Scotland Is Now

“Scotland is kindness, respect and generosity. Scotland is determination, creativity and curiosity. We are castles, lochs and mountains. We are students, explorers, innovators. We are Scotland and good things live here. ”

On an all weather week last Autumn I set out with Leith Agency and Forest of Black to produce a series of images to accompany a film promoting Scotland to an international audience alongside the COP26 climate event in Glasgow.

I showcase this work in a featured project here.

This blog has a little more on the backstory, some technical chat and some BTS for those of you who like a deeper dive on this kind of shoot.

Day 1 was in Assumption Studios in Glasgow. We were working in peak Covid times which meant daily testing on arrival, masks for everyone but talent and constant vigilance.

On the first day, the nurse called me back for a second swab as my first was “inconclusive”. Queue a nasty 10 minute wait for the second result which was, thankfully, one line only.

This week was primarily a video shoot, which means I’m working around the directors.

In these environments, good relationships are everything and I was lucky to be working with as hospitable and kind a directorial pairing as I could hope for in Ainsley Bowman and Oscar Sansom from Forest of Black production house.

There’s never enough time. Ever.

Finding gaps to work in, during client conversations and reviews is imperative.

Huge props and thanks to the wonderful actor on this project Chiara Sparkes who never missed a beat when asked to step up and keep performing for different people, with different agendas. She was a total pro and pleasure to work with.

A note on technicals and process:

I shot everything here on the Fujifilm GFX100 digital medium format camera with either the GF 32-64 f4 zoom or the GF110mm f2 prime (incidentally, my favourite lens I’ve ever used. Ever.) I had the lens on loan via the incredibly helpful Andreas at Fuji UK. I’ve since jumped fully into the system with the successor GFX100s which is an absolute dream.

All location shots were ambient light only with the help of some bounce. Thank you, Mondo & Gary, for being so gracious and helpful as I jumped into the team (you can see Gary slaving away in one of the BTS images at the end of this post).

I shot tethered where possible for agency review, working with Rufus Wederburn from Leith as art director on the shoot. Some locations didn’t allow for tethering due to the remote spots and wet conditions.