watch on YouTube below. if you also prefer to listen to audio-only podcasts, then it is also available...
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Terra Silva - 'the land of the forest'
‘We all experience the tranquil feeling of being present in a forest”Writes my good friend Dorin Bofan his second book. ‘It’s an environment familiar to us, which we evolved in. ’The sounds of birds,...
View ArticleScars on Land (Podcast Episode 2)
Difficult landscapes offer great potential. If we can only embrace their complexity. The second episode of my podcast is now available to watch on YouTube in 4K, Apple’s podcast platform and Spotify as...
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For Everyone
I come here every year and the conditions vary enormously. But the tree is more or less the same each time. Painted Maple Tree © 2018. I placed my camera on the ground, I managed to compress the...
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Working the location
Just a short post today about some of the beautiful images made on my recent Eigg workshop.I’ve enjoyed coming here this past fifteen years because it’s a great learning environment: We are able to...
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The Weather Disconnect
This past week I ran a workshop on the Isle of Eigg here in Scotland. We had a good variety of conditions to shoot in. My favourite part of the week was when we had very poor visibility (great!), very...
View ArticleThe White City (podcast episode 3)
3rd Episode in my podcast series is now live.I like to let images surface gradually over a shoot. I think there is much to be gained by going with serendipity, rather than trying to plan things too...
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From Dusk to Daylight
I’ve just completed work on some new images from the Puna de Atacama. I was a bit surprised to find that the final work has a more nocturnal feel to it. It isn’t what I had imagined (I gave up planning...
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Nocturnal Labyrinth
The Labyrinth or ‘los colorados’ (the colours) is a fascinating part of the Puna landscape in Argentina. I have been promising myself that I should dedicate a week or so to this place alone. And I have...
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the ellipse of a dune
When considering composition, one has to wonder if the light shaded pink ellipse of the central small dune plays second fiddle to that of the black volcano? Or, maybe it’s the other way around?Perhaps...
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I shall miss my dear friend Trym Bergsmo
I just learned today that my dear friend Trym Bergsmo passed away last Saturday. I first met Trym at the On Landscape Meeting of Minds conference around 2016. We shared a mutual friend in Lofoten. Trym...
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Greetings from Hokkaido
Just almost finishing up a tour in Hokkaido this Autumn with a very nice group. We’ve had a mixture of cloudy / sunny weather and hints of winter fast approaching. I am so glad I chose to come back to...
View ArticleImperceptible Horizons (podcast Episode 5)
Episode 5 of my podcast series is now online.I hope you enjoy it, and if so, please subscribe - it helps with the algorithm on YouTube to get it out there to others.
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Sandstorm, central highlands, Iceland
Just busy processing films films from the past year right now. This image was shot during a sandstorm would you believe. I was actually perched right next to the sand wall you see in the central part...
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Podcast Recording wherever I go
I’m on the Isle of Harris right now, and whenever I have a some free time, and can set up to record some audio for a future podcast, that’s what I do :-) I’ve been self employed now for fifteen years....
View ArticleNo Undo
What would you do if you had no undo? In this episode I wish to encourage photographers to consider how their creative process might change without the safety net of an undo button, potentially leading...
View ArticleLooking for peronal motifs in your work
As the years have passed, I have felt that I am often in a ‘fine tuning’ or ‘honing’ stage of my craft. One of the things I have noticed over the past while is that I tend to take a lot of photographs...
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Applying sensibilities elsewhere
I am not an architecture photographer. As much as I dearly love architecture, I have seldom felt the desire to photograph it. But I do enjoy using a field camera when I get the chance to use my Ebony...
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Great care in the Execution
Behind every good piece of work, often hides a mountain of effort. If the work is successful, then enormous amount of care, thought, deliberation, reconsideration, delays, reworks, and great care in...
View ArticleInner Confidence to be an Artist
I think learning to listen to oneself, and to trust one’s own judgement, is greatly overlooked as a core skill to have as a creative person. So often we seek validation from external forces around us,...
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Valentina
I’ve been thinking for a while now, that I’ve had the honour and pleasure of meeting so many distinctive clouds on my travels, and that perhaps, I should document them? Perhaps I should collect all...
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Happy New Year
I’m ensconced at home, sheltered from the rain and wind of the first day of the year. Busy playing ‘catch up’ on all the images I made in 2024, before I go to Hokkaido later this month. This past...
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When it becomes a job
Just today I hit a brick wall, and I have decided that the best thing for me to do, is to stop trying to do what I’m doing, and go do something else instead. About a week ago, I decided that it would...
View ArticleWorking with Atmospheres
If we are looking for more dynamics in our shooting, more possibilities, then we really need to shoot in all kinds of weather. Scotland, where I’m from, has such changeable light, that often one can be...
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New Work
I have a new page on this very website titles ‘current’. I have uploaded eight new portfolios this week. They are a backlog of work created in 2023 and all of last year. My reason for publishing them...
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Making things Happen (creative process)
The creative process can be boiled down to these three things:1. intention 2. attention to detail 3. expectation of result IntentionWhen I am making photographs in the field, all I have is an intention...
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My Hokkaido Story
Looking for cohesion and working with portfolios in mind can aid style and visual development. In this video i discuss images I made in Japan in Autumn of 2023. And here is the gallery of the portfolio...
View ArticleThe pendulum swing of color
This episode discusses my journey as a photographer and my evolving perspective on the use of colour in my work. I explore how photographers learn to pay closer attention to their surroundings and...
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Olive
I remember reading in one of Ansel Adam’s books that he was only truly happy about one of his exhibitions because the walls were painted olive.Adams reasoning was that olive is close to mid-grey, and...
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The Horses of St Marks
While in Venice, I came across statues of the horses of St. Marks. I didn’t have a camera to shoot them with that I could use without a tripod. Since St. Marks would not allow tripods inside, I had to...
View ArticlePersonal Motifs
In this podcast, I discuss the importance of revisiting and developing a personal connection with certain landscapes or locations in photography. I emphasise that returning to places that resonate with...
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Cloth Samples
Next book project is progressing. Today I received some cloth samples. it’s always best to get some real samples to check against.
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Taj Mahal Re-imagined
Way back in 2009, before I had even begun to offer workshops and tours, I left my IT career behind me. Due to the credit crash of 2008, I was out of work, and decided to head off to India for a month’s...
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Aomori, Japan
I think each portfolio always has a standout image, whether intended or not. Particularly when not intended, standout images can often have more power than an intended standout image can. I think this...
View ArticleSimplifying the Landscape
The episode discusses the importance of simplifying compositions in landscape photography. I aim to emphasise the need to remove or quieten secondary aspects of a scene to effectively convey the...
View ArticleRoyal Photographic Society
Last night I gave a presentation for two hours to the Royal Photographic Society. I covered my Bolivia images, Icelandic interior images, Hokkaido and Scotland.I was initially reluctant to go - I...
View ArticleScars on Land
How we view the landscape, can be shaped by the choice of words we use to describe it.The word scar for instance has negative connotations. It is often used to convey damage, fault, or something that...
View ArticleOvercoming Creative Inertia
I believe in the importance of finding inspiration in a single image to overcome creative inertia. As I reflect on the process, I notice how portfolios become more rounded as more images are added. I...
View ArticleAnticipation at Laguna Armaga
On a recent trip to Torres del Paine, Patagonia I spent three mornings attempting a sunrise shot of the famous towers from the base of Laguna Armaga. Due to low-lying cloud and fog we could not see the...
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White Canvas
I’ve been wanting to write an updated e-book about aspect ratios for some time. Last year I put together a rough outline of the points I wish to cover in the new e-book, but I simply ran out of free...
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Where I'm at
Tonight I just arrived in Puerto Natales. It is a lovely little town on the outskirts of the grand Torres del Paine national park. I am here for some private time for a week with my tent and camera. I...
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Pre determined outcomes kill creativity
“Photography rewards the unexpected instant, rather than the careful planning of what might very well not come”I read this in a manual today, for some audio equipment I am learning. I adapted it for...
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Old haunts show us how we may have changed
“To know a place, one must be more than simply familiar with it.”Although landscapes are evolving moving things, with changeable weather, varying atmospheric conditions, and different seasons, there is...
View ArticleCopyright & AI
This relates to any creative work. Tech firms are using the intellectual property of all creatives to train their AI models. This is effectively theft.
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On selling prints
‘if I had to choose images that represent who I am as a photographer, then which ones should I choose?’The simple process of deciding which images of your own work to offer as prints, can be a form of...
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