Sometimes the title almost explains the whole story.
Me and my buddies talked about doing a long-distance hike for a while now. Inexperienced as we all were we went for one of Europe’s basic trails that really stood out for me: The West Highland Way in Scotland. In total a 152 km hike trough the Scottish nature. Not too much elevation, and supposedly enough places along the way to stock up on food and supplies.
Or that’s what we thought.
I misread the elevation data somewhere and somehow convinced everyone that the total climb would be half of what it actually was. The supply points were also outdated. Even the locals reassured us multiple times with a friendly, “There’s food in the next village”—but more often than not, there wasn’t. It turned into a bit of a running joke. The only thing we could reliably find was burgers and beer. Not exactly ideal fuel for long-distance hiking, but hey, it was still a holiday.
The X100VI was also quite the match for some streetphotography.
Of course I had to document this one. On recent smaller daytrips I took my Z8 with me. It’s not huge, but definitely not something you’d call compact, so I usually end up taking just 4 or 5 photos before putting it away.. This time I wanted to be prepared, to be agile and simply able to shoot throughout the day without the weight slowing me down. So I decided to buy Fuji’s X100VI, their newest compact camera. I wanted just something to point and shoot but with a better quality than my Iphone. I took some adjusting to operate it being used to the Nikon system and it was a new approach to shooting for me mainly because of the slower handling of the different dials & buttons. I’m used to a very fast approach, going for every moment and filter out later so I don’t miss anything. But with the Fuji being a slower camera it was nice to just snap around. It also worked perfectly for some street photography. Not something a really practice a lot but in the sunny Glasgow it was a good fit.
As stunning as the Scottish Highlands are, I knew I’d regret not capturing them from above. I only had my DJI Air 2S at the time—a bit too bulky for a trip where you carry everything yourself. I debated for a while whether it was worth buying a smaller drone just for this trip.. But honestly, I knew I’d kick myself later if I didn’t. so I purchased the DJI Mini Pro 4. A lightweight little friend for my bigger Air 2S. I was afraid it wasn’t going to be able to handle the rougher winds but it handled it like a champ. I also discovered it’s also a lot quiter. In the Scottish highlands it doesn’t really matter but when it comes to weddings it adds more possibilities to take shots that i would not make with a noisy drone to avoid attracting too much attention from the guests or the couple.
6 am climbs to the nearest top hit different with these views.
I’m not really that much of a camera nerd so I don’t want to go into further details. Let’s just say these two little additions are quite the combo for lightweight traveling. Although in total it added 2-3 kg’s to my luggage I loved being able to capture something for myself again. But that said, my urge to shoot weddings in the mountains only grows stronger.
So… anyone up for a wild Scottish wedding?
