1. Our Iceland photo tour for Light and Land, 2026
2.Bailey’s ice-cream - and its photography
3. Our 2026 group Retreats programme
4. The Thinking Photographer’s Podcast - new series
5. 2026 Chez-nous brochures
6. Bonus footage
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Hello there
Although Charlotte has been saying for. . .a while. . . it is finally getting through to me that most of what I REALLY want to photograph can be found along our lane and adjacent meadows and stream, within 5 km of home - and eminently cycle-able. Although we’ve yet to attract hoopoes to a nesting box in the hedge at the bottom of our meadow, the golden orioles were tucking into the grapes we left on the vine at the side of the house until recently and chiffchaffs and woodlarks have cheered up the last few damp, sombre days by singing as if it were springtime. In their season, all the other stars - hoopoes, bee eaters, turtle doves, red-backed and woodchat shrikes, black woodpeckers, cattle egrets, night herons, long eared owls and nightingales - are all here or somewhere else along the lane, and ask only for courtesy of becoming acquainted properly before appearing in photographs. It’s only the `European cranes we need to leave The Shire to meet, 20 minutes away on the Loire floodplain, and they are happy to pose, regardless. Flappers.
Last week, on the very last evening of summer (I can say that because here, the transition between seasons is clear and sudden) we were joined by an extra guest for dinner - a garden dormouse (to avoid any confusion, this is Eliomys quercinus) who seems to have taken up residence in the nestbox in the American sweetgum by the cabin. These masked, furry-tailed fellows are quite beguiling (unless they occupy your house’s roof space) and they’re not doing so well across the eastern and northern parts of their range. So, we’re happy to provide a refuge. We see them here each year and it’s nice to think that after the great tits have fledged their young, there is a feather bed ready and waiting for a sleepy dormouse.
If you’d like to experience our own version of The Shire - and make some fine new photographs along the way - it’s never too early to have a Zoom call with us about doing a Chez-nous Retreat (brochures below).
With our best wishes
Charlotte and Niall
Our photo tour for Light and Land to Northern Iceland
3 - 10 October 2026
With the Burgundy photo tour for Light and Land sold out (sorry, but you can come and have a Chez-nous with us, directly!) , our next tour for the company, to Northern Iceland, 3 - 10 October 2026, is about to be listed. We bring the same commitment to sending you home with remarkable photographs and new ideas as we do on our own Retreats, albeit in a more conventional photography tour setting, using hotels.
Northern Iceland is a world away from the crowds and noise of the southern beaches and lagoons. Its charm is quieter, yet all around, there is evidence of a landscape that is anything but placid. The forces that have shaped - and continue to shape - the south are no less potent here. During 25 Iceland tours, Charlotte and I have seen much of the country, yet the area around Lake Mývatn remains one of our absolute favourites. From the Höfði peninsula’s dwarf woodland to the great pseudo-craters by the lake, this region offers an ever-shifting palette of textures and moods for photography.
And one big question: will it be autumn or will it be winter? It could go either way - and that makes it even more interesting.
Bailey’s ice-cream - and its photography
Charlotte: This is a deliciously smooth and creamy ice cream, great to eat on its own or as an accompaniment to an apple or apricot tart. It’s based on Mary Berry’s recipe. Niall normally asks how many hours he has to take my ice cream out of the deep freeze before he can eat it. This new recipe silenced him; it’s a natural soft-scoop.
Here’s what you need to make 600 ml
Large eggs, 4, separated
Caster sugar, 115g (4oz)
Full fat mascarpone, 250g (9oz)
Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon
Bailey’s, 6 tablespoons
That’s it! No cream, in case you were wondering. There are few situations in life when mascarpone isn’t the better option.
And this is what to do
Pour the eggs whites into a large bowl and (electric) whisk them until they are light and fluffy. Then, while it’s still running at full speed, add the caster sugar, one teaspoon at a time, until the meringue mix is thick and glossy.
Scoop the mascarpone into another bowl and beat it to free it up a bit. Add the egg yolks, vanilla and Baileys and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Whisk in a few tablespoons of the meringue, then gently fold in the remaining meringue, until it’s well incorporated. Spoon the mixture into a container and place it in the freezer, overnight.
The ice cream will last in the deep freeze for a month or so. Don’t let Niall near it, though, or it won’t last five minutes.
Niall: At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious…you can’t hang about when photographing ice cream. Nowadays, I often set up my shots with a food stunt-double, introducing the star only when I’ve adjusted the lighting for the fiftieth time and got everything positioned, just-so. When it comes to ice cream there is no alternative but to work this way. While commercial food photographers may be happy to substitute ice cream with mashed potato, that’s not our style. In order to signal the authenticity of our ice cream, I let it melt just enough to make it recognisable as ice cream but not so much that it loses its form. After 5 minutes on set, the moment had come and I made the shot.
Now, lighting. As you can see, pieces of grey foam surrounding the set helped to prevent random reflections from spoiling the low- key effect. It’s a half-dark space, until I can get hold of some more rigid, black foam. While I used a small piece of folded white paper to kick some light back into the shadows on the right of the shot, the key light came from that lovely wide and low strip box with an Elinchrom head inside it Who can’t love flash when it produces light like this? Actually. . .there was a final lighting refinement to make it divine but to learn about that, well, you’ll need to take the class with us. But at least you’ll get to eat all these lovely things afterwards. Bon app.
Alongside our work later in 2026 for Light and Land, we have our own offers in the first half of the year. We just need two more guests to run Coll and Lunga so if you fancy somewhere new and under-exposed and, frankly, flipping lovely get a booking form in to us as soon as you can. We’re happy to have a chat with you about this or any of our other Retreats before you book.
Check out, too, our Chez-nous brochures, below, for our 2 person Retreats here in France, from the tail-end of 2025 and through 2026. In due course, more of our holidays for Light and Land will be posted on their site.
Have a look, too, at our Slovenian Retreat with Santa Fe Workshops. Click on the pictures below to view the brochures. We’re not planning to be idle!
The Thinking Photographer’s Podcast
Jings, we’ve ripped-through the first series at a rate of knots. So, for the second, we’re reducing the frequency to fortnightly, as originally billed. We have a bit of content on the page now, after all. We’re very grateful to those of you who have given the pod a rating (not least because you've all given it 5 stars!) and would really, really, love it if more of you listened and rated it. It’s kind of essential to build visibility. If you are wondering what there is to recommend one of our pods, I’d summarise the case thus:
They are short (normally around 10 minutes). Coffee-break length.
They are waffle-free. Who wants waffle with coffee?
They’re full of ideas. Some you might not care for, others you may love. Either way we’re sure you’ll find something that helps you on your creative journey,path, quest, saunterings.
Our early 2026 Chez-nous brochures are out. If you want to progress your photography - and be treated like kings and queens - there really is nothing else like it. Let’s have a Zoom call to see what we can do for you.
Bonus footage: North Sea horse
Ah well, this takes me back a decade or more. It was shot as part of a commission for the Worldwide Fund for Nature (Scotland) and, to be honest, I’m struggling to remember the exact context of this picture. I’m fairly sure, though, the commission was about people enjoying being outside in the wild. And when it comes to “wild” in Angus, eastern Scotland, it doesn’t get much better than at the edge of the North Sea under a stormy sky with who-knows-what heading your way- and a galloping horse beneath you.
I often noticed, during the 55 years I lived in Angus, this particular type of morning sky, one that offered both hope and menace in equal measure. And I’m not alone in being enchanted by it. Dr James Morrison (1932 - 2020) was one of Scotland’s pre-eminent landscape painters whom I got to know a little towards the end of his life. Open, generous in his attention and lacking any pretence - as you’d expect from a Glaswegian - I treasure the conversations I had with Jim in his studio about landscape and art. It was a rare and special privilege. Perhaps he recognised, on one level at least, a kindred spirit. He might not have been born an Angus man as I was, but his heart was lost to our skies.
Angus (I think Rossie Braes - NB ) 2006. Dr James Morrison/ The Scottish Gallery.
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