A mindful photography retreat
I planned to write this story more or less immediately after I got back from Scotland in April 2025. But then editing my images took a while, and other photographs were easier to deal with, and this website wasn’t even completed yet, and … I know, excuses, excuses, excuses.
By the time I finally write this it is November and I decided to just make it a shorter one. Otherwise it will never get finished. So, here it is.
Such a beautiful place
I travelled to the Scottish Moray Coast, to Cullen exactly, as I had signed up for one of Kim Grant’s mindful photography retreats. I found her on YouTube a few years ago and was inspired by her calm but excitable way in general and her way to approach photography in particular.
And as it is quite a journey from home to the North Coast of Scotland I had decided to extend the trip; add 2 days ahead of the retreat and leave on the day after it was over. It turned out that was a very good decision.
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And what a beautiful part of the world this place is and perfect to relax, slow down and enjoy nature along the coast.
The retreat
The retreat was a great experience but I am not going to go into any details here. We went to beautiful locations along the coast well worth seeing and it is very understandable why Kim selected them for our experience.
The best thing to me was, though, that my fellow participants were lovely people and we were able to use the time in the car to connect and create a bond that has lasted well beyond the retreat. We keep meeting online on a monthly basis and share our recent photographs and photographic experiences. To me, that is the most valuable outcome of it all as it reaches far beyond the limits of what a 4-5 day experience can achieve in the best of circumstances.
Impressions of a few beautiful days
The following images are an unsorted collection of impressions from different places along the coast between Findhorn beach and Pennan. And some of them are the direct result of the exercises we were given: photographing light and shadow, reflections, movement, patterns and textures, and more.
The main idea I took away from here, though, is that if one manages to focus on a particular theme and slows down enough it will be possible to find photographs everywhere. Of course, epic landscapes and beautiful locations help. But let’s face it: many of us live in places that require significant traveling to get to these locations. So, if photography is more a way to wind down and find distraction from daily live than it is to create portfolio-images, it is far more useful to learn to see things directly around you and at your doorstep. And that way it is almost impossible not to see the beauty that is around us everywhere. And who says there are no portfolio images to be found in the details and the mundane?
Thanks a lot
to Kim and the group to make these few days an unforgettable experience.
