Hi everyone
welcome to my very first blog on my brand new website I hope you love it as much as I do. So what shall I talk about on my first blog? Well I think I should talk about the amazing week I have just had in the Outer Hebrides.
Back at the beginning of February my mum had a message from Tracy Willis FSWPP an amazing photographer I had worked with back in 2016. She wanted to know if I would be up to modelling on some workshops on the Isle of Harris in Scotland for a week in March. I was so excited for one I had never even been to Scotland and two Tracy said when I wasn’t modelling I could join the photographers! Epic let’s do this….
So the date grew closer and we had a bit of a nightmare trying to pack my modelling stuff, hair and make up bits, photography gear, laptop and actual real life clothes. I don’t know how many times we packed, weighed and unpacked but in the end we made it.
I said goodbye to my family and pets and off we set on our journey starting at Bristol airport. We had a delayed flight to Glasgow due to the bad weather and the take off and landing was pretty bumpy. I felt pretty queasy and was pretty relieved to be on the ground in Glasgow. It wasn’t long before we climbed into the small propeller plane and took off to the island. The weather was pretty shocking so you couldn’t see much but as we came into landing you could make out the island. It almost looks like lots of islands joined by little bits of land.
We walked off the plane and into the smallest terminal I’ve ever seen it was so cute and there waiting for us was Shona our host for the week. She was so much fun and has the loveliest family I fell in love with her toddler Aaron and I am definitely going back to see her again.
Off we travelled to the cottage with Scott, Shona’s husband pointing out deer and other amazing wildlife that we certainly don’t see every day. When we arrived at the cottage I was blown away with the breathtaking views we were literally a few steps from the sea with gorgeous snow topped mountains surrounding us. It reminded me a little of Norway where my Gran and Grandad live.
The week was split into two workshops with different people on them and they grew to be like extended family. For the first workshop we went to the Calllanish stones and Carloway Broch which was really interesting but high up so with the fierce wind it was absolutely freezing! I had to be pretty brave and Steve and Lysa a couple on the trip had these brilliant handwarmers that they gave me which were a lifesaver. For both wrokshops we went to the famous Luskentyre beach with beautiful white sand and sea that is an amazing turquoise colour. There are white horses that live on the beach in the summer and the owner put two of them on the beach for us to shoot with. It took us quite a while to coax them with apples, carrots and mints and at the second workshop I wanted to take pictures of them afterwards but the horse kept following me and getting too close as he wanted more food.
We also visited an abandoned house, abandoned bus and the gardens of a castle. We kept really busy all week and I got to take images of a young lad who played the bagpipes, little girl on the beach, a girl who had lots of chickens and baby bunnies and a lady who played the Harp. They bagpiper and harpist played on the edge of the water and it was an experience I won’t forget. Every night Tom cooked us some really good food and I made sure I had seconds! He became like my big brother and we went off at the end of the week to catch some images of a nearby waterfall.
Inbetween all of this I still found time to do some impromptu shoot with the gorgeous Aaron and got some great texture images for my GCSE exam work!
I learned so much this week, gained wonderful memories to last a lifetime and made new friends, what more can you ask for in life. I really am grateful to Tracy for giving me this experience and can’t wait to go back.
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