ABOVE

I had been moving slowly along this stretch of the west coast of Scotland through the night, searching for a place to stop. Eventually, I settled on a higher vantage point, one that seemed to gather everything I was looking for into a single frame.

By then, the first suggestion of dawn was beginning to form in the sky. I wanted to hold on to the colours of moonlight for as long as possible, the subtle tones it cast across the land before being overtaken by the coming day. Time felt compressed. I worked more quickly than usual, aware that the balance could shift at any moment.

It became clear that the dark foreground needed to carry texture and presence, to anchor the scene rather than disappear into shadow. The final image emerged as a careful negotiation between what was already there and what needed to be gently revealed, shaped through light painting with my car headlights. When the elements aligned, the illusion held, just long enough.