Mountains in Miniature
Corrie, Isle of Arran, Scotland.

Elgol 'S'
Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. A fairly long exposure at dusk with clear blue sky overhead imparts the cool blue hue onto this image.

Nought Slash
Along River Orchy, Highlands, Scotland.

East Mesa
Zion National Park, USA. The pink-red sandstone rock gave me a striking canvas on which I could position this cottonwood tree's snow-flecked branches and autumnal leaves. I deliberately chose to frame only the leftmost trunk, which was slanting dramatically and decorated with recent snowfall.

Fissure
Bay of Laig, Isle of Eigg, Scotland. Ancient lava forced up through the bedrock eroded faster over the millenia to leave deep scars in the coast around the Bay of Laig.

Dancing Ferns and Bluebells
Galmisdale, Isle of Eigg, Scotland. Just up from the bay at Galmisdale there's a small patch of deciduous woodland which is carpetted with vivid bluebells and delicious big ferns in May. I saw this patch of ferns forming an irresistible curve.

Frosted Curve
Garvie Beach, Wester Ross, Scotland. I saw this curve of light from the low winter sun as soon as I arrived on Garvie Beach, and it was just irresistible. The smooth red stones were completely frosted under a clear sky which gave the colour contrast of red and blue.

Not Grosvenor Arch
Grosvenor Arch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. Standing below and gazing upwards at the impressive sandstone Grosvenor Arch, I found myself more interested in this dead tree leaning at quite an angle towards the sandstone massif.

Red and Blue
Westdale Bay, Pembrokeshire, Wales. This is a curious little beach with both red and blue-hued rocks and pebbles. Round the headland a bit from the beach I discovered this line of bedrock which was both blue and red. I've no idea the geological processes involved or even what type of rock it is, but I do know that it is fascinatingly beautiful.

Erratic on Sandstone
Corrie, Isle of Arran, Scotland. An early rise to catch the 5am sunrise enabled me to capture the very earliest rays painting refracted light over Corrie's sandstone boulderscape.

Ferns of a Heather
Hesworth Common, West Sussex, England. Bad sitcom puns aside - this was a bit of a puzzle to solve, and had me spending a fair while in the encroaching darkness trying to frame this group of ferns into a coherent shape.

Bristlecone
Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, USA. One of the highlights of my visit to Utah was the drive along Cottonwood Canyon road. One of the many delights along this dusty dirt road was the short walk into Cottonwood Canyon Narrows, a dry and sandy wash surrounded by towering sandstone walls. This Bristlecone Pine tree piqued my interest for its hairy outstretched limbs, a background of white slickrock and a strong sidelight of orange supplied by the canyon wall to my right which was brightly lit by the sun. The small delicate green grasses completed the picture.

Pool
River Etive, Highlands, Scotland. I composed the negative space of the pool between the rocks and waited for the piece of dead grass to float slowly into position.

Mesozoic
Utah, USA. Sandstone crossbedding in a remote area of 180-190 year old fossilized sand dunes near Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park, on the Utah/Arizona border.

Thrift
Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Self-referencing shapes of rock decorated by delicate pink spring thrift growing from the cracks.

River Pebbles
River Orchy, Highlands, Scotland.

Streaks
Achnahaird Bay, Scotland.

Swirls
Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA.

Rannoch Red
Rannoch Moor, Scotland. Looming above this edge of this photograph is the famous face of the Buachaille mountain, but I happily ignored it as the colour of the rocks of this river were more than a subject enough. The early low sun provided the specular highlighting on the smooth boulder to counteract the jagged teeth of the red rocks.

Glassy / Frothy
Aira Beck, Lake District, England. I was attracted by the autumn leaves pinned under the water, while multi-threaded streams cascaded over the rocks dividing the image into two halves, one glassy smooth and reflective and the other white frothy chaos.

Black and Gold
Glen Etive, Scotland.

Throes
Deadvlei, Namib Desert, Namibia. The twisted forms of dead camel thorn trees look like letters of an exotic language when viewed from above the dry clay pan.

Zig Zag
River Etive, Highlands, Scotland.

Elm
Ashdown Forest, Sussex, England. With the canopy in full morning light, the branches were dark and prominent as I looked up at this elm tree. They took upon the appearance of veins feeding an organ, and I framed this image to try and emphasise the obvious parallel with human physiology.

Clouded
River Orchy, Highlands, Scotland.

Slickrock Grass and Dead Tree Blues
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. Venturing beyond the main area of hoodoos of the Devil's Garden I found an expanse of sandstone slickrock scattered with brittle grasses and silvery wood. It was very very windy with strong gusts and I battled with sand stinging my face and legs to get an image which captured enough movement of the grass to retain some definition.

Sandymouth
Sandymouth, Cornwall, England. The beach at Sandymouth is home to some fascinating geological formations. Here the setting sun highlights the red in the rock while a long exposure under a clear sky resulted in the beach pebbles picking up a soft blue hue.

Settled Pebbles
Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. No pebbles were placed by hand - not the hand of man anyhow! At some point these pebbles must have been thrust into the crack between these rock slabs by ferocious seas as this point was a little way above high tide.

Hoar-frosted Trees
Brecon Beacons, Wales. Finding a composition in this forest of hoar-frosted trees took a little time. I wanted a simple image, showing the texture of branch and ice, and eventually found these two trees, so close together that their branches had become intertwined in each other.

Trickle Patterns
Isle of Harris, Scotland. These tiny water channels were carved by a temporary water runoff after squally Spring showers. The low-angled setting sun enhances the natural golden colour of this pristine Hebridean sand and accentuates the intricate troughs and ridges.

Cradle
River Orchy, Highlands, Scotland.

Road to the Cuillin
Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. The natural lines act as a road for the eye to move from the foreground rocks to the Cuillin ridge on the horizon.

Balcombe Viaduct
Ouse Valley (Balcombe) Viaduct. Incredible architecture underneath this enormous viaduct, still very much in use today by the London-Brighton line in Sussex.

Grulin
Isle of Eigg, Scotland. The geometry and the subtle pastel hues of lichen attracted me to this face of rock looking over the tragic ruins of the township of Grulin.

The Final Piece
The Organ Pipes, Twyfelfontein, Namibia. This basalt formation in Namibia formed millions of years ago when molten rock was pushed up through the Earth's surface.

Echoes
Sandwich Harbour, Skeleton Coast, Namibia. Sandwich Harbour is caught between the sea and the sand - between the crashing surf of the South Atlantic and the huge dunes of the Namib. Flamingoes and Pelicans are here in numbers, but what caught me as I looked back up the beach was where the edges of this tidal lagoon echoed the form of the misty dunes behind.

Mowani
Damaraland, Namibia.

Mimic
Deadvlei, Namibia. I liked this pair of trees for their similarity in form, almost as if synchronised in mid-dance.

Under the Camelthorn Tree
Sossusvlei, Namibia. Littering the floor are hundreds of seed pods from the acacia erioloba (camel thorn) tree reaching above.

Cradle
Damaraland, Namibia. A wider view of a previous upload, Mopane Litter. The root of this Mopane tree seemed to be maternally holding its fallen leaves.