The North West Highlands are very special; It and its Northern neighbour, Assynt, are two of the few remaining truly wilderness landscapes in the UK. The area can be bleak and imposing but it most certainly always forces you to appraise your significance in the environment. They are a wonderful juxtaposition of craggy coastlines, turquoise waters and white sandy beaches with dark and imposing expanses of impenetrable moorland separated by large mountains and rivers.

On one morning during my stay at Bridge of Orchy in Scotland I awoke to find everything covered in soft, white fluffy snow. It was a sight to behold. There was only the occasional muffled sound of a car on the normally busy A82 due to the still lightly falling snow. With little to no wind the trees were laden with perhaps 2 - 3 inches of snow and their branches bent over under the weight. It was definitely a photography day!

Shortly after arriving at Bridge of Orchy a day started with the hills obscured behind thick grey clouds, there was a biting cold wind and snow was falling at road level. It looked unpleasent outside the hotel windows! Inside the hotel, dry and warm, I reasoned that if the weather broke there would be some good photography so, suitably booted and dressed for a day on the Scottish hills in winter I headed out and up one of the hills overlooking Loch Tulla. Not that you could see the loch or much else! Fortunetly, I had scouted the lower paths the previous day and was confident the higher path would be ok.

February is generally acknowledged to be the snowiest month in Scotland. Most years it's a fairly safe bet that there will be snow on the mountains, probably down to about 500 metres. At lower altitudes the snow often falls as rain so any snow at ground/road level is often wet and doesn't hang around for long. By February the days are getting longer, there is more light and it's possible to shoot all day as the sun doesn't climb too high in the sky.

One Autumn a few years ago I stayed at Kingshouse on the Eastern end of Glen Coe.  Over the years its somewhere I've stayed on several occasions.  Initially camping at the back by the stream, later in the bunkhouse then more recently in the actual hotel.  I recall on some of the early trips occasionally seeing the odd deer just before sunrise.

A few years ago I decided to spend a few days photographing Scottish castles.  Quite why, I cannot now remember but my thinking was probably something like:  I like Scotland; Castles are usually found in nice locations; Castles would make an interesting subject!  This led to some research and the identification of a number of castles, some famous like Eilean Donan and some not so famous.

Or is it Balamory? Well the answer to that depends on how much telly you've watched ;-)
Tobermory is the main town on the Isle of Mull and the traditional view is of the three brightly painted buildings, one of which is the Mishnish hotel.  I wanted something different for this photograph, but something that was still very much Tobermory.