Photos and the City

Tag: destination portrait

Black Isle

The Black Isle is neither black nor an isle but a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water near Inverness. I had returned my car at Inverness and met Natalie who showed me a bit of the Black Isle while photographing some portraits of her.

The Black Isle is another wonderful place to explore Scottish nature and see the wildlife, dolphins, otter, deer, seals and osprey – they all enjoy it here.

One of the region’s great draws is its pod of resident bottlenose dolphins. At Chanonry Point, in between Fortrose and Rosemarkie, they can often be seen frolicking in the Moray Firth. (VisitScotland)

We actually went to Chanonry Point, enjoy the view towards the Moray Coast but no dolphins were seen.

During our time on the Black Isle, we had one or two little rain showers and enjoyed the beautiful dramatic sky!

Definitely another spot in Scotland I want to explore further another time!

02/06/2020
Summer 2020

2019 is (slowly) coming to an end and while I still in the middle of posting all the images from this summer in Scotland, I´m also already planning my next Scottish Summer Escape!

In summer 2020 I will explore the Scottish isles starting in Shetland and then Orkney. A little stop on the mainland around Ullapool (and or Inverness?) and the then on to Lewis and Harris.

From the Outer Hebrides, I will probably go to the Inner Hebrides and then we´ll see if there will be any time left or if I will have to go back to Vienna and the summer is going to be over.

Even so, it´s still about 6 months to go I´m already pretty excited and am reading novels and thrillers set on the islands and am planning my tour from places to stay and places to visit and much more.

If you have any tips on things to do and places not to miss, just let me know!

And as always I´m offering photoshoots along the way! Get in contact and we´ll design your own bespoke photoshoot!

Let´s create some memories for you to keep forever!

19/12/2019
Smailholm Tower

Sited high on a rocky outcrop, Smailholm is a small rectangular tower set within a stone barmkin wall.

This 65 ft towerhouse was built by a well-known Scottish Borders family in the first half of the 15th century, and today you can enjoy stunning views of the surrounding countryside from Smailholm Tower’s battlements. (Visitscotland.com)

Karina and I had a photoshoot in Galashiels and were looking for a bit of nature as a second location and that brought us to Smailholm Tower, lucky for me, I´ve probably hadn´t visited it otherwise.

a place that inspired Sir Walter Scott. Ancestors of the great Romantic novelist had called the tower home, and Scott learned the power of border ballads as a young infant living on the estate. (Historic Environment Scotland)

Smailholm Tower is a 20m high tower house built by the Pringles family in the first half of the 1400s as a border stronghold. The tower was closed on the day we visited but the view from up there must be stunning!

Smailholm Tower was designed, in common with all Scottish peel towers, to provide its occupants with protection from sporadic English raids. The tower was attacked by English soldiers in 1543, 1544 and again in 1546, when the garrison of Wark Castle sacked the tower and carried off prisoners and cattle. The castle was successfully defended against the English in 1640, by Sir Andrew Ker of Greenhead. (Wikipedia)

26/11/2019