I was up in the Shetlands a few weeks ago. Jon, one of my participants from a workshop last year kindly showed me around for a few days and then left me with his car. Which was very kind of him.

While driving past the Drongs on several trips, I found them just too far away to make a picture of, but in my mind’s eye, I visualised the image you see here. This all came about because I parked Jon’s car  and hiked in to the tip of a peninsula. Being high up, I was able to get this shot – it’s a 6×7 image, shot in portrait mode and the top part of the sky cropped. I shot it with my most powerful telephoto for my Mamiya 7II – a 150mm lens, which equates to 75mm for full frame 35mm shooters.

I’d like to get the 210 lens for the Mamiya again, but feel it would make the entire outfit I own much more of a drag to carry around. I had to return to using a tiny LowePro bag with just the Mamiya and three lenses in it because the airplane flight was very restrictive in what I could take. It’s been a revelation going back to such a small bag and very little to carry.

There’s some amazing scenery on the Shetlands and Jon has been suggesting I come back in winter time, which I’d love to do as I find winter light my favourite kind of light, but this shot’s got some special light too – I think it was made around 9pm.