”I need to be silent for awhile, worlds are forming in my heart.”

By Meister Eckhart

When I was getting ready to head to a remote region  Scotland for a week of photography, I commented to a friend that I was really looking forward to getting away.  I love making pictures but even more, I needed some silent time. 

She sent me the above quote.  It really hit home. 

One of the wonderful things about photography for me is that it can be almost meditative.  The rest of the world dissolves while I focus on the scene at hand.  

The Scottish Highlands are truly beautiful and wild and remote.  Absolutely  Perfect.  Even the  roads were one lane, forcing the drivers to slow down, pull into little passing areas when two cars meet.  

I loved it.  After two particularly chaotic and emotionally unbending years during Covid,  spending time in the natural world was healing.

One of the things I particularly liked was the opportunity to make images of reflections.  There’s something about reflections that calm my soul.  

Her are some of the ones I captured.  

I also liked the opportunity to do abstractions.  Played a little bit with this.  It’s fun.  

Sometimes it was so cold we had ice on the ground.  Here’s one of my fellow photographers capturing patterns in the ice.  

And here is my attempt.  

But it wasn’t all serious.  My group consisted of four Scottish people, two English and me—a Midwesterner from Michigan.  As the week progressed, my new Scottish friends used a lot of words that caught my attention.  

Said with the distinctive Scottish accent, some were very funny to my ear.  

Here are a few. 

baffles —slippers 

skerry—rocky outcrop 

stotious—drunk 

dreich—adjective about the weather, miserable. 

nehh—means negative or dismissive 

dukos—soaking wet 

And the funniest one to me is  Peeley-wally  which means to feel poorly.  I think I’d feel better just using that one.  It rolls off the tongue. 

Our Photographer Leader, Niall Benvie, was terrific guiding and encouraging us.  But his wife, Charlotte, kept us fat and happy.  What a delight our meals were.  I wish I had taken more photos of them. I was too hungry and the food was so beautifully presented and yummy that I never took the time.

Our photography wasn’t at all seriousness.  We had time for a good laugh.  I certainly did when fellow participant decided to mimic the creatures we were trying to capture with our lenses as they prepared to  run away.  The image is a little blurry….but I think you’ll get the spirit.  

If you missed it, last week was all about the Scottish Highlands as well.  Here’s the link for that one.

https://designdestinations.org/2022/04/ah-the-bonnie-bogs-of-scotland/

Here’s the link for more information about Food and Photography Retreats.  https://www.foodandphotographyretreats.com/retreats