2nd December 2025
Today I was off on an adventure - over to Torridon! The drive over was absolutely spectacular with stunning light… unfortunately when I arrived on the site I was shooting the light was replaced by rain!
Still… I think I got what I needed!
But a return trip just to phtograph some landscape is absolutely required soon!
4th December 2025
I stopped off at the old Church of St. Lawrance in Glen Convinth today, an old 16th or 17th century structure which is now so ruined that there is very little left to see. Rumours of a couple of cup marked rocks and a Pictish carved stone are, unfortunately, impossible to confirm as nothing has been seen of them in recent searches (certainly since the 1970s).
Nethertheless I do like these old sites and try to visit anything I see on the map when passing! This is my second attempt at this one, last time I shot from ground level with little success so today I tried some low angle aerial to see if anything came up. Alas it is still a bit of a wash out!
More interestingly, perhaps, I popped into Ffordes to have a little hands on with the big Fujifilm cameras. My Z6II is really past the point it should have been replaced now and I can’t quite decide what to do! I really like the idea of perhaps uprating the bigger Z7 for the Fuji GFX100 SII though, and then replacing the tired Z6 with the little used Z7 for a while. It probably won’t be in this financial year mind… but perhaps next if things go well!
1st December 2025
Well, the month started off with a little more drama than I would have liked, which has semi derailed my plans for the day! I think I got there in the end though!
The sky came dark over Loch Ness on the way back home with just a small patch of light illuminating Urquhart Bay so I just had to stop for a quick photograph!
3rd December 2025
Conon Mains just outside Dingwall today - the light was magnificent, so much so that had I more time I would have been away back to Torridon! It didn’t last though, the cloud bank that can be seen on the horizon came over and turned the second part of the day very dark, wet and miserable! I got the work done though, so not to worry!
We are edging in to the dark days of the year, in more ways than one. The longest night is not so far away and I always struggle with past events at this time of year, as well as missing those who have passed on - the number of whom seems to grow with every year. I try to keep the associated black dogs at bay, and this year I am going to try and employ creativity to keep me from sinking.
I am hoping to rekindle the YouTube side of things in the coming days and share some of the places I go, as well as the techniques that I employ… and perhaps a wee bit about the equipment I use too. This will be as much a distraction for my mind as anything else - and it is another way to create things, which is always good!
Tomorrow I have a dark room evening, which I am looking forward to. I haven’t really been in much over the past month or so as work has been just too fragmented to do anything constructive. Christmas is going to be a bit of a blockage to getting in I suspect, but I want to try and find a couple of mornings this month to process some film and perhaps run some prints!
5th December 2025
And so begins my 17 days of beating myself up for my various failures in life. It happens every year, and it is something that I can’t shake, no matter how hard I try. It is getting less bad each year I think, but I still struggle to focus on the here and now in the way that I should - which is manifestly unfair on everyone else…. I do try and fake it a bit, but it’s just not the same as really being able to enjoy the season.
Anyway, today has been slightly productive with a job out in Invergordon this morning, then dropping Jen and Ros off in Inverness for a works do… and grabbing a couple of night shots of the city on the way back out - this one of the cathedral and another of the castle. Next week is looking pretty quiet at the moment, a couple of jobs lined up, but December is not going to be hugely busy I don’t think.
I had a good session in the dark room last night though and was reminded of a few things regarding printing, as well as learning a new technique which I am itching to try soon! I am booked in for a long session next week (although a job has cropped up the morning I was planning on going in which will reduce my time by an hour… but financial concerns outweigh “me” time! I really need to get in more often again though, as well as shooting more with film!
I also popped into Ffordes yesterday for a poke at a Fujifilm GFX 100 SII, an absolute beast of a camera, and now very much on “the list”, although that depends on next year being hugely productive!
7th December 2025
Not a bad start to the day… bit rubbish out now though so going to pop to the village shop for some more milk, then I think it will be trying to fix my coffee machine… then give up and order a new one (not really… that will have to wait until the new year if I can’t revive it I think!)
9th December 2025
No work on today, but an appointment in town with the youngest. With Storm Bram inbound, and finally starting to get here late afternoon, it seemed a good day to drink tea and wait it out!
6th December 2025
Today has been strangely busy, off to a market at Belladrum then a quick stop by the CoOp for some supplies… then a small counter demonstration… before back to the market and home.
Not my usual Saturday then!
8th December 2025
Today turned pretty dark, wet and miserable. My first job in Inverness went well enough though, but my second in Fort Augustus I had to abandon as it was entirely aerial in nature, and my drone doesn’t like rain!
I popped up to Glendoe whilst waiting to see if the weather would improve though and took a couple of shots up at Loch Far, which is a favourite (if obvious) location in that area before turning back to the village when I spotted Keeper’s Cottage sitting in such magnificently moody surroundings that I had to stop! This has been on my list for a while, but I wasn’t expecting to get anything today of all days!
11th December 2025
Ardmair Beach - Fuji GSW690, Ilford Delta 100. Developed in Rodinal 1:25, scanned on Epson V850.
I had a real battle getting this film on to the spool in the darkroom so was pleased to get anything out, the film was, unfortunately, quite heavily scratched along the way though. I suspect that the changing bag had got a little hot and sticky from the first pair of films so the second pair done straight after had developed tacky surfaces that made life complicated.
On the plus side, the exposures are looking a lot better now that I am remembering to err towards over exposure rather than under exposure!
I still haven't decided on the film stock for the big project, I am about to load some Ortho Plus though as I have high hopes for it, and want to run another couple of Delta and Pan F rolls through both the 6x9 and the 6x12 (and I have a single roll of CiniStill XX that I want to have a look at too, but after the trauma of the FPP I am not feeling overly confident!)
I also still REALLY like the look and feel of Formapan, which is cheap as chips and so nice to work with, but want something a little more refined once I start this big shoot!
10th December 2025
Storm Bram is slowly departing, it's been another wild day out and about but the light over Loch Ness was just stunning this afternoon as I headed back into Drumnadrochit.
It’s a bit of a difficult day today, it would have been my eldest child’s 17th birthday - so long ago and taken by such cruelty after just 12 days, that little tot is always on my mind at this time of year. I never forget the promise I made to him, and failed to keep, although the guilt should really belong wholy to the person directly responsible for the events of the subsequent 12 days, why do I carry such guilt whilst they carry on regardless and change the narrative to suit their new found vision of events.
What was said that day almost 17 years ago will always remain with me, and any story given subsequently to try and remove their guilt is a pure fabrication. I honestly don’t know how anyone comlpicit can live with themselves.
12th December 2025
A quick morning trip to Fort Augustus to catch up with some aerial work that has been outstanding for a couple of weeks as the weather kept pushing it back!
