The Scottish Highlands have the power to capture the imagination in a way that few places on this planet can. Perched on the craggy edge of the North Atlantic, the Highlands instantly conjure up images of rocky precipices, lonely lochs, and rainswept moors. And indeed, their reputation as one of the world’s great epicenters of gray and gloom is well earned.
Fort William, the largest town in the Western Highlands, gets just over 1,000 hours of sunlight per year. By comparison, that is less than half of the annual sunlight hours of America’s most famous capital of rain, Seattle. Further north than Siberia’s frozen Lake Baikal, windier than the steppe of Mongolia, wetter than London, and more sparsely populated than anywhere in mainland Europe, the Highlands are a destination for those who seek the solace of lonely spaces.
I lived in Scotland for four years and took many journeys to the Highlands, including a solo circumnavigation of the Scottish coastline by bike. During that trip, I shot this project, which I call 'Darksome'. It is an exploration of these spaces and a love letter to the quiet beauty of desolation and dismal wet.
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