When we arrived in the highlands of Scotland, we encountered this castle which has been used in several movies and TV shows, Eileen Donan. The castle you see here isn’t the original as it was destroyed in the Jacobite uprising and rebuilt it the early 1900s.
I love this image as a black and white. I think it works very well and I especially like the dark sky. I hope I get another chance to photograph this iconic location again, hopefully at high tide.
A Different Time
If anyone has been following me recently, you know that I am now diving deeply into high profile black and white imagery. I am loving it, I find the absence of colour refreshing. Re-imagining reality.
I made this statement in a Facebook group and got flamed. I truly have come to the conclusion that there are two main types of photographers. There are creative ones and there are technical ones. Some argued that they are both but I tend to think they are not looking closely enough. Out of the photographers I know, if the person is super creative, they usually don’t bother themselves with the technical side of things. They can do what they do extremely well, but they have no idea about the how or the why.
The thing many creatives have in common is that they look at their gear as tools and care very little about the technical details of what they are using. Many of them know what they need to know to accomplish their particular work, but they just don’t care further than that. They don’t spend their time wondering if lens A is better than Lens B, they are too busy just creating.
I’m the nerd that researches every potential piece of gear to death before buying, making sure that I procure the best possible gear. I waste so much time learning and reading that I don’t even have time to shoot. How unproductive is that? I have made a few decisions lately that I am hoping will get me out shooting more and spending less time reading about it…..or watching YouTube videos as it were. I am making a real effort to spend much less time diving into technical mumbo jumbo and more creating some art.
The image below is actually a very old image but it has been my most popular image. It is Breakwater Park in Kingston long before the renovations that we see today. It isn’t a true monochrome but it’s close and I have decided to pursue this type of thing more. I really appreciate the idea of capturing images with little if any colour. It opens up so much for the viewer.
Foggy Morning
This beautiful calm scene was found while navigating Scotland on the wrong side of the road on purpose! This was made on Loch Alsh in the shadow of two very famous landmarks. Sometimes I think we get too zeroed in on the iconic places or shots and miss other gems.
This is an image I made some time ago and it lived on my hard drive for a long time. I didn’t see an image in it. Then with some attitude change I began to see something in it but it needed work. I used to restrict myself to conventional aspect ratios for a long time but I’m learning how to let that go and just use what looks best for the photo. I also added the grain on purpose, and I”m loving it!
Autumn Mood
Copyright Ron Pettitt Images 2025