The countdown to Glencoe 2020
As I write this, it is just over a week until I load up my truck and make the 8hr drive across the Scottish border and into the Highland area of Glencoe.
I started visiting the area a couple of years ago attending a good friend’s workshop. I returned last year to run a workshop for the same friend after a sudden illness meant that he was unable to lead the workshop. Luckily the area of Glencoe is well suited to workshops as there are so many superb locations within a small area. The landscape is one of the most inspiring places to photograph I have visited, and I have made it a personal goal to visit at least once a year for the next 10 years. This will provide me with enough images to produce a book and possibly an exhibition. It will be interesting to see whether climate change effects the landscape over this time period and whether this is reflected in the images that I make.
As a predominantly black and white photographer the beautifully wild and rugged landscape combined with the inclement Scottish weather provides me with superb opportunities to produce dramatic monochrome images. I produce traditional silver gelatin prints from film as well as using a method of printing on digital transfer sheets. These are then used to produce a contact print.
The prints that I have made from my previous trips are probably some of the best prints I have produced to date.
Wednesday the 4th March I will be driving through the night ready to meet up with a large group of friends who will be arriving on Thursday and Friday. There will be plenty of talk of photography and I’m sure a whisky or two will be sampled as well. I may have the opportunity to use a very special camera while there which I am very excited about. You’ll have to wait and see what camera this is in a few weeks time when I write about my time there. I may even include a short personal review of the camera itself.
This year I have no plan for locations to visit. Day to day I will head off in one direction or another and see what inspirational views greet me. It’s nice to plan but at the same time the excitement of not knowing what to expect is always good fun. Whatever the weather I will be out and about. Wind, rain, snow, ice.
I just hope that I don’t end up with blue sky and bright sunshine. Where is the fun in that!
Matt.