THE ‘SENSES’ SCOTTISH RETREAT 2025
WEEK 1: 7TH TO 13TH SEPTEMBER 2025 - ONE PLACE REMAINING
WEEK 2: 14TH TO 20TH SEPTEMBER 2025 - SOLD OUT
The Friday Photowalk Podcast community meets each year on Scotland’s Black Isle to celebrate connection through photography. Our 2025 retreat includes five days of mindful walking, darkroom printing, forest writing, and sound storytelling. It’s a creative escape with like-minded souls, presented by The Photowalk Podcast with The Journey Beyond.
Words, thoughts and invite from Neale James, presenter/producer of The Photowalk Podcast. Pictures from Neale James and Lynn Fraser.
“I think of the Friday Photowalk edition as a safe thought-empowering community as much as a podcast. From shared photographic ideas and projects to conversations with those making pictures, to mental wellbeing and mindfulness; this community celebrates the stories, the moments, large or small and the feelings of those who take time to write, teach, show and be there for each other. Photography is more than a swipe and like, it’s a community of similarly-spirited creative people, for whom holding a camera brings a feeling of connectedness with and in the world.
We make our annual photographic pilgrimage to Scotland’s Black Isle, near the cultural city of Inverness, regarded as the capital of The Highlands, to stay on a working soft fruit farm with access to its own shop selling home-grown and local produce, within reach of the most beautiful historic landscapes.
Senses, The Scottish Photowalk Retreat celebrates the feeling our podcast brings to this community. It’s an opportunity to escape the noise and spend time with like-minded photographers.
We’ll be building on the empowering micro-workshops of 2024 to embrace creative retreat challenges, including producing a darkroom print, creative writing through a forest bathing experience, continuing our sound workshop to help you understand how sound can be a potent part of your storytelling, and enjoy a break away as we encourage, talk with, eat with, laugh with, and, of course, walk with each other.”
DAY 1: BLACK WATER FALLS NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
We meet up with our darkroom guru Matt Sillars, as we prepare for a Welcome Nature Walk photographing with film cameras (supplied), to make an art print the following day. Following lunch we travel to Black Water Falls, a location in the Highlands to make photographs. We’ll walk and spend time together photographing the beautiful scenery we’re blessed to be spending time in this week. Lochs, mountains, rivers and waterfalls all within reach of our lens.
DAY 2: THE DARKROOM
We spend a day in the Inverness darkroom, producing a classic black and white art print from our nature photo walk the previous day. Whether you have processed and printed this way or not, by the afternoon you will have enjoyed the experience of seeing your work come alive under a red light. It’s a rewarding day for all those attending and come the evening you’ll be ready for a Scottish supper.
DAY 3: FOREST BATHING AND WRITING WORKSHOP
Photography is a way of sharing our wonder for the world pictorially and emotionally, though articulating our experiences as short stories, prose, poems, or curated thoughts for social media is a skill seldom discussed in photographic circles. In the morning, we’ll be joined by author Merryn Glover, who writes fiction, drama, poetry and non-fiction, with work widely published and broadcast on the BBC.
DAY 4: FIND THE SOUND OF YOUR PICTURES
As presenter and producer of The Photowalk podcast, I’d like to help you find the sound of your pictures. Working in radio and sound for 35 years, two decades alongside my work as a professional photographer, sound continues to be a pivotal part of my creative toolbox when creating and telling my photographic stories. I’ll be helping you to create a new storytelling skill combining stills and sound. During the afternoon, we’ll visit Rosehaugh Estate, where we’ll make a photographic soundscape.
DAY 5: THE BEAUTY OF SCOTLAND
The Photowalk Retreat is an opportunity to enjoy time with like-minded friends and occasionally alone with your thoughts in the glens. We'll make pictures, talk about photography enveloped by and in the beautiful scenery we're blessed to be only a short drive away from, on our Black Isle base. The fifth day of the retreat is a day of relaxed photowalking, with a visit to Loch an Eilein in the Rothiemurchus Forest near Aviemore, before returning to our base for a farewell dinner where we'll share our favourite photographs of the week.
YOUR RETREAT GUIDES
NEALE JAMES
The presenter and architect behind The Photowalk Podcast, Neale started his professional career as a broadcaster in the Canary Islands based in Lanzarote at an English and German language radio station, returning to the UK to train and present within BBC regional radio, before joining the national network, Radio 1, to host a wide series of music shows and documentaries, including television.
Upon leaving the BBC, Neale continued to present programmes in the commercial radio industry, including co-directing a radio and television training school. In 2004, he switched to a full-time occupation as a social reportage and commercial photographer, initially based in a studio in Berkshire, UK. In 2019, Neale returned to audio, launching his podcasting interests. He joined forces with Fujifilm ambassador Kevin Mullins to co-present The FujiCast.
In June 2020, Neale launched Photography Daily/The Photowalk, a programme that celebrates the ‘why’ of photography.
LYNN FRASER
Lynn is a photographer and writer based in the Scottish Highlands, drawn to moments of quiet connection and the subtle rhythms of daily life. Her camera has taken her through India, Mongolia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and further afield, where she documents the everyday with curiosity and care — from side streets and markets to festivals and solitary spaces.
She publishes My Journey with a Camera on Substack, where photographs are paired with thoughtful essays, short stories, and reflections. The result is a slow, immersive reading experience that brings attention to the overlooked and the beautifully ordinary.
Lynn’s images have appeared in international exhibitions with the Atlas of Humanity project, showing in Paris, Milan, and London. In 2025, she was named Amateur Photographer of the Year 2024 by Amateur Photographer magazine.
information about this retreat
Our base for this retreat is The Barn at Black Isle Berries, Tore, Muir of Ord, near Inverness, Scotland IV6 7SB. We’ll be staying on a working soft fruit farm with access to its own shop selling home-grown and local produce.
The cost per place is £1,950. This includes a private bedroom, all workshops, transport to all activities, plus continental breakfast and evening meals. The deposit is £300. Extra Mile patrons and returning guests receive a £100 discount on the full price.
Bring the camera/kit you regularly enjoy using. A laptop or similar kit for editing is useful for our evenings discussing work. A tripod is handy for long-exposure photography opportunities. With access to a darkroom on the first day, you may wish to bring your own film camera, although we will supply one for those who shoot only digital.
We’ll be spending time outside and in, plus we’ll be travelling to some remote areas where the wind can be brisker. September is now warmer on record of course, but still bring scarves, a thick jacket, sturdy photowalking shoes or boots. Bring rainproof options too, as we’re not allowing rain to stop play.
The accommodation is wheelchair friendly for one ground floor room (with a wet room). All facilities are on one-floor level. Transportation would need a level of planning and negotiation.
