​A collection of images taken in each month of 2022 that portray the varying landscape of this unspoilt part of the north-west coast of Scotland

Read the story behind them in my blog titled “A Year of Recovery”

Frozen Tideline Camasnacroise, Kingairloch, Ardgour

In the first 2-3 weeks of December, we had an extremely cold spell of weather, and I took this photograph on the morning after one of the first really cold nights at the start of it. The temperature had been low enough during the high tide of a few hours earlier to leave a frozen tide mark on the shoreline and on this beautifully calm morning, the water in the bay at Camasnacroise was like a mirror and reflected the lilacs and golds of daybreak beautifully.

Morning Worship
​Kingairloch Church, Camasnacroise, Ardgour

Here’s another photograph taken on that cold and frosty morning at the start of December’s cold snap. It’s the view over Kingairloch Church, looking towards Ben Cruachan on the other side of Loch Linnhe. The fresh dusting of white frost on the vegetation around the church and the sky turning orange as the Sun began to rise from behind Ben Cruachan created such a beautiful scene. I just love mornings like that.

Frozen Uisge I
​Loch Uisge, Kingairloch, Ardgour

About a week after the top two images were taken, I camped out at Loch Uisge in the hills above Kingairloch and when I opened the campervan door in the morning, I stepped out into a wintry minus 6 degrees. Looking east, I saw clear skies and the orange glow of daybreak emerging from behind a distant Ben Cruachan. Much of the loch was frozen and had a covering of snow, but the unfrozen half of it was catching the beautiful golden colours of the sunrise, creating a scene that was just waiting to be captured with the drone.

Sunkissed Byre
​Tigh Ghardail, Kingairloch, Ardgour

Here’s another shot from last Wednesday morning, when I woke up to a cold minus 6 degrees and beautifully clear skies over at Kingairloch. It taken down the glen from Loch Uisge, near Tigh Ghardail, where you can find an old byre with that quintessentially “highland” red tin roof.  The roof itself was just beginning to catch the first light of the day as the Sun burst over the distant southern flank of Ben Cruachan some 21 miles away.

Hewn
​Ben Hiant, Camas nan Geall, Ardnamurchan

I find the rugged southern face of Ben Hiant, which sits to the west of Camas nan Geall, such a fascinating thing to look at because of the complexity of its surface. Hewn by a glacier from the flank of a large volcano formed around 60 million years ago, it looks especially dramatic when lit from the side by a low Sun, just as it was on an afternoon last week. This soft, low sidelight really does accentual all the contours and shapes of this dramatic hill.

A Year Ends
​Kentra Bay, Gobshealach, Ardnamurchan

As the last day of 2022 was coming to an end, I decided to take a trip out towards Ardtoe to watch the Sun go down. I didn’t get all the way there, but instead found myself at Gobshealach, a few miles east of the entrance to Kentra Bay. The clear sky meant that there was not much of a sunset, but there was a lovely orange glow on the horizon, and I used the drone to get above the surrounding hills to photograph the entrance of the Bay and the silhouettes of Small Isles of Muck, Eigg and Rùm way out on the distant western horizon.

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