Autumn in Savages Wood appeared to peak during the third-week of October this year and pretty much to schedule - perhaps a week early or two at the most. As it turned out, the duration of Autumn was quite short but, to my eye anyway, the colours seemed more intense that we’ve seen for a while.

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.

Christmas Day 2019 and the weather finally turned nice for a while. The wind dropped and the cloud and sea spray disappeared - it was a joy to be out at first light with the camera. :-)

Leaving the truck in the little car park behind the tea shop the sky was still dark but with a few stars twinkling overhead I knew it was at least partly clear. So, with a growing sense of anticipation I stumbled up the narrow track to the top of the cliffs.

Christmas day 2019 was the best day of the entire Christmas week in Cornwall. The strong, gusty winds had stopped and there was a bright, diffuse light thanks to some thin cloud. The day had started early with a successful trip to Porthgwarra for sunrise - more on that in a later post - followed by a lazy hotel breakfast and planning for the rest of the day. Given the bright, diffuse lighting I thought Sennen beach would be good for some intimate landscapes.

Porthgwarra has a great little shop which does amazing tea and cake in the summer but, sadly, it's closed over the winter months. Quite understandable as Cornwall is beautifully quiet in mid-winter with none of the maddening tourists!

For me, Cornwall is the very Western tip of the county, the area bounded by Penzance, Porthcurno, Porthgwarra, Lands End, Sennen Cove and St. Just. Rock climbing at Sennen, Chair ladder or Bosigran has given me a feel for the place! The fantastic rocky sea cliffs with coloured rocks, white sandy beaches and turquoise seas - a spectacular place. For all those reasons it's a busy place in the summer months, but in the middle of Winter - much, much quieter :-)

Summer seems so long ago right now as Christmas is but a few weeks away. On these grey, Winter days it's really nice to be producing cards with nice warm summer-time images :-)

And here we are again! There is something special about this bridge, something that keeps drawing me back. I’m not quite sure why but the big skies, changing weather, strong architectural shapes and fast moving water are all play their part.

The Mild Mild West is, of course, the Banksy on the side wall of the Canteen. Walk along the road from the city and it's easy to miss. Walk towards the city and it's impossible to miss! So what did I do? Yup, you guessed it! First I got distracted by the collection of bicycles under a tree at Turbo Island and then by a big stylised 'Forever' painted on the Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) Outdoor Gallery wall.  The paintings on this wall change frequently so its always worth a look when passing. The artwork is always of a very high standard.

The Full Moon pub and hostel sits at the Southern border of Stokes Croft and Bristol city.  Originally built in 1716 as an Inn, today it is still providing accommodation to travellers. It is one of the iconic landmarks in Bristol.   Today the building is colourfully painted with stars, galaxies, nebula and other cosmic scenes and is a true site to behold.  As seen in the photograph it is adjacent to a Stokes Croft boundary marker which claims the area to be a Cultural quarter, a Conservation area and an Outdoor gallery. The boundary marker brilliantly summarises Stokes Croft.

In 1996, work brought me to Bristol or Brizzle as it sounds in the local dialect known as Bristolian. Listen here. Over the years I've really grown to like the place.  It is not too big nor is it too small and it has history. It can be linked to many significant events such as the discovery of North America in 1497 by John Cabot, the construction of technologically advanced ships including the Great Western in 1837 and the SS Great Britain that launched in 1843, blue glass production (known as Bristol Blue) and many nautical phrases such as Shipshape and Bristol fashion whose origin is rapidly fading into the mist of time.

For some the onset of Winter will be a perfect excuse to hunker down beside a nice warm fire but to the landscape photographer, well, let's just say we are made of different stuff. Those long, boring blue sky days are gone, replaced with far more dramatic weather that can bring our photography to life. There is nothing like crashing seas, dark threatening clouds, snow or the dramatic lighting that comes from Wintery weather.

It has been a long time coming, but over the last few months Andy Gawthrope Photography has seen some significant changes.  The website is now more focused on the landscape genre and generally looks better – well I think so anyway :-).  There is now an ecommerce section aka a shop. 

Finding a suitable place to camp on the top of Glyder Fach was tricky as it's just one mass of shattered, weathered rocks each way too big to move.  But after some searching I found a spot just large enough for my little tent on the South-Western side beyond the the summit.  It was a reasonably sheltered spot and had a great view across the valley to the Snowdon massif.

Soon after returning from my previous trip  - see here - to Snowdonia I knew I'd be returning again.  Last time we were just coming to the end of winter but with Spring, perhaps even early summer now here, my thoughts returned to camping as it's just so much easier than a hotel.  There is no creeping quietly out trying not to let a door slam or bang a camera bag against a wall whilst everyone is asleep and importantly, there is also no need to align my plans with breakfast/dinner times - a real plus.  

Wind the clock back to December when this trip was conceived and it was to be a week in the Scottish Cairngorms surrounded by snow-covered mountains and fabulous light.  Well, that was the idea.  With hind-sight, perhaps the idea was a little optimistic but, at the time, sat in front of a warm fire with a glass of Jura anything seemed possible.  The closer the trip came, the less it looked like my fire-side dream would be realised.  The Cairngorms were devoid of snow.