Thanks for visiting my tiny corner of the internet. I live in Edinburgh, the surprisingly sunny capital city of Scotland. Sometimes I run and make photographs in the Pentland hills, which lie just south of the city. When I can, I go north to the Highlands and Islands.

Many of the photographs in the Portfolios are available as high quality prints. I now print these at home on a modern pigment printer (Epson 3880), which delivers quite beautiful technical quality. If you’re interested, drop me a message.

Like many photographers I spend too much time contemplating gear, though I’m increasingly over this unfortunate addiction. In part this is because modern digital equipment is plenty good enough on technical grounds, regardless of system. I used to make photographs with medium format film gear such as the Bronica SQ system, but these days I’ve basically settled on the Micro 43 system. My current camera for the system is the Panasonic GX8, which I really quite like.

Some brief comments:

• I dislike the 3×2 aspect ratio prevalent in modern photography systems. Micro 43 uses a ‘squarer’ 4×3 ratio, which I find much more pleasing to use. Even better, it allows for non-destructive in-camera 1×1 (and other) aspect ratios (i.e. images eventually appear in an editor with an adjustable crop).
• This camera has, for the most part, some of the nicest ergonomics I’ve used in any camera system. It’s mostly a joy to use. The grip is substantial enough to impart confidence, and there are many customisable buttons and functions.
• The viewfinder is terrific, both in resolution/clarity, and usability. The tilting function puts me in mind of my old medium format film gear, which is definitely a good thing. Super practical for use on a tripod below eye level (i.e. most of the time).
• Micro 43 is plenty good enough on technical grounds for my purposes. The extremely expensive full frame systems out there, such as the Sony E-mount, seem endlessly attractive, but for me fall down on an least three important points (sensor aspect ratio, extortionate price, and massive/heavy lenses).
• I have several nice lenses for my Micro 43 system, which are small and very light (12mm f2, 20mm f1.7, 45mm f1.8). A three lens kit, including the GX8 body, is considerably less than 1kg. Given the state of my knees, this is a good thing.
• I recently started using filters made by Haida, and have been generally pleased, even when compared to the better known brands in the UK. The smaller size models balance very nicely with my wee lenses.
• I dislike the 3×2 aspect ratio…

In case you want to buy me a gift, I like single malt Scotch whisky (Clynelish is good, or anything from the SMWS).

I used to write blog about fly fishing, over at Tamanawis. I sometimes miss those simpler, more selfish days… The word Tamanawis is the name of a fictional river in the book The River Why by David James Duncan.