Gallery

If you think of British photographers working in panoramic format, Colin Prior is probably the first name to come to mind. His first book Highland Wilderness , currently in its third reprint, received widespread acclaim and his four calendar commissions for British Airways have won him numerous awards at the British Business Calendar Awards, including Best Photography.

Colin has been working with the 617 panoramic format since 1989 and was the first owner of the Linhof 617IIS in the UK.

`No one had created any serious work with this format and I felt that the mountainous landscape of Scotland offered tremendous potential. A combination of a personal vision, composition and fine light must all come together, in an instant, to produce a truly remarkable image. My aim is to capture those rare moments in nature, which are truly unique.' Shooting at dusk and dawn, Colin uses both Fuji GX617 and Linhof 617SIII cameras with 90mm and 180mm lenses. Cameras are always tripod mounted to enable the use of small apertures. `I aim for f22 - f32 to ensure foreground sharpness.'

Appropriate lenses are fitted with the centre spot ND filter to prevent vignetting due to light fall-off at the edges of the lens. No other filters are used - `I prefer a pure recording of what's happening.' Film stock is Fuji Velvia, which is a truly superb transparency film. Colin is currently working on a new Scottish book entitled Scotland - The Wild Places, which will be available in Autumn 2000. Concentrating on the Highlands it will feature both panoramic work and details of nature, which Colin refers to as `Landmarks'

A future book on the World's Wild Places is proposed which will feature panoramic work, commissioned by British Airways for their corporate calendars, on which Colin travelled 1,200,000 miles. It will include images from over thirty-five countries including Patagonia, Namibia, Pakistan and Australia.

Colin's work can be viewed on www.earthgallery.net

These 2 photos of Glencoe were taken by Mike Reid who has a web site www.fellwalker.mcmail.com which has some superb photos from around the UK and is well worth a visit. Mike has also written a database of British Hills and Mountains which allows the user to keep a tally of hills and routes.

The climber is Fergus McCallum of Taynuilt on Lateral Thinking E1 5b Staffin Bay, Skye on a weekend trip with our resident rock climbing expert John.

The mountain vista is from Dave and Junes family holiday to the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles and is from the summit of Suaineabhal looking south over Loch Gruineabhat towards the mountains of the North Harris.

Finally 2 seasonal ice climbing photos to wet our appetite for a good winter season - here's hoping.