UK Landscape Photographer of the Year - Commended 2015

Rattray Head lighthouse

I had seen images from this location for a couple of years before I got the chance to visit the area and always thought I wanted to put my own take on what I view as the best lighthouse in the UK.

The day I visited it was really stormy, strong winds and big waves with a dark moody sky, perfect for an image filled with mood and atmosphere.

I chose a slower shutter speed to capture the motion in the waves, and chose to compose the image with both the horizon and lighthouse centrally in the image, breaking all the ‘rules’ of composition, but it worked perfectly.

UK Landscape Photographer of the Year - Commended 2016

Buachaille Etive Beag

I was fortunate enough to spend weeks at a time up in and around Glencoe in 2015, when we had a week of almost perfect snowy wintery conditions, I was out as much as possible making the most of it.

I remember this morning really well, trudging through knee-deep snow to get to a composition around Lochan-na-Fola that worked for me, and this untouched bank of snow with the stream frozen over giving that lovely curved foreground, untouched by anything or anyone was perfect foreground.

The soft hues in the sky of a subtle sunrise was the icing on the already wonderfully baked cake.

UK Landscape Photographer of the Year - Commended 2017

Rainstorm over Loch Linnhe

I was driving up to Fort William for a weeks stay and this scene just opened up before me over Loch Linnhe, I just had to pull the car over and shoot.

I’ve always been drawn towards the dramatic, and this rainstorm was certainly that! Dropping rain and swirling clouds making for an incredible sky, the light on the hills behind just finished the image perfectly, and in a blink of the eye the moment was gone.

I was pleased I stopped, but even more pleased I got to witness such an amazing moment in time.

Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year - Highly Commended 2017

Stormy sky over The Cuillin

Elgol, my most favourite place on the planet. Standing here on this day, in a shower of hail and sleet, watching The Cuillin come and go in amongst the clouds across Loch Scavaig, I can still feel the bitterly cold wind on my face now.

Was it worth it? Always! These are conditions I live for, and when they happen in a place you love the most, it culminates in what is for me the perfect time to shoot.

Nine years on I would probably do some things a bit different, but keeping the composition as simple as the water, hills and sky to emphasise the conditions works still now.

UK Landscape Photographer of the Year - Highly Commended B&W 2020

Talisker Sands

Talisker was always a nemesis location for me, never quite getting anything I liked from numerous visits across the years. The tides were never ‘right’ the skies were clear or there was no nice patterns in the lovely black and white sands of the bay.

Then on this visit everything came together, the perfect reason to go back to a place time and time again. The tide was receding leaving beautiful untouched patterns in the sands. Then it was time to find a composition that lead to the sea stack, and I seen this small channel of water running away from these incredible patterns into the wet sands, giving the partial reflection of the cliffs and stack, the dark moody sky topping the scene off.

Published Work

Country Life Magazine

Coast Magazine

The Sunday Times

On Landscape

Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser

Lake District National Park

Motorola