Waiting for the sun to set on the pebbled beach of Findhorn. I looked around to discover potentially 3 or 4 scenes each giving a different illustration of the Scottish weather – at the same time! Behind me to south the Cairngorms enjoyed clear blue skies. To east towards Burghead and Lossiemouth all was calm […]
Otter – Inverness, Scotland
Photo of the Day – Otter, Beauly Firth, Inverness-shire. Strong winds hampered our day but we still managed great views of an otter… though he made us work hard. The wind created continuous wave ripples – at any one moment the flick of an otters tail could have been almost anywhere. We kept losing it, so decided to […]
Photographing Water Voles
A look back at our field notes from August/September 2014 Often when we’ve searched for wildlife, especially shy or endangered animals, you need to put yourself in remote, quiet places – and wait. So, it was a nice surprise to quite literally stumble upon these water voles whilst taking my parents border collie for a long walk. […]
Developing the art of ‘staying out’
During our travels we’ve discovered a simple truth, and one we should have been practising for a long time. In the past 10 weeks, we’ve been living in a van. Being ‘mobile’ has been great. When things haven’t gone according to plan, we’ve had the freedom to quickly change our location. But without a ‘home’ […]
Coming in for landing
Landing the DJI Phantom can be tricky – especially if there is a breeze or you are descending onto an uneven surface. We’ve had minor hiccups (the props temporarily acting as a grass strimmer on a few occasions). We soon developed a ‘catch-landing’ routine. Here’s Be getting ready for touchdown.
Through different eyes – life before and after photography
As I write this post we are almost 90% of the way through our trip. We are now either nearing completion or running out of time – I’m not sure which one it is at the moment. One thing is for certain, we have seen many beaches, cliff tops and estuaries in search of our […]
La Playa de Gulpiyuri – from the air
La Playa de Gulpiyuri is a small beach formed by a sinkhole from a clifftop field to the sea. Saltwater is pushed up through a tunnel creating small waves. It’s a unique place and National Monument. But it can be a busy in summer, and after a few failed attempts, we eventually decided to visit early morning […]
DJI Phantom 2 flyby at sunrise
For various reasons we had a disturbed night – being forced to change our stopover place twice, and ending up getting only 3 hours sleep. But we have a well establish routine now, so at 5.30am I peered through the van window to check the sky. It wasn’t the beach we hoped to visit but the sunrise […]
Behind the lens – Against the tide
“Why is patience so important?” “Because it makes us pay attention.” ― Paulo Coelho It feels like we are now on the home straight for this section of the project. Items are being ticked off. As Belinda excitedly tells me “that’s another beach finished!”, I look at her questioningly, “Really?, surely there’s more to do”. […]
Maintaining office hours
Somehow Belinda can turn the van from storage to bedroom to office. I’m not sure how it works, and it seems, neither do I know where anything is.