Annual Galleries (from 2020)
Contents of this page:-
2020 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
(Direct link to 2020 Gallery available here)2021 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
(Direct link to 2021 Gallery available here)2022 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
(Direct link to 2022 Gallery available here)2023 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
(Direct link to 2023 Gallery available here)2024 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
(Direct link to 2024 Gallery available here)
Introduction - A New Dawn
When I founded this website in early 2021, my aim was to collate and share the main highlights from my burgeoning interest in landscape photography. To document a dawning, you might say (which is too grand a sentiment, though it does at least segue into the Devon Dawn sequence below!).
When I call my interest ‘burgeoning’, I should clarify that I’ve actually been interested in landscape photography - or more accurately, the landscape - for as long as I can remember. However, this had mostly manifested as a myriad of holiday or hill-walking snaps shot strictly in point-and-shoot ‘auto’ mode - initially using film, before quietly, almost unknowingly, succumbing to the digital revolution.
As the years rolled by, I did start to apply some basic post-processing to my digital images, occasionally having fun piecing together family album compilations or creative collages. But aside from a casual awareness of composition, my photographic approach was built more on enthusiasm than anything overtly technical or artistic.
“Let There Be Light” - A Devon Dawn (Aug 2022)…
Here Comes the Sun
It was only in early 2020 - coincidentally, just before lockdown struck - that I decided to invest in slightly higher-spec camera gear and learn some manual techniques. New camera gear aside, the significant thing was really a change of mindset. I wanted to dip my toe in the water of something resembling organised ‘photoshoots’, still celebrating my favourite landscapes yet focusing on quality over quantity. When in hill-country, for example, I would start to plan ‘shoots’ rather than ‘routes’. And when closer to home (enter lockdown), I would experiment with new photographic genres such as astro or macro - thinking either very big or very small!
At least, that was the idea. Whether it’s paying off remains an open question. But either way, my annual galleries provide a visual means of charting progress, while sharing a few adventures along the way! :-)
I must admit, though, there is a marked variation in the way that my initial annual galleries have been presented…
As the trailblazer, my 2020 Gallery was effectively my portfolio at the time it was first released (with all due respect to my pre-2020 ‘vintage’ imagery, samples of which can be found in my Archive). For this reason - and perhaps because my 2020 collection was compiled retrospectively - it is almost a genuine gallery, with few accompanying words.
By contrast, my 2021 Gallery, 2022 Gallery & 2023 Gallery were each built up piecemeal, virtually in real time (like illustrated diaries). They consequently became increasingly wordy, even story-based, as I sought to add context to the imagery and explore the occasional tangent. While I hope this is all of interest, my favourite images were perhaps becoming lost in the mix. By the end of 2022, this realisation prompted me to review my approach and create a more concise Portfolio (to capture themed highlights), with any future literary musings slated to join my library of Blogs.
The ‘Sun Tree’ Three
Heatwave on the Horizon
At least, that was the idea. My Portfolio pages were duly created during early 2023, although my pledge of brevity regarding my 2023 Gallery fell by the wayside as the year progressed and photographic tales clamoured to be told. Never mind; if you’re going to fall off the wagon, at least have fun doing it! Let’s instead see how my 2024 Gallery shapes up…
But first, we should rewind a little: here’s a quick rundown of my ‘annual galleries’ from 2020 onwards, with appetisers and appropriate links thrown in for good measure… :-)
2020 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
“Photographer at Work” by Karen Scott (May 2020)
2020 Gallery
Much of my 2020 Gallery reflects constraints of the Covid-19 lockdown, during which I adapted my burgeoning interest in photography to garden wildlife and the cosmos (viewed from the vicinity of home).
Although born of frustration, I was struck by how readily alien worlds can be discovered without really travelling anywhere, simply by looking up to the vastness of the heavens… or down, to the delicate interactions of tiny lifeforms.
Wanderlust prevailed though, and it was during a two-week window in the autumn of 2020 that I was finally able to re-visit the dramatic landscapes and seascapes of Scotland's Isle of Arran, a favoured holiday destination of the past few years.
Yet the travel window turned out to be a narrow one - Arran became a receding happy memory as lockdown measures were imposed once again, taking us through a subdued winter season and out the other side into 2021.
But before we reach 2021, below is a quick 2020 slideshow (a brief taster of my main 2020 Gallery)…
2021 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
I must admit that ongoing lockdown measures imposed a sense of déjà vu as my 2021 Gallery picked up the reins from 2020. My photographic output stalled for a while as the year tipped over, in part because my focus was re-directed to setting up this website!
But as spring kicked in, so did the garden wildlife, followed by tentative trips to the local Devon countryside… we were even serenaded by a Partial Solar Eclipse (which curiously resembled a partially-devoured Jaffa Cake!).
Then came slightly more ambitious excursions… assorted adventures in Cornwall (Bude; Kynance Cove; Penzance), plus the exotic-feeling familiarity of Scotland’s Isle of Arran. Old favourites, yes, yet with new tricks - and crucially, promising freedom and escape.
Bookending the year would be my first two blogs: Camera on the Crags and The Ballad of Bellever Tor.
The animated gallery below gives just a flavour of the changing moods which enlivened this year’s travels to Cornwall and Arran; please check out my main 2021 Gallery for the ‘bigger picture’ (as it were)…
2022 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
My 2022 Gallery took a while to get going, before happily picking up steam as the 2021/22 lockdown measures morphed into springtime travel opportunities (initially close to home, then further afield).
If initial output seemed slow, this is also because the first three months of the year were devoted to a new blog / short story, Shadow in the Tin, in which a mountain ascent acts as a cathartic antidote to the vagaries of lockdown. Please do view my blog (featuring reclaimed family archive pics) to find out more!
Meanwhile, back in sunny Devon, 2022 kicked off with this cheeky shot of our Friendly Neighbourhood Egret quietly re-enacting Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks! :-)
As the year progressed, other particular favourites - highlights from my main 2022 Gallery - were posted to the mini-slideshow presented below. A wider selection of images from our 2022 holidays are available via The East Lothian Question (May), Panoramic Arran (Sept) and Cornwall’s Shores of St. Mawes (Nov).
2023 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
My 2023 Gallery begins by ‘wrapping around’ from 2022, courtesy of my local Hobbit Tree astro shoot (which was reconnoitred at the end of one year and executed early the next). Thematically, Cornwall also serves as a point of continuity, being the venue for welcome off-season breaks during both November 2022 (Shores of St. Mawes) and February 2023 (Cornwall Revisited, including the pictured Roche Rock).
Yet aside from these sporadic excursions, I was again quite slow to instigate this year’s gallery, focusing instead on re-vamping some of my other webpages. Most notably, I followed through on my plan (almost a New Year’s resolution) of creating a range of Portfolio pages as a means of housing my main highlights.
But my rate of photography (and related anecdotes) picked up as the year progressed, hopping between holidays as Cornwall gave way to the evergreen Isle of Arran (Home From Home), which in turn morphed into The Magic of Moidart… before coming full circle to reach A Cornish Conclusion.
Moidart deserves special mention, its unique blend of West Highland scenery, island ambience and noble (if camera-shy) wildlife accounting for exactly half of the year’s final slideshow highlights (below)… :-)
2024 Gallery - Summary and Slideshow
My 2024 Gallery emerged gradually, after being typically slow to open my photographic account for the year. The key was to stop tinkering with this website and get out there exploring. Ultimately, my aim was to pick up my broken pledge from 2023: concentrate more on the images and less on the literary analysis!
That being said, I hoped there might still be room for the odd waffly blog along the way. Indeed, the early part of the year saw me apply the finishing touches to my latest feature-length offering, an Arran-based murder-mystery set in Victorian times called The Curious Case of Rose and Laurie.
Talking of waffle, my own nocturnal (if slightly less murderous) escapade at Somerset’s Wellington Monument (depicted here) also prompted a modest sharpening of the quill!
As 2024 progressed, additional photographic highlights were posted to the mini-slideshow below - including our annual pilgrimages to the Beautiful Isle of Arran (May) and Iconic Cornwall (Sept/Oct). :-)
Wherever I wander next, it’s exciting to think that there are plenty more adventures to look forward to… places to see and limitless compositions to coax out, just waiting to emerge from the ether. Ready to coalesce, you might say, like the proverbial light at the end of a tunnel. And if that’s not a bad segue-way into a concluding collection of cave images, I don’t know what is…! ;-)
Return to top of Gallery Page
Return to Home Page (About the Photographer)