News and reviews

Everyone has a favourite bird and for so many of us puffins tick all the right boxes. Enigmatic, comical, colourful, aggressive at times yet showing the tenderest of touches at others puffins are one of the real characters of our sea bird islands.

Fair Isle is a jewel of an island lying between Shetland and Orkney. Simply getting there can be a challenge yet the flight in the small plane can be mesmerising with stunning views. We based ourselves at the Fair Isle observatory for this week of intensive photography into the magical world of the puffin. We worked at a number of different colonies, all decked out with gorgeous sea pink (thrift).

Working in this way allowed us to get really intimate with the complex lives of puffins. Often when working in a new location there is an urgency to get shots in the bag early but because we all knew we were here for a good week we could slow down, concentrate on our image creation and work to produce a solid portfolio.

I personally loved the week, the magic of islands never wears off and when I spend it with a great group of like minded photographers, with laughs, shared experiences, meals and hardships (well I missed the only real one in the boat!) I can’t think of any better way to spend a week. Thanks to you all for making it a great and enjoyable trip.

Paul