2nd April 2026
Today I was up in Sutherland, my namesake region of Scotland, shooting one of my favourite properties I have been into in a long time - something about it just spoke to me, despite it being almost in the shadow of the Wee Mannie.
I came back over the backroads from Golspie into Rogart looking for some inspiration for my photo a day project and came upon this old structure - the light had gone quite odd which added something to the scene too!
Anyway - a pretty good day, if busy. I had to skip RNLI as it’s gone midnight and I am only just getting todays shoot uploaded. Another fell be the wayside so will be picked up tomorrow, despite it being a holiday (Good Friday)… fortunately it is just down the road in Fort Augustus so shouldn’t take too long to shoot (and now I have cleaned my lenses and sensor hopefully the edit will take a bit less time too, a long story!)
4th April 2026
What a difference a day makes! Yes, it is snowing again in the Highlands as we prepare for Easter! Storm Dave is approaching and it’s going to be a bit of a wild one - although the track of the storm seems to have moved south now so we will be spared the worst of the winds.
I really am looking foward to some warmer weather and sunshine now - this winter has been on the neverendum scale it would seem.
Next week is going to be pretty busy though, I am having Monday off - well I say off - I am on duty with the RNLI for 24 hours so that may or may not be “off”. Then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all have jobs lined up, although none of the days are close to full… and Friday I am off down to Glasgow and back!
6th April 2026
Been a busy day of DIY today before getting stuck in to the new weeks work tomorrow. I am looking forwad to work to recharge after the battle of the blind fitting!!!
1st April 2026
Today saw me travel over into Moray, I haven’t spent enough time exploring this part of the world since I spent a summer in the area in the 90’s, and although it’s close I just don’t seem to head that way often.
That looks to change though as my new client is based over to the east so I am really excited to get under the skin of the area between Inverness and Elgin (predominantly) and perhaps further afield from time to time.
This is Logie Bridge near Forres from a job for another client today, one who usually sends me north and west, so this was a bit of an unexpected treat to start the new month!
3rd April 2026
Just a quick job to wrap up the financial year today, and the sun was shining! This was supposed to be done yesterday in my original plan, but that went a little awry - however the weather was actually better this morning so all is well!
Well… kind of well… my internet speed is woeful on the uploads and since the boys are now all off for a fortnight I am doing battle with their gaming to upload my client work! Startlink really is quite poor on the uplink side of things! Highland Broadband tell me they are due up the hill sometime this year though, so I am awaiting synchronous speeds with baited breath. It’s cheaper too!
Otherwise just waiting on some news from Glasgow to determine what I am doing the back end of next week/week after - I have that worry that my plans are going to derail at any moment though so it may all be a bit of a let down as yet (I am supposed to be changing my car for something with a bit more range - it’s all second hand stuff, but waiting on the finance people - my worry is that I had a quote for a different car a few weeks ago which was successful, but I haven’t progressed, so they may be worried I am buying 2 vehicles not just 1! Not that either were particularly expensive quotes mind, but life is very uncertain at the moment so I don’t want to spend big!)
8th April 2026
Today has been the first really busy and really productive day in quite some time! It’s been a late finish as a result - but that’s just part and parcel, it doesn’t happen too often either!
Magnus quite fancied a portrait tonight too - he has a special post he sits on for me to take a photo of him!
10th April 2026
Today was a long drive to Glasgow down the A82, drop off the car and pick up a replacement, then drive home back up the A82 after a suprise drop in to visit some very special human beings on the way!
I was utterly exhausted when I got home!
12th April 2026
It’s been a hugely domestic kind of a day… bordering on a bit crofty really as we had to clean out the chickens/ducks in the pouring rain! Roki then had some gastric distress so I had to clean a floor and a dog too, who is only feeling sorry for himself because he had a bath and doesn’t really like them!
Tomorrow is a new week and it’s looking pretty positive as it stands! I have a few jobs on so it will be good to see how the new car copes with those demands, I suspect swimmingly from the time I have spent so far. I need to sort out some kind of carrying solution for the boot to keep all my kit from going on adventures around the space, and I am thinking of some kind of a change in case for the panoramic camera, really for two reasons - firstly the hard case becomes a confined toboggan in the boot and secondly it’s a pain to carry any distance from the car! I think I may look into some basic camera backpacks instead, it doesn’t (currently) require anything over complex I don’t think…
Things are looking more positive than they were this time last month though, and I am looking at building back up and also expanding in different directions again. I also really, REALLY need to get properly stuck in to the fine art side of photography properly and soon!
14th April 2026
Been a busy old day today - the sun was shining and I thought I may as well knock off a few of tomorrows jobs whilst I was out since Wednesday is looking a little less bright.
I forgot to pop the rubbish in the bin though so drove around with it in the boot all day - the sheep thought the bags were food so came to see me when I remembered to deposit them in the bins on the way home!
On the plus side, it means tomorrow is a bit of a more relaxed day, although I do have one of today’s jobs left to edit as well as tomorrows! It’s only a wee one though, shouldn’t take too long!
5th April 2026
Happy Easter! It’s a bit of a dramatic morning up here in Clunemore with fresh snow lying on the ground. It is not as deep as overnight though with the thaw starting as soon as the sun came up so we are in no danger of being snowed in!
This weeks highlights which I am looking forward to include a shoot for a new client, which I am hoping will ramp up to become a solid component of my workload over the next few weeks, a couple of aerial shoots for an existing client along with a couple of full shoots for two others. Not a huge week, but just about enough that I am not stressing. This is the Easter break too, things tend to be a bit quiet when the schools are off, so I am looking forward to seeing how things run through the second half of April and into May.
Annoyingly just as we find the new stride we are off for a week to Iceland - so I am really hoping that doesn’t derail the revival!
7th April 2026
A productive start to the working week today with a couple of small jobs in town - just some drone work - but it’s good to get out and into something after the long weekend. I also stopped in to Halfords and bought a dash-cam and booked it in to be hardwired… I just need to not get run into for 10 days…
To be honest the dashcam saved my bacon a few years ago when a driver challenged a claim to try and make it out as my fault when she T-Boned me on a roundabout (so that was a hard sell anyway), the dashcam footage had her insurer change their tune pretty quickly, although it still took 6 years to get a payout - which was quite disapointingly small by the time it came through anyway!
I also took out insurance to cover the wheels, tyres and bodywork… because I have seen how the tourists drive and the state of the Highland roads! I have taken out 2 tyres in 3 years on potholes as it is, plus had to get some respraying done… all of which would be covered and I am pretty sure that would have more than covered the premiums as it stands!
9th April 2026
Today has been one of those days… things just not quite going to plan and taking way longer than they should. We got there in the end though!
It’s a bit of a murky day today too, which doesn’t help (particularly with the edit that needed a lot of brightening and skies replacing).
Anyway - Glasgow tomorrow and back again! I may head one way through Glencoe (possibly both as I am going to a place just over the Erskine Bridge so it’s probably quicker just taking the A82)
11th April 2026
You are going to see me coming now!
The Yellow Peril is here - my range is massively increased so less charger stress and more time to photograph the stunning Highland scenery!
It was also the inaugrial SNAP analogue photography meeting today, which was fun - but after all that driving yesterday I wasn’t on my best form!
16th April 2026
Today has been a busy day of seemingly not doing much. Except I have, it has just all been at the desk - quotes sent out for a few unique jobs, one booked in - which may lead to more work in future of a slightly different nature to the normal. I have re-arranged my videography kit into a different backpack - although I don’t think a backpack is the way to go with it - and then moved my analogue panoramic kit into my more adventure oriented backpack which was then free! I also adjusted a catch on that camera with a Dremmel and made space for a new compact which is as close to a Hassleblad XPan as I am going to get anytime soon! So that is me all ready to start tackling my landscape project with gusto now!
On top of this I have also been transfering all my rudimentary book keeping onto a new system and been working out how to add mileage on that (which should now be automated using my phone’s GPS tracking), chased an outstanding invoice and even managed a HIIT session on the indoor bike!
18th April 2026
Over the last couple of days I have been putting a Fujifilm GFX100 RF through it’s paces, I have wanted one of these since they were announced, but they are expensive… and as a fixed lens compact they are somewhat limited in functionality… but I really wanted one as a companion to my medium format film kit. It is almost a digital version of my GSW 690 in terms of focal length and matches pretty well with the DaYi - with the addition of a few in built panoramic crops it becomes a really nice digital twin for that system too. My long term goal has been to introduce a GFX 100 SII and a few lenses in to my arsenal to become my default digital landscape and architecture camera, the Z7II has been moved over to be my main commercial workhorse now and the Z6II has become my default video camera, I could see the Z7 being replaced by a GFX 50 to be honest.
It’s not that I don’t love the Nikons, but Fuji just have a really special quality to the images - aided by the medium format sensors, more realestate on the chip results in better image quality after all, but they also have this 3D quality that I am starting to really enjoy. The GFX 100 RF has changed my ideas a bit though as I can see this working really well as a landscape tool, and I am really enjoying the simplified form factor - so much so that I think I may still look for an X100 VI at some stage which had been my planned route for a travel camera before this beast found it’s way to me (for my favourite price - I can’t divulge where it came from though, under pain of death!). I also really fancy one of the wee Fujifilm X Half cameras too, I have had a little play with one and it was a load of fun and could be a great thing to just carry all the time (it is teeny!)
Anyway - today we had our track repaired. Getting to the house no longer requires a visit to a surgeon afterwards!
13th April 2026
It has been a pretty relaxed start to the week, tomorrow and Wednesday are looking busy mind so I am enjoying it whilst I can! Just a small job on this morning and then I came back over Abriachan and spotted some Highland Cows in the sun.
I have been playing with the 12×6 (or 1×2) format of panoramics for a while, but I am feeling inspired by the wider format at the moment after watching a really interesting video on XPan formats… I think I may run some rolls of film through the panoramic camera at 6×17 again as a result!
I may also have something rather special coming that is going to be a part of my landscape arsenal for the moment and really will lend itself to digital panoramics through an inbuilt “XPan” aspect ratio. It’s a fixed lens camera so will necessitate a little more thought as I can’t switch things up too much, although I can add a wider angle adapter which will take it from a 28mm to 21mm equivalent.
I am very excited! This is planned to be just stage one of this move - the next step will be the interchangable lens version, which I am hoping to start putting together later this year with the intention of getting into more specialist architectural work!
15th April 2026
I was running early for an appointment in Nairn today so popped up onto Dava Moor to shoot an old ruin that I have photographed before (several times) but know where it is and know I can park pretty much beside it - so it makes for a nice subject when I have a moment.
Two things that this particular photograph tells me - firstly, I need to actually explore Dava Moor more as there are many old ruins up in these hills and many stories to be told. Secondly… and perhaps more importantly… I need to get out shooting properly more! Not just the commissioned commercial work, but actual photography just to look at. Photography for art. Photography to tell stories.
So tomorrow I have a plan, since I have caught up with myself for the week early, I am going to re-arrange my camera bags so that the filming equipment can go into something else - possibly my old camera backpack - and then the one intended for landscape photography can be reshaped to fit the panoramic camera and a (not so) compact digital and even less compact film rangefinder!
I am on a mission to get back to my roots!
17th April 2026
Out with the RF again, trying to get my head around it! I may use it in anger on a job at the weekend….
Anyway - bit of a rubbish day out today with high winds and heavy rain squalls running through - it would have been a pretty good day for landscapes, but Jen and the boys are out at the cinema and I am on Angus duty for now. My planned job for the day was cancelled - which is a shame as I was looking forward to getting out to the north-west coast, but it isn’t to be just at the moment. Perhaps something else will crop up in that direction soon!
Anyway - next week is looking pretty good and this week has been better than expected. Things are probably looking okay as it stands just now work wise as a result, although there is no telling what the volatile World stage is going to throw in the way of spanners!
20th April 2026
Today I was in town to get the dash cam fitted to the Ford, which left me with a couple of hours to kill whilst the work was being done. The weather was pretty rubbish, so my initial plan of going for a wee photo walk was shelved, instead I headed to Costa for a coffee - but with the intention of shooting the underpass on the way out! I don’t get to do anything “urban” very often after all!
The Fujifilm GFX100RF that was very, very kindly sent to me last week did a fantastic job, the Ricoh wide angle adapter is opening up so many other possibilities for this camera too, and the quality doesn’t seem to suffer from it either! I just need to try it on some more traditional landscape style shots now!
And yes… I am slightly obsessed with the monochrome filters and panoramic crops that this camera offers!
21st April 2026
Been a pretty busy day today so I didn’t have time to stop and do any “me” photography. Fortunately the sky provided nice show as I went out to put the chooks to bed!
23rd April 2026
Another crazy day, but this time it was marred somewhat by an equipment failure - my video camera destroyed it’s memory card, which was unreadable on anything other than an iPad for some unknown reason - and even then most of the data was corrupted. I managed to piece enough together to get something out, but it isn’t what I had intended or wanted.
Tomorrow I am off towards Aberdeen for a drone shoot… and the offending card is in the bin.
25th April 2026
It has been a flat out week of work, and next week is looking much the same… possibly more so… and so today was a great chance to chill out and go fossil hunting (unsuccessfully) on Cromarty Beach, following in the footsteps of emminent Scottish geologist Hugh Millar.
Fruitless, but fun none the less, and it was good to get all the family out doing something in the fresh air.
The wind was a touch chilly mind!
27th April 2026
Off to a good start this week, with everything wrapped up for the day reasonably early too!
It’s a busy week - tomorrow I am out to Torridon, then a pretty muddled day on Wednesday, somewhere around Lochinver on Thursday and then out to Nairn and Tornagrain on Friday morning. Some things have had to bump into next week after the confusion and rearranging things on Wednesday, but I think we have a plan for the rest of this week now at least!
I am hoping to shoot some of my own project work this week too, if the weather is suitable and I can find some suitable locations on my travels!
19th April 2026
Something a little different for today - shooting some portraits at Clava Cairns on Culloden Moor. It was a good chance to put the Fujifilm GFX100 RF through it’s paces in a more commercial setting, as well as spending a little time shooting some more landscape type compositions.
The inbuilt monochrome “Across” settings are just sublime, and the XPan aspect ratio is the icing on the cake! I can see this becoming my default digital landscape camera of choice (until I get a GFX 100 SII and some lenses at any rate!)
22nd April 2026
Blue sky over the west coast! What a fantastic day!
It’s mid way through a busy week and next week is already shaping up to be another big one!
24th April 2026
Off to Rural Aberdeenshire today to do an aerial photography job. I stopped off for a quick photo of Corgarff Castle on the way back, whilst making a note to go back when I actually have time to visit it one day!
26th April 2026
Last night I programmed in a load of “recipies” for black and white film emulsions into the Fujifilm GFX100 RF, I have concentrated on the emulsions I tend to use most for my landscape work, although these may change a little over time and I may slowly add some colour emulsion simulations in too as I start to work on colour film - the idea being that I can create images in camera with a close feel to those that I am creating on film so that my overall body of work has a consistency as I work on this current and future projects.
This is my first image taken using one of these simulations - in this instance it is Ortho Plus, a high contrast film stock that I plan on using for some moody landscapes. This also has the added benefit of letting me experiment with ideas digitally before committing to a film choice, with film itself being a rather expensive item!
I am really enjoying the GFX at the moment, and I am starting to seriously consider moving from my Nikons to Fujifilm GFX for my commercial work too. I could see a GFX 50 SII being a great tool for much of my interior work and a GFX 100 SII being perfect for architecture and design where big print sizes become more of a thing - the RF would remain as my “compact” and companion piece to my film cameras. The one aspect I am not sure about it video, although perhaps adding a small X series camera for video work would be the ultimate answer to that rather than fighting with medium format and it’s shallower depth of field.
At the moment, this is just pontification… I need to see how the year develops before committing to any major shake ups, and perhaps next year too!
29th April 2026
A sunny day in the Highlands - not helpful for my moody landscapes, but excellent for today’s batch of commercial jobs!
The traffic left me stressed out and overheated though so all bets are off for the rest of today!
28th April 2026
An unplanned and unanticipated late finish tonight - the PC dropped it’s shit and left me high and dry. A massive resetting and deleting of data (after backing up) seems to have, eventually, got it working again! I had not planned to be working into the night though as I have a pretty big couple of days coming up!
At least my trip out to Torridon was rather lovely!
30th April 2026
I have FINALLY caught up with myself for the end of the month. Just. The last edits are uploading to the client site right now after a long drive up to the Clashnessie/Stoer area.
It’s been an unexpectedly good month with not only a good volume of work, but also some really high quality property to shoot, which means more will be going onto the portfolio soon!
The GFX100RF is doing fantastic work too - I am slowly getting to grips with it and have now bought a few magnetic filters to really push it creatively. The XPan mode is, obviously, a big draw for me… but I am really, really enjoying the film simulations and monochromatic shooting in camera! Today’s view of Elphin being very much a case in point!
Now I just need a steller year so I can add a GFX 100 SII and a trio of lenses!