Clouds over the mountains and hills of the Trossachs, Scotland
Clouds rolling over the hills and mountains of the Trossachs, Scotland – May 2022

Clouds over the mountains

Travel broadens the mind as they say and it’s true. Ten years after starting my regular visits to Scotland, the country still has the ability to bring out the best in my image-making including this image of clouds over the mountains of the Trossachs. Maybe it’s Scotland’s diverse landscape but I think it’s more than that. After the recent events with the covid pandemic, I think we have all realised that the simple things in life need to be appreciated more. Just watching a landscape can bring its own pleasures. Happiness is an elusive and often fleeting emotion that is sometimes difficult to find. Watching clouds move across a Scottish mountain range gets me about as close to being happy as I think you can get.

The photograph above was taken at a holiday cottage near Stirling in May of this year. Look out of the living room window and this is the view you would see. Literally, every day would have something new, new shapes and textures in the clouds with the visibility changing dramatically if the rain was about. At least you could see the bad weather coming. A clear sunny day moving to mist and then a bank of rain running across the fields and mountains of Stirlingshire towards the house. There was no need for TV when you had a great vista playing out before you. Just grab a dram and enjoy the show.

Taking a break

2022 has been an odd year so far. I made a decision to take a break from social media early in the year which has, surprisingly, lasted over six months. The posts started flowing on Instagram just this month with the podcast due to restart too very soon. A break away from the data deluge of social media seems to have recharged the batteries. The levels of activity will never be as high as some content creators (hate that term btw) but I prefer the quality over quantity approach. It still amazes me how some photographers seem to constantly post on Instagram etc like a factory conveyor belt.

Even the podcast took a hiatus but will be back for the August edition to be released in the next week or two. The podcast will have only one photo link but it’s an interesting story about how I found out about this photographer.