Photography: Printing photos

You’ll know that I’ve been taking photographs for many years. Roll after roll after roll passes through my camera, capturing my adventures, mostly in and around Scotland but also further afield; wherever my feet take me my camera will accompany me.

I’ve been slowly building my portfolio here on my website. Go and explore if you like, I have a collection for Edinburgh,on birds, for an adventure in Corrour. There’s plenty to see just click here.

I have 4 cameras which is a bit wild, some may say unnecessary or overkill but I think it’s good to experiment with different cameras. Although they operate under the same premise - aperture, shutter speed and ISO - each camera is unique in the pictures they produce and whether they’re manual or not. 

I’ve an instax(not pictured), Pentax MV1, Nikon f65, and a Nikon F90X. My favourite and most used is the Nikon f65. It’s accompanied me up into the north of Scotland and across the channel to Paris, I’m not sure what it is about this lovely camera, perhaps its weight (it’s rather light), perhaps its quietness, perhaps its reliability, whatever it is I reach for it again and again.

One of the best aspects of photography, but I’m probably going to guess the least practised, is printing. I remember at college, when I was studying black and white photography, I’d spend so much of my free time in the dark room. Watching the print develop under the red light in the bath of water. I have a whole collection of prints from back then! 

So many of the photographers I follow encourage and insist you get your photos printed. It’s part of the end to end process, it’s how you learn whether you’ve taken a good photograph. So I decided to take the advice and get some test prints, which I’ve been doing over the last 5 or so months. It’s been a long journey, finding different companies, learning about photographic paper, and really seeing how your photo handles the page. I can honestly say it is so rewarding, holding a print of a photograph I’ve taken, sticking it up on my bedroom wall, and staring at it each day. Although of course I’m going to frame them eventually (frames are expensive!). But anyway, I wanted to show you the test prints. What do you think?

I might be biassed but I have to say I think they look great, even with diagonal text streaking across them. I feel so proud of myself.  After 5 months of the test printing fury I embarked upon I’ve settled on four of my favourite photographs and ordered multiple prints of each. Here are my favourite 4 photos:

The Grade A Listed public Glasshouse at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh

I love this building, although I’ve only been in it once since I’ve lived in Edinburgh and that was way back in 2021 before the construction started. I’ve multiple photographs of it but this is by far my favourite. I cannot wait for it to repoen, I will be a regular attendee! On the construction of the Glasshouse you can read more here https://www.rbge.org.uk/news/edinburgh-biomes/what-is-the-edinburgh-biomes-project/ 

The shelter on the platform at Corrour train station

I am slightly obsessed with this Wes Anderson-esque photo I took of the shelter on the platform of the train station at Corrour. I love the colours, the balance, the snowy peaks in the background, I find it a soft phot and will defintiely get this framed and have it on my wall.

For Info: Corrour railway station is on the West Highland Line, near Loch Ossian on the Corrour Estate, in the Highland Region (formerly Inverness-shire) of Scotland. It is the highest mainline railway station in the United Kingdom. It was also featured in Trainspotting!

The path to the mountains

Another photo from Corrour, taken on the same camping trip. I fell in love with the landscape, the colours, the desolate landscape, the isolation. There were actually signs warning you there were no humans for hundreds of miles. My eye follows the path into the mountains, to adventure, to the wilds, to freedom. You don’t know where it heads or where it ends and that’s the beauty of it.

Arthurs Seat as seen from Blackford Hill in Edinburgh

And finally, lovingly the iconic Arthur’s Seat. Of course it makes its way into my top 4 photographs. How can it not? When I see Arthur’s Seat I know that I am not far from home. Whether I see it from the Fife Coastal path looking across the Forth, or from the tip of the Pentlands at the end of a climb, or from the passenger seat after driving home along the a68.

To climb Arthur’s Seat, in the warm, late evening setting sun in the height of summer is one of Edinburgh’s greatest pleasures.

So yes, there you go, four of my favourite photos, prints of which are on their way to my door as I type this. Who knows, maybe these prints will be available to you. Would you like a small piece of Scotland on your wall?

Thanks for reading as always,

Dominique