I've finalised the dates for the photography courses next year at the Monachyle Mhor Hotel which are;

March         2010 Sunday 14th - Monday 15th
June           2010 Sunday 27th - Monday 28th
September  2010 Sunday 5th - Monday 6th
December   2010 Sunday 5th - Monday 6th

Here is a sample schedule of the course. The structure of the course may change largely because of the weather but the same material will be covered.

The courses cost £250 for the two days, accomodation is available in the hotel but is not included in the course.

The two we have run so far have been very enjoyable to run and for December we were blessed with a great wintry sunset over Loch Doine just outside the hotel.

Testimonial - "The photography course at the Monachyle Mhor Hotel was informative, informal, fun and was geared to the enthusiastic amateur wanting to improve their skills. Amogavira was a great teacher: hugely knowledgeable, patient and a great motivator. Even the bad weather couldn't dampen our enthusiasm! Since the course I have been out taking photographs at every opportunity and I am now thoroughly enjoying my hobby. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in learning how to take better photographs."  Elaine.

I have also done some one to one teaching days this year which has been a great way to learn and I can tailor what we do according to the students needs. You can cover a lot in a day in this format.

If you're interested in the courses or in a tailored one to one photography day email me at amoghavira@gmail.com

At the start of the month I spent 3 days based in Ullapool photographing around this beautiful area. The weather was a mixture of sun, showers and one day of almost continual rain. It seemed a fulfillment of my new year resolution to do ore bad weather photography! I visited the Gallery cafe while there and noticed they were running a photography competition so when back home I entered some of my images. To my surprise I was one of the 3 winners of the competition and have been offered to exhibit my 5 winning entries from mid January next year in their Gallery. Just shows you it pays to persist in bad weather! I've uploaded one of the images as 'Image of the Week' in the 'About Amoghavira' page of the website.

Just finished the first of the photography courses I'm running seasonally at the Monachyle Mhor Hotel. The weather was a real challenge with almost continuous rain but the the 3 participants were very keen and enthusiastic to learn. The Monachyle Mhor staff were very helpful providing a superb lunch and great coffee to keep us going.

Just finished the exhibition I ran at the botanic gardens in Glasgow. It was great to meet visitors and talk about photography every day! I aim to run an exhibition at the same venue next year. There's an autumnal feeling in the air now up here in Lochearnhead so I'm looking forward to the season of mists around the lochs here.

Just heard I've had an image shortlisted for this years landscape photographer of the year competition,
AP 127 in the Northern Scotland Gallery.

I've organised a photography course to be run over 2 days in September hosted by the award winning hotel the Monoachyle Mhor just up the road from Dhanakosa. This will be the first course I'll have run outside of Dhanakosa so I'm very much looking forward to it. If you're interested get in touch with me or contact the Hotel for more information.

I will be running an exhibition of my images at the Visitors Centre in the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow from Monday 24th August until Monday 31st August.

Happy new year to everyone. I've been reflecting on some photographic resolutions for the coming year and made a list!

1) Get out photographing more in bad weather. It takes more resolve to go out when the rain is tipping down but showery days in particular can provide dramatic light and the ephemeral nature of the elements is never more apparent than when the light breaks through swiftly moving clouds. The rivers and stream are fuller and their power as they surge down hillsides in foam flecked torrents is wonderful to behold.

2) Do some nature photography. Photographing animals and birds is something I've never done and will take patience and craft as well as time which I only have so much of for photography but by the end of the year I 'd like to have taken at least one good image of bird or beast.

3) Develop more close up and nature abstract photography. This is one of my photographically weak areas but I feel there is a lot of potential in this, particuarly exploring the link between seeing and meditation.

4) Submit more work to competitions and to magazines. This is something I have only done sporadically but it was a good boost to my confidence to be highly commended in the landscape photographer of the Year competition last year. I also find preparing images for competition does lead to greater critical scrutiny of my workand a more thorough developing of images than I would normally do. Basically it raises the bar for my photography.

5) Do more mountaintop and remote location photography in Scotland. Its easy to keep going back to the same locations and I do think there is some merit in this, the light and weather conditions are usually always different so the scene is never the same but I'd also like to explore new areas, to boldly go where few photographers have been before!

That should keep me busy over the coming year. I'll keep you posted of how I get on,

December 2008 - Image Shortlisted for the Digital Photographer of the Year 2008 competition

This image of Buachaille Etive Beag in Glencoe taken on a beautifully march afternoon in 2008 is shortlisted in Digital Camera magazine's Digital Photographer of the year 2008 competition in the Dusk to Dawn category.