Scotland Glencoe Photography Workshop

Our base for the Scotland Glencoe & Highlands Photography Workshop will be the village of Ballachulish, which is located beneath the Pap of Glencoe, on the shores of beautiful Loch Leven. Glencoe itself, which is only a short drive away, takes its' name from the River Coe that winds a path through the valley, running parallel to the A82, and provides some of the most spectacular and easily accessible mountain scenery to be found anywhere in the UK. Looking to the south, there are the towering peaks of the 'Three Sisters' of Glencoe. To the north, the valley is enclosed by the impressive ridge of Aonach Eagach and Stob Beinn a Chrulaiste. Following the A82 to the east, brings you to iconic locations such as Buachaille Etive Mor and Rannoch Moor, and heading west in the opposite direction soon brings you back to the Pap of Glencoe, looming large over Loch Leven. The whole area is dotted with small lochans, larger lochs, rivers, waterfalls, hills, moorland and woodland. Having such a wide range of subjects to work with, means we can always find a location that will work well whatever the conditons.

Over the course of four days (Wednesday - saturday), we will visit and photograph a mixture of iconic locations such as, the Three Sisters, Buachaille Etive Mor and Rannoch Moor, as well as a few lesser photographed areas. We will make the very most of our time in the Highlands, by setting off early in the morning to arrive at locations around an hour before sunrise. Having self catering accommodation means that we are free to decide whether to head back to the cottage, or eat breakfast while on the move, which gives us a greater amount of flexibility, and means we can maximise our time on location, capturing those all important moments of rapidly changing light. After breakfast/lunch, we'll head back out for the rest of the day, working right up until, and possibly an hour after sunset.

The Scotland Glencoe & Highlands workshop will suit all levels, whether a complete beginner, or a more experienced photographer. All tuition is tailored to individual requirement by way of a short questionnaire, which is sent out on booking. A small group size of five, means I can be on hand at all times to help you with anything from setting up your camera correctly, and getting the best out of various filters, to recognising image opportunities, using different camera formats and improving composition in general.

To give you a better idea of what is covered on The Glencoe and the Highlands Photography Workshop, here is a brief outline. On booking you will receive a simple questionnaire to fill out which helps me to tailor any tuition exactly to your requirements. A basic day can possibly include tuition on the following subjects, (depending on experience and ability level); Best practice camera set-up, shooting manual and Raw Format and the reasons why, creative use of both shutter speeds and apertures, explanations of exposure, metering, bracketing e.t.c, manual focusing for maximum depth of field (Also known as Hyperfocal focusing), the use of filters, both exposure balancing (Neutral Density Graduated) and creative effects (Polarisers, Standard Neutral Density)

This leaves the best part of the days free to discuss the broader and more subjective topic of composition. What makes a good image? elements to look for when composing images, the rules of composition, possible instances of when to follow them and when to break them, use of depth, scale, distance and perspective. We will also touch on shoot and location planning around seasonal and differing lighting conditions. The aim being that you will then be able to go away and successfully plan the best times of day/year to photograph your own selection of locations. I can also tailor tuition to your particular, specific requirements where necessary. Past clients have asked for help on many different subjects and techniques; These have included shooting and processing panoramic images, using tilt & shift lenses, shooting and processing images for focus stacking and exposure blending.

Accommodation is a very spacious, comfortable, self catering cottage with single occupancy rooms, and large kitchen/dining and lounge area. The lounge is great on an evening as it gives us the opportunity to review images from the days shoot, and also work through some of the steps used to process images using Photoshop/Lightroom. The cottage is very close to all local amenities, including supermarket and also a selection of bars/restaurants for evening meals. Although this workshop is officially run over four days, I will usually book our cottage for a full 7 nights. This gives you the option of maybe staying on and exploring for a couple more days with me, or you're free to do your own thing or simply head home. In the past, having a couple more days has enabled us to revisit some locations in better conditions, and make far better images than we otherwise would have done.