scottish highlands, october 2004
The Scottish photographer Neil McIntyre is, without doubt, one of the most highly respected landscape and wildlife photographers in his field. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a two day workshop with Neil, and fellow amateur photographer Pete Hale, in mid-October 2004. Whilst in Scotland, we stayed at the delightful Rowan Tree Hotel, near Aviemore.
Coming from the softie-south I had the stereotypical view that it "rains all the time in Scotland". Although it may have its fair share of wet weather, it also has a reasonable quantity of dry periods. It also has some fabulous light mid-late afternoon in the winter months. I was fortunate enough to meet with Neil during one of the dry periods - unusually lucky for me!
Neil has won many high profile competitions and has won awards in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition several times over. In spite of this he is incredibly grounded and one of the nicest blokes you could ever want to meet. His skills extend well beyond his photography, but into field techniques and many other areas.
On my first morning with Neil, we photographed wild Red Squirrel near his home in the Highlands of Scotland. Neil has worked with this particular set of squirrels for over 14 years and has enormous respect for his subjects. In turn they trust him and reward him by enabling extremely close contact.
The situations Neil presented to us were fabulous and the photographic opportunities unsurpassed. These opportunities remain possible, in part, due to Neil's refreshing view that "the animals should be left as they were found". It is all too easy to get in, grab the shot and then stomp away. With his respectful attitude the animals are likely to remain approachable on future visits, and it eliminates any stress to them.
Having bagged some squirrel shots we stopped off in a nearby village for a very welcome bowl of soup. Feeling comfortably warm and full we moved onto the afternoon's activities - the wild Mountain Hares.
Mountain Hare are, I understand, very timid by nature. This certainly rang true from my experience trying to photograph them. When photographing the hares I used my 500mm lens, with a 1.4x converter to give a 700mm focal length. Obviously hand-holding at this length is virtually impossible, so I used a monopod for support. I very quickly found that photographing animals in the wilds of Scotland was exhausting and required a good batch of stamina.
Day two did an excellent job of living up to the high standard set on day one. The morning was spent tracking and attempting to photograph Red Deer in the Cairngorms. The afternoon brought more climbing, with the subject being Wild Mountain Goat. These animals are, I understand, originated from the domestic goat, but have lived wild for the last few centuries.
I feel I learnt an enormous amount from Neil during the two day workshop and, like the workshops I have been on with Andy Rouse, it is extemely beneficial to be taught by a true pro.
I would whole heartedly recommend Neil's workshops to any serious amateur photographer. Further details can be found on Neil's website at www.neilmcintyre.com.
Click here to view some photographs from this trip.