ROSES

Roses are one of the most beautiful symbols in literature, often representing love, life, freedom and many other emotions

The Symbols of Roses in Literature

Red Roses for Love, Passion and deep Commitment

White Rosesfor Purity, Innocence and New Beginnings

Pink Roses for Youth, Earthly Love and Thankfulness

Blue Roses for Uniqueness and the Unattainable

Yellow Roses for Friendship, Freedom, Happiness and Joy

Orange Roses for Energy, Enthusiasm and a Celebration of Life

The Twin Symbols of Black Roses

A metaphor for Death, Dying and Dysfunction or Change and Positivity 

O gather me the rose, the rose, 

While yet in flower we find it, 

For summer smiles, but summer goes, 

And winter waits behind it.

The myrtle and the rose, the rose, 

The sunshine and the swallow, 

The dream that comes, the wish that goes 

The memories that follow!

Extract from - ‘O Gather Me A Rose’

By William Ernest Henley

"quae rosae dorminunt somniant”

What Roses Dream Whilst Sleeping - a short story about connection

But dear reader what do roses dream about whilst sleeping? The life span of these exquisite flowers, often known as the Flower of England, or English Rose is all too short. During the day light hours their colours and fragrance abound. They fraternise with butterflies, pollinate with bees, entice lovers and all the time continue to parade an abundant delight for the human eye.  

At night whilst many sleep, some will awaken on the celebrated strokes of midnight to join in the mystical dances of the Midnight Gardens. These are the special flowers, the ones who come alive under the stars and are equally at peace in moonlight as well as sunlight.

Every rose - whether a sleeper or a dancer - knows life is short. Opening to their full glory they exude beauty and charm, scenting the air around themselves with exquisite fragrance. Then all too soon the first light breezes begin to sway the petals back and forth, and round and round, until one by one they begin to fall to the ground, to wither and fade. Occasionally however something else occurs, when humans intervene. Regardless of the type of rose, if picked at a certain moment and placed in a small vase, always keeping a few drops of water at the base, the rose will begin to dry out, the moisture inside the flower slowly evaporating, leaving it to metamorphosis into a strange, new life form.

The transformation is remarkable, the intense colours and otherworldly shapes of the petals and stems are spellbinding. The more extreme the transformation, the more beautiful the rose becomes. In its own way this process extends the life of the flowers to a new stage of evolution, allowing them to last forever when handled with care and affection. 

It is at this stage of their lives that all roses truly sleep and it is at this stage that they float away to dream! 

Sadly not all flowers are able to do this, roses are one of the wonderful exceptions!

Presented here are six images, depicting creativity coupled with a unique understanding and sensitivity for each rose. They represent an attempt to enter the entity of the flowers and imagine what they dream about now they are in their eternal sleep. It is perhaps only fitting that we have this unique connection to the flowers as we were ultimately the ones who not only prepared them for their sleep, but carefully watched over them for many months whilst they metamorphosed into their new existence.

Each image contains the title ‘ quae rosae dorminunt somniant’ latin for ‘what roses dream whilst sleeping’.  The starry heavens, flaming sunsets, glorious summer days, abundant gardens, childhood memories, ruined edifices, glittering vases and many more, are all present. Thoughts, memories, moments, the many things the flowers would have experienced in their previous lives, have come together to form a platform through which they can now express their dreams.

Although dramatically varied in content, the theme of the eternal rose runs through all six images. Each image also leaves the viewer free to make up their own minds as to what is actually being dreamt and experienced by the flowers.

It was a long time ago.

I have almost forgotten my dream.

But it was there then,

In front of me,

Bright like a sun—

My dream.

And then the wall rose,

Rose slowly,

Slowly,

Between me and my dream.

Rose until it touched the sky—

The wall.

Extract from - ‘As I Grew Older’

By Langston Hughes

Enjoy

Alastair and Christine 

Magical Landscapes Secret Places - eBook

THIS BEAUTIFUL eBOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE FROM

Apple Books,Kobo.com and Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Welcome to Magical Landscapes Secret Places. This beautiful eBook contains exceptional original photography celebrating the Highlands of Scotland, capturing scenes of extraordinary natural and magical beauty. 

Created over a period of 17 years, the idea for the book started back in 2001 when we moved from London to the Highlands of Scotland, to a small village on the shores of Loch Ness. This move proved to be an inspiration for our lives and work. Having always been drawn to nature and landscape and now living in such a stunning location, we soon began photographing the splendid wealth of imagery that was on our doorstep. As the years went by we built up a considerable collection of work and the first seeds of the idea for this wonderful book began to take shape. 

From the beginning our approach to the photography was different, it reflects a unique and personal style. We didn’t just want to take classic landscape images (there are already many fine photographers in this field). Our aim was to turn the images into fantastic stories bringing out the magical folklore and fantasy elements, which lend themselves so beautifully to our subject matter and so we began to create themes for stories. Many fabulous creatures began to stampede across the land, sea and sky- scapes, transporting us to other worlds. Whilst the juxtaposition of different locations truly did create magical landscapes. Even chapters such as Cast In The Spell of Winter and Autumn which do contain classic images also have a wonderful sprinkling of fantasy throughout. 

MAGICAL LANDSCAPES SECRET PLACES - this eBOOK IS PUBLISHED AND AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE

see details above

As day recedes and rest beckons, the sky lights up with its own blue cloud - tartan, heralding the rise of a vast Harvest Moon."

Roberta Edwards

Thank You and Enjoy

Alastair and Christine

THE STORY BEHIND THE PROJECT - Words From The Creators

Welcome to Dreams of Diamonds - THE MAIN EDITION

Dreams Of Diamonds is one of the most spectacular books to be published in recent times and is acknowledged as an outstanding work of art.

“Diamonds have always been credited with great spiritual clarity, their brilliance and hardness symbolic of the human soul and higher self. Each diamond is unique, waiting within the rough stone to be set free. Allegorically each one of us is unique, once we realise this and explore the process of individuation we enter into our true selves.” Dreams Of Diamonds extract from Foreword

Asphotographic artists and designers for over 25 years we have been involved in all forms of photography and printing. Throughout our commercial careers we our proud to have worked with many of the top publications and jewellers around the world. However it would be true to say that our greatest joys in photography have come from our fine art projects.

Over the years we have become known for our work with jewels, in particular diamonds. During this time it has been our privilege to photography many of the most spectacular diamonds in the world. We have always been inspired and shared a tremendous fascination for the exquisite beauty of these exceptionally rare stones and as a result of this towards the end of 2007 we began to explore the idea of creating a lasting work of art, exclusively devoted to diamonds.

We wanted something unique, which would stand the testament of time and become our legacy for the future. After 2 years of careful consideration we decided to create this work of art in the form of a giant super, book!

We have always been committed to large format images. The desire to push the boundaries of creative techniques to inspire, particularly with regards to size has always been present. On a number of occasions we were been fortunate enough to use the amazing 20x24 inch Polaroid Camera, creating exclusive collections of work in both Polaroid Transfer and Emulsion Lift mediums. We also specialized in Platinum Palladium printing and have successfully produced some of the largest platinum images in the world.

When taking into account all the large format work we had created throughout our career the idea of embarking on such a fabulous adventure and producing this magnificent book was a natural progression along a path we had already been travelling for many years.

This book goes beyond the professional to embrace our personal life and partnership it’s the embodiment of our aspirations and dreams. We are delighted and privileged to have been responsible for creating such an exceptional and unique work of art and forever extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone involved.

Dreams of Diamonds is our Magnum Opus.

Alastair Laidlaw and Christine Marsden

Dreams Of Diamonds - THE MAIN EDITION DETAILS

An Exceptional Work Of Art

The books have been distributed throughout the world to all the major national libraries, museums and diamond institutions. They have taken their place amongst the greats as an acknowledged piece of diamond history.

The book was produced as a limited edition of 500 copies.

INTERESTING FACTS

Over $500 million dollars worth of diamonds are displayed, including the two most expensive diamonds in the world.

The creators where also delighted to include the world’s largest, flawless, brilliant cut diamond the fabulous Cullinan Heritage.

Each page is a visual delight, highly creative and original. Every image is unique and has been created to stand as a work of art in its own right.

This Magnum Opus is the largest limited edition book ever published on diamonds. It is also in the top five largest publications to be produced in the last 100 years.

Placed with

The British Library

The Smithsonian Institution – Washington DC

The GIA ( Gemological Institute of America )

The Victoria & Albert Museum - National Art Library

The New Antwerp Silver & Diamond Museum

The Bodleian - United Kingdom

The London Library - Patron Queen Elizabeth II

Bibliotheque nationale de France

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek - The Bavarian State Library

The Albertina - Vienna

The Staatliche Kuntsammulungen - Dresden

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - accepted copy No 60 in her Diamond Jubilee Year

The Chow Tai Fook Museum - China

to name but a few

SPECIFICATIONS for MAIN EDITION BOOK

The book is 50 x 70 cms and when opened is 1 metre x 70 cms.
The end papers are made of Antik Ink Pearlised Metallic.
It is printed on ProfiSilk 250 gsm Art Paper, with a semi matt finish to give a luxurious silk feel.
There are 160 pages of stunning images and text.
The cover is Chromo Silver Library Buckram, with the spine being bound in Skipper Blue Eurobuckram.
The front cover is blind debossed with the title Dreams of Diamonds. The spine is also blind debossed with the title.

THIS IS A VERY LARGE AND HEAVY BOOK

This magnificent book has been exquisitely printed and bound to the highest standards by one of the finest teams of printers and binders in the world – Firmengruppe APPL and BELTZ BAD LANGENSALA in Co- operation with MÜLLER Buchbinderei GmbH.

PRESENTATION BOX

The presentation box for the book has been designed to emulate the feeling of the book. The lid is made from 3mm box card and covered with Silver Chromo Library Buckram and debossed with the special Dreams of Diamonds title. The base of the box is made from 3 mm box card and covered with Skipper Blue Eurobuckram. Both the lid and the base have an acid free lining for preservation purposes.

The approx weight of each book in its own presentation box is 15 kg.

A personal letter from the creators of Dreams of Diamonds – Alastair Laidlaw and Christine Marsden – which has been approved by the printers and binders, detailing instructions for care and storage accompanies each book.

PURCHASING A COPY OF Dreams Of Diamonds

A limited number of copies of Dreams Of Diamonds THE MAIN EDITION are available for purchase - please go to CONTACT for further details

Enjoy

Alastair and Christine

SPLENDOUR IN DECAY

Part 1

IN PRAISE OF FLOWERS

Most wondrous, amazing and fabulous.

All shapes and sizes, colours and smells.

When in bloom some may last months

Others blossom for fleeting moments.

All possess the splendours and beauty

Of Mother Nature at her most magnificent.

Throughout the ages countless are the volumes that have been written about flowers. They constantly inspire so many emotions and connections, love, health, beauty, memories, environment, survival, design, life and even death. Their eloquence, charm, diversity and character all remain a vital part of our existence. Flowers say it all!!

Normally when flowers die they tend to be thrown away. But sometimes - at different stages, before they begin to die - people dry flowers, by hanging or suspending each one upside down - to preserve them for future, creative arrangements. Flowers may also be pressed between the pages of books, another means of preserving their beauty, albeit in an altered state.

Through trial and error we discovered another way to dry and preserve roses. You arrange them as normal in a vase, adding a small amount of water, just enough to keep the ends of the stems covered by about 1 inch. Then you leave them in a quite, out of the way spot on a windowsill for a minimum of 10 months to over a year!

We joke not. It seriously does take this length of time for the flowers to dry out properly, whilst the stems remain constantly in water. Caution, never let the water dry out.

It’s essential to always exercise the greatest care and delicacy when checking to make sure the bases of the stems remain covered in water. Even the smallest amount of rough handling could cause your beautiful creations to collapse before your eyes.

Never attempt to dust the flowers whilst they are slowly drying out. Part of their exquisite beauty and ageing is achieved by the patterns the dust and cobwebs make.

Because you’re leaving the flowers (in our case roses, we haven’t yet tried this with other flowers) in their original, upright arrangement, as they begin to dry the petals and leaves form fascinating twisted shapes, both beautiful and macabre. This would never be possible if you dried the flowers by the traditional upside down method.

Once you judge them ready, using extreme, and we mean extreme care you can add extra enhancing colours, either natural, metallic or luminous. But, be warned applying these colours without destroying the flowers requires considerable skill and an exceptionally delicate touch! Having spent so long patiently preparing them, you don’t want to lose out at the final stage....

Once successfully enhanced, they’re ready to photograph, either individually or as part of a composition. And what magnificent, photographic subjects they make. Capturing their exquisite beauty in camera is a true joy. The end results justify all the months of patient preparations and our personal satisfaction with the final images is enormous. Hopefully this is just the first of many successful projects. Fingers crossed!

Thank you and enjoy

Christine and Alastair

CAPTURED IN PALACES OF GLASS

These images were shot in mid July 2018 and form part of a new collection of beautiful, still life work. As well as shooting on conventional digital, we also decided to specifically shoot each image on a traditional 5x4 Horseman Camera using 13 year old black & white Polaroid Film P/N55. A challenging, but very rewarding task. 

This collection of work is for our new book ‘CAPTURED IN PALACES OF GLASS’. The book will contain 27 different images, each one will be a double page spread, with 5 of the images also having close up sections photographed and occupying  2 DPSs each.

The story of the book centres around precious, family memorabilia and nature, collected from the distant past to more recent times. Each image has a selection of objects arranged inside of, or around a glass container. These containers come in many shapes and sizes. Some images just show one container and selection, others have multiples of each.

The idea of the glass container being referred to as a ‘palace’ dates back through time. We preserve and protect many things in glass. It allows us to see through it, to reveal the contents inside. Glass can be blown into many fabulous shapes and when light passes through it beautiful and mysterious shadows are cast. Our own homes have glass windows which do all of these things. 

The memorabilia in these images is very precious, some items are over 100 years old and belonged to beloved family members now long gone. For us it felt only right and natural to give these memories the proper respect and care they deserved. Glass was the obvious choice and the title ‘CAPTURED IN PALACES OF GLASS’ is a perfect description for this collection of images.

As well as the images the book will contain a short essay, as well as poetry and prose in keeping with the images. A contents list of image titles and brief descriptions will also be added.

All details of when this book will be published and available for purchase will be announced in due course

BEAUTY ON OUR DOORSTEPS

PART 1

TREASURES FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Memories and Adventures

The United Kingdom is a wonderful treasure trove of diversity, particularly with regards to landscape. Although it may not have the highest mountains, or the largest lakes, the greatest forests, or mightiest rivers, it still has all of these and more, but on a smaller scale. And with this smaller scale comes incredible beauty.

Having spent almost 20 years living in the Highlands of Scotland, in the small village of Fort Augustus, located at the southerly most point of Loch Ness, in The Great Glen, we had an absolutely wonderful wealth of natural beauty on our doorstep. It was something we greatly valued and appreciated. Over the years we made many splendid photographic excursions into the local landscape, as well as further afield.

We captured a magnificent collection of images. Included in these were Loch Ness and The Great Glen throughout the seasons, the Nevis Range, Glen Roy, The Cairngorms, the amazing Isle of Skye, plus the beautiful and remote coastlines of the far Northwest and North of Scotland, including the Bay of Tongue and Whaligoe.

In 2019 we returned to England to live in the Ribble Valley, in Lancashire. Again we were surrounded by beautiful landscape, literally on our doorstep. Plus, just a short drive away we also had the fabulous Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire National Park district.

Prior to moving to the Highlands in 2000, we had spent a considerable amount of time travelling through our beautiful British Isles, taking every opportunity to capture - first with film, then later digitally - all the magical moments that presented themselves to us, on our journeys.

Although very different from the landscape of The Highlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire offer their own extremely beautiful, natural landscapes. Obviously there are no high mountains like the Nevis Range, but there are many impressive Pecks, most notably the Three Pecks: Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, in Northwest Yorkshire. On a clear day, the highest of these Whernside, provides spectacular views across the north of England and down as far as north Wales.

One of our most favourite places for shooting landscape - in recent years - is the area close too the Ribblehead Batty Moss Viaduct, just over the boarder from Cumbria into North Yorkshire. We have been blessed on at least two occasions during the last couple of years to have visited this location during spells of spectacular weather, including magnificent cloud formations and sunsets. From both shoots we managed to get a superb series of images.

Slightly further north we have the wonderfully rich and diversified landscape of the Lake District, in Cumbria. Apart from the beautiful lakes and tarns, you also have the impressive mountains of The Lake District. The tallest of these being Scarfell Pike, Scarfell and the stunning Helvellyn. On clear days the views from these mountains are utterly breathtaking. A photographer’s dream.

We have also revisited the wonderful landscape available to us along the coastline of Northeast Yorkshire. The fishing town of Whitby being of particular interest and another one of our favourite places.

Whitby is an absolutely beautiful coastal town, with the famous Whitby Abbey ruins standing high above the town on the cliff tops, over- looking the tempestuous North Sea. It is also the setting used by author Bram Stocker when he wrote one of the most famous horror stories of all time, Dracula ! Robin Hood Bay another famous beauty spot is just a little further along the coast.

Central Yorkshire also has an abundance of wonderful landscape. Stately homes such as Castle Howard, only a short distance from York, and situated within the Howardian Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty, provide splendid photographic opportunities.

Heading southwest through our beautiful Isles you come to Wales, with the awe inspiring landscapes of Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons. Wales is a photographic treasure trove. You have stunning views all along the impressive Pembrokeshire and Conwy coastlines. Equally important are the many wonderful castles and gardens which are situated within the beautiful Welsh landscape, Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay, Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan to name but a few.

Further south appear the fabulous coastlines of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, including the now famous, Jurassic coastline. The interior landscapes of these 3 stunning counties are filled with wild moors - Bodmin Moor in particular - splendid gardens, historical architecture, forests, rivers and wildlife, offering wonderful photographic opportunities for professionals and amateurs alike.

Equal in beauty and splendour are the coastlines of County Down and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Whether it’s The Giant’s Causeway in the north, or The Mourners in the south, the diversity of the landscape and coast is fantastic. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland proudly boasts magnificent inland landscapes including Murlough National Nature Reserve and many beautiful gardens. Two of the most famous gardens being Rowallane and Mount Stewart, which is situated in exquisite landscape, overlooking the beautiful waters of Strangford Lough, in County Down.

As you’ll become aware - after viewing our work - skies and clouds (Skyscapes) play a major role in the composition of the images. For us they share equal importance with the landscapes they’re anchored to.

There is nothing quite as fabulous as a stunning sunset, or sunrise, or the gathering of magnificent thunder clouds just before a storm, and of course we never forget the beauty of a dazzling clear blue sky, without a cloud in sight. Sometimes we’ll visit a location many times in order to shoot the same scene in different light and weather conditions. Each visit always offers new surprises and challenges. Sometimes, the changing light is so fleeting, you may only get a few seconds to capture the perfect image.

Like the rest of the world Coronavirus has changed our lives forever. When we returned to England in 2019 we had planned to launch 2 books in early 2020. One of these is the magnificent ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’, full of fantastic images with a unique magical twist. Various marketing/advertising and PR events had been planned to coincide with the launches, to boost sales and help reach larger audiences. Unfortunately, Coronavirus made all of this impossible. We are trying to remain optimistic with regards to Christmas 2021 and the possibilities that we may be able to launch at least one of our books by then.

In the meantime as we’re self employed and for various reasons not entitled to any form of furloughing or benefits, we are still actively working and continuing to photograph beautiful landscape. We have decided to create and produce another eBook entitled ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ which will be devoted to landscapes of the British Isles. Unlike ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’ these landscapes will be as photographed without any magical stories or elements attached to them. However, as with our previous books we will use poetry and prose to enhance the images, and a brief, location description will also accompany each of them.

A number of new ‘Projects’ will appear on our website over the coming weeks/months, all of these will have the same title ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’, and the same description copy, but each will be referred to as Part 1, or Part 2, 3 etc;

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair

THROUGH THE SKY

The Whalley Viaduct In The Mist

A Victorian Wonder and A Train Ride Through the Sky

Photographed in late December 2020, during one of the most amazing afternoon mists, which had settled over the Ribble Valley in recent years.

This 650 metre long super, structure cuts dramatically through the breathtaking rural scenery of the Ribble Valley and crosses the River Calder. It is a supreme example of Victorian ear engineering. Known locally as The Whalley Arches - there are actually 49 aches although the viaduct is referred to as a 48 span railway bridge. The chief engineer was Terrence Wolfe Flanagan. Building began in 1846 and was completed in 1850.

Because of the position of this majestic viaduct - it’s location is stunning - it becomes a magnificent foreground for many spectacular sunsets, of which the Ribble Valley is famous for. Whatever the weather conditions, quite simply it is a photographer’s dream.

The series of images you see here where captured on 30th December 2020, just before New Year. There had been a light snowfall the previous night and a most splendid mist had descended over the valley, early the following afternoon. We had been out photographing various local locations and it was only by chance that we ended up driving through the village of Whalley just as the sun was setting. We quickly pulled out the cameras and took a few images before the sun finally set.

Such a wonderful view, but very fleeting!

Enjoy!

Christine and Alastair

Foraging On Forest Floors

Dark, damp and magical, forest floors hold many wondrous secrets.

They seem to whisper “tip toe carefully and don’t disturb!”

Peace and tranquility descends.

Everywhere the smell of earth and decay.

Hushed sounds.

The occasional ray of sunshine breaking through the canopy of trees.

Rain drops hitting leaves and falling upon the forest floor. As each droplet catches the light it reflects a rainbow of colours, revealing a glimpse of the tiny world inside.

Vegetation

Fallen leaves. Fallen branches. Fallen trees. Mushrooms, toadstools, wild flowers, mosses, spores, old and decaying tree stumps, each one sprouting multitudes of fungi. Millions of tiny worlds scattered across the forest floor, living and dying, then waiting to mulch down and be taken back into the earth to help create the cycle of life once more.

Wildlife

Insects, animals, birds and of course we mustn’t forget spiders, wonderful, magical spiders. All make their homes and live their lives in the forest.

A Spider Fancy

Although many folk probably consider spiders to be insects, just like any other insect, those of us in the know, know better and disagree. Spiders and in particular forest spiders are special and they know it. Creeping silently across the forest floor, hiding under mushrooms, or climbing the woody bark of tree trunks, (masters of disguise in knowing how to avoid becoming the next meal for a hungry bird) feasting on delicious, tiny bugs and grubs, they spread wonder and magic with their webs. But do not be deceived, these spider kingdoms which sparkle in the morning due and allow sunbeams to dance across their silken threads, can also prove quite deadly for any poor, unsuspecting creature that happens to get caught in them.

Be warned!

Fascinating Fungi

Then of course there are mushrooms and toadstools which always need to be treated with respect. These delicate, fabulous creations sprouting in all shapes, colours and sizes, appear as nature’s jewels, but a reliable and healthy knowledge of what to pick and what not to pick is absolutely essential. Remember death can hide in the most innocent of places.

Deadly magic mushrooms

Only seen by night.

Hidden secret fungi

Alive with malice bright

Yet I do not think you evil

Just a little misunderstood

For despite such deadly magic

There still comes so much good

If one is just selective

Leaving ‘Angels Of Death’ alone

You can have many delicious forgeries

For scrumptious meal back home

The forest holds many secrets

Especially forest floors

And you my exquisite nature jewels

Are the most wondrous of them all.

CMM

Weekly Blog Spotlight

SPLENDOUR MYSTERY & MAGICK

Welcome to Splendour Mystery & Magick, the story line for this beautiful book centres around a magnificent Ball and is told through a selection of intriguing stories featuring some of the characters who have been invited.

It begins with an invitation

Met-a-Ascension, the most elusive society in the world have sent out invitations to their magnificent Event Horizon Ball, held once every thirteen years. Each invitation is unique, the only thing they have in common is that they are all completely secret.

Each person or creature chosen to attend knows only that they have been invited, they have no idea who else will be present.

The method for sending and receiving these invitations varies greatly and it goes without saying all who have been invited, accept.

To attend the Ball each of the invitees has to follow the instructions on their invitations. They must arrive in disguise, wearing a mask and costume and they must also bring with them a special gift. The gifts do not have to be valuable, but whichever gift is chosen it has to be something that is considered personal and precious to the bearer. These gifts along with their invitations allow them entry to the Ball. 

Abstraction

Surrealism

Chance

Creation

Occasionally we all have a mental block when it comes to creativity, but then sometimes ‘out of the blue’ spectacular images are created by chance.

You have a sort of idea of what you want and you’re playing around with various permutations, when suddenly and often quite unexpectedly something happens. You capture an image and realise it’s perfect. It’s exactly what you wanted to create, even though you were still trying to formulate into your thinking process, what it was you wanted to create. You’re looking at it.

Creation takes many forms. Once you’ve achieved your goal, stop! Don’t over think it. Be satisfied and accept some things are meant to happen and take pride and pleasure in the fact that creativity on this occasion came swiftly.

Enjoy!

Beauty On The Doorstep Part 3

Beauty On The Doorstep

BEAUTY ON OUR DOORSTEPS

PART 3

TREASURES FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Memories and Adventures

The United Kingdom is a wonderful treasure trove of diversity, particularly with regards to landscape. Although it may not have the highest mountains, or the largest lakes, the greatest forests, or mightiest rivers, it still has all of these and more, but on a smaller scale. And with this smaller scale comes incredible beauty.

Having spent almost 20 years living in the Highlands of Scotland, in the small village of Fort Augustus, located at the southerly most point of Loch Ness, in The Great Glen, we had an absolutely wonderful wealth of natural beauty on our doorstep. It was something we greatly valued and appreciated. Over the years we made many splendid photographic excursions into the local landscape, as well as further afield.

We captured a magnificent collection of images. Included in these were Loch Ness and The Great Glen throughout the seasons, the Nevis Range, Glen Roy, The Cairngorms, the amazing Isle of Skye, plus the beautiful and remote coastlines of the far Northwest and North of Scotland, including the Bay of Tongue and Whaligoe.

In 2019 we returned to England to live in the Ribble Valley, in Lancashire. Again we were surrounded by beautiful landscape, literally on our doorstep. Plus, just a short drive away we also had the fabulous Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire National Park district.

Prior to moving to the Highlands in 2000, we had spent a considerable amount of time travelling through our beautiful British Isles, taking every opportunity to capture - first with film, then later digitally - all the magical moments that presented themselves to us, on our journeys.

Although very different from the landscape of The Highlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire offer their own extremely beautiful, natural landscapes. Obviously there are no high mountains like the Nevis Range, but there are many impressive Pecks, most notably the Three Pecks: Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, in Northwest Yorkshire. On a clear day, the highest of these Whernside, provides spectacular views across the north of England and down as far as north Wales.

One of our most favourite places for shooting landscape - in recent years - is the area close too the Ribblehead Batty Moss Viaduct, just over the boarder from Cumbria into North Yorkshire. We have been blessed on at least two occasions during the last couple of years to have visited this location during spells of spectacular weather, including magnificent cloud formations and sunsets. From both shoots we managed to get a superb series of images.

Slightly further north we have the wonderfully rich and diversified landscape of the Lake District, in Cumbria. Apart from the beautiful lakes and tarns, you also have the impressive mountains of The Lake District. The tallest of these being Scarfell Pike, Scarfell and the stunning Helvellyn. On clear days the views from these mountains are utterly breathtaking. A photographer’s dream.

We have also revisited the wonderful landscape available to us along the coastline of Northeast Yorkshire. The fishing town of Whitby being of particular interest and another one of our favourite places.

Whitby is an absolutely beautiful coastal town, with the famous Whitby Abbey ruins standing high above the town on the cliff tops, over- looking the tempestuous North Sea. It is also the setting used by author Bram Stocker when he wrote one of the most famous horror stories of all time, Dracula ! Robin Hood Bay another famous beauty spot is just a little further along the coast.

Central Yorkshire also has an abundance of wonderful landscape. Stately homes such as Castle Howard, only a short distance from York, and situated within the Howardian Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty, provide splendid photographic opportunities.

Heading southwest through our beautiful Isles you come to Wales, with the awe inspiring landscapes of Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons. Wales is a photographic treasure trove. You have stunning views all along the impressive Pembrokeshire and Conwy coastlines. Equally important are the many wonderful castles and gardens which are situated within the beautiful Welsh landscape, Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay, Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan to name but a few.

Further south appear the fabulous coastlines of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, including the now famous, Jurassic coastline. The interior landscapes of these 3 stunning counties are filled with wild moors - Bodmin Moor in particular - splendid gardens, historical architecture, forests, rivers and wildlife, offering wonderful photographic opportunities for professionals and amateurs alike.

Equal in beauty and splendour are the coastlines of County Down and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Whether it’s The Giant’s Causeway in the north, or The Mourners in the south, the diversity of the landscape and coast is fantastic. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland proudly boasts magnificent inland landscapes including Murlough National Nature Reserve and many beautiful gardens. Two of the most famous gardens being Rowallane and Mount Stewart, which is situated in exquisite landscape, overlooking the beautiful waters of Strangford Lough, in County Down.

As you’ll become aware - after viewing our work - skies and clouds (Skyscapes) play a major role in the composition of the images. For us they share equal importance with the landscapes they’re anchored to.

There is nothing quite as fabulous as a stunning sunset, or sunrise, or the gathering of magnificent thunder clouds just before a storm, and of course we never forget the beauty of a dazzling clear blue sky, without a cloud in sight. Sometimes we’ll visit a location many times in order to shoot the same scene in different light and weather conditions. Each visit always offers new surprises and challenges. Sometimes, the changing light is so fleeting, you may only get a few seconds to capture the perfect image.

Like the rest of the world Coronavirus has changed our lives forever. When we returned to England in 2019 we had planned to launch 2 books in early 2020. One of these is the magnificent ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’, full of fantastic images with a unique magical twist. Various marketing/advertising and PR events had been planned to coincide with the launches, to boost sales and help reach larger audiences. Unfortunately, Coronavirus made all of this impossible. We are trying to remain optimistic with regards to Christmas 2021 and the possibilities that we may be able to launch at least one of our books by then.

In the meantime as we’re self employed and for various reasons not entitled to any form of furloughing or benefits, we are still actively working and continuing to photograph beautiful landscape. We have decided to create and produce another eBook entitled ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ which will be devoted to landscapes of the British Isles. Unlike ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’ these landscapes will be as photographed without any magical stories or elements attached to them. However, as with our previous books we will use poetry and prose to enhance the images, and a brief, location description will also accompany each of them.

A number of new ‘Projects’ will appear on our website over the coming weeks/months, all of these will have the same title ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ and the same description copy, but each will be referred to as Part 1, or Part 2, 3 etc;

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair

The Final Resting Place - A Triptych

For a little friend

Gone forever the splendour of flight. Earth bound now no more to soar the heavens and scale those dizzy heights, no more to dream of flying to the stars, or gliding on the winds.

It is always so sad when we find any lovely birds who’ve been killed after colliding with glass. Unfortunately this can be a common occurrence at certain times of the year, no matter how hard we may try to prevent it.

When we came across this tiny bird, it still looked so beautiful and perfect we decided to capture a series of images as a memory to what it once was and what it was capable of, the majesty and splendour of flight. Titled ‘The Final Resting Place’ this was both poignant and appropriate. Once we had finished photographing, we finally left it, ready and waiting for Mother Nature to reclaim. Peaceful at last.

Alastair and Christine

SPLENDOUR IN DECAY

Part 2

IN PRAISE OF FLOWERS

Most wondrous, amazing and fabulous.

All shapes and sizes, colours and smells.

When in bloom some may last months

Others blossom for fleeting moments.

All possess the splendours and beauty

Of Mother Nature at her most magnificent.

Throughout the ages countless are the volumes that have been written about flowers. They constantly inspire so many emotions and connections, love, health, beauty, memories, environment, survival, design, life and even death. Their eloquence, charm, diversity and character all remain a vital part of our existence. Flowers say it all!!

Normally when flowers die they tend to be thrown away. But sometimes - at different stages, before they begin to die - people dry flowers, by hanging or suspending each one upside down - to preserve them for future, creative arrangements. Flowers may also be pressed between the pages of books, another means of preserving their beauty, albeit in an altered state.

Through trial and error we discovered another way to dry and preserve roses. You arrange them as normal in a vase, adding a small amount of water, just enough to keep the ends of the stems covered by about 1 inch. Then you leave them in a quite, out of the way spot on a windowsill for a minimum of 10 months to over a year!

We joke not. It seriously does take this length of time for the flowers to dry out properly, whilst the stems remain constantly in water. Caution, never let the water dry out.

It’s essential to always exercise the greatest care and delicacy when checking to make sure the bases of the stems remain covered in water. Even the smallest amount of rough handling could cause your beautiful creations to collapse before your eyes.

Never attempt to dust the flowers whilst they are slowly drying out. Part of their exquisite beauty and ageing is achieved by the patterns the dust and cobwebs make.

Because you’re leaving the flowers (in our case roses, we haven’t yet tried this with other flowers) in their original, upright arrangement, as they begin to dry the petals and leaves form fascinating twisted shapes, both beautiful and macabre. This would never be possible if you dried the flowers by the traditional upside down method.

Once you judge them ready, using extreme, and we mean extreme care you can add extra enhancing colours, either natural, metallic or luminous. But, be warned applying these colours without destroying the flowers requires considerable skill and an exceptionally delicate touch! Having spent so long patiently preparing them, you don’t want to lose out at the final stage....

Once successfully enhanced, they’re ready to photograph, either individually or as part of a composition. And what magnificent, photographic subjects they make. Capturing their exquisite beauty in camera is a true joy. The end results justify all the months of patient preparations and our personal satisfaction with the final images is enormous. Hopefully this is just the first of many successful projects. Fingers crossed!

Thank you and enjoy

Christine and Alastair

BEAUTY IN NATURE

There is a certain time each year always in the early Autumn, when the spider webs begin to appear. Suddenly you wake one morning to gardens, hedgerows, trees and bushes all covered in spider webs, which all magically seem to have materialised overnight from nowhere.

These little insects - spiders that is - suddenly become frantically busy and for a short period of time change their surroundings into a most beautiful and surreal world of mystery and wonder.

Every garden will have some form of this surreal beauty. The images shown here were taken in our small garden in early Autumn, just after a rain shower. The spun silk of a spider’s web is much stronger than one would think and as the raindrops fall they become caught in the webs, which can easily take the weight of the water. The effects are beautiful. Photographed very close up these tiny jewels reflect all that is around them (but that’s for another story).

All the images displayed here were photographed on an iPhone 11 Max Pro, and show different webs spun between flower bushes. The dazzling colours of the autumnal flowers and leaves in their various stages of life and decay make a splendid backdrop for these exquisite natural works of art.

The magic doesn’t last long so for all who love nature and don’t mind spiders this photographic opportunity is a must!

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair

Dreams Of Diamonds is one of the most spectacular books to be published in recent times and is acknowledged as an outstanding work of art.

“Diamonds have always been credited with great spiritual clarity, their brilliance and hardness symbolic of the human soul and higher self. Each diamond is unique, waiting within the rough stone to be set free. Allegorically each one of us is unique, once we realise this and explore the process of individuation we enter into our true selves.” Dreams Of Diamonds extract from Foreword

THE STORY BEHIND THE PROJECT - words from the creators

Welcome to Dreams Of Diamonds

As photographic artists and designers for over 25 years we have been involved in all forms of photography and printing. Throughout our commercial careers we are proud to have worked with many of the top publications and jewellers in the world. However, it would be true to say that our greatest joys in photography have come from our fine art projects.

Over the years we have become known for our work with jewels, in particular diamonds. During our careers it has been our privilege to photograph many of the most spectacular diamonds in the world. We have always been inspired and hold a tremendous fascination for the exquisite beauty of these exceptionally rare wonders of nature. And as a result of this towards the end of 2007 we began to explore the idea of creating a lasting work of art, exclusively devoted too diamonds.

We wanted something unique, which would stand the testament of time and become our legacy for the future. After 2 years of careful consideration we decided to create this work of art in the form of a giant, super book!

We have always been committed to large format images. The desire to push boundaries using creative techniques to inspire, particularly with regards to size has always been present. On a number of occasions we were fortunate enough to use the amazing 20x24 inch Polaroid Camera, creating exclusive collections of work in both Polaroid Transfer and Emulsion Lift mediums. We also specialized in Platinum Palladium printing and have successfully produced some of the largest platinum images in the world.

When taking into account all the large format work we had created throughout our careers the idea of embarking on such a fabulous adventure and producing this magnificent book was a natural progression along a path we had already been travelling for many years.

This book goes beyond the professional to embrace our personal life and partnership, it’s the embodiment of our aspirations and dreams. We are delighted and privileged to have been responsible for creating such an exceptional and unique work of art and forever extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone involved.

“Dream Of Diamonds is our Magnum Opus”

Alastair Laidlaw and Christine Marsden

THE COLLECTORS EDITION BOX SET - an exceptional work of art

The books have been distributed throughout the world to all the major libraries, museums and diamond institutions. They have taken their place amongst the greats as an acknowledged piece of diamond history.

The book was produced as an edition of 500 copies. Within the main edition an exclusive, silver leather edition of 10 copies only has been produced. Each of these copies is accompanied by a limited edition collection of 10 prints, uniquely created from Dreams Of Diamonds. Known as THE COLLECTORS EDITION BOX SET, each set is signed, numbered and embossed with the artists stamp. Each print has its own title. The books also have a special certificate of authenticity.

INTERESTING FACTS

Over 500 million dollars worth of diamonds are displayed, including the 2 most expensive diamonds in the world and we are also privileged to include the world’s largest, flawless, brilliant cut diamond the fabulous Cullinan Heritage.

Each page is an absolute visual delight, highly creative and original. Every image has been created to stand as a work of art in its own right, whilst also sitting beautifully within the completed book.

This Magnum Opus is the largest limited edition book ever published on diamonds. It is also in the top five largest edition publications to be produced in the last 100 years.

Main Edition Book Placed with

The British Library

The Smithsonian Institution - Rare Books Collection - Washington DC

The GIA (Gemological Institute of America)

The Bodleian - United Kingdom

The Victoria & Albert Museum - National Art Library

The Albertina - Vienna

The New Antwerp Silver & Diamond Museum

The London Library - Patron Queen Elizabeth II

Bibliotheque nationale de France

Bayerische Staatsbibiothek - The Bavarian State Library

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - accepted copy No60 in her Diamond Jubilee Year

The Chow Tai Fook Museum - China

to name but a tiny few recipients

COLLECTORS EDITION BOOK SPECIFICATIONS

1 metre x 70 cms when open

End Papers made of Antik Ink Pearlised Metallic

Printed on high quality ProfiSilk 250 gsm Art Paper, semi matt finish

160 Pages of stunning images and text

Bound in Silver Textured Leather

Front Cover and Spine blind debossed with the Dreams Of Diamonds titles/logos The approximate weight of each book in its own presentation box is 18.5 kg

‘THIS IS A VERY LARGE AND HEAVY BOOK ‘

PRESENTATION BOX SPECIFICATIONS

Lid and Base covered in Silver Textured Leather

The Lid is blind debossed with the Dreams Of Diamonds title/logo

A Personal Letter from the creators of Dreams Of Diamonds with detailed instructions for care, storage and handling. Plus further specific instructions for taking the book out of its boxes and how to open and view it properly.

DENBIGH SOLANDER CLAM SHELL BOX

CREATED BY G RYDER & CO LTD

This Presentation Box has been exclusively designed to display both the Dreams Of Diamonds Book & the Limited Edition Set of Prints

It is covered in Heritage Library Platinum Buckram

A separator panel is included inside the box

The lid of this box has been blind debossed with the Dreams Of Diamonds title/logo, in keeping with the feeling of the book and prints and is also bejewelled with a single ‘Tear Drop’ authentic crystal, inserted inside the title logo

APPROXIMATE WEIGHT:

‘30 kg WHEN HOUSING THE BOOK AND PRINTS’

SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION SET OF 10 PRINTS

Each print comes with its own archival printed sleeve and is signed, titled, dated and embossed with the artists stamp and has a protective sheet over the print

Approximate Print Size 700mm x 500mm - Approximate Image Size 630mm x 451mm Printed on Canson Infinity Baryta Prestige - 340gsm

Each set of prints are housed in their own presentation box

Presentation Box: Silver Chromo Library Buckram lid, blind debossed with Dreams Of Diamonds title/logo and Skipper Blue Eurobuckram base

Approximate Weight 7 kg

Further information regarding Dreams Of Diamonds

The Collectors Edition Box Set will be available soon.

Thank you

Alastair Laidlaw and Christine Marsden

Enjoy!

Beauty On The Doorstep

BEAUTY ON OUR DOORSTEPS

PART 2

TREASURES FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Memories and Adventures

The United Kingdom is a wonderful treasure trove of diversity, particularly with regards to landscape. Although it may not have the highest mountains, or the largest lakes, the greatest forests, or mightiest rivers, it still has all of these and more, but on a smaller scale. And with this smaller scale comes incredible beauty.

Having spent almost 20 years living in the Highlands of Scotland, in the small village of Fort Augustus, located at the southerly most point of Loch Ness, in The Great Glen, we had an absolutely wonderful wealth of natural beauty on our doorstep. It was something we greatly valued and appreciated. Over the years we made many splendid photographic excursions into the local landscape, as well as further afield.

We captured a magnificent collection of images. Included in these were Loch Ness and The Great Glen throughout the seasons, the Nevis Range, Glen Roy, The Cairngorms, the amazing Isle of Skye, plus the beautiful and remote coastlines of the far Northwest and North of Scotland, including the Bay of Tongue and Whaligoe.

In 2019 we returned to England to live in the Ribble Valley, in Lancashire. Again we were surrounded by beautiful landscape, literally on our doorstep. Plus, just a short drive away we also had the fabulous Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire National Park district.

Prior to moving to the Highlands in 2000, we had spent a considerable amount of time travelling through our beautiful British Isles, taking every opportunity to capture - first with film, then later digitally - all the magical moments that presented themselves to us, on our journeys.

Although very different from the landscape of The Highlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire offer their own extremely beautiful, natural landscapes. Obviously there are no high mountains like the Nevis Range, but there are many impressive Pecks, most notably the Three Pecks: Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, in Northwest Yorkshire. On a clear day, the highest of these Whernside, provides spectacular views across the north of England and down as far as north Wales.

One of our most favourite places for shooting landscape - in recent years - is the area close too the Ribblehead Batty Moss Viaduct, just over the boarder from Cumbria into North Yorkshire. We have been blessed on at least two occasions during the last couple of years to have visited this location during spells of spectacular weather, including magnificent cloud formations and sunsets. From both shoots we managed to get a superb series of images.

Slightly further north we have the wonderfully rich and diversified landscape of the Lake District, in Cumbria. Apart from the beautiful lakes and tarns, you also have the impressive mountains of The Lake District. The tallest of these being Scarfell Pike, Scarfell and the stunning Helvellyn. On clear days the views from these mountains are utterly breathtaking. A photographer’s dream.

We have also revisited the wonderful landscape available to us along the coastline of Northeast Yorkshire. The fishing town of Whitby being of particular interest and another one of our favourite places.

Whitby is an absolutely beautiful coastal town, with the famous Whitby Abbey ruins standing high above the town on the cliff tops, over- looking the tempestuous North Sea. It is also the setting used by author Bram Stocker when he wrote one of the most famous horror stories of all time, Dracula ! Robin Hood Bay another famous beauty spot is just a little further along the coast.

Central Yorkshire also has an abundance of wonderful landscape. Stately homes such as Castle Howard, only a short distance from York, and situated within the Howardian Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty, provide splendid photographic opportunities.

Heading southwest through our beautiful Isles you come to Wales, with the awe inspiring landscapes of Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons. Wales is a photographic treasure trove. You have stunning views all along the impressive Pembrokeshire and Conwy coastlines. Equally important are the many wonderful castles and gardens which are situated within the beautiful Welsh landscape, Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay, Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan to name but a few.

Further south appear the fabulous coastlines of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, including the now famous, Jurassic coastline. The interior landscapes of these 3 stunning counties are filled with wild moors - Bodmin Moor in particular - splendid gardens, historical architecture, forests, rivers and wildlife, offering wonderful photographic opportunities for professionals and amateurs alike.

Equal in beauty and splendour are the coastlines of County Down and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Whether it’s The Giant’s Causeway in the north, or The Mourners in the south, the diversity of the landscape and coast is fantastic. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland proudly boasts magnificent inland landscapes including Murlough National Nature Reserve and many beautiful gardens. Two of the most famous gardens being Rowallane and Mount Stewart, which is situated in exquisite landscape, overlooking the beautiful waters of Strangford Lough, in County Down.

As you’ll become aware - after viewing our work - skies and clouds (Skyscapes) play a major role in the composition of the images. For us they share equal importance with the landscapes they’re anchored to.

There is nothing quite as fabulous as a stunning sunset, or sunrise, or the gathering of magnificent thunder clouds just before a storm, and of course we never forget the beauty of a dazzling clear blue sky, without a cloud in sight. Sometimes we’ll visit a location many times in order to shoot the same scene in different light and weather conditions. Each visit always offers new surprises and challenges. Sometimes, the changing light is so fleeting, you may only get a few seconds to capture the perfect image.

Like the rest of the world Coronavirus has changed our lives forever. When we returned to England in 2019 we had planned to launch 2 books in early 2020. One of these is the magnificent ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’, full of fantastic images with a unique magical twist. Various marketing/advertising and PR events had been planned to coincide with the launches, to boost sales and help reach larger audiences. Unfortunately, Coronavirus made all of this impossible. We are trying to remain optimistic with regards to Christmas 2021 and the possibilities that we may be able to launch at least one of our books by then.

In the meantime as we’re self employed and for various reasons not entitled to any form of furloughing or benefits, we are still actively working and continuing to photograph beautiful landscape. We have decided to create and produce another eBook entitled ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ which will be devoted to landscapes of the British Isles. Unlike ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’ these landscapes will be as photographed without any magical stories or elements attached to them. However, as with our previous books we will use poetry and prose to enhance the images, and a brief, location description will also accompany each of them.

A number of new ‘Projects’ will appear on our website over the coming weeks/months, all of these will have the same title ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ , and the same description copy, but each will be referred to as Part 1, or Part 2, 3 etc;

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair

A New Portfolio

WINTER SNOW STORM OVER LOCH NESS AND FORT AUGUSTUS

Photographed - Friday 1st February 2019

Until very recently the winter of 2018/ 2019 has been mild throughout the United Kingdom. However this all changed a few days ago, particularly in the Scottish Highlands and Devon and Cornwall, the extreme ends of the country.

THE HIGHLANDS

For a few days the temperature dropped dramatically - at times down to minus 10 degrees - so the snow remained white and crisp. For most of Friday 1st February, the snow fell constantly forming a beautiful white blanket across the landscape and we took the opportunity of re-photographing some of our favourite scenes around Fort Augustus and Loch Ness.

The portfolio of work you see before you is the result of that shoot.

We set off during a snowstorm which continued in varying degrees of strength throughout the shoot and we focused our attention on one of our favourite views of Loch Ness and the surrounding Great Glen. We were shooting digital captures, sometimes using a tripod, other times hand held. Because a reasonable amount of snow had already fallen, the images appear to be ‘mono chromatic’ although they were obviously shot as colour.

We are delighted with the images. They possess a beautiful atmospheric quality, slightly subdued, with a very muted tonal range and minimal post production. Quite a departure from our normal work. The images also possess an air of antiquity, similar to the old photographic printing processes eg; platinum/palladium or photogravure.

This portfolio of work consists of 10 Limited Edition Prints, signed, numbered and dated and will be available for purchase later in 2019.

Enjoy!

Alastair and Christine

The beautiful collection of work you see before you Treasures Of The Sea comprises of eleven unique Polaroid Transfer and Emulsion Lift images. Each one has been bejewelled with Swarovski crystal and five of the images have also been bordered with 24 carat rose, yellow and antique gold leaf. This collection has been a true labour of love. In the late summer of 2017 after nearly 25 years from creating the image to attaching the last crystal Treasures Of The Sea was finally completed and ready to present to the world.

Due to many changes taking place across the world we have decided to only make Treasures Of The Sea available for purchase from 2023

Thank you and enjoy

Christine and Alastair

"Everything you want is a dream away. Under this pressure, under this weight, we are diamonds taking shape"                                             CHRIS MARTIN,  COLD PLAY

THE MILLENNIUM STAR

THE CREATION OF A UNIQUE FACSIMILE - LIMITED EDITION COLLECTION OF BOOKS

DATING FROM 1912 UNTIL THE 1976

This marvellous facsimile depicting the Travel Journals of Allan J Laidlaw was meticulous copied from the original travel notebook, gifted to AJ when he was a little boy, during Christmas 1934, by his father.

The actual story as recalled by AJ himself is slightly different. His maternal grandfather purchased a beautiful leather notebook as a gift for him, for Christmas, when he was 10 years old. However, AJ’s father saw the beautiful book and decided he could make much better use of it and gave AJ a plainer, smaller notebook instead, with a hessian spine and a cardboard cover.

AJ whilst thinking (even at 10 years of age) that he would much rather have had the beautiful leather book, dutifully kept the little notebook for many years and first started to use it in 1937, to describe his travels around the globe.

Initially, he hadn’t intended to continue using the notebook after the first few years, he had always planned to purchase a more formal and elegant writing journal. He’d never forgotten the original gift from his grandfather and kept an image in his ‘minds eye’ of the book that got away! However, for whatever reason this didn’t happen and the plain, little notebook remained at his side whenever he went travelling for the next 40 years.

The original book is now more than 87 years old and in an extremely delicate and fragile state. With the passing of time it has taken on a great significance to become a very special piece of family history for Allan J Laidlaw and it has always been his wish that the journal could produced as a limited edition book for his current family and future generations to view. He wanted something that would remain for posterity.

And so it was in early 2020 we were commissioned to make this wish a reality.

This little book has been lovingly and faithfully reproduced, each page being exactingly copied with all the charm and character that an 87 year old notebook collects along its journey. Including the colour distortions which have occurred throughout the journal after so long. Some pages only had the number at the top and a few words written on them. In these cases the relevant parts of the page have been reproduced and made to look like luggage labels paginated correctly in between full pages of copy.

We were given a reasonable degree of artistic license to interpret the travel journal, as long as we maintained the integrity and feeling of the original. At all times we bore this in mind. We also had to pay particular attention to the preparations/requirements needed for photographing something so aged and delicate. The greatest care had to be taken when handling the original - it is now beginning to fall apart - so as not to damage it further.

As an extra special treat each one of the limited edition books created contain a selection of wonderful original postcards and photographs, strategically placed throughout.

In the case of the post cards, a lot of these predate the start of the journals and were memorabilia souvenirs posted to AJ’s family - some before AJ was born - by his Great Uncle George Laidlaw from his travels around the world, before World War 1. Some of the earliest cards have post marks dating from 1912!

As these and the photographs are all originals, it considerably enhances the uniqueness of the limited edition. Simply put the books are works of art!

To present such a creation with the correct degree of reverence and aesthetic quality, which would befit it, we designed a travelling case which accentuated the feeling of travel.

Each book comes with its own individually designed, heavyweight, corrugated cardboard box, lined with paper straw and decorated with 3 original postcards on the inside lid and a selection of travel luggage labels across the outside of the top lid.

The books are tied together with satin ribbon bows and a message from Allan J Laidlaw also accompanies each edition.

The project was completed by Christmas 2020. It remains truly one of the loveliest and most poignant commissions we have ever received.

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair

ALFRED DUNHILL CENTENARY COLLECTION

A special look back on these wonderful images on the 125th year anniversary of the company. 

We have always been fascinated by the alternative printing processes. The desire to push the boundaries of creative techniques to inspire has always been present in our fine art work and when possible we’ve also aspired to combining these techniques into our commercial work. On several occasions, specialist commissions afforded us the opportunity to do this, the most notable of these was the body of work we were commissioned to produce for the Alfred Dunhill Centenary.

We were approached by Alfred Dunhill to photograph and create a  special collection of work for their Centenary. This was to feature many of the most important iconic pieces from the Alfred Dunhill archives. It was a truly outstanding commission and we were very honoured to have been approached to be part of it. They wanted the photography to reflect the age and vintage qualities of each piece, therefore it was decided that we would shot the images as  10 x 8 inch Polaroid Transfers. 

It proved to be a splendid choice of technique and we produced one of the most important photographic collections of work of our careers. These images then went on to win multiple awards around the world.

THE POLAROID TRANSFER TECHNIQUE

This is a technique were the process of producing a Polaroid is interrupted early and the backing sheet is removed before the inks can transfer onto the Polaroid film sheet. The backing containing the inks that produce the image is then pressed onto watercolour paper and the image is transferred onto the paper. The technique requires skill and patience, particularly when dealing with images of this size. The effect is very beautiful, the images resemble watercolour paintings and each one is unique.

A  small selection of images from our commercial portfolios.

A small selection of images from our commercial portfolios.

A bitterly cold, but beautifully clear night at the end of October. Whitby Abbey is a truly wonderful place to hold this kind of event. The Abbey is part of English Heritage, who have successfully hosted this spectacular light show and the accompanying “son et lumière” - The Tale of Dracula Landing at Whitby - for a number of years.

Whitby Abbey sits on top of the cliffs, high above the little town of Whitby, on the North East Coast of Yorkshire, overlooking the often stormy, tempestuous North Sea.

It is a spectacular, medieval ruin. And also the setting for the world famous ‘Dracula’ novel by Bram Stoker. Standing in the changing lights of the illuminated ruins, on that cold night, it is easy to imagine the world of the Vampire and other magical creatures which only appear once the sun has set.

We took a selection of images of the Abbey in various stages of illumination both close up and landscapes.

It is worth noting that at the same time as this wonderful light show was happening, Whitby was also host to the largest Goth And Steam Punk Festival in the world. This took place over a period of 3 days and thousands of fantastic and amazingly dressed people descended on the small town.

It was a truly out of this world experience and we loved it.

Shown here are a small selection of images taken of Whitby Abbey from during the illuminated light show.

Enjoy!

Alastair and Christine

AlIENS IN THE GARDEN COMING OUT TO PLAY!!!

The series of images you see here are from our garden and where photographed during late Autumn. They show a very unusual selection of seed pods, in various stages of development.

A number of these images have been digitally enhanced, to create the feeling of true ‘alien life forms’ dramatically invading the garden, at night time, during the season of Autumn.

Added to this collection are three images of strikingly coloured, autumnal leaves, which where photographed at the famous Inverewe Gardens, on the north west coast of Scotland.

ALIENS IN THE GARDEN!!!

They’re coming out to play!!! 

Such fun, but oh so scary

They frighten all else away.

Especially in the night time

When garden folk all sleep

These cheeky little monsters

Play games of hide and seek.

If caught by chance in Moonlite   

A wondrous thing occurs

They change their daytime colours

For psychedelic flares!

They only stay a short while

But don’t shed any tears

The seasons change so quickly

They’ll be back again next year.

Enjoy

Alastair and Christine

The Metamorphosis Of The Lucifer Rose

Image No1

In The Beginning…

Created from dreams, nightmares and imagination, this digital composition is the first image in a tryptic of images depicting the metamorphosis of The Lucifer Rose. The images are part of a short fantasy story, telling of a wondrous journey to the underworld kingdoms by a young and very special child tasked with bearing a beautiful and magical gift which must be delivered to the Lord of Hell, Lucifer. There are three stages to the journey. At the beginning of each stage the rose alters its appearance, until finally it is ready to make the decent into Hell and be received by its new master. Throughout the journey the child encounters many strange and fascinating creatures and places. Protected at all times by the power of the Lucifer Rose, no harm can befall the bearer of the gift. Once the task is completed the child begins the return journey, this time protected by the power of Lucifer, Lord of Hell. Although the pathway back to the surface of the world is identical to the descent, everything the child sees and encounters on the return journey is different. Thus marking the dramatic opposites of power between the Rose and Lucifer.

The Metamorphosis Of The Lucifer Rose

Image No2

The Second Stage Of The Descent

The Metamorphosis Of The Lucifer Rose

Image No3

HELL BOUND!

Beauty On The Doorstep Part 4

Beauty On The Doorstep

BEAUTY ON OUR DOORSTEPS

PART 4

TREASURES FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Memories and Adventures

The United Kingdom is a wonderful treasure trove of diversity, particularly with regards to landscape. Although it may not have the highest mountains, or the largest lakes, the greatest forests, or mightiest rivers, it still has all of these and more, but on a smaller scale. And with this smaller scale comes incredible beauty.

Having spent almost 20 years living in the Highlands of Scotland, in the small village of Fort Augustus, located at the southerly most point of Loch Ness, in The Great Glen, we had an absolutely wonderful wealth of natural beauty on our doorstep. It was something we greatly valued and appreciated. Over the years we made many splendid photographic excursions into the local landscape, as well as further afield.

We captured a magnificent collection of images. Included in these were Loch Ness and The Great Glen throughout the seasons, the Nevis Range, Glen Roy, The Cairngorms, the amazing Isle of Skye, plus the beautiful and remote coastlines of the far Northwest and North of Scotland, including the Bay of Tongue and Whaligoe.

In 2019 we returned to England to live in the Ribble Valley, in Lancashire. Again we were surrounded by beautiful landscape, literally on our doorstep. Plus, just a short drive away we also had the fabulous Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire National Park district.

Prior to moving to the Highlands in 2000, we had spent a considerable amount of time travelling through our beautiful British Isles, taking every opportunity to capture - first with film, then later digitally - all the magical moments that presented themselves to us, on our journeys.

Although very different from the landscape of The Highlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire offer their own extremely beautiful, natural landscapes. Obviously there are no high mountains like the Nevis Range, but there are many impressive Pecks, most notably the Three Pecks: Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, in Northwest Yorkshire. On a clear day, the highest of these Whernside, provides spectacular views across the north of England and down as far as north Wales.

One of our most favourite places for shooting landscape - in recent years - is the area close too the Ribblehead Batty Moss Viaduct, just over the boarder from Cumbria into North Yorkshire. We have been blessed on at least two occasions during the last couple of years to have visited this location during spells of spectacular weather, including magnificent cloud formations and sunsets. From both shoots we managed to get a superb series of images.

Slightly further north we have the wonderfully rich and diversified landscape of the Lake District, in Cumbria. Apart from the beautiful lakes and tarns, you also have the impressive mountains of The Lake District. The tallest of these being Scarfell Pike, Scarfell and the stunning Helvellyn. On clear days the views from these mountains are utterly breathtaking. A photographer’s dream.

We have also revisited the wonderful landscape available to us along the coastline of Northeast Yorkshire. The fishing town of Whitby being of particular interest and another one of our favourite places.

Whitby is an absolutely beautiful coastal town, with the famous Whitby Abbey ruins standing high above the town on the cliff tops, over- looking the tempestuous North Sea. It is also the setting used by author Bram Stocker when he wrote one of the most famous horror stories of all time, Dracula ! Robin Hood Bay another famous beauty spot is just a little further along the coast.

Central Yorkshire also has an abundance of wonderful landscape. Stately homes such as Castle Howard, only a short distance from York, and situated within the Howardian Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty, provide splendid photographic opportunities.

Heading southwest through our beautiful Isles you come to Wales, with the awe inspiring landscapes of Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons. Wales is a photographic treasure trove. You have stunning views all along the impressive Pembrokeshire and Conwy coastlines. Equally important are the many wonderful castles and gardens which are situated within the beautiful Welsh landscape, Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay, Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan to name but a few.

Further south appear the fabulous coastlines of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, including the now famous, Jurassic coastline. The interior landscapes of these 3 stunning counties are filled with wild moors - Bodmin Moor in particular - splendid gardens, historical architecture, forests, rivers and wildlife, offering wonderful photographic opportunities for professionals and amateurs alike.

Equal in beauty and splendour are the coastlines of County Down and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Whether it’s The Giant’s Causeway in the north, or The Mourners in the south, the diversity of the landscape and coast is fantastic. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland proudly boasts magnificent inland landscapes including Murlough National Nature Reserve and many beautiful gardens. Two of the most famous gardens being Rowallane and Mount Stewart, which is situated in exquisite landscape, overlooking the beautiful waters of Strangford Lough, in County Down.

As you’ll become aware - after viewing our work - skies and clouds (Skyscapes) play a major role in the composition of the images. For us they share equal importance with the landscapes they’re anchored to.

There is nothing quite as fabulous as a stunning sunset, or sunrise, or the gathering of magnificent thunder clouds just before a storm, and of course we never forget the beauty of a dazzling clear blue sky, without a cloud in sight. Sometimes we’ll visit a location many times in order to shoot the same scene in different light and weather conditions. Each visit always offers new surprises and challenges. Sometimes, the changing light is so fleeting, you may only get a few seconds to capture the perfect image.

Like the rest of the world Coronavirus has changed our lives forever. When we returned to England in 2019 we had planned to launch 2 books in early 2020. One of these is the magnificent ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’, full of fantastic images with a unique magical twist. Various marketing/advertising and PR events had been planned to coincide with the launches, to boost sales and help reach larger audiences. Unfortunately, Coronavirus made all of this impossible. We are trying to remain optimistic with regards to Christmas 2021 and the possibilities that we may be able to launch at least one of our books by then.

In the meantime as we’re self employed and for various reasons not entitled to any form of furloughing or benefits, we are still actively working and continuing to photograph beautiful landscape. We have decided to create and produce another eBook entitled ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ which will be devoted to landscapes of the British Isles. Unlike ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’ these landscapes will be as photographed without any magical stories or elements attached to them. However, as with our previous books we will use poetry and prose to enhance the images, and a brief, location description will also accompany each of them.

A number of new ‘Projects’ will appear on our website over the coming weeks/months, all of these will have the same title ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ and the same description copy, but each will be referred to as Part 1, or Part 2, 3 etc;

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair

TINY WORLDS IN MINIATURE

There is a certain time in the year when gardens, hedgerows, trees, leaves and flowers become covered in spiders webs. September, the beginning of Autumn used to signal the start of this event. Sometimes known as the ‘Season of the Spider’ this wonderful spectacle is best observed early in the mornings, when the dew and autumnal mists haven’t had chance to be burnt away by the sun.

It is a time of year when spiders, such busy and industrious, little insects most of the time become especially active. It’s possible that spiders are now active all year round given the changing climate/global warming of our planet and the merging of the seasons. Once upon a time each season had it’s own distinctive weather cycles, now they all seem to blend together.

Perhaps one of the reasons we notice this beautiful, natural phenomenon during the month of September, is that at this time of year the temperature still drops slightly lower during the night and the dew remains longer in the mornings, making the webs much more visible to the observer. Whatever the reasons, it is a splendid time for photographers, or indeed anyone who is interested in photographing nature.

The images you see here are from a selection taken in our back garden during 2019 and 2020. Some of the webs appear crazy and chaotic, others are elegant and minimal, some are formed across many different layers and appear very deep. Whatever the case, all have been woven by spiders.

Capturing the beauty of spiders webs with early morning dew and if you’re lucky the spider as well, has always been a favourite photographic subject for us. The reflections captured in those tiny droplets of water suspended from the webs - especially with macro photography - can produce the most beautiful images. Sometimes it appears there is a whole world captured and reflected within each droplet.

It is very tempting to give spiders personalities, indeed many fantastic stories have been written to this effect. Often spiders are seen as insects of evil, or they’re considered to be magical. In some stories spiders are portrayed as kind and wise ( see Charlotte’s Web ) but more often than not it is the idea of the eight legs and eight eyes which give the spider its more sinister appeal.

Despite this many people consider spiders to be absolutely wonderful, little creatures. They are fabulous to photograph, whether in their natural habitat or a studio setting and will often display their own original characteristics for the camera.

Each spider creates its home, making each web unique. These fantastic and beautiful structures are created with the finest spun silk and are both complex and fascinating, a joy to behold. Each time a web gets damaged the industrious, little insect sets about busily repairing its home.

For truly a spiders web is its home and within this home the spider is the sole ruler of its kingdom.

Hence the title of this project ‘Kingdom Of The Spider’.

Long live spiders!

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair

Beauty On The Doorstep Part 5

Beauty On The Doorstep

BEAUTY ON OUR DOORSTEPS

PART 5

TREASURES FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Memories and Adventures

The United Kingdom is a wonderful treasure trove of diversity, particularly with regards to landscape. Although it may not have the highest mountains, or the largest lakes, the greatest forests, or mightiest rivers, it still has all of these and more, but on a smaller scale. And with this smaller scale comes incredible beauty.

Having spent almost 20 years living in the Highlands of Scotland, in the small village of Fort Augustus, located at the southerly most point of Loch Ness, in The Great Glen, we had an absolutely wonderful wealth of natural beauty on our doorstep. It was something we greatly valued and appreciated. Over the years we made many splendid photographic excursions into the local landscape, as well as further afield.

We captured a magnificent collection of images. Included in these were Loch Ness and The Great Glen throughout the seasons, the Nevis Range, Glen Roy, The Cairngorms, the amazing Isle of Skye, plus the beautiful and remote coastlines of the far Northwest and North of Scotland, including the Bay of Tongue and Whaligoe.

In 2019 we returned to England to live in the Ribble Valley, in Lancashire. Again we were surrounded by beautiful landscape, literally on our doorstep. Plus, just a short drive away we also had the fabulous Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire National Park district.

Prior to moving to the Highlands in 2000, we had spent a considerable amount of time travelling through our beautiful British Isles, taking every opportunity to capture - first with film, then later digitally - all the magical moments that presented themselves to us, on our journeys.

Although very different from the landscape of The Highlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire offer their own extremely beautiful, natural landscapes. Obviously there are no high mountains like the Nevis Range, but there are many impressive Pecks, most notably the Three Pecks: Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, in Northwest Yorkshire. On a clear day, the highest of these Whernside, provides spectacular views across the north of England and down as far as north Wales.

One of our most favourite places for shooting landscape - in recent years - is the area close too the Ribblehead Batty Moss Viaduct, just over the boarder from Cumbria into North Yorkshire. We have been blessed on at least two occasions during the last couple of years to have visited this location during spells of spectacular weather, including magnificent cloud formations and sunsets. From both shoots we managed to get a superb series of images.

Slightly further north we have the wonderfully rich and diversified landscape of the Lake District, in Cumbria. Apart from the beautiful lakes and tarns, you also have the impressive mountains of The Lake District. The tallest of these being Scarfell Pike, Scarfell and the stunning Helvellyn. On clear days the views from these mountains are utterly breathtaking. A photographer’s dream.

We have also revisited the wonderful landscape available to us along the coastline of Northeast Yorkshire. The fishing town of Whitby being of particular interest and another one of our favourite places.

Whitby is an absolutely beautiful coastal town, with the famous Whitby Abbey ruins standing high above the town on the cliff tops, over- looking the tempestuous North Sea. It is also the setting used by author Bram Stocker when he wrote one of the most famous horror stories of all time, Dracula ! Robin Hood Bay another famous beauty spot is just a little further along the coast.

Central Yorkshire also has an abundance of wonderful landscape. Stately homes such as Castle Howard, only a short distance from York, and situated within the Howardian Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty, provide splendid photographic opportunities.

Heading southwest through our beautiful Isles you come to Wales, with the awe inspiring landscapes of Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons. Wales is a photographic treasure trove. You have stunning views all along the impressive Pembrokeshire and Conwy coastlines. Equally important are the many wonderful castles and gardens which are situated within the beautiful Welsh landscape, Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay, Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan to name but a few.

Further south appear the fabulous coastlines of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, including the now famous, Jurassic coastline. The interior landscapes of these 3 stunning counties are filled with wild moors - Bodmin Moor in particular - splendid gardens, historical architecture, forests, rivers and wildlife, offering wonderful photographic opportunities for professionals and amateurs alike.

Equal in beauty and splendour are the coastlines of County Down and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Whether it’s The Giant’s Causeway in the north, or The Mourners in the south, the diversity of the landscape and coast is fantastic. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland proudly boasts magnificent inland landscapes including Murlough National Nature Reserve and many beautiful gardens. Two of the most famous gardens being Rowallane and Mount Stewart, which is situated in exquisite landscape, overlooking the beautiful waters of Strangford Lough, in County Down.

As you’ll become aware - after viewing our work - skies and clouds (Skyscapes) play a major role in the composition of the images. For us they share equal importance with the landscapes they’re anchored to.

There is nothing quite as fabulous as a stunning sunset, or sunrise, or the gathering of magnificent thunder clouds just before a storm, and of course we never forget the beauty of a dazzling clear blue sky, without a cloud in sight. Sometimes we’ll visit a location many times in order to shoot the same scene in different light and weather conditions. Each visit always offers new surprises and challenges. Sometimes, the changing light is so fleeting, you may only get a few seconds to capture the perfect image.

Like the rest of the world Coronavirus has changed our lives forever. When we returned to England in 2019 we had planned to launch 2 books in early 2020. One of these is the magnificent ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’, full of fantastic images with a unique magical twist. Various marketing/advertising and PR events had been planned to coincide with the launches, to boost sales and help reach larger audiences. Unfortunately, Coronavirus made all of this impossible. We are trying to remain optimistic with regards to Christmas 2021 and the possibilities that we may be able to launch at least one of our books by then.

In the meantime as we’re self employed and for various reasons not entitled to any form of furloughing or benefits, we are still actively working and continuing to photograph beautiful landscape. We have decided to create and produce another eBook entitled ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ which will be devoted to landscapes of the British Isles. Unlike ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’ these landscapes will be as photographed without any magical stories or elements attached to them. However, as with our previous books we will use poetry and prose to enhance the images, and a brief, location description will also accompany each of them.

A number of new ‘Projects’ will appear on our website over the coming weeks/months, all of these will have the same title ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ and the same description copy, but each will be referred to as Part 1, or Part 2, 3 etc;

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair

Beauty On The Doorstep Part 6

Beauty On The Doorstep

BEAUTY ON OUR DOORSTEPS

PART 6

TREASURES FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Memories and Adventures

The United Kingdom is a wonderful treasure trove of diversity, particularly with regards to landscape. Although it may not have the highest mountains, or the largest lakes, the greatest forests, or mightiest rivers, it still has all of these and more, but on a smaller scale. And with this smaller scale comes incredible beauty.

Having spent almost 20 years living in the Highlands of Scotland, in the small village of Fort Augustus, located at the southerly most point of Loch Ness, in The Great Glen, we had an absolutely wonderful wealth of natural beauty on our doorstep. It was something we greatly valued and appreciated. Over the years we made many splendid photographic excursions into the local landscape, as well as further afield.

We captured a magnificent collection of images. Included in these were Loch Ness and The Great Glen throughout the seasons, the Nevis Range, Glen Roy, The Cairngorms, the amazing Isle of Skye, plus the beautiful and remote coastlines of the far Northwest and North of Scotland, including the Bay of Tongue and Whaligoe.

In 2019 we returned to England to live in the Ribble Valley, in Lancashire. Again we were surrounded by beautiful landscape, literally on our doorstep. Plus, just a short drive away we also had the fabulous Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire National Park district.

Prior to moving to the Highlands in 2000, we had spent a considerable amount of time travelling through our beautiful British Isles, taking every opportunity to capture - first with film, then later digitally - all the magical moments that presented themselves to us, on our journeys.

Although very different from the landscape of The Highlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire offer their own extremely beautiful, natural landscapes. Obviously there are no high mountains like the Nevis Range, but there are many impressive Pecks, most notably the Three Pecks: Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, in Northwest Yorkshire. On a clear day, the highest of these Whernside, provides spectacular views across the north of England and down as far as north Wales.

One of our most favourite places for shooting landscape - in recent years - is the area close too the Ribblehead Batty Moss Viaduct, just over the boarder from Cumbria into North Yorkshire. We have been blessed on at least two occasions during the last couple of years to have visited this location during spells of spectacular weather, including magnificent cloud formations and sunsets. From both shoots we managed to get a superb series of images.

Slightly further north we have the wonderfully rich and diversified landscape of the Lake District, in Cumbria. Apart from the beautiful lakes and tarns, you also have the impressive mountains of The Lake District. The tallest of these being Scarfell Pike, Scarfell and the stunning Helvellyn. On clear days the views from these mountains are utterly breathtaking. A photographer’s dream.

We have also revisited the wonderful landscape available to us along the coastline of Northeast Yorkshire. The fishing town of Whitby being of particular interest and another one of our favourite places.

Whitby is an absolutely beautiful coastal town, with the famous Whitby Abbey ruins standing high above the town on the cliff tops, over- looking the tempestuous North Sea. It is also the setting used by author Bram Stocker when he wrote one of the most famous horror stories of all time, Dracula ! Robin Hood Bay another famous beauty spot is just a little further along the coast.

Central Yorkshire also has an abundance of wonderful landscape. Stately homes such as Castle Howard, only a short distance from York, and situated within the Howardian Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty, provide splendid photographic opportunities.

Heading southwest through our beautiful Isles you come to Wales, with the awe inspiring landscapes of Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons. Wales is a photographic treasure trove. You have stunning views all along the impressive Pembrokeshire and Conwy coastlines. Equally important are the many wonderful castles and gardens which are situated within the beautiful Welsh landscape, Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay, Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan to name but a few.

Further south appear the fabulous coastlines of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, including the now famous, Jurassic coastline. The interior landscapes of these 3 stunning counties are filled with wild moors - Bodmin Moor in particular - splendid gardens, historical architecture, forests, rivers and wildlife, offering wonderful photographic opportunities for professionals and amateurs alike.

Equal in beauty and splendour are the coastlines of County Down and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Whether it’s The Giant’s Causeway in the north, or The Mourners in the south, the diversity of the landscape and coast is fantastic. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland proudly boasts magnificent inland landscapes including Murlough National Nature Reserve and many beautiful gardens. Two of the most famous gardens being Rowallane and Mount Stewart, which is situated in exquisite landscape, overlooking the beautiful waters of Strangford Lough, in County Down.

As you’ll become aware - after viewing our work - skies and clouds (Skyscapes) play a major role in the composition of the images. For us they share equal importance with the landscapes they’re anchored to.

There is nothing quite as fabulous as a stunning sunset, or sunrise, or the gathering of magnificent thunder clouds just before a storm, and of course we never forget the beauty of a dazzling clear blue sky, without a cloud in sight. Sometimes we’ll visit a location many times in order to shoot the same scene in different light and weather conditions. Each visit always offers new surprises and challenges. Sometimes, the changing light is so fleeting, you may only get a few seconds to capture the perfect image.

Like the rest of the world Coronavirus has changed our lives forever. When we returned to England in 2019 we had planned to launch 2 books in early 2020. One of these is the magnificent ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’, full of fantastic images with a unique magical twist. Various marketing/advertising and PR events had been planned to coincide with the launches, to boost sales and help reach larger audiences. Unfortunately, Coronavirus made all of this impossible. We are trying to remain optimistic with regards to Christmas 2021 and the possibilities that we may be able to launch at least one of our books by then.

In the meantime as we’re self employed and for various reasons not entitled to any form of furloughing or benefits, we are still actively working and continuing to photograph beautiful landscape. We have decided to create and produce another eBook entitled ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ which will be devoted to landscapes of the British Isles. Unlike ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’ these landscapes will be as photographed without any magical stories or elements attached to them. However, as with our previous books we will use poetry and prose to enhance the images, and a brief, location description will also accompany each of them.

A number of new ‘Projects’ will appear on our website over the coming weeks/months, all of these will have the same title ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’, and the same description copy, but each will be referred to as Part 1, or Part 2, 3 etc;

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair