Road Trip to the Highlands, Scotland - September 2024

Dave Roth, a professional American photographer had reached out to me to assist him in touring some of the best Scottish locations. He was over form the USA for just one week and we decided to take the VW camper to some of the locations.

In Scotland, the weather is king. This requires quite a bit of planning with plenty of plan B’s for sudden changes in conditions. The wild goat in the image below knows this better than anyone else. He and I spent a miserable afternoon on top of the mountain just before I met up with Dave.

I will probably post a video in the next few weeks to give people an idea on how to shoot the Highlands. It will be aimed at people who are planning on photographing the area for the first time.

Wild goat in Glencoe

Dave already had an idea for the locations and types of images he wanted. Top on his agenda were highland cows and cottages in their environment, as well as those iconic landscape shots.  Most of the time I sat and watched Dave stalking his cows, but in the end, I could see he had a point and getting them in the right environment did look cool.

Once we had stocked up with whisky and food, we climbed Glencoe to shoot the classic Buachaille Etive Mor. The best way to do this is from the mountain opposite called Beinn a Chulaiste. This is quite an easy climb but a bit slippery in places. We set out in the dark and got up there for sunrise.

Dave Roth in action at Glencoe at sunrise

Buachaille Etive Mor

After this we headed for breakfast in Glencoe and some serious abuse from the waitress after we demanded sausages that were not square. Apparently, there are only square sausage’s in Scotland. Trying to explain the logic of a square sausage to an American is quite a task. (By the time Dave left for the USA he was still struggling with the square sausage and haggis concept.)

Then we headed to the Isle of Skye. This is best visited out of the holiday season. In recent years the island has become choked with tourists being bussed in from all over the world.

However, if you are prepared to climb a mountain or hike for a few miles you soon get away from the masses who are being force-fed square sausages and will find yourself in some of the remotest mountain and coastal landscapes in the UK.

For a true adventure, you can’t go far wrong at the village of Elgol in the South of Skye. In the past I have walked to Loch Coruisk and Camasunary from here, which takes a few days. These trips are full of excitement such as “The Bad Step” and freezing deep rivers to cross. A great night has been had in the past at the bothy on the route, meeting other wet and cold travellers to play cards with and share a bottle of whisky in the candlelight as a storm hits the coast. Dave and I only had the afternoon this time to shoot across the Loch where the awesome Black Cuillin mountains dominate the skyline. This is a great sunset location.

Highland Cow - Skye - Dedicated to Dave!

We spent the night in the VW camper in Sligachen before heading off very early in the morning to climb up to the Old Man of Storr. What a wipe out that was. The weather was appalling. This is the Isle of Skye so weather like this should come as no surprise, you just have to make the best of it.

Old Man of Storr - A wet Dave (See my Scotland page to see what it really should look like)

Back down to the town of Portree for more square sausages.  Then we headed off to catch the ferry from Uig in the north of the island. Before that, I had noticed a location for some waterfalls that looked good. We bagged our shots and boarded the ferry to the Isle of Harris as the sun set over the Isle of Skye.

Waterfall - Isle of Skye

There is always amazing food on the Caledonian Macbrayne Ferry. Never eat before you get on one of these ferries. A beer and the canteen food will set you up for the rest of the trip.

Dave shooting from the ferry. I saw my first whale there.

On Harris we camped in the VW. Morning sunrise was OK. Not the best I have seen. Luskentyre beach was our morning location. The best part was a visit from the Highland cows and a big fat boys breakfast in the van after a quick swim in the ball clenchingly cold waters of the Atlantic! It is only another 500 miles to Iceland from here.

Dave on Luskentyre Beach

Luskentyre Beach with full moon setting

The afternoon was spent going around the Golden Road and then heading for sunset at the North of Isle of Lewis and its stunning sea stacks.

We got to the sea sacks just in time for sunset. One of the best locations to shoot from has become impassable in recent years as the cliff path had collapsed. I decided to make an attempt on this lower location. Dave was handed over the van keys, a map, a fridge full of food and a bottle of whisky. If anything should go wrong for me on the climb down, he would be fully equipped to cope by himself. I then used some of my climbing skills to bypass the rock fall and get to the bottom for a quick snap. I had to be quick as it was starting to get dark with the tide lapping at my feet.

Isle of Lewis sea stacks

We headed towards the Callanish Stone Circles which are 5000 years old and older than Stonehenge. Dave and I hit the stones, dog-tired, just after midnight. However, it was a great experience with the moon, which was still there when we revisited for sunrise in the morning.

Standing Stones - Isle of Lewis

A bit of a road trip through the Isle of Lewis and we hit the ferry back to Ullapool on the mainland. A great evening was spent drinking and eating at the Ceilidh Place Hotel/Bar. We managed to sort ourselves out while Dave recovered from a middle-aged hot flush. In reality, we had very little sleep by this point and it was not going to get better with a 4 am start to climb Stac Pollaidh the following morning.

Assent on the side of Stac Pollaidh

What a sight awaited us as we slogged our way up the side of Stac Pollaidh. A cloud inversion was below us in the valley next to Mt Suilven with the sun rising above. These were technically difficult conditions to capture the images in, so we set to the task before reaching the summit.

As we summited, a lady doctor from the Cairngorms clambered past us and got the top spot for sunrise. (If you read this, I will send you a copy of the shot)

Summit of Stac Pollaidh

Back down the mountain we hit Ullapool again and treated ourselves to another big breakfast at Ceilidh Place Hotel/Bar

Then it was along drive back to drop Dave off and the ned of out trip. We did get the odd image on the road trip as the sunset again.

View towards Loch Ness

Original locations to shoot in the UK for 2024

If you are interested in knowing what I have been up to over the last six months, please click on the video below if you have 3 minutes to spare. I normally output these updates as a 30-second Instagram Reel, but here you can view in full widescreen Technicolour rather than the limited Instagram output.

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Interview with Robin Dodd

I was recently interviewed by Ziba Jones who has done some great interviews with other artists over the last few months. If you are interested in my work ethic and thought processes as I make these images, please watch the YouTube video in the link below.

Robin Dodd interviewed by “I Artist”


The Chilterns 2022 Calendar

I have just taken the first order of my Chilterns Calendar for next year. I got in early and still have no idea how many I should have ordered. Currently there are a limited number of copies. Please feel to contact me on the contact page if you want to pre order a copy. All have been vacuum packed to keep them in top condition.

The Chilterns Calendar 2022





Iceland Trek - Landmannalaugar August 2020

I have added a new Iceland gallery after just come back from a family trip to Iceland. There were eight of us in total ranging from 15 years to 61 years. Most people are capable of doing this trek, but you just need good outdoor kit and a bit of determination.

Laugavegur-Trail-Map.jpg

The plan was to trek through an area known as Landmannalaugar. This was essentially five days of trekking and included four overnight stops at the mountain huts on the way.

It is a 55km hike across Iceland’s southern interior, between the natural hot springs and volcanic wastelands of Landmannalaugar and the beautiful highland valley of Pórsmörk. However, the weather, which routinely drives foul, wind, rain, snow, ice and fog can push you to the limits on some of the days. On two of the days, we burst into the huts desperate to get near the fireplace to get dry and warm again. - This was the summer!

The only time of the year the weather is good enough to do this trail is for 2 ½ months in the summer. The rest of the year, I believe the route could be very difficult to cross unless part of an organised expedition.

This is a link to the route description

https://www.ultimategearlists.com/destinations/laugavegur-trail-iceland

Walking over the icecap - Day 2

Walking over the icecap - Day 2

To be fair the weather was not much worse than one of the worst Scottish Highland treks we have done…but it was worse. I could see it being a major struggle out of season, and there are a couple of shrines to those who have perished on the trail over recent years. The trail is well marked and trodden. I took a Viewranger app with my mobile and downloaded a GPS map and route as a backup, however, I hardly needed to use it. (Beware there is no phone signal for some of the walk and the teenager found this particularly frustrating). A compass is essential and if you get lost…..keep heading South.

Although the navigation was quite easy on our trip, I could see an issue with this in dense fog. Fog is probably quite common as the trip frequently involves walking above 1000 meters.

Mountain hut - 1st night.

Mountain hut - 1st night.

We had to carry our food, sleeping bags and everything else for the trip. That’s not too bad without a tent, and would normally be about 7 kilos. if like myself, you insist on taking most of your camera kit for the trip, this could add another 7 kilos. So, in reality, I was walking with a 14-kilo pack. I do not mind this, but it is a pain to keep taking off and putting back on when seeing a photo opportunity.

Interestingly the most problematic issue throughout the trek was the clothing. Last Christmas I had asked the wife for a pair of Rab Kinetic Alpine trousers (to go with the same jacket I already had). When she found out the cost (only £100), she told me it was not a justifiable purchase. Unperturbed by this swipe, I secretly brought a pair in the January sales. Sometimes in life, you just come out a winner. The look on the wife’s face each day told me that I was the only dry person on the trek. I could see the remorse in every sodden step she took. Everyone else in the group became extremely jealous of my consistent “dry at the end of the day” credentials. So much so, that most of the group have now purchased a pair of the Kinetic Alpine trousers…including the wife.

The camera kit suffered on the route. Constant rain and fog made it a struggle to get the shots. The weather and clouds add to the interest but at a cost to the kit. At one point I trashed a lens I had rented from Lenses for Hire https://www.lensesforhire.co.uk/ I did this whilst changing a filter with cold hands, and I dropped it onto the sharp lava rocks which were unforgiving. (lensesforhire were excellent about the damage and the kit was insured.) Condensation on the lenses and camera were also a pain to deal with. – My advice is to take plenty of lens cloths.

Taking the family on a trip as a keen photographer is always a compromise. That’s why I like to do my photo trips alone normally. But each day I would lag behind to get the shots and then catch up later during a break. It seemed to work fine.

An very wet teenager.

An very wet teenager.

I was struck by the small details within the landscape, as well as the vast sweeping vistas. You can see from the photos I took, that I tried to pay attention to both those wide panoramas and the stuff under my feet.

Highlights from the trip:

1)      Finding cans of beer for sale at one of the huts.

2)      Numerous river crossings in bare feet through glacial melt water. (Opposite of walking on hot coals!)

3)      The weird and limited plant life on show.

4)      A feeling that we were on another planet or in a prehistoric landscape. Some parts could have been Mars.

5)      Walking between steaming geothermal springs.

6)      Stunning views from the mountains.

The kit I took:

Canon EOS-R full frame camera body

Canon RF 24-105 L4 lens

Canon RF 15-35 L2.8 lens

Canon 200m L2.8 prime lens

Tripod

Lee graduated, polariser, and ND filters.

Map used for the trek – Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8361155651/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My main purchase since coming back from Iceland was a back-opening camera bag (Lowepro Powder 500AW). I brought this to cope with similar wet and cold weather conditions if I go to Iceland again. This seems to be the best camera bag for trekking and holding my camera kit in bad weather. With the external attachment system, I can carry enough for an overnight winter mountain top wild camp in the UK along with my camera kit.

Bottom line is that I now have some stunning Iceland prints and a love of Iceland that could rival that of the Scottish Highlands.

Walking towards hut for the 3rd night.

Walking towards hut for the 3rd night.