2nd January 2025
Looking back over the fields towards Clunemore on the way home from a snowy walk.
This weather is looking like it is set in for at least the weekend, although I really do need to venture out tomorrow to do some shopping as supplies are running low! It’s not actually too bad at the moment as the temperatures haven’t dropped particularly low (around freezing, a little below).
4th January 2026
Another stunningly snowy day in the Highlands with fresh snow falling overnight and this morning. We still haven't really ventured out far as the Police were advising against unnecessary travel (and judging by the number of crashes, probably with good reason!)
Work will hopefully start coming in from tomorrow, although I will probably leave it a day or so before scheduling anything in so that the snow can melt a wee bit first! I probably need to get the car on charge again too, but it's currently burried under about 15cm of snow and I suspect the charging port is frozen shut too! Rookie error of not plugging it in before the snow fall as it had only run down to the village a couple of times!
6th January 2026
Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle following heavy snow since New Year's Day. It is all starting to thaw a little just now, but with a potentially cold night things could be particularly exciting tomorrow!
Looks like work is starting to wake up too, not rapidly - I have one job booked in for this week now which gets the ball rolling!
We made it out to the supermarket today to pick up some supplies for the return to school tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting back into a routine again and really looking forward to start working again! I have plans for this year after all!
8th January 2026
Out working for the first time this year, and since I had a little time to kill I went for a little drive along the south side of the Great Glen.
Still very wintery out!
20th January 2026
It's been a pretty productive morning, sorting my diary out, booking some work in and getting my first gallery up and live on the website with drop shipping for sales!
Another therapeutic part of the day has been sitting with music on whilst I work. It helps fire the creative process after all! For something a little different I am on a mix of Gothic Country and Murder Folk courtesy of the Spotift Playlist - Spooky Banjo Time. Absolutely recomended listening!
22nd January 2026
Another busy day! Just finishing up at almost 9pm - the last upload is running!
This was the loch on the way home - who says Loch Ness isn’t stunningly beautiful?
24th January 2026
As planned I have had a pretty chilled out kind of day, and plan to again tomorrow, in an attempt to get my foot functioning for next week! It is an improving situation but I don't want to hobble through another busy work schedule again!
So tonight, after tearing Amazon customer services another one... again... because their delivery driver has just given up delivering anything to us entirely after they promised that it would definately be delivered today after yesterday's debarcle... and several other deliveries in recent weeks that have never happenend... here is a photo of Magnus mid savage because I disturbed his snooze. To be fair, his belly fur is just sooo soft that it needs to be rubbed!
28th January 2026
In stark contrast to yesterday - I got home in daylight!
It has been a pretty good day really, a couple of jobs taking me out into Moray for the first time in a while, it would be nice to get out east a little more regularly this year as the scenery is rather different than the Inverness area. I like to get out and about far and wide as often as I can!
There was also a little warmth in the sun for the first time in what feels like an age, it is too soon to mention spring, but it did act as a reminder that warmer days are coming… eventually!
30th January 2026
It has been a pretty full on day to end the working month - I think probably my strongest January to date after a manic couple of weeks! I haven’t been operating at full capacity mind, but with the short days and typical winter weather it’s been quite intense on the editing front. I was glad to see some sunshine today as that saves me a lot of time on the exteriors!
Next week is already looking reasonably good, particularly for a first week of a month which tend to be a little quieter after the end of month figures push by the agents. February is always that tricky month though, I find that the weather tends to be rubbish and my enthusiasm for winter starts to fade as I look forward to feeling the first warmth of sprint just a few weeks away!
But if January can inform the rest of the year work wise then I think it could be a good 2026!
1st January 2026
So, as with last year, we had heavy rain overnight (which last time caused our access road to wash out, which will be repaired sometime late this year) and then snow the following morning. It has been an absolute carbon copy with a very soggy Hogmanay followed by a white New Year’s Day.
I decided to kick off my 2026 Photo a Day come Photo Diary off with almost the same photograph as I wound up 2025, except with markedly different weather conditions!
So what are my plans for 2026 then - I want to build on last year’s commercial work, there is a good foundation now for growth - but I don’t want to go silly, so as long as the new arrangement that was reached last year comes good I am not going to be actively seeking any new relationships in the near term as I see how everything comes together. I want to throw my energy for new work at building the fine-art side of things instead.
I have a couple of art based projects to really get stuck into as well, the primary one being an examination of the Highland Clearance remains within the landscape of northern Scotland. This I plan to shoot on anaologue equipement in a panoramic format, the other is still in early planning stages so more about that later!
I am also looking into something of a kit overhaul for this year, which may mean a switch in manufacturers, or a partial switch, but again, it is early days still on that front too!
So, Happy New Year and I hope you enjoy following my adventures!
10th January 2026
Today we have Haggis Cat - to be honest I have been feeling really run down the last few days so taking a day out was needed. The sore throat seems a little less sore today too, so a long sleep has done some good I think.
The snow is melting, and then refreezing, and then rain on top... so tomorrow we will have to wait and see what it's like, but with the thaw really setting in tomorrow next week is going to look very different.
12th January 2026
Today was the first job of the first full week of the year, and it feels like I am starting to get back in the swing of things! The photographs have come out rather nicely from the shoot, so I am pleased with that. Unfortunately one of the jobs I had lined up for tomorrow has been pulled due to a change of circumstance, but before I had time to lament the knock and wonder if I would, indeed, have an okay week after all… two more came in. So we are good!
I mean, more would be nice… but 4 for the week is okay. If the rest of the month follows suit then I will be going into February reasonably confident, unlike last year where I was in blind panic!
It’s early days yet though, and okayish is a long way from doing well. These winter months are “survival mode” though rather than turning any kind of profit!
14th January 2026
It's been a nicely busy day today - well... nice in terms of work... but I did a fine job on a bone in my foot (the joys of having rediculously high arches) so limping around rather a lot still! As a result I decided against heading off into the wilds and you get a photo of Angus on the sofa deep in a game instead!
On the up side… the travel and accomodation are now booked for this summers grand adventure. I still need to sort a hire car, and we need to pay my good friend back for the house he popped on his credit card!
This will be the first trip out the country for Angus and Hamish, and the first flight that Lachlan will remember too!
16th January 2026
This morning I was out in town early for a little filming job - the light wasn’t there yet for video work (or… for this kind of video work more specifically) so I popped down to Carnarc Point in South Kessock as there was some lovely dawn light going on over the firth.
I haven’t had an excuse to head down to the point where the River Ness meets the Beauly Firth (and Moray Firth beyond the bridge) but it is well worth a visit!
It’s been a good week, and as it stands next week is starting to shape up fairly well too. Monday is at the “nicely busy” kind of stage and Tuesday has one booked in the afternoon, so it would be nice to fit something in before hand.
18th January 2026
A wintery start to today. Pretty tired so I suspect it will not be a busy day!
Next week though… well Monday is properly hectic, I could possibly squeeze one more job on but it’s going to be a long edit session in the evening! Then one on Tuesday so far… so it’s looking like a reasonable week already. Whether anything else comes in remains to be seen mind (if not at least it gives me a chance to start building my gallery sales page over on waywardspirit.studio!)
26th January 2026
Out and about in Easter Ross this morning and had to stop off at this old barn - I photographed it last a couple of years ago so thought it was worth a revisit!
It's been a cold day today, perfect weather for finding that there is a problem with the heating! I have a temporary fix that I am currently testing to see if it kicks the underfloor heating back on as the ticking sound suggests that the diverter valve is on the blink, so I have just turned it to manual and there was a sound of water pushing into the pipes... so fingers crossed!
3rd January 2026
The snow stopped falling for a spell so I popped the drone up to get a view up the glen towards Meal Fuar-mhonaidh, a landscape that is being threatened by industrial overdevelopment in the name of pumped hydro, a technology that is really past it's sell by date with the development of other options that can be constructed nearer the locations that the power is required. Loch Ness and it's surrounding area is being hammered by these schemes all designed to store power for the South East of England at the expense of our more wild places... and it's not just the odd development here and there... and it's not even just Loch Ness (although we bear the brunt of it), the whole Highland landscape is under threat.
https://savelochness.co.uk/
5th January 2026
I managed to get my car out! Not that I was going far, just down to the village to get some supplies for today ahead of a proper shop probably tomorrow.
On the way back up the hill I stopped off at a very wintery Coiltie Bridge, aka Ivy Bridge, and thought I would have a go at doing something slightly different with it. I am working on a big 12x6 format project at the moment so I am shooting everything in that format so that I get my eye in on the composition.
7th January 2026
I am having an arse of a day… everything is going very, very wrong! I have just had to rebuild the DNS records for my email as that went sideways, then the back up address failed too! I think I have got it all resolved (my main email runs on Google Workspace).
The next job is to try and sort out moving my studio website over to Squarespace, and possibly moving the email onto Google whilst I am at it! This one I am a little more apprehensive about…
Schools are supposed to be back today, but aren’t due to the snow and ice! Roki should have been in to the vet today… but isn’t due to snow and ice. Jen was supposed to be back at work today… but is working from home… due to… you guessed it, snow and ice! Tomorrow I am working, which I am looking forward to - it will be good to get back in the saddle again! It will have been close to 3 weeks since my last job - purely down to the Christmas break - so I am hoping that things pick up swiftly now.
9th January 2026
Still snowy! No more has fallen though and the temperatures are slowly raising so I think it will all be gone over the weekend.
Jen’s new Dacia has been proving it’s worth though, it is absolutely fantastic in the snow! She decided that it was time to downsize since we don’t need an extra seat for D anymore due to circumstances beyond our control (and which have been beyond my budget since Covid to resolve… it’s been way too long now to be worth persuing even if I did suddenly find the funds too).
I think I am going to have a quiet couple of days now though, absolutely shattered and fighting off some kind of bug which has given me a sore throat, aches and swollen lymph nodes. There are a few things doing the rounds just now, but I think a chilled out weekend will get me back to rights.
Hopefully next week will see work pick up too.
11th January 2026
And that is it… the snow is (more or less) gone. It is raining now and over 0 so that last patch of particularly persistant and super slick ice should be gone from our drive hopefully ahead of the school run tomorrow.
I am sorry to see it go - the winter landscape is just stunning in the Highlands, but at the same time I have work to do and really want to get stuck into 2026 properly this week. As it stands it’s looking okay, I would like a couple more jobs to come in to make it comfortable, but it will do for now - and I am hoping to see a week on week increase so it’s too early to start sweating it!
I have finalised the application for the two younger boy’s passports over the weekend - just the paperwork to post off tomorrow now and then hopefully we will all be ready to travel in the next few weeks, ready to embark on our most ambitious family holiday since Australia when Lachlan was just a few months old! Unfortunately we didn’t manage to take the - as it was then - two boys to Utah in 2018, but funerals are probably not the best place for such young souls.
So now I am looking forward to a hopefully busy few months as I don’t think Fujifilm are going to send me a free 100RF just yet for some travel photography and portfolio development!
13th January 2026
A quick view down Loch Dochfour and Loch Ness in the Great Glen today.
This week seems to be picking up rather unexpectedly, I am out working every day - some are just little jobs… but it’s looking pretty good all things considered. And we are only on Tuesday!
Fingers crossed this momentum keeps up!
15th January 2026
There was some stunning light this morning as I took Roki for a wee walk along the Muirtown locks in Inverness prior to his vet check up (he has lost 7 kg so they are very pleased with his progress!)
Otherwise a fairly quiet day today - a quick agency job covering for an absent photographer, I am not convinced that I will bother resubmitting all my paperwork this year as with the low rates and rarity of work it seems no longer worth it… plus there are other things brewing anyway!
17th January 2026
A slow day today - but we managed to get into town which I have been needing to do in an age. I have a mobile broadband package that hasn’t been used in a year or two… but I am paying quite a lot for… that doesn’t really work! Since we have been on Starlink it has become even more surplus to requirements and needs cancelling… but the email address associated with the account is no longer accessible!
So jumping through hoops to try and change an email address so I can authenticate on a system and, hopefully, get the account cancelled next week!
19th January 2026
It was a cold start in Inverness this morning, but there were some lovely colours in the sky!
A great start to the week, but it looks pretty quiet for the remainder - although that could change. I have got the car booked in for Wednesday though, for what could potentially be a fairly protracted stay!
21st January 2026
Today I picked up some paper... this came from the studio of Thomas Joshua Cooper, who is a pretty big deal in the world of photography. If I were to have bought this it would have cost a small fortune - 50 sheets of 20x24 fibre based (a current box of Ilford is £410.99) and 100 sheets of 8x10 (£142.99). Admitably this is all old stock so I will wait and see how it comes out, but it is top grade stuff and it was free!
I will probably cut the 20x24 in half most the time to eek out my stocks a bit!
Now to go and shoot some film to do it, and the great man himself, a little bit of justice!
I needed some better fortune today as my car is sick - and the dealership can’t do anything about it as part of the being sick has jammed the bonnet, so I am now waiting on a quote from a body shop to fix that part of the problem so I can then deal with the rest.
To be honest… I think it is getting on to changing cars time… I just don’t know what for yet, and don’t have a vast amount of spare cash just now! If I can get it sorted and MOT’d it may make it through the summer and then reconsider my options come Autumn.
23rd January 2026
And so ends a busy week. So busy that I have achieved my month’s goals between last week and this… and there is still another to go… and it is already pretty full! In stark contrast to last January this one is looking absolutely fantastic!
I managed to injure my left foot in the snow a few weeks ago which has now more or less healed, but walking with an odd gait has set off my other foot so it will be a case of take it easy this weekend and hopefully get that healed! I am absolutely exhausted now though and could just go for a snooze!
25th January 2026
Burns Night - spent with Nati on song and tale, Highland Park on Whisky and Haggis followed by Cranachan by me!
Next week is looking crazy, but my foot is going to make this a real challenge… It is still not right!
Guess I will have to grin and bear it!
I also need to chase up the body shop for some car repairs and get details of timescales etc. I may be buying a banger to see me through the down time at this rate!
27th January 2026
It was dark tonight as I headed back into Drumnadrochit, my plans to stop somewhere for a photograph had all fallen by the wayside as the weather has just been miserable. I quite like some dramatic weather, but when time is against you and it is cold, wet and windy sometimes the usual location is the best answer!
It’s been a reasonably productive day none the less, one job I bumped to tomorrow as it was a purely aerial affair and the weather today was going to make it challenging to get anything worth submitting out of a flight - tomorrow morning looks more promising and it is close by my 10am so I should have time to pop in on the way out!
29th January 2026
It's been a long day - all the edits are now done and uploading... a quick photo of Pickles and then the PC is shutting down for the night and I am done!
31st January 2026
A month done - it’s very different out and about than the start of the year, but winter isn’t done yet and February is always (for me) the hardest month as I start to long for some warmth and tire of the wind and rain! It’s a different kind of challenge to those in December and January which play more on my mind through loss, this month just wears me down on a physical level….
But we also start to see the first hints of spring, and that is something to bring some hope ahead of March!
Work wise - who knows! I have another job booked in for next week which makes it look very close to target already… just one more job will push me there and I still have 3 days clear! Fingers crossed this is when things really start to take shape for the future!