So we are there, the time of year that work starts to calm down considerably on the run up to Christmas.
It’s been a pretty reasonable year all in all and I think good progress has been made in business terms, hopefully setting us up for a really strong 2025! I have a load of ideas for new “stuff” to throw into the mix including a lot more video - exciting times!
That said, it isn’t entirely dead out there. I am off to Banff tomorrow and I think south of Pitlochry next week… there is the wedding to finish editing too. I think I have a couple of appointments in Elgin next week as well and some work to finish off at Bearnock just up the glen.
This quiet spell is great though - I have a little paperwork to catch up on but otherwise it’s a chance to do a little personal work, both photography and on myself. I would like to think that as we start to pick up in the new year I will be at least a little fitter if I can get the motivation up and tear myself away from my photographic projects and getting back to playing guitar. My YouTube series needs to find it’s focus too, and I think I have an idea on that front… whether it is fully cooked before the next one goes out though I don’t know!
Slowly... slowly.... /
There is a lot going on at the moment, although mostly behind the scenes! Hopefully the permission is going to come through soon for the septic tank installation and we can start gearing up to get the rest of the groundworks in before the weather gets really nasty! I am hoping to be in a position to get the huts ordered before too long, along with the power and the water upgrade finished. We started the water works early after the borehole pump ended itself a couple of weeks ago so took the opportunity to upgrade it to a more substantial unit at the same time that should be capable of providing all we need moving forward.
Then we were away for a week so the boys could visit the grandparents - unfortunately coinciding with me catching an absolute brute of a cold which I am still fighting off the remains of.
This week is back to work, although it is looking pretty quiet just now. I have a big job on at the weekend shooting a wedding for an old friend and then we will see how the last part of the year looks as the market traditionally goes a lot quieter on the run up to Christmas and Hogmanay before spluttering slowly to life in the new year.
This week I was quite saddened to learn that Chris Hoy has entered the final stages of cancer. Two reasons really - obviously cancer has been a pretty big thing in our recent lives anyway, and secondly because I know Chris from my days working at the Scottish Institute of Sport (as was - the institute is no more having been reabsorbed into SportScotland). He was always one of the very few athletes who had time for us normal folk there and we built up something of a rapport over the years (not to the point we were friends, but we knew each other on a casual basis). Even with his success at the Manchester Commonwealth Games he didn’t change at all, or inflate his ego… unfortunately I left that particular career shortly after and have never crossed paths with him since. I do wish him and his family all the best over the remaining time he has though, and am impressed if not surprised with how he is taking this situation entirely in his stride. If you ever want to see a sports person worthy of admiration and respect take a look at Sir Chris!
The Week that Was /
So since my personal website is down and since I haven’t decided quite what to do about it all just yet… I am going to shift my weekly review of “the life and times of Rob” to here for the moment so that anyone interested can keep up to date!
This last week then… it hasn’t been a bad one, I even scraped over the threshold of my medium term weekly goals! Things are definitely quietening down a bit though and looking ahead it seems to be dominated once more by low paying agency work - by low paying I mean it barely covers the costs of doing the job, there is little in the way of profit in it.
So why do it?
Well… it has formed the basis of getting the commercial photography business off the ground, and I often use it as a bit of a test bed for some new ideas and techniques and keep the tried and tested options for the more established work where I can’t really risk experimenting with new approaches. It is also something of a safety net (in that having a little bit coming in is better than having nothing coming in), it gets me out and you never know who you may meet and what opportunities may result… there is also a large part that I would much rather be doing something than nothing… and I get into trouble when I am doing nothing!
Oh... ooops /
This month, and particularly this week, have been filled with disaster!
My personal website has gone AWOL having lost it’s domain settings somewhere… somehow… so it isn’t linking. I need to either look into it or cancel it as I was starting to look at mothballing it anyway and starting up a new project. I haven’t quite decided as yet though but probably should soon.
That was the first and most minor of inconveniences though.
On Monday I was shooting a stunning sunset with the drone… in the dark. The drone clipped the top of a huge conifer, flipped and wound up somewhere in the forestry plantation in the dark. A replacement was ordered that night and arrived on Thursday allowing me to get back out to work with it on Friday! Until then I was relegated to using the Mini 3 which did well, mainly because we were blessed with glorious weather! I could have done without this the day before my car insurance renewal was due mind….
Then - on Thursday night - the water went off. A trip switch had fired off, so I reset and things seemed okay until Friday morning when it was off again. Another reset and I was thinking I would need to do something about this… got back from a job (on Angus’ birthday) and discovered it was gone again. I called out water specialist whom just happened to be in the village grabbing some lunch on the way home - and we decided that the pump was expired. It has been hanging on by the skin of it’s teeth for 2 years and I had a plan to change it come springtime. We hauled it out to see what it was and how deep it was, fortunately he had a suitable replacement in stock (just an hour and a half away) so went to pick that up whilst I worked on the electrics. Meanwhile a shout went out for the RNLI which I had to request assistance for as I was on duty and busy with my own disaster! By the time Adam got back it was starting to get well into the evening so we had a crazy job to get the new pump in position and rewired before dark. We only just made it! But that is yet another huge expense that I could have done without this week.
But at least we have water again! Although the filter keeps clogging and needing cleaned following the disturbance of the sediment!
It has been a pretty good week otherwise! Honest!
Anyway, I think Jen may have stumbled upon my headweasel source - I need adventure in my life, and that hasn’t been present for an age. So it looks like I am going to book onto a course next year to do something a bit “out there” - but in the mean time I need to get out and wander a bit.
Which is what I think I will do right now!
Who Are We? /
This kind of thing always fascinates me - how DNA reflects on who we are and where we are from... on a cellular level!
For me, some of this is very much as expected - the close links to Orkney come through strong, West of Scotland was not particularly anticipated... Irish was. For me this just re-affirms a lot about who I am and where I came from.
For Jen it is a bit different... because she doesn't have that connection. The only group we really share is Danish and Dutch connections, which is about the equidistant point between our heritage groups (equally distant on both counts).
These are how closely our DNA is matched to current populations of these areas, however, and when you start peeking back into the more historic and ancient layers it gets a whole lot more complex! Interestingly we are both carriers of quite a lot of Viking DNA though, Jen more from Denmark/Southern Norway and Sweden and mine more in the northern areas of Norway and Iceland with more than a smattering of Pict and Gael for good measure!
Of course… once I start looking into my Mum’s side everything just goes crazy! Links to France and quite a strong link to French Royalty for starters… but equal links to Austraian Royalty which really took me by suprise!
Or - putting it another way - my links to Clan Abernethy are, apparently, my strongest link of anything… with 2.56% overlap in the DNA. Scottish Royalty is about 1.57% and Clan Sutherland… oddly given my name… down at 0.56%. Looking to the DNA inherited from Mum… Austrian, French and Spanish royalty show an 8.73% overlap EACH!
I think I shall be spending a lot more time on this working out my own roots as well as Jen’s! It’s a load of fun… and I am starting to think about various adventures to go and visit some of our ancestral homelands!
Calmness Returns /
Ever since the election thing have been crazy with work! Last month was probably my strongest ever and the first half of this month has been pretty full on too. It looks like things are settling back down now again though as I have nothing on the books until Friday as it stands, which is actually quite nice as I could do with a moment to catch my breath before the boys all start back at school next Tuesday! Three of the jobs I have pencilled or scheduled in for the remainder of August are all long distance ones. One north coast and two out west, all of which I am looking forward to.
Otherwise I need to chase the council to get some permissions through for some work on the site and then get that progressing as soon as possible as the accommodation and workshops side of things is still very much at the core of our plans. There are some new ideas for other workshops, tours and experiences too that we are just getting thoughts together on at the moment.
I am starting to look ahead to the change in seasons too, as we move into autumn and the landscape starts to change into it's browns and golds my thoughts always turn to my artistic portfolio - I have my panel to finish for the BIPP before the end of the year and I will be starting my campaign towards the main competitions that I shoot for too. I only entered one this year (Commended in the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year contest this time around) and really want to push myself over the next couple of seasons to see what I can produce.
There are also more plans for VLOGS, video work and, of course, pushing for more commercial clientele. We also have a wedding shoot coming up at the end of October!
So lots going on, and it looks like my 24-25 targets may be achieved too which sets me up nicely for building up on those foundations going forward. Perhaps the imposter syndrome will quieten itself down one day too!
Back and Busy /
We have been back from our holidays for a couple of weeks now, and it has been crazy! My only guess is that the post-election political landscape has finally given people confidence to move - and as a result I have been non-stop! Now my next goal is to start moving work towards a higher grossing demographic and away from the low pay agency work that still forms a substantial amount of my workload. Each year things have moved forward so my next goal is to just move that next step up the ladder with the commercial side of things.
What else is brewing? I want to start shifting focus a wee bit more towards the “art” side of photography again. I have almost abandoned the stuff that I love to get the commercial side off the ground - and I think that I am on the cusp of really getting that to a self-sustaining point where I can take my foot off the gas a wee bit and start spending more time on something else! This time of year is not the best for the more wistful landscapes and dramatic scenes, but we aren’t too far from everything changing to more autumnal vibes and with the changing season I will refocus my energy towards the more artisitc ventures!
Part of the reason for the refocus is to start building towards launching the workshops in 2025, but I also want to persue more of the fine-art market and actually spend more time doing the kind of work that I love whilst also building my profile as an artist. Creativity is what feeds my soul and without allowing myself to really explore it I do suffer mentally. It can be through any artistic medium really, but for the moment I want to really concentrate on photography, and particularly landscape photography. There will also be video work, blogging, vlogging and all sorts of other things as I start to delve into the things that make me tick, and the things I want to share with my audience.
I feel like I am about to embark on another journey!
Weird Days /
So we have been in Blackpool of all places the last few days and I could have sworn I saw someone I used to know… it can’t be them though - but it was a strange kind of feeling that makes you keep looking over your shoulder to see if they are actually there.
Anyway - the reason we are south is two fold - a little R&R on the one hand, hopefully catching up with some old friends on another and hopefully rattling off a wee job for my Dad too!
Hopefully I will get back to a bumper order book - the worry with going away is that you don’t know what you will come back to! Too much? Not enough? I do need to forge ahead with the huts though so that we can start building the workshop business in 2025! Exciting times!!!
I am updating today on the iPad so not sure how this is going to go - I want to make more use of this device though as I gave up on running a laptop a year or so back in favour of a desktop PC which works for most my work well, but when operating remote, like this, then the iPad is the answer.
Maybe.
Turns out I forgot a USB C to USB C cable so can’t transfer photos! I may try and pick one up tomorrow if anywhere I stumble into has one in stock!
Oh yes - and I ordered an OM Systems TG-7 yesterday for elevated photography as popping £4k worth of Nikon onto a shoogly pole was filling me with anxiety and fear. The little water proof camera is built for tough environments so should suit this purpose well! Not sure what the image quality is like as yet, but it should be at least as good as a small drone but I can use this in places that the drone is verbatim!
I shall review it/video review it soon….
The Luck That Never Changes.... /
My big brother always thought he was cursed. I am starting to think that curse has moved on to me!
He died shortly before my car was T-boned in Ambleside back in 2018, ending my career in Engineering in one swift moment of confusion by an old lady. Today, nearly 6 years on, I am still plagued by permanent sciatica and a lower back that seizes up at night. I have injured my upper back previously, but that was offset to the upper left and never caused me any issue after the torn muscle healed - this is persistent though! I try not to medicate too much because the only thing that cuts through the pain are opioids… and the thing that killed Neil was also… opioids. There was a time I would have guzzled them with pure abandon, but now I am more circumspect and only reach for them when the pain is simply too much to bear and I just really… REALLY… need a night of good sleep.
Its on my mind a fair bit at the moment as the insurance company have been pushing to close the file. The independent Doctor confirmed my feelings about many Doctors by completely failing to listen to or write down a single thing I said to him, but more or less told me how I should be feeling and wrote that down instead. The worst bit is that I still can’t chase my outlets to happy places when the stress of life gets too much - I can’t go mountain biking or tramping off through the wilderness to get some headspace like I used to. I can’t even ride a motorbike anymore. All things that he basically dismissed. But I can’t face fighting it. Because I am exhausted.
Anyway - work is slowly picking up. I need to go through the 23-24 figures soon and determine whether I managed to actually break into profitability for the first time, with 24-25 currently looking like a step up from that - although I need to calculate how much I spent on making the business run first so both have the potential to fall the wrong way yet!
In other news then… and on a more positive note… kind of…. I have been watching many videos showing how amazing the Highlands is for visiting. And this is true. But not as true as they would have you believe! I think once everything settles down again in a week or two I may start creating content that shows the truth about the Highlands. The good, the bad and the downright ugly sides of the tourism trade and those who come here on it!
Nikon Z6III and Copyright Theft /
No, the two are not related!
First up - Nikon have announced the Z6 III and it looks FANTASTIC! It does what I need of a commercial camera, because it does everything my mk II does but much, much better. I am waiting to see the dynamic range results come out and some comparisons but if they are as big a leap as rumour has it then this is an absolute belter.
So am I buying one?
Nope. At least… not yet.
There are a couple of reasons that I am not at the front of the pre-order queue. First up is the obvious one, I am wanting a 24-120 f4 lens as and when I buy my next body, the combo is in the order of £3,500 and until business really starts to pick up that kind of spend is just not going to happen particularly in light of reason 2. The mk II I use is still going strong - it has a high shutter count, it looks somewhat “used” too… but it is still putting out great results that my clients are loving. Will the mkIII make me any more money then? No, not really. So why take finance out on it? When the Z6 II is starting to fail then yes, this will be the top of my shopping list. Until then I can wait. Which also ties in with point 3 - the initial launch usually has slightly buggy software that is fixed with firmware updates over the first few months, so waiting is no hardship.
I do like a shiny new camera as much as anyone, but I am also trying to be much more pragmatic these days! That said, I do actually have a business need for another body for elevated work and I am still trying to work out what that should be and what kind of budget I should be trying to put aside for it keeping in mind that for the next 12 - 24 months at least things will be tight as we continue work on the huts.
All of this makes it even more annoying to discover that one of my photographs has been stollen to sell a house. It was a photograph I took for another client a few years ago (and got paid pittance for) and has become a widely circulated and a very “known” image - so using it again was a brave move. We shall see how this all plays out next week!
Not much doing. /
So project development has drawn to a bit of a halt of late as there has been something of a cash flow constraint from our backer… or Dad as he is known. Which is fine really as it has given us a bit of a pause to make sure what we do next is correct. This wasn’t helped by a fraudster emptying my accounts of everything either, so the last of my savings are toast.
But worse things happen. We lost a family member in the same time frame, I photographed a house with the occupants still in it whom were being evicted and I hear about heart breaking tragedy most weeks through the RNLI channels. So at the end of the day - it is only money, and whilst there isn’t much coming in at present… this is just temporary (I hope!)
Commercial work is slowly building so I am hopeful come the end of this year we will start to see the balance of payments in the positive rather than negative. I don’t quite have the volume yet to settle the travel costs/equipment costs/insurance etc, but it is getting close to even - there are two reasons for this, the one out of my control is the nature of the beast - work appears in dribs and drabs so stringing the work together into a coherent pattern is near impossible. With more work scheduling should become easier as I can lump three or four jobs together in the same direction to make a meaningful day. Travelling to the Cairngorms one day, Durness on the next and Poolewe on the third for £50 a shot doesn’t even come close to covering the travel! Which kinda brings me on to the second point, which is in my control, I need to work SMART - agency work is poorly paid so I need more high quality clients - which is happening as I am starting to gain a bit of a local reputation and following. I could use converting at least one of my occasional clients into another regular/exclusive and I think things would start to look a lot clearer.
But commercial work is only one side of the overall plan. Once we have the huts then it will be time to really knuckle down to building the whole workshop business up! I am under no illusion as to how quickly this will all happen though, it has taken 3 years of hard work to just about hit even, so this is realistically going to be a 5 year mission to build up to something profitable and sustainable.
On the positive though - we are finally on the list to get some proper internet speeds up the glen! The 1mb/sec that we are currently offered will be superseded by something considerably more modern! This should make getting work out so much easier than my current technique of strapping a USB stick to a cat and sending it off down the mountain side!
The Silence is.... /
Well… absolutely silent!
Sorry for the absence this last couple of months - an opportunity arose to get me through the training and pass out to become a Launch Authority for the RNLI in super short order, and not one to shirk from a challenge I decided to go for it. The final pass out test was last week and, apparently, I aced it!
So now I have two more to do in the next 3 weeks. Nothing like a bit of pressure!
Anyway, as a result of all that I have somewhat dropped the ball on work and on keeping my socials and website up to date!
The hut project is slowly edging forward with the next phase of the development due to kick off in a few weeks time as we start to sort out drainage. We are having a water test done this week coming so that a new water supply can be designed too - which is probably going to involve knocking the old stone shed down and replacing it with a much larger timber structure to house the water tanks, filters and control gubbins.
Otherwise I will try and keep up with updating the latest work gallery - I think I will just shelve the last few weeks updates and start afresh this week!
June is looking busy from a “life” perspective and then we break into the Summer Holidays which will be an interesting challenge work wise with managing childcare, but as that is typically a quieter time of year for the housing market I think we should be able to make it work with Angus coming out with me or being looked after by others if I am on a longer trip.
Creativity has been a bit down lately too, and that is something I need to redress as soon as possible!
A Quiet Moment /
Just now the books are empty. I haven’t had any work this week thus far, and to be honest… this far into the week… I suspect we are looking at a complete blank.
Why is this?
I suspect that the early Easter and the perpetual winter are a good chunk of the problem. The weather started to pick up earlier in the month but has turned decidedly more wintery again, combine that with the schools finishing up for the holidays a week today and I think people are just hanging on for a bit. I don’t suspect to see much for the next 3 weeks if this is the case, perhaps it will pick up a wee bit should the weather suddenly remember that we have now changed seasons, but the main bulk of work is more liable to appear after schools go back.
So what am I doing with this free time? Today I have a poorly child so I am mostly making sure he is okay, but I am also planning some stuff. I currently have my panel to finish for the BIPP so that should probably take priority once Angus returns to school (they only do a half day Friday’s anyway so I get precious little time to really go and hunt out likely subject and good light then). Then I have my “quiet” project - this is just a little challenge I set myself to submit at least one photo each month to the Outdoor Photography “If You Only Do One Thing This Month” series. Which has been going great… except this month they want a mountain photograph and as I have mentioned before - mountains, much as I love them, are not currently on the agenda! So I need a way to achieve this goal!
Fortunately I have been putting some hours in on the indoor bike since January and my fitness is improving, even if my weight is making no progress anywhere despite dieting along side the extra burn. This would no doubt surprise the useless doctor who failed to listen to a word I said when the insurance company sent me to see him in Aberdeen last year… but it is what I have experienced in the past. I gain muscle mass very quickly, once I start training I rapidly gain strength in the areas needed, which happens faster than the fat burns off, so my weight either stays the same or increases… up to a certain point. Once I hit this point (which I have no idea of where it is) the weight just falls off - I have done it a couple of times and know this to be the case, I just hope that 15 years after the last conscious push to get in shape it works again! How this feeds in to the current mountain challenge then… well I can’t walk up hills so well due to various ongoing injuries and disabilities - but I can cycle… and one of my big loves in life is mountain biking, something I haven’t done in ages as I struggle to bring the big muscles and core into play due to the spinal injury… but those big muscle groups don’t really get challenged on an eBike as that takes a lot of the shock loading away!
Now… the roof bars are ordered to carry the bike on the car, the shed needs clearing out (which was going to be today’s job but now other things are prioritised over such things) so that bikes can be stored and charged safely so all that remains is finding some likely targets! I don’t need to get to the summits either, so I can just get into mountain country and that opens up many possibilities! I only have 4 weeks or so to accomplish this, so the game is afoot!
Which then brings me on to “Project 3” which is something that I have been mulling for quite some time and I think I want to combine it with both these other projects and perhaps other subject matter too. I am seeing a LOT of YouTube content at the moment from photographers making some pretty bold claims. They usually fall into the categories of “pro’s don’t want you to know this”, “this is how you shoot this location”, “this is the gear you need” or some other spurious claim. I get it, making people feel like you are a gatekeeper to secret knowledge sells, making people watch as you wax lyrically about the latest and greatest kit sells… but it is all absolute horse crap. So my plan is to basically run a series of videos to debunk all this, to show how using relatively affordable kit (which I shoot with commercially) you can achieve as good or better than the YouTubers. My “secrets” are very much open and I will quite happily share how I go about creating and crafting my work. There is process, there is knowledge and there is experience. This is going to involve a bit of a learning curve on my behalf as I really get to grips with video work, but it’s another marketable skill so why not!
For the rest of today then I will be pouring over maps, spotting likely subject matter - using old maps, photographs and Google Earth to narrow down my selection and then devising a strategy for the shoot!
Onwards… ever onwards we go!
Broke... but Commended! /
As we slowly crawl towards the end of another financial year I can look back and see some success!
Yes - my first entry into the British Institute of Professional Photography’s annual showcase came up “Commended”. I may have missed out on the medals in this round, but for a first entry against the cream of the professional crop to even get a mention is pretty good going! Particularly as I am entering shots taken within that month rather than hunting through the archives!
Why? I think it’s because I like to challenge myself to constantly “do better” perhaps? I honestly don’t know why I tend to make everything harder on myself!
Anyway, last year was a complete wash out as the tax man showed me recently and this year is… well… I may have made some money this time around after Year 1 and Year 2 recording losses. This is par for the course with a new business venture though and I am now gunning for 24-25 being my “emerging” year! On which note the groundworks which comprise Phase 1 of the hut development are now complete and I can start scratching my head and thinking about what comes next! I have some serious form filling and application submitting to do for this stage as it is going to draw the attention of building control, then it is the water and power to arrange before hopefully getting the hut order in! Once they are in then we need to tidy up the site ready to start marketing!
There may just be light at the end of this very long tunnel!
Phase Two /
Today we broke ground on Phase Two of the business.
The digger came in, the fence came down and a new access into the field was created along with a good portion of the new track which will eventually allow the formation of the huts site! Whilst it isn’t the first works on this project (that being the passing place that went in last autumn) it is the first part on the site itself! This is all quite exciting as it means that we are slowly inching towards being open and allowing the development of the workshops
We have quite some way to go and the site is probably going to be chipped away at over several weeks or more so that once the huts are ordered and built they are able to be dropped straight into their final positions and hooked up. This marks the start of the first part of that puzzle though as once the road is in and the field drainage sorted out we can determine final positions of everything, work on the foul drainage and fresh water supply, get electricity ordered from SSEN and actually order the first pair of huts!
We popped in to see the hut builders yesterday since we were passing and they are developing a double hut which sounds very interesting and may be something that we look to for Hut 4! There are two reasons for going XXL - firstly it would allow us to provide a family size hut rather than just couple size units, and secondly it would allow enough space to put in accessible features which would make this unit dual purpose as a family and disabled friendly accommodation unit. Once all the huts are in then we get to focus on the structures up top and the nice add-ons that we are considering (hot tubs, saunas, plunge pools etc) to make the site ever more special!
It really is a 5 year plan with potential additional development beyond that time frame just now as we strive to make something really special here in the Highlands!
Gallery Sales Suspended /
I am not happy with the gallery sales section of the website for a whole host of reasons! Partially because it was disorganised (I was testing a service provider and the integration just wasn’t working for me how I had hoped), partially the prices - the supplier is high end so the prices were HUGE… and partially as it wasn’t targeted well and I was struggling to put my best work up on it.
So I have shelved it briefly whilst I have something of a rethink.
I am currently starting to supply some work to the US market through a US based sales platform, it hasn’t got much on it as yet but I want to build that. There is a strong fine art photography market in the States which we don’t seem to replicate to the same extent here so this is something which I am actively exploring. They do ship globally but I am not sure it is my long term partner as yet as I am not sure on their print quality.
So - the gallery is gone for now but with an intention of bringing it back! If and when I have the funds available I plan on doing some very limited runs of prints myself and selling them either direct from the site, via Etsy or… if I can sort it out… via an actual “bricks and mortar” art gallery!
Anyway, hectic day today where everything went wrong followed by a long meeting for the RNLI so now I am going to chill for a wee while before heading to bed. I have all sorts of ideas, plans and projects waiting for me to actually formulate the idea into something more cohesive and then find time to execute it and, as a result, it feels like pressure building in my skull!!!!
We shall prevail though. I hope!
Prices are in.... /
So we have prices in for the groundworks on the new hut site! This is hugely exciting as once we have the huts it really opens up the possibility of some fantastic workshop events which we will be able to offer at some very interesting prices!
I am, and always have been, a bit too much of a hippy and I love the idea of offering photography holidays to people that just can’t afford those offered by many of my friends. They really are not cheap! This is largely because they have to hire in accommodation providers where ever they go, because very few of them live and work in the Highlands! From our base in Drumnadrochit we can cover pretty much the whole of the Highland region, along with much of Skye, as trips out from our central base. Because we will own the accommodation we can discount the price quite substantially, we also have a nice minibus on hand so that is another thing that doesn’t need hired! We will go the self-catering route (there is a good shop in the village, there are a couple of eateries too and large supermarkets in Inverness and Dingwall) as that, again, reduces our overheads. My aim is to try and offer a week for £1000 or less per person. We will be keeping group size small and may be able to offer discounts for couples too or accommodate “non photography” guests.
Things are still very up in the air so that is about as much detail as I can currently provide, but watch this space!
It's Been a Few Weeks! /
Things have been pretty busy over February.
We have been discussing the groundworks for the huts with a couple of contractors and so that looks like it is about ready to be put in motion once the weather improves and I have started providing the photography for a local estate agent on a direct basis rather than through an agency - the estate agent in question is (from accounts from their competitor who uses a photography agency for their photographs) only being held back by the quality of the images they were putting out. They were somewhat concerned that I was going to be working direct - because this will seriously increase their presence and marketability! What’s more my direct work is in an entirely different ballpark to my agency work because the rates via agencies are so low that it just isn’t viable to spend that much time on a job - my hourly rate covers between 45 minutes and an hour for the full job for them, but 3 hours for direct! Whilst the shoot doesn’t take any longer (well, quicker as I am not having to produce floorplans and VR Tours) I can shoot full HDR or Flambient depending on the character of the property and then hand edit everything back at base.
I also got my first commercial roof survey under my belt a week or so ago and am looking into ways to grow that side of the business as drones offer a huge potential cost saving in that kind of work. There seems to be a need for surveys on wind turbines too so that is something else to investigate in the next couple of weeks.
It will take a few more weeks to really get the process in place, but things are starting to look much better for the 24-25 financial year, particularly if I can build on this current momentum!
RNLI stuff is also ramping up, I have a wee bit more training to do and then probably run a couple of shouts under supervision before going for Pass Out to be a fully fledged Launch Authority! It is a lot of responsibility I have to say - and is a full on management position too, which is new to me - I have managed systems before but never facilities or people in my work life. It is an exciting challenge and I am just hoping that I can make enough space for it in my busy life to make a meaningful contribution to the team (which will get easier to achieve as the boys all get older and more independent obviously!)
How is it February! /
Last month was a pretty good one - not much work coming in admittedly, but some serious progress was made elsewhere that should point to a rosier future!
The main driver for this was the starting of a new relationship with a local estate agent, we are running some trials next week to see how it goes, but I am pretty confident that we can make it work well. My property work is already award winning and, I think, improving all the time and I am offering top level work at incredibly reasonable prices as I try and build my profile. The problem with agency work is that they take the glory and you are a pretty much nameless entity no matter how good the output! This starts to put my name out more and that can only be a good thing!
I also made some progress towards the fine art side of things, which is something I need to do a whole lot more on. Amazingly I managed to find a couple of domain names that hadn’t been snapped up which may tie in very well - even more so if a potential regional change occurs in the coming weeks - so I don’t want to go into it too much at present.
So what have I got on my to-do list still?
Chasing up ground works and a main contractor for the huts is foremost on the list, I had planned to get onto that this week but other events took over!
Setting up a new business account for the huts
Ordering electrical connections and looking into water and waste
Ordering the huts!
Getting this lot rolling will help us move towards that project starting to be productive and feeds back into my photography work by opening up the guiding/workshop business following my concept of keeping a simple offering at a price more open to more people than is the norm.
On the more specifically photographic side of things…..
Build the new website - the idea is to have a landscape and nature gallery with a potential twist or two - and open up the sales channels for photographs.
Potentially look at an exhibition, this may be a way off as yet though as I have a few more hurdles to clear first.
Get on with my BIPP project!!! I have about a third of it in place, but I need to do more… and really I need to get on with it soon!
Look into local stockists for prints - potentially consider makers markets/art markets etc too.
So this is my “work” 2024 plan, loads to get on with this year that will - hopefully - set the scene for 2025 onwards! I want this year to be transformative rather than more of the same. I have some “me” stuff to work on too, mainly in the realms of physical and mental health… and perhaps finding a way to overcome the imposter syndrome that creeps in and is responsible for my limited video releases (which is another area that I will build this year - both in terms of Instagram Reels and You Tube videos.
It all sounds rather busy!
On a more positive note... /
The last couple of days have been crazy, and not in a good way. But just as I was feeling a wee bit despondent and those old imposter syndrome feelings started to creep in as they often do with us creative types, my lovely neighbour popped down (with my errant cat who was off on her adventures again) from the head of the glen. Along with my cat she had a screen grab from no lesser place than “The Times”, and to be more precise, it was from the Property Section.
Which is pretty high end stuff inhabited by the super successful who can breathe such rarified air!
This is what caught her eye.
Yes, that is my photograph… my name… and my business name… all displayed for anyone in the UK to see!
On this occasion I only shot the externals for the lovely Flora Badger, but they came out stunningly well and act as a reminder that I really should get that esoteric lens out the bag more often on property shoots! I stopped using it so much as it is a little tricky to operate and it really does succomb to sun flare like you wouldn’t believe - but when everything falls right it does produce such lovely photographs!
Anyway, this can add in to my marketing materials moving forward!
I am also starting to put together some ideas for a new “fine art” website which will feature print gallery sales and which may help launch me into more of the art market!