With the hard work and excitement of my first solo exhibition behind me, it has been a luxury to have the time and creative head space to start thinking about making images again. Winter came late this year, and the spell around Easter saw me out on the snowy moors. The Black Cloughs in Longdendale iced up nicely, as they often do in a long cold spell, and I enjoyed a trip to the main falls, and also a few snow-shoe walks up non the high moors around the Woodhead Pass. Some of the images I made on these trips are in the galleries. 

But to recharge my creativity I decided to devote a period of time solely to photography, and booked a week’s course in Arisaig in the west Highlands with my friend Garry Brannigan. I have been going on his courses for ten years now, and always get something from them. So a small group of us, just six including Garry, were to spend a week exploring the coastal Highland landscape from a very comfortable base in Arisaig House.

As a warm-up I spent two days canoeing and camping in the Trossachs, taking my cameras along with me in the boat (blog here) I also had time to explore the islands of Loch Morar on the morning of the course, before meeting up at the hotel for an evening shoot on the shores of the same loch. 

Having spent most of the last two years concentrating on images of flowing water and reflections, I was keen to broaden both my choice of subject and compositional motifs. One of the things I have always enjoyed on these gatherings is the sharing of ideas and images made during each day, seeing how differently each person interprets the same location. It is a great opportunity both to be inspired by others work and find out their reactions to your own, to find out what works for your audience and why. 

I’m always wary of measuring photographic success by volume of output, but I came home with a good-sized portfolio of images of a range of subjects in a variety of styles. The gallery of images from the trip is here. If you have any comments or questions, leave a comment or get in touch. Limited edition prints of all the images on the site are available. Contact me for details and prices.