Disaster Strikes! /  by Rob Sutherland

Another day, another disaster!

Yes - a second rear puncture has befallen the car, not that I could go anywhere anyway in this much snow - but it is an expense that I could have done without at present! My plan had been to manage through this winter then drop a full set of Michelin Cross Climates on the car next autumn, I am not a fan of the stock Bridgestone tyres - I have never got on with the brand anyway - but changing a brand new set seemed extravagant.

But with a second puncture in 5 months they are all going. The fronts are 1/2 worn anyway and doing a terrible job in the snow, the rear Goodyear is actually in really good shape so I may keep those in mind for future, but I can’t put 3 all season tyres on and leave that one as is (the cheaper route would have been 3 Goodyears, but I want better snow performance!)

So tomorrows wee job out in Fort Augustus will either be done in the van or under tyre sealant then in on Monday for a full set of new boots on the offchance that the snow comes back again after this weekends thaw!

2024 /  by Rob Sutherland

Here we are, a new year and hopefully a more successful one in terms of generating work, pushing the hut development forward and generally starting to get life moving in the right direction after the years of post-injury and post-covid slump!

So… what is the plan then?

My main focus in the first half of the year is to get the basic foundations really shored up - so I will be pushing the hut development as that is really the key to everything else. This will provide a base income over the main “season” which should help lift the family into a better position to face the future. It also gives me the chance to really start on the workshop business as we will have onsite accommodation, and that is really going to be key to working this part of the business as I want to - my model is intended to be somewhat different to others operating through the Highlands on a couple of fronts… firstly I live here so can constantly develop the course content and take my clients to fresh new locations, secondly I can do all this at a lower price point as I really want it to become more accessible to those on more modest incomes!

For the moment I am going to really work on the photography weekend workshop market - Friday evenings to Sunday afternoons - and we will see how it goes from there.

I also plan on a social media campaign, more video content, building the YouTube side of things (which I keep dabbling at but without any conviction!) so expect a lot more content to come.

Then there are the big projects that have been sitting on the back burner for some time. Those are going to see a lot more attention this year - which will feed in to a couple of personal aims in terms of restoring some of my health and mental health that have both suffered over the last 5 years or so. How will they do this? Well - they involve walking/cycling to get to locations that are off the beaten path! This will also help feed into locations for my workshop clients as I start to uncover some of the more hidden places.

Then we have the commercial photography side of things. I am going to have another big push on that front this year - starting in the next couple of weeks. I have created a new pricing menu for property work that is simplified and my pricing has gone much more aggressive without cutting corners and quality. I want to pick up more direct work this year rather than reliance on agencies who pay low and simply aren’t coming up with viable volumes at present. It’s a useful back up income source, but it won’t provide the main bulk. I will keep working with existing clients too, and they will also get to benefit from the new pricing schedule!

I am also going to try and do more of the things that are way outside my comfort zone in terms of promoting myself, there may be something of a change in my appearance away from looking a bit like a hippy on the cards (don’t expect suited and traditional hair style mind!). Also I will be hunting out any route to promote my work and get it published in as many places as possible. I have been told that I am good by enough people with very, very prominent careers and portfolios the problem is that if only the worlds best photographers get to see my work it isn’t really putting it in front of clients! I am starting to understand what they (yes David… you) have said to me, that I have always been a “photographers photographer”. So 2024 is a profile building year!

Slow Finish /  by Rob Sutherland

Things have, quite predictably, quietened down a little as we stumble to the end of the year. The housing market is in deep freeze waiting to see what 2024 will bring, hopefully it will return to life in the early part of the year as this last 12 months has been very poor.

That said, I have plans for the new year that will see me redouble my efforts to get some higher value work coming in, and a couple of my direct clients hopefully will have a good few orders too! The tours and workshops plans are being hurriedly re-jigged to take into account some changes that the new year is bringing with it, and I think it is going to push me more towards weekend working on that front. I was going to put the property work on the back burner but in all honesty it fits in better with the new arrangements than what I had been planning so I think we need to push both property and commercial work to the fore again for the coming months, and with that in mind a new strategy is being developed to roll out from the outset.

This is a tough time of year for me as I continue to be haunted by the events of a decade and a half ago, and in particular some words that were uttered following a deep tragedy (for me) by another person to their mother… words that didn’t just imply guilt, but confirmed it. Yet words that have gone on to mean nothing in the legal process despite being recorded in a statement that very day. The winter solstice should be a time for looking ahead to the future yet that one event always pulls me back into a dark place despite all my attempts to move forward.

But tomorrow is another day. And come the 23rd it is like a veil is lifted from my eyes and I can start to look forward again. The whole of December up until that day is tinged with sorrow, regret, guilt and anger - the last week is about hope, joy and excitement about what is to come.

What else it to come then? Well… I have thoughts! The first chunk of next year is going to be about some self-healing and this is going to take a number of forms. I want to work on my physical health - I can’t do much about the damage to my back or the lingering effects of plasmodia floating around my system for the last 25 years or so, but I can work on other things to help mitigate those problems. Jen bought a very, very nice indoor bike a while ago and I started to use it, then fell off the wagon - so to speak. There will be a wee bit more space from January for me to use it again so I have downloaded a cycling program (beginners level) and I am going to try and stick to that over the remainder of the winter to get a base level of fitness up whilst protecting my injured back region - yet working the other back muscles to start supporting that region of the spine. Being fit and healthy also keeps the old parasitic beasties in check, or at least reduces their impact on my daily life. But more importantly getting fit means I can do more outdoors - walking, cycling… photographing! So this is key to moving forward into a more content-creation area with more output of stills and video! And of course, being outside helps fighting off head weasels and black dogs - it makes me more mentally resilient and it helps me get back to a happier, more chilled, state of mind - better equipped come next December to face the demons and put them back in their box.

But more on all the plans as we start to count down to the year end, or early in the new year!

Finally! /  by Rob Sutherland

I have finally… FINALLY… got the paperwork all sorted out for the Civil Aviation Authority and submitted all that for another year’s Operational Authorisation! There were quite a few updates required to my Operations Manual for this year, along with sitting a new exam to upgrade from the old PfCO standard to the new GVC which all prevented me from taking my usual route of sending everything off to a specialist consultant and letting them sort it all for me! I have to say, having done it all myself… that is certainly money well spent!

Now I just have to await a response from the CAA - which will hopefully come in the form of a new certificate to operate at the highest level!

Looking ahead I am wondering if I carry on flying in this manner or whether I cut back to a lesser authorisation and add a smaller drone to my fleet. The current Mavic Mini 3 Pro/Mini 4 options are both “okay” but with the small sensor they are still, basically speaking, flying mobile phone cameras. The Air 3 uprates that to something akin to a high end digicam whilst the Mavic 3, which is my current drone of choice, uprates that to a m4/3 sensor similar to that found in the excellent Olympus OM series cameras and Hassleblad optics! It really is several steps up from the little drones! So at the moment I don’t think I am comfortable with downgrading my more urban work to Mini standards, there will no doubt be a Mini 5 before too long though so I will wait and see what they do in terms of image quality with that one.

The other drone that I REALLY REALLY want is a Splash Drone. I need to find more examples of image quality from one, but I am beyond intrigued by them as they can fly in considerably less favourable conditions being fully waterproof - they can even land on water and film with a submerged camera! The potential of this in terms of creativity and my location is pretty staggering! I am also having thoughts about getting into submersible drones for sub-sea work… but I have a few other things to do before then!

So with the drone side of things (hopefully) wrapped up it is time to start concentrating on the next thing on the “to do” list and put together the first half of next years workshop program! I think I am going to push Orkney back to Autumn purely because I want to be here over the first half of the year to work on the huts programme, so I am going to dominate the early part of the year with day and weekend workshops, as well as a push on 1:1 sessions. This will also fit in better with commitments I have made to the RNLI as I train up to become a Launch Authority for the Loch Ness Lifeboat which is all kicking off in the early part of 2024.

Hopefully I will have some dates in the next week or so for the courses!

Flying Colours! /  by Rob Sutherland

Well I passed my GVC Exam with flying colours (no pun intended!) so that is me flying on the highest level of authorisation for another year at least! I am yet to decide my long term strategy, but this gives me a little more breathing space to decide if operating at this level is actually commercially necessary or whether I back down to a simpler A2CofC qualification and run both the Mavic 3 for quality work and a Mini 3/4 for urban operations.

So the rest of this week is going to be spent getting all the paperwork in order and submitted to the CAA so that I am fully authorised to continue after the 12th when my current permission expires (there may be a couple of days when I am “grounded” to some extent - at least as far as complex operations are concerned - but there is nothing scheduled that will cause problems for at present).

The weather over the last few days has been properly seasonal with negative double figure temperatures and thick frost! It has been marvellous! Things warmed up a little today and the frost is now gone for the moment, but I am sure it will be back soon!

My next jobs are chasing hut developments for Jen and getting the dates sorted for at least the first half of 2024 with regards to workshops!

2024 Workshops... Well... Coming Soon (still) /  by Rob Sutherland

Yes, I know - I said I would have them up imminently and they are still not here!

To be honest I just had a few things coming in all at once that needed to be prioritised - some commercial work, some wrapping up of jobs and preparing for an exam to upgrade my PfCO drone “licence” to a GVC - which is very much a “like for like” upgrade but gets me onto the current format. And it needs to be done by the year end… and my Operational Authorisation is up for renewal in 2 or 3 weeks anyway… so it has been all hands on deck to get that sorted out!

We have also been working on the huts, which are a key element of the workshop program, particularly later in 2024 and beyond so to some extent I am holding off until I have a little more idea about when what is happening! So I think I will concentrate on the early season for the moment and work on a programme next week to take us up until the start of Summer.

The other big job on at the moment is a total passion project - I am restoring a photograph that hung in my grandparents house on Hoy which my brother had scanned in Melbourne this week and sent to me. The current version I have is my “light touch” restoration which has just taken a lot of the aging out of the print and I hand removed the blemishes, folds and tears before running it through a de-scratch program and then a bit of a sharpen to bring some of the edges back. Then added a little contrast boost so that it is in an “authentic” state.

My next version will have some enhancement - perhaps a little AI monkey work along with some more old school manual adjustments to see if I can squeeze a little more detail out of it… then I may look at colourising it, although I am not sure it has quite enough detail in it to make it work as yet!

Once complete I will get this one printed large, framed and a new copy of this very old photograph can then live on in my home! It is a really special photo to me for two reasons, firstly it was something I spent a lot of time looking at with my Grandad way back when… and secondly this is why I am so obsessed by panoramic photogrpahy! I am now looking at recreating this very scene next time I am in Stromness to compare 100 years or so of development!

An Cruinneachadh /  by Rob Sutherland

For quite some time now I have been working with “An Cruinneachadh/The Gathering” - a widely encompassing project blending arts and heritage in the “three glens” area of Glen Garry, Glen Moriston and Fort Augustus.

My role mutated from what was originally intended into running a couple of workshops to engage young people in photography, and specifically of photographing and recording their built heritage. In retrospect this may not have been the best use of me as a resource, but those who came along did enjoy themselves and sometimes these small seeds that are planted grow into something important so, personally, I feel it is way too early to judge what impact my own contribution had. One of the students from the school in particular I have high hopes for, he was something of a disruptive element within the school but really engaged well with what I was trying to show them in terms of photography… but even more so in terms of understanding their local heritage. Beyond this student we had a few others who showed some really great understanding of composition and art who could go on to great things in the visual arts.

It has been a great experience all in all, and I have enjoyed passing on my knowledge and some of the techniques that I use on a daily basis - so much so that I am starting to look more closely at my future plans as I really want to build on the workshop business as well as looking at the education side of things in a slightly different light too.

So now I am in the clear air having wrapped up two big events I had back to back this month I am going to start really thinking about where I am heading in 2024. I know I want to push the workshops so I will start putting together a “proper” program for the year, mainly focussed on Spring and Autumn I think. The huts are progressing very slowly forward too, and these will prove a lynch pin for my future plans as I want to offer residential courses based here at Clunemore at a considerably more accessible price point than many operating in the field. I want to open up the opportunity to those who perhaps don’t have quite the same disposable income of most who come to the Highlands to improve their art to immerse themselves in photography for a few days!

The Trossachs in Autumn - Workshop Day 2 /  by Rob Sutherland

So we woke up early on Sunday with a plan of heading to the Loup of Fintry before heading out to Doune Castle and finishing on the shores of the Lake of Menteith.

That was the plan.

But when I was packing the car I noticed that it was clear, there was a touch of mist hanging in the bottom of the Forth Valley and all in all it was shaping up to be an absolute belter of a morning. A new plan was quickly hatched and I decided to relocate the workshop to Loch Ard, I wasn’t sure on anything beyond that - but figured that given the weather simply starting with an idea and seeing how it developed seemed the best plan.

And did it turn out to be the absolute best idea?

Yes… yes it did!

Once everyone arrived and had sustenance from Kev’s apple and cinnamon rolls along with a good slug of life affirming coffee we started to get ready to head out… but first we popped over into the field to take a look up the Forth Valley towards Ben Lomond to capture something of the delicate beauty of the dawn mists.

A perfect morning was unfolding before us, and I reminded the photographers that it was often worth turning around and checking out the scene behind as well as in front.

And since we were on the farm… well… perhaps we should also take some photographs of the residents.

With dawn fast developing we were off to Loch Ard - Kev acting as navigator because it has been a while since I spent a lot of time in the area and I hadn’t really prepared this location ahead of time!

We parked up and set off for a walk around the southern end of the loch, my statement that we weren’t planning on doing much walking that day was looking a touch untrue by this stage! After a few minutes of walking and chatting we came to the outflow of the loch and a small collection of houses and boat houses all enshrouded by a dawn mist. It was utterly beautiful in that painterly and timeless way that you sometimes stumble upon.

We walked past the green boathouse after spending a good bit of time here and the scene just continued to evolve in the most wonderful ways!

This was all fantastic, quite technical, shooting. Yet whilst technical it also allowed a huge degree of artistic impression, choice and expression. This really did push the group quite hard, but in a really exciting way that everyone just thrived with. Equipment often became the deciding influence in how each approached the subject, but whether shooting wide or telephoto there was a captivating scene to be found and shot.

Once we had exhausted the possibilities we retraced our steps back to the main track and set off around the loch, stopping regularly when something caught out eye! We had this usually busy forest and loch almost to ourselves as the world was still sleeping which made it even more special!

We spent the entire morning in this small corner of Loch Ard taking us right up until time to return to Gartur for some lunch, a last chat and then everyone off home. It had been a great weekend and all the photographers felt that they had learned a lot and went off more confident in their abilities - and with a collection of great images too!

I must admit, a weekend immersed in Landscape Photography did me some good too, stepping away from the commercial world for a weekend and just concentrating on the art was a cathartic experience that I really needed and was an affirmation that this is the direction that I need to go more in for the future. It is a rewarding experience to feed the enjoyment and excitement of others as they learn new skills and techniques, or simply to introduce them to a place that they wouldn’t find themselves under normal circumstances, and certainly without the chance to immerse themselves in such a creative process!

The Trossachs in Autumn - Workshop Day 1 /  by Rob Sutherland

I am just back from running a weekend workshop in The Trossachs, a collaboration with the wonderful Fodder + Farm based at Gartur.

We started off on Friday evening with a meal and introductions (venison curry for those interested, and exceptionally tasty it was too) and then turned in for an early start on Saturday.

Saturday morning started with a 7am meet at the kitchen, a quick sausage sandwich and coffee to keep everyone going and then off to Loch Rusky for that classic dawn vista… unfortunately dawn was not aware of our plans and didn’t really show up! However we were treated to an slightly eerie, misty and monotone lochside landscape with a perfectly still surface to provide some interesting reflections. The rowing boats floating out on the loch added to the scene and gave us enough to work with as we discussed compositional theory, and how to completely ignore it!

Next stop was back to very familiar territory for me, the Falls of Leny in Kilmahog. This is a place I know well from many, many years of visiting as we had family just over the road and used to visit regularly - long before I found myself living in Stirling!

The old railway track runs through some lovely woodland before reaching the dramatic falls which were running in full spate due to the recent weather giving us plenty of opportunity to explore leading lines, ICM and using a variety of shutter speeds to try and convey different characteristics of flowing (or raging) water!

The final stop of the morning was at Loch Lubnaig to shoot some more lochside photographs, but of a larger body of water and with some mountainous backdrops courtesy of Ben Ledi. This was all about learning how to expose for a dramatic skyline and using short telephoto lenses to compress the perspective to make the mountains look more “mountainy”.

Lunch was provided by Mhor 84 who did a stellar job of pushing their burger right into my Top 5 of all time - I just wish I had the time and stomach capacity for a direct comparison of theirs and the Laide Inn just down the road, because it came very, very close to my memory of that finest ever burger!

After lunch we set off for the nearby Balqhuidder Church to shoot grave stones, ruins and textures for a short time, along with the iconic site of Rob Roy’s grave.

Having seen where the man was buried it seemed fitting to head in to the place that he lived. This was designed (in my plan) to introduce my photographers to mountain photography as Inverlochlarig sits deep into the glen from Balquhidder and is surrounded by some suitably majestic mountains, principally Ben More.

Here we were able to work on foregrounds that draw the viewer into the photograph and inform of the environment.

We finished the day on Loch Voil between Balquhidder and Inverlochlairg catching the last of the light, but alas no sunset. The firey hues of the autumnal trees combinged with a dramatic sky did make up for it though to some extent!

Then it was back to Gartur for another fine feast from Fodder + Farm!

Inner Turmoil /  by Rob Sutherland

So I have been fighting my demons for quite some time now, and boy… do I have a few. But the one that has been causing most consternation of late has been this… how do I mark this, the first year I have that my brother didn’t. How do I honour his memory… how do I make him proud (or his celestial being anyway)?

The answer, I thought, was to do the things that he did and try to become what he was so good at. But I don’t think that is right any more, and I don’t think that would actually overly impress him anyway. So no… this year I am going to do something for me that would make him say “now that was awesome”.

First up… I need to rebuild “me” because I am broken. Mentally and physically I am just done for. So, that is the main task, and that he would appreciate as Neil was a guru in Chinese medicine and alternative therapies. Fortunately for me fixing my body will also go a long way to fixing my mind, as again, his theory was that being in the natural places of this world was what the brain required to find it’s own balance… and I hate gyms… so outdoors it is.

So, the challenge then… well… fixing this body post-car-crash is not going to be a simple task to be fair. My spine is not in the best shape. So I am going to take it slow, starting now(ish) with a few short walks (and I do mean short as I think 1.5 miles is about as far as I have managed before the pain gets too much of late). Half an hour to begin then, and as that becomes a little more comfortable I can stretch it out. Of course… walks put me in great places, so expect some new photography content to emerge from this process.

My end goal then. I have 2 options, 2 targets for this year. The first is Stac Pollidh, I was there this week and remembered it has been on my “to do” list from the early days of my mountaineering. It isn’t a hard walk - well… avoiding the main peak that is. So I want to complete the more “basic” version over this year. Should I achieve this before the end of September then I can go for the “stretch” goal, to climb Ben Wyvis. Our closest Munro and it would be the first one I have done in a very long time, it is also something that a few days ago I had written off as no longer within my capabilities.

But now it is.

Well… now it isn’t… but I am determined that this would be a worthy goal and proof to myself that I can turn this around and I can rediscover myself.

Hopefully I will document all this challenge on YouTube, through photography and blogging and if I make it to the peak of Ben Wyvis no doubt I will have a grand plan for my 50th lap of the sun that will follow.

I know I have more to give this world, I just need to rediscover “me”, my drive and unleash my creativity. I just need to start.

And I am starting now.

New Gallery and New Fulfillment! /  by Rob Sutherland

Today I am soft-launching my new gallery on the website, offering direct print sales of limited edition photographs. I had a little bit of a disaster after my previous printshop partner ceased trading, but we are back with a new product and ready to go! Hopefully this new system should make managing the print runs much more straight forward and we are now able to supply a certificate of authenticity with every edition sold to provide you with the confidence that you really are buying a very limited release!

For the moment each print run is limited to only 25 copies and I hope to introduce new pieces on a fairly regular basis, showcasing not only the best of Scotland but some unique takes on popular areas.

As an addition, I am looking to provide a bespoke photography service where I create a one-of-a-kind print, and only one, of a subject that you request. This could be a childhood home, a place your ancestors hailed from… or simply a view which you adore. More details on this soon!

Slow News Day? /  by Rob Sutherland

Wow… it has been a while since I updated!

Everything seemed to grind to a bit of a halt in life for a few weeks there, which isn’t to say that nothing was going on, just that my mental state hit a bit of a low as I drew closer to a birthday that I really didn’t want to face. The birthday in which I became older than Neil, the original "Wayward Spirit” and original owner of this domain name - and very much the big brother that understood me probably more than anyone else on the planet. I think we were always more alike than anyone realised, or still does realise, I just hold it together a bit better and burry things deeper so seem a less reactive soul than he was.

That date has been and gone, and now I am starting to emerge and look to the future - and doubly so as this is a future that he never had so I feel I owe it to him to make something of it now.

The passing place has gone in on the road and I am chasing to have that clause of our planning signed off so that we can start work on hut orders, ground works, SEPA approvals and what-have-you. The plans for the tours are slowly coming together at the same time and… hopefully… there is a chunk of photography work coming along for the holiday company. I also did a job for an estate agent directly last week which I am hoping may lead to more regular work for them. This year is my third “lost cause” in a row though as, in all honesty, at this stage in the financial year I am so far from target that it just isn’t going to happen without an absolute miracle. I have been too focussed on property work this last 3 years to really move forward though, although it has provided a useful foundation. Working for agencies is a fools errand though as the pay-rates combined with the geographical challenges of the Highlands makes it impossible to rely on them as a sole source of income, minimum wage is a pipedream on this model! So now I am putting all my focus on to next years efforts to shift on to more lucrative work and a more diverse portfolio, building the workshop and tour business whilst continuing with the holiday lets work, developing the hut business and attracting more direct work from independent estate agents.

Next year I will hit that heady target of minimum wage!

Perhaps!

My problem always has been in self publicity, I don’t like shouting and telling people I am awesome but would rather let me work do the talking for me. Getting that work into the eyes of the right people is not so easy though without profile, and building profile needs either a stack load of luck (which I seem deficient in) or a stack load of self publicity and ego… which I have even less of than luck! Once the huts are up and running I may have to consider hiring someone to be by trumpet blower instead…

Laowa 15mm f4.5 Dreamer /  by Rob Sutherland

I have been using this lens for a while now and I have to say… I love it!

The 15mm focal length is pretty much where I need it to be for architectural work, both inside and out, plus the advantages of a shift lens can’t be underestimated, particularly when working in tight spaces and even more so for tall buildings, as it allows me to compose the photograph I want without having to use drastic (and detrimental to image quality) editing after the event.

It has also become my secret weapon for landscape photography. Many of my photographs are panoramics, the shift function, when used horizontally, makes this format a breeze with perfect stitching of the frames without wastage - what I see in the viewfinder is what I will get in the final composite image, nothing will be chopped off to make the frames match… so no more guess work!

Last night I pushed it even further - taking low light panoramics of the aurora. It passed with pretty spectacular colours!

A New Season /  by Rob Sutherland

A new season is kicking off!

Yes, tonight I shot my first aurora of the 23/24 season, and it was a belter!

Tomorrow I am starting my 23/24 workshop season with a private 1:1 (or it may be 1:2… I am not sure yet) around Loch Ness and will be pushing the local and Orkney workshop more too. Then I need to work on the tours… plus we have a village do next week for more publicity and a video to work on to wrap up another project on top of the usual commercial work that pops up here and there.

I am hoping that the Merry Dancers are going to usher in better times, it’s either that or I am about to cross Bifrost… could go either way really!

DJI Mavic 3 /  by Rob Sutherland

After umming and aarring for months I finally decided to take a leap and traded both my DJI Mavic Pro 2 and DJI Inspire 2 in for a more current DJI Mavic 3 UAV (aka “drone”). It finally arrived today after a whole load of drama involving lost packages and my fretting that some very pricey trade ins had gone AWOL.

So… first impressions?

Well, on the face of it this little package seems to offer me the best of both worlds. It has image quality to rival the Inspire 2 - which was a full cinematography grade rig, whilst maintaining the portability of the Mavic Pro 2. At the same time it offers better handling than either and gives me everything that I currently need in a single discreet package. The build quality also feels like a step up from the last generation.

I opted for the more basic control with screen rather than the full “pro” handset as it gives the features I need in a lighter (and cheaper) format. I think this was the right choice but can always upgrade later if needs be. I did mistakenly end up with 2 of the upgraded controllers with screen, but I have had a plan to add a DJI Mini to the stable which could use the second controller for use in urban settings.

Tomorrow it will be tested out on a live job, but for now it had a wee skoosh around the area and proved itself to do what I wanted it to do!

Another Offering... /  by Rob Sutherland

I am just in the process of investigating other tour options, rather than just photography - taking in the history, culture and landscape of the Highlands… possibly some whisky too!

More on this as it comes together, but this may roll out as a soft launch soon with a full program for summer 2024!

Almost there! /  by Rob Sutherland

The workshops should be going up really soon! The Orkney workshop is just waiting on a suitable property to be secured as a base, which I am aiming to finalise in the next week - and the autumn series is just waiting on me finalising some dates and details, so I hope to put those up in the coming week too!

In the meantime I have been wrapping up a few commercial jobs including this one shot tonight.

Autumn Series Workshops and One to Ones are BACK! /  by Rob Sutherland

Local one day workshops in the Inverness area are launching soon for this autumn - small groups to really immerse yourself in both the photography as well as the landscape and history of this glorious area!

I am also bringing the 1 to 1 workshops back which can be anywhere within an hour of Inverness (or there abouts, I will stretch that hour quite a bit if you are wanting Skye or the north west coast for example!)

Loads coming soon! More details once plans are firmed up.

Orkney Workshop 2024 /  by Rob Sutherland

I am just putting together the plans for a workshop in Orkney in 2024!

Infact, I am on Mainland right now doing some research - not that much is needed as I have deep roots in the islands - but I wanted to refresh myself on the area and check suitability of some of the places I was intending to use prior to putting it out there!

The plan will be for a 5 day workshop, I think using a self-catering cottage for the first run, and hence probably keeping the total size to 3 guests (or up to 6 if they are couples), non-photography partners are more than welcome, £500 for non-photographers meeting on Orkney. You can bring your own transport over or I can collect and drop off at the ferry ports or airport.

I intend to mix landscape photography with my background in archaeology to make this a pretty unique experience.

This will be going live shortly, once I have finalised all the details, either for May/June or September/October of next year, if you would like to register interest (and get first refusal) drop me a message!