A pine marten in a cave in the Scottish Highlands. This image is the result of an extremely challenging 3 month DSLR camera trap project, after I discovered a pine marten was occasionally visiting this cave in order to hunt mice. This image won the ‘Land Animal’ category in The British Photography Awards in 2021.A cloud inversion on one of Scotland’s most remote Munros, Ladhar Bheinn in Knoydart. I took this photograph whilst on commission for The Great Outdoors Magazine. I pitched my tent not far below the summit in heavy rain and thick fog the night before, and woke to these amazing conditions at 3am. One of the most exciting moments in my landscape photography career.‘Hitching a Lift’ – common toads on migration to their spawning grounds. This image won the ‘Animal Behaviour’ category in The British Wildlife Photography Awards in 2023.Cold Shelter. A mountain hare at rest on a wild day in the high Cairngorms. A pine marten mother and kit on the Black Isle near Inverness. I have put a huge amount of time and effort into DSLR camera trap photography over the last 7 years. It is often extremely frustrating, and it is common to go weeks (or even months) without any good results. All told, it was around 14 months between first finding this composition and achieving the final image.First light on Ben Nevis. Getting to locations like this before sunrise is hard work, particularly in fresh, deep snow. It makes things particularly memorable when you come away with the images you were looking for.Wave Break – this image is one of the ‘cornerstones’ of my career, and was one of my first images to be awarded in national competitions. This is a completely real image with no manipulation apart from contrast and clarity. The image shows a cormorant on a rock, just as a wave broke over its head. I was simply in the right place at the right time, and managed one frame that captured the moment.‘Couch surfer’ – this is my favourite image from a long term DSLR camera trap project, showing pine martens amongst abandoned buildings in the Scottish Highlands. A badger in an ancient woodland. I have been photographing badgers for several years in the ancient woodlands around Loch Ness and the Black Isle. This is a DSLR camera trap image, captured after a few days of effort.A cloud inversion on Beinn Eighe – Torridon. I have been fortunate enough to photograph dozens of cloud inversions in the Scottish Highlands, but this is one of the best I have seen. A short eared owl at sunset – North Uist. I have spent a lot of time on Uist in the Outer Hebrides in recent years, focusing my photographic efforts on the short eared owls which breed there. This beautiful moment was after 10pm one evening in June, when the last light of the day illuminated an owl I had seen almost every day for three weeks.A mountain hare in the snow – Cairngorms. I have spent hundreds of hours photographing mountain hares, both by myself and whilst guiding clients. Conditions like this always add an extra element to your images.A rainbow over Beinn Eighe and the caledonian pinewoods. I found this precise location during a day of exploring an area of ancient pine woodland, and immediately knew that a rainbow would complete the composition. An hour of standing in torrential rain was worth it when the sun broke through for a few seconds, giving me the rainbow I had hoped for.Tawny owl chicks during the ‘branching’ phase. I came across these tawny owl chicks by accident one day in a woodland I regularly explore. Tawny owl chicks will often tumble out of their nests. Thankfully they are usually able to climb back into the nest without much difficulty. As I had a wide angle lens attached to my camera, I took a few quick frames and then left the chicks alone. Suilven at sunrise. One of my favourite things to do is to head out with my camera to remote locations in the remarkable landscape of Assynt and Coigach, and watch the light change throughout the day. This photograph was taken one November morning after a very long spell of dull and uninspiring conditions, which made the experience all the more memorable.The view from Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine, Torridon. This was a completely unplanned image, when a bank of low cloud rolled in from the Atlantic just as the light from the sunset was at its best. The clouds appeared and disappeared with remarkable speed, and I just happened to be in the right place to capture this image.A ptarmigan in the Cairngorms in perfect winter conditions. Ptarmigan are perhaps my favourite bird species, and to me this image captures the perfection of a pristine day in the Cairngorms in winter. This image was Commended in Bird Photographer of the Year in 2024.
JAMES RODDIE PHOTOGRAPHY 